Topic: Boot failed; Diagnostic wanted

[Paul Miller]

I had e-smith 4.0 installed on my Dell P200 but when I try to reinstall e-smith 4.1.1 on my Dell 200 I get the following message.

"SYSLINUX 1.48 1999-09-26 Copyright (C) 1994-1999 H. Peter Anvin
Boot failed: Please change disks and press a key to continue."


Here are the diagnostic steps I have tried so far:

1.  Set the BIOS load order to CDROM, floppy, then hard drive, also floppy, hard drive.

2. Can read the Linux install CD by using another OS
   a. on a year old e-machine
   b. on a iMac
   c. on the Dell P200 using Windows ME


3. Was able to install e-smith 4.1.1 on an old Dell P90 using the same CD drive and media tried on the Dell P200.
   
4. Substituting floppy & CD media, CD drives and hard drive hasn't worked for me.

One additional tidbit.  I have forgotten whether I was able to install e-smith on this machine or whether I installed it on the Dell P90 and moved the disk to the Dell P200.  I don't think this is the case but I did something similar on a machine once and it worked (to my surprise)

Any advice is appreciated.

Paul Miller

[Bryan]

Did you get this figured out?  I'm battling this right now.  I was going to try and swap CD-ROM drives to rule that out but it looks like you've already tried that.  Weird thing is if I build a network boot/install disk (netboot.img) it does work, although I don't think there is a NFS or FTP install for e-smith.  If I try and boot using the boot.img on a floppy I get the same error as you.  Boot Failed:  

Paul Miller wrote:
>
> I had e-smith 4.0 installed on my Dell P200 but when I try to
> reinstall e-smith 4.1.1 on my Dell 200 I get the following
> message.
>
> "SYSLINUX 1.48 1999-09-26 Copyright (C) 1994-1999 H. Peter
> Anvin
> Boot failed: Please change disks and press a key to continue."
>
>
> Here are the diagnostic steps I have tried so far:
>
> 1.  Set the BIOS load order to CDROM, floppy, then hard
> drive, also floppy, hard drive.
>
> 2. Can read the Linux install CD by using another OS
>    a. on a year old e-machine
>    b. on a iMac
>    c. on the Dell P200 using Windows ME
>
>
> 3. Was able to install e-smith 4.1.1 on an old Dell P90 using
> the same CD drive and media tried on the Dell P200.
>    
> 4. Substituting floppy & CD media, CD drives and hard drive
> hasn't worked for me.
>
> One additional tidbit.  I have forgotten whether I was able
> to install e-smith on this machine or whether I installed it
> on the Dell P90 and moved the disk to the Dell P200.  I don't
> think this is the case but I did something similar on a
> machine once and it worked (to my surprise)
>
> Any advice is appreciated.
>
> Paul Miller

[Paul Miller]

---
This is a repost, the previous one apparently didn't make it:-(
---
Bryan wrote:
>
> Did you get this figured out?  I'm battling this right now.

Brian,

I finally figured it out!  Here is the capsule version
-----
I did one last thing for my Dell P200 to boot to e-smith's install screens.

Speed kills:-( so I changed the CD write speed from 2x to 1x)
e-smith now installs using either CD-R or CD-RW media.
-----

And here are the details I put in my file (God is in the details:-)
-------
One of the folks at a Linux install fest gave kindly gave me his copies of RH 7.   The second disk was not readable by the Dell P200 and another older system.  My newer e-machine read the second disk just fine. I then noticed that the first disk was CD-R and the second was CD-RW.  I tried CD-R with no luck recording at 2X which is the default on my burner.  My previous successful install months ago on the Dell P200 may have been with CD-R media. My head hurts.

My new checklist for jumping over past install hurdles includes:

1. Take time to use md5sum  to make sure you have a good .iso image. If you don't have a Linux system, search "md5sum free" your favorite search tool (Google is good) and you will surely find a free program that will do the md5sum on your platform.

2. When downloading the .iso image rename your old version and use rsync as detailed in e-smith's HOWTO to get a very fast download.  Use the parameter that will allow you to resume download if connection is lost.

3. If your use Nero burn software, realize it will work in spite of the fact that the user interface is broken. See the e-smith HOWTO for what to do.

4. Record the CD at the lowest available speed.

5. If your older CD drive doesn't work, substitute an 8X or faster ATAPI CD drive.

6. Take several deep breaths, don't hurry, don't worry, don't hesitate to communicate with kind strangers, everything will work out, TRUST ME.

Drive successfully used: Mitsumi CD-ROM DRIVE
Model No: CRMC-FX3400S
Manufactured: August 1998

Regards,
Paul Miller

[Bryan]

Paul,

Thank you so much for following up and posting this info.  I changed my CDR write speed to 1x (instead of 4x, which makes me wonder why it's even a setting now.. must be older CD ROMs .. like mine.. can't read between the lines.. so to speak.) and burned a new install CD from the ISO (which I verified was good with a MD5sum util --> thank you google.com) and all was good.  Booted to the CD and all is great.  

take care,

Bryan


Paul Miller wrote:
>
> ---
> This is a repost, the previous one apparently didn't make it:-(
> ---
> Bryan wrote:
> >
> > Did you get this figured out?  I'm battling this right now.
>
> Brian,
>
> I finally figured it out!  Here is the capsule version
> -----
> I did one last thing for my Dell P200 to boot to e-smith's
> install screens.
>
> Speed kills:-( so I changed the CD write speed from 2x to 1x)
> e-smith now installs using either CD-R or CD-RW media.
> -----
> 4. Record the CD at the lowest available speed.
>
> Regards,
> Paul Miller