Hi Gregg...

I'm sorry but I don't support Puppy Linux because of a certain "legal issue" or question. I'm happy to support Xubuntu, if you'd like to try that one.

Regards...

Sure, ardvark. At this point I'd like to get something on there. Anything really. What would be the smallest Xubuntu I could get on there? I'd give it a try. But I don't know. Like I said, when I chose the CD drive in the BIOS the computer did nothing.

I notice that the instructions for updating the BIOS on that machine are to download a program, put it on a bootable DOS USB flash drive, and boot from it, which implies that the machine is capable of booting from a properly formatted USB flash drive.

Hi Gregg...

Hmm. Take a look at "page 2 of 7" using rokytnji's link here. Hopefully, you will see the same thing. Is the CD-ROM listed? If so, make sure it's at the top of the list using the "u" or "d" key.

Regards...

Thanks rk. The USB drive I've been using is NTFS and it's been empty (except for the install file). I should have a bootable DOS USB drive? The last OS on this laptop was Xubuntu. And I don't really know how to make a bootable DOS USB drive. Actually I don't think the USB drives I'm making now are bootable. Or at least that's the way it seems.

Ardvark, This is what I see. (screenshot). I can't move the order around with "u" or "d" or any other key. (When CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive is highlighted or any of them are highlighted.)

Attached Thumbnails

 

Up and down arrow keys to change the menu. But. Something sounds broke somewhere if no cd's boot.

Even the screen gives instructions.

Edit:

This thread is turning into a wonderment.

Agree on the wonderment comment. But it seems to me it shouldn't be. And as far as the screen giving instructions, that's just for choosing which device to boot from. Ardvark is talking about changing the order of the boot devices.

I of course don't know what the exact requirement might be. The instructions for any Linux distribution should tell you how to make a bootable USB flash drive with the installer. Sometimes it's as simple as "dd if=whatever.iso of=/dev/sdX" (that's for a hybrid ISO), others have more complex instructions to follow. But either way, the partition on that drive is not likely to be one of the DOS FAT variants.

If the problem is the BIOS insisting on a particular partition type, you could try just using fdisk to change the partition type to 0x0b (W95 FAT32) or 0x0c (W95 FAT32 (LBA)). Make sure that partition is flagged as "active" and see if that works. Linux doesn't care much about the partition type. The change would be just to make the BIOS happy. But you would need to have a working Linux machine to make the change. You can't do it in Windows without destroying the filesystem in the partition.

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Thanks rk. See, like I was saying, I think I'm doing something wrong or leaving something out. I have just been downloading an install file and then burning it onto a CD or USB drive. There is nothing about following instructions on how to make a bootable USB with the installer. In fact, there's been nothing about an installer. I'm sure this is my fault as I'm taking on more than I know to handle.

I think I need to backtrack and find out just what exactly makes for a bootable USB drive/CD. Seems I've made several unbootable USB drives and CDs so far.

When you are making an actual CD, you have to be sure to select "Burn as image" or the equivalent. The sign that you have done it wrong is when you mount the CD in Windows (or other OS) and see just one file there. That indicates that the drive has an ISO9660 filesystem with the ISO image inside it. That's wrong. The ISO image is a bootable ISO9660 filesystem and needs to be copied to the raw disk.

Instructions for making a bootable USB flash drive using either Windows or Linux can generally be found from the home page for whatever Linux distribution you select, but of course you need to have some machine with some working OS to do that. Reading through this discussion, I'm not sure what position you find yourself in right now.

Hi Gregg...

From what I can see from your thumbnail, you're not in the BIOS. I think that's part of the problem but at the same time, it should boot using your method. Going into the BIOS would possibly give you an idea if the drive is being recognized or not.

The BIOS screen It should look like what I mentioned in my last post (using rokytnji's link.) You will need to take a quick look at the Dell splash screen to see what key will get you in. It will most likely say "Setup" instead of BIOS.

Regards...

Thanks rk. Yes, I have burned (I'm not positive I've "burned as image"--I'll check next time I do it.) the file where it is in a split-up state on the USB flash drive.

Regarding your

The laptop I'm trying to install on does NOT have an OS. So I knew I couldn't install with Unetbootin, but some people are saying I should still be able to install it.

An additional thought, per Ardvark's last post--I'm not even in the BIOS.

Thanks Ardvark. I may be wrong (I won't be on that computer till tomorrow) but I don't think there is any info on the splash screen as to which key to hit. But yeah, I'll check tomorrow.

Just a friendly reminder from one of my previous posts

Anyways. That is what I read on the dell forum for your model number .