Hello there!
I wanted to run knoppix 3.2 on my new medion laptop but it didn't work. I tried with boot option "knoppix 2" that should be in textmode but it didn't work.
The strange thing is that I could boot a gentoo live-cd and a debian based (aGNUla/DeMuDi, some months old) cd so I don't really understand.
I asked a guy and he said that he couldn't boot knoppix (don't know what version, could be fixed for him now) with his geforce 2 and he said that was the problem. Well, I thought that the boot option "knoppix 2" should work but it didn't.
I also wanted wintendo so I tried to boot an XP pro cd (it's some months old) and as far as I know, it fixes practically everything but that wasn't the case here =(

Is the problem my grafic card or something? I heard that it was somewhat unusual, but I wouldn't know. If it is, what can I do to boot cd's properly? I don't have a floppydrive but could I maybe burn over a floppy to a cd, like a windows start floppy?

Anyway here is the output of lspci, could be to some help...

bash-2.05b# lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 650/M650 Host (rev 80)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge (AGP)
0000:00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS962 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 25)
0000:00:02.1 SMBus: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS961/2 SMBus Controller
0000:00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE]
0000:00:02.6 Modem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Modem Controller (rev a0)
0000:00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Sound Controller (rev a0)
0000:00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
0000:00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
0000:00:03.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
0000:00:07.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
0000:00:09.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB1410 Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 65x/M650/740 PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter
0000:02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8180L 802.11b MAC (rev 20)


PS. Yes, I have changed the BIOS to boot from the CD first and than removable devices and last the hd.

Thank you for your help!

Did you download or buy the CD? If downloaded, did the md5sum check correctly and burned so that it is bootable?

check the md5sums on the Linux ISO Images and make sure you know how to burn ISOs in Windows to install Linux
# Cheap CDs
AlmostFreeLinux
Discount Linux CDs
Linux Central
Cheapbytes
TuxCDs
ComputerHelperGuy
CheapISO
Os Heaven

sorry, I forgot to say that they work (at least knoppix) cause I've booted them om my desktop computer. I've also tried damn small linux (that also work on my desktop computer) but it doesn't work either.

I have used Linux for a year or so, so the cd is burned with cdrecord. I'm newbie but not that newbie =)

I know that SIS video isn't supported very well in Linux, but I don't understand why it won't boot knoppix 2. I have booted a tower using an agp SIS video card, but could never run more than the lowest resolution using x

Have you tried any of the other knoppix cheats in your boot attempts (F2 will list them)?

yes, I tried some of them. One I thought would work is "knoppix 2", it said it was textmode only so I figured it wouldn't need any specific driver for my grafic card. But I was wrong, after I typed "knoppix 2" at "boot: " it said tge usual stuff: something about "uncompressing kernel........" and the other line, but after the screen had been cleared nothing happened anymore and I could removed the cd.

Do you think it could just be the grafic card or could it be something else?

Just so you know, it was actually knoppix 3.4

Well, what happens? Does it hang or what? *pulls out knoppix hacks book* Yeah, there is alot of stuff in there that you can pass to the command line to get it to work. Just go to your bookstore, grab "knoppix hacks" and read about boot options. I would recommend getting the book because it has soooooooo much cool stuff in it.

I'm not copying 8 pages out of the book, sorry.

well, yes it hangs. I can't reboot with ctrl-alt-del so I have to cut the power.
After it says "uncompressing kernel etc" I get a blank screen (as I should) but then nothing happens,
the marker (if that's the right term) just blinks and nothing happens.
That's what happens and I don't like it =(

Hmmm... Knoppix 3.4? That's pretty old. The current version is 3.7. Have you given that a try yet? It probably has much better support for newer hardware.

yea, ya probably right. No point just whining =)
Well, the problem might solve itself if I wait long enough, it should just be a question of
support of hardware and it'll come sometime.

Btw, my pal whos xp cd I burned said that some people also had problems with xp in general
(not thar particular cd though) so if I wait good things will happen, right?

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it!