Blank Hardrive Install

I want to Install Linux onto a blank hardrive on a 1998 Dell Dimension XPS R400 With a Pentium II Processor but everytime I turn on the computer no matter what is in the CD-Rom or Floppy Drives it says: "Invalid System Disk Please Replace and press any key to continue" What should I do.... This is the first time i have ever installed linux on any machine. Thanks in Advance.

Well for starters it sounds like you dont have your boot order setup correctly. Usually when a dell boots up you can hit F2 to enter the bios. Make sure that you have the cdrom as the first boot device. After that just save the setup and it will restart.

hi and welcome to LQ.

is the cd set to boot in the BIOS?

*edit: fender36, you beat me to it.

The distro has got to be on a bootable disk to be able to run...

If not, you have to create some form of start disk to launch the bootloader for the install program. If you have a floppy drive on the machine, then create it on a floppy and go from there.

I have the BIOS set up like you say and I have a bootable disk & Floppies but either one I use it just says that Invalid System Disk error and it doesn't do anything...

Like the others said, in your BIOS is it set to boot from CD FIRST?

And are you SURE that you have a bootable CD? Did you create it yourself or get if from elsewhere?

Yes The CD is set to BOOT first and I made the CD myself exactly how the manual said so if it doesn't work or isn't bootable its the manual's fault not mine.

Originally posted by mchsrifle189 Yes The CD is set to BOOT first and I made the CD myself exactly how the manual said so if it doesn't work or isn't bootable its the manual's fault not mine.

And how did you make the CD? You had an ISO image on your hard disk and did what?

I downloaded the ISO on a different Computer and used NERO to burn the CD Image onto a CD-R. BTW I am trying to install SUSE.

Originally posted by mchsrifle189 I downloaded the ISO on a different Computer and used NERO to burn the CD Image onto a CD-R. BTW I am trying to install SUSE.

Using the 'burn disk image' (or whatever it's called) function? Not the "create data CD' function? Damn it, if that's all right then I have no idea

If you open the CD on your other computer, do you see a single .iso file or a whole load of stuff?

I used the Burn CD Image and when I open it on the other computer (The one im using now) it has a whole bunch of stuff on it. BTW I have also Tried a Live CD version but that doesn't boot up either...

Bugger. I'm stumped. Sorry if all that stuff seemed patronising, but it's actually a pretty common problem that people have burned an ISO as a single file on a data CD. It seemed best to get the obvious out of the way first!

I can't think what else could be the problem other than a problem with the BIOS or the hardware.

Do you think I could try Putting the blank harddrive as a slave in this computer(the one I'm using now) and trying to install it then switching the harddrive back to the other one???

wait a minute...i had the exact same problem on a Dell XPS (don't remember the number) pentium II machine!

the problem was a bad ide controller, so the cdrom drive didn't work. try switching where the cdrom is plugged into and see if it'll boot to the cd.

btw, a couple days after the ide controller died, the motherboard was trash. i swear everything else was fine, but maybe dell put mad mb's in their pII xps's.

By "Switch where the CD-rom drive is connected" do you mean like physically go into the computer and move wires and plugs or tell the computer to look somewhere different?