Can't boot Fedora Core 3 DVD
 

I have Mandrake 9.2 on my hard drive currently - though it was installed on a previous hardware system. On upgrading to my current build (including an AMD 64 bit processor), I wanted to try Fedora Core 3. I downloaded a DVD iso image and burned it to DVD (I simply burned the iso image to the DVD using Roxio - from what I read on help, you shouldn't use the "bootable CD" option when using an ISO image - just burn the ISO file as a single file).

However, this DVD is not bootable. When I insert and fire up my computer (I set BIOS to boot from CD), it starts with a CD boot - hangs there for a few seconds - and then jumps to the hard drive trying to load Mandrake. My guess is that the DVD is not bootable, but how do I fix this? Should I have burned using the "bootable CD option"?

Have you tried to reburn the ISO with and without the bootbale CD option?

The reason you don't use the bootable option is becuae the iso image itself is supposed to bootable. So I would try reburning the image.

Also, I believe you can download a MD5 Checksum utiltiy to verify the ISO image. A google search, or a search of these forums should help with that.

Also, I've seen and read some really good things about 64 Bit Debian and plan on using it when I upgrade to my next system.

Good Luck,

Mick

No, I haven't yet burned with bootable option. I wanted to ask before using up another DVD-R. I had searched around, and someone specifically had said NOT to use the "bootable" option when burning an ISO file. Using the "bootable" option also brings up more issues because Roxio asks if it should have floppy emulation, hard disk emulation, no emulation, etc. I should figure out what all those options are first!

Okay, I just did an md5sum, and the number did NOT match what was posted on the mirror. So I downloaded the DVD iso again - and again the md5sum did not match - however, I think it was the same number as before (I didn't write it all down). Is it possible that the DVD iso on the mirror site is simply corrupted? Or is this common when downloading such a large file? Perhaps just the 4 CDs would be better...

I should comment that most of the FTP sites start with yarrow - this one did not. I have no idea what that is.

Couple of things...
It sounds as if you are just burning the .iso file to a dvd, what you need to do is use Roxio to create a DVD from an image. That way it effectively "extracts" the contents of the iso file and creates a bootable dvd disk. Once you have created the DVD pop it into a drive and have a look, there should be a lot more than one file. I may be wrong but have a look at your dvd, does it just conatain 1 file, the FC3 DVD.iso file ???
Secondly you sound as if you are downloading the dvd image onto a windows machine. I have never managed to get windows to downlaod a file bigger than 2Gb before with sucess. If you are not using bittorrent then I suggest using linux with a simple wget command.
Hope this helps,
David.

Whoops - forgot to post back. Indeed I was burning the ISO file instead of as an image. I found Roxio to be a pain here - an ISO image seems to burn only when right-click on the file and then selecting Burn. If I go through Roxio, I just can't find a way to burn the image as a bootable file.

Yes, I'm burning with Windows - but strangely enough I had no trouble downloading the 4 Gb ISO file! :) And after doing the right-click -> Burn, I was able to successfully install Fedora. I still have to get my ethernet recognized though...

I'm glad that you now have fedora up an running, I am amazed that winblows downloaded 4Gb for you with no errors, was it by ftp or http, can you remember ?? bittorrent is a different kettle of fish altogether....
With regards to your ethernet card, do you know what brand it is ??? I have only ever used oldish 3com or intel ones which have been both fast enough and readily recognised. Looking at your signature file I imagine yours may well be a bit newer.... try the manufacturers web site for an .rpm or do a google search, it solves most of my problems.
Good luck,
David.

I downloaded via FTP. Good luck I guess! :)

The ethernet I have is on-board. When I did "show details" on startup, I noticed it had trouble with the ethernet. Naturally, I had no internet. When I then did a network setup and choose ethernet, it found the port - called it eth0. I was able to set it to obtain IP from DHCP via my router. But when I went to activate it, it said there was a problem activating. Didn't really give much more. I'm going to check out ifconfig and the hardware list to see if I can find what could be the problem. When I had installed Fedora Core 1 on my old machine (with a PCI ethernet card), I had no trouble.