I'm trying to install Slackware 9.1 from cd, but the cd isn't
bootable. I've created the bootdisk and rootdisks, but after they
load up on the machine, the setup program can't find the cdrom. I'm
using an older Compaq with a Pentium II at 233 Mhz, 64M ram, and a 2Gb
hard drive. The cdrom is an IDE mounted Matsushita. The box
currently has RedHat 7.0 on it, but I want to move up to something
else. Can anyone help?

Thanks,
Alex

Alex wrote:

> I'm trying to install Slackware 9.1 from cd, but the cd isn't
> bootable.
This is rather double.... Wether you say: a) on this computer it is
impossible to boot from cdrom, or b) it should be possible to boot the
cdrom, but my cdrom refuses (perhaps not well downloaded & burned ?).

a) you have a IDE-cdrombut the BIOS let you not boot from cdrom. In the dir
isolinux you find a dir sbootmgr with an image of a flop to boot the cdrom,
and so start the installation.
you find these dirs on your favorite download site (klick 'get slack' on
www.slackware.com) goto the dir slackware 9.1. Read the README's.
Slackware is an adventure game :-).
> I've created the bootdisk and rootdisks, but after they
> load up on the machine, the setup program can't find the cdrom. I'm
> using an older Compaq with a Pentium II at 233 Mhz, 64M ram, and a 2Gb
> hard drive.
2Gb can be done but is not much, not very fast computer, advice: no KDE or
Gnome (both is too much for 2 GB) , but fluxbox or blackbox WindowManager.
Small and fast. Slackware does well on an older box. (less overhead).
> The cdrom is an IDE mounted Matsushita. The box
> currently has RedHat 7.0 on it, but I want to move up to something
> else. Can anyone help?
>
> Thanks,
> Alex

Hope this helps & good luck.
Douwe.

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On Wed, Jan 07, 2004 at 03:35:36PM PST, Alex wrote
in article <32955228.0401071535.6befe276@posting.google.com >:

> bootable. I've created the bootdisk and rootdisks, but after they
> load up on the machine, the setup program can't find the cdrom. I'm

need more info...

can't find the cdrom DRIVE ?
or can't autodetect the slackware CDROM inside the drive ?

do you see your cdrom drive recognized during bootup ? (dmesg output)


Jurgen.

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Alex wrote:

> I'm trying to install Slackware 9.1 from cd, but the cd isn't
> bootable. I've created the bootdisk and rootdisks, but after they
> load up on the machine, the setup program can't find the cdrom. I'm
> using an older Compaq with a Pentium II at 233 Mhz, 64M ram, and a 2Gb
> hard drive.

If you had more than a 2GB disk then you could copy the CDs onto a partition
and install from that

--
Paul

No, I don't get a dmesg indicator - it can't find the cdrom drive to
look for the media. I'll try the sbootmgr dsk setup, but I know the
cdrom can be booted from, that's how I got RedHat on the box, I booted
from the install cd and overwrote the Windows install. I'll let you
know what happens.

thanks,
Alex

On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, Alex wrote:
> I'm trying to install Slackware 9.1 from cd, but the cd isn't
> bootable.

some older machines support only the eltorito cdrom format; for example,
i have a box which will boot a slackware 7.0 cd but not an 8.0 or later.
there is no easy way around it. (burn a custom eltorito cd or boot from
floppy). but a PII should be recent enough to have a compliant bios....

> I've created the bootdisk and rootdisks, but after they
> load up on the machine, the setup program can't find the cdrom.
[...]

that's weird. are you sure you are using the correct device? ie.,
could be /dev/hdb, /dev/hdc, /dev/hdd, depending on how you have your
box cobbled together.

you should be more specific about what you mean, "setup program can't
find the cdrom". exactly what have you done to determine that?

is the RH still bootable? and if so does RH let you view the cd contents?
maybe the cd is a bad copy, maybe the drive is marginal, maybe both.

if you're lucky, you might find some info in /proc: look at the files in
/proc/ide, (after either RH or slack floppy boot.)

which slack bootdisk are you using? should be using bare.i ...

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

--
William Hunt, Portland Oregon USA

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004, Alex wrote:

> No, I don't get a dmesg indicator - it can't find the cdrom drive to
> look for the media.

phhhhht. you're not trying. if you can boot the slackware floppy
then you -do- get dmesg. eg:

# dmesg | more

read the output carefully, pay particular attention to anything
with 'ide', 'hd', 'cd', 'Matsushita', etc ...

you could even put a copy of your dmesg output onto floppy, take it to
a working machine, and post it here:

# mkdir /floppy
# mount /dev/fd0 /floppy
# dmesg > /floppy/dmesg.out
# umount /floppy


[...]
> I'll let you know what happens.

good.


--
William Hunt, Portland Oregon USA

Alex wrote:

> No, I don't get a dmesg indicator - it can't find the cdrom drive to
> look for the media. I'll try the sbootmgr dsk setup, but I know the
> cdrom can be booted from, that's how I got RedHat on the box, I booted
> from the install cd and overwrote the Windows install. I'll let you
> know what happens.
>
> thanks,
> Alex
I had a similar problem. For some reason the install would not detect the
cdrom when it was set as master. I changed 1 cd drive to slave and
connected it to the hard drive and the cdrom was detected.