Topic: It won't install!!

[Dave F]

I have just downloaded this E-smith server thing, and the CD will not boot properly, it basically reports back, "Where's Linux"?

I can get the installation started by starting with DOS, and going into the \DOSUTILS\ folder, then typing in AUTOBOOT.BAT. The install starts up.

After the bit that you need to type 'proceed', it then tries to load the X display, that fails because it says it can find any of the files it needs.


Any ideas??


From a Frustrated Human,
David.

[Damien Curtain]

>
> I can get the installation started by starting with DOS, and
> going into the \DOSUTILS\ folder, then typing in AUTOBOOT.BAT.
> The install starts up.

> Any ideas??

Read the e-smith manual, its available online now! Search the forums, as it suggest at the top of the page, then you'd possibly find the answer as this has been asked quite a few times.

In a nuttshell, either boot from the cdrom, or else you _must_ create a bootfloppy, ie cat /cdrom/images/boot.img > /dev/fd0 or however windows people do it these days, read the manual, it explains how.

--
 Damien

[Joseph Morrison]

Hello Dave,

I saw your posting on CNET, searched to see if you had posted to the e-smith bulletin boards, and sure enough - found your question!

I'm glad to get the chance to help. When you boot with the e-smith CD, do you get the initial screen saying "Welcome to e-smith" and so on?

If so, the instructions on the bottom of the screen explain that you must type "accept" rather than simply pressing ENTER to show that you accept our warranty terms and understand that your hard disk is about to be completely erased.

We feel that it's vitally important that people not be able to install e-smith without reading everything on the screen - so that no-one accidentally deletes their data.

From what you posted, it sounds like you did not type "accept" - is that right?

By the way, starting via any other method (such as "autoboot") is not supported at all.

Please let us know whether this solved your problem, and whether you like the e-smith software in the end. We're constantly looking for suggestions to improve it! Also - if you find that in the end you like the software, we'd appreciate if you mentioned that on the CNET bulletin board as well

Best regards,
- Joseph Morrison, CEO

[chris]

Hi Joseph

I am a school teacher and IT coordinator, e-smith looks like just the thing we are looking for. I too am having similar troubles to Dave with the install. I downloaded the file, copied it to a directory and then the cd-r where it appears as e-smith-4.0-cdrom.iso
I can't browse within this file, which your download page seems to imply "... Under Windows, you can create your floppy diskette using the rawrite.exe m on the CDROM (located in the .....), either in its unzipped or burned form.
My computer won't boot on the cd-rom- "boot failure, change disks and try again" message. I fluked creating a bootable floppy by finding the bootdisk file in your download directories and getting rawrite off the net.
So now with the floppy I can get the e-smith intro screen, type in accept (without quotation marks) and still get the same boot failure message- any suggestions.
P.S Damien I have read the manual, both versions actually, but they are very scant in details about hitting problems in the downloading/installation process of the main file- especially for non tech windoze users and linux virgins like me. if i get through this I might write a quick win users guide to e-smith.
Any help would be appreciated
Chris
PS It might be that my problem is with my burning I've tried adaptec and nero so far and got the same results with both. I have a fairly new 48speed cd-rom

[Damien Curtain]

chris wrote:

> Hi Joseph
>
> I am a school teacher and IT coordinator, e-smith looks like
> just the thing we are looking for. I too am having similar
> troubles to Dave with the install. I downloaded the file,
> copied it to a directory and then the cd-r where it appears as
> e-smith-4.0-cdrom.iso I can't browse within this file, which

Ack.. Youve burnt the file, not the image. You need to burn an _iso_ image, not make a cd with just e-smith-4.0-cdrom.iso on it. (Alot of people make this mistake when they 1st encounter iso/bin images)

Im not sure which program your using to burn the cd, but check to see if it will burn a cd from an iso image file, thats what you need to do. Inside e-smith-4.0-cdrom.iso is an iso9660 filesystem, that when burnt correctly will be able to be navigated from your explorer, where youll then find rawrite.exe.

--
 Damien

[Pierluigi Miranda]

chris wrote:

> It might be that my problem is with my burning I've tried
> adaptec and nero so far and got the same results with both.
> I have a fairly new 48speed cd-rom

I regularly use Nero 4.0-something on Win95 to burn ISO images on CD-ROM.

Nero doesn't understand ISO images if they have not the right extension.

To be sure that the resulting CD is good, start renaming whatever "image.iso" file into "image.iso.nrg" (.nrg is the file extension Nero uses for its image files).

Then Open this file in Nero, and the program should recognize it as a "foreign" CD image, asking for more informations. The default values are adequate for the E-Smith boot CD.

Specify in the write options panel that the CD must be closed, and burn it.

That's all...

--

Pierluigi Miranda

[Dustin Blad]

I use adaptec for my burning needs.... When burning and .iso image remember to go to create data disk... then files > create disk from image > then select where the .iso image is located.  Adaptec's default image is .cif so you need to change it in the drop down menu to .iso. Once you find the file then you can burn the image.  Remember, you are burning an image of the e-smith file onto a cd. You are not burning the e-smith file directly to it!

[chris]

Thanks guys you're exactly right- it can be done easily with both Nero and Easycd but its not the default, nor does it jump out from either manual.
I was using the default File>new cd>data cd and getting a copy of the iso file burned to the disc- and a few coasters.
When you go the correct way File>create CD from CD image, what is actually happening? It seems like there is another unpacking or opening process going on to recreate the files and folders as they were on the original disc
Why do e-smith do it this way rather than just providing the directories and files as you eventually see them once they are burned from the iso file?
Cheers
Chris

[Charlie Brady]

chris wrote:

> When you go the correct way
> File>create CD from CD image, what is actually happening? It
> seems like there is another unpacking or opening process going
> on to recreate the files and folders as they were on the
> original disc

The .iso image file is just copied onto the disk track for track. The unpacking and opening process only happens when you view the finished disc.

> Why do e-smith do it this way rather than just
> providing the directories and files as you eventually see them
> once they are burned from the iso file?

Because this is the only way to get all the files and directories downloaded intact, and without case changes in the names, and the only way to be sure that the disc is bootable - in other words, it guarantees that every CD burned contains exactly the same data.

Regards

Charlie

[Jeremy Rector]

With Adaptec EasyCD Creator you should be able to simply double-click on the .iso file and EasyCD starts up its copier.  Adaptec treats the .iso file it the same way it would if you were copying a CD.