I am a complete linux noob! I am using Suse 9.1 as the ONLY OS on a box I am using as a UT2K4 server. I have two issues relating to th boot up of the machine...

1. No matter what I set the BIOS to do, the machine boots to linux. IT will not boot from floppy, it will not boot from cd. I need to flash my bios on the oard, and it won't do anything, but boot from the floppy. All the ?s about booting I can find relate to booting windows, I don't have windows on thebox and don't want it.

2. I also know eactly how to start my ut2k4 server using the command line, so I want to turn off the graphical interface to save resources.

Please help!

Let me first repeat what I think you want to do:

You would like to boot from a floppy in order to update your BIOS?

Or do you want to update you BIOS in order to boot from a floppy ?

Sorry, but both issues are totally unrelated to any kind of OS. In both cases you need to deal with the BIOS settings. Linux can't do anything for you.

Or do you want to boot Linux using a floppy?

Then have a look at one of the SuSE-mirrors near you (see SuSE webpage) and download the disk images from the /boot directory of the 9.1 folder. Copy them in new floppies and try to use them to boot your system. Alternatively, in the same folder you'll find a boot.iso to create a boot-CD.

Hi BigFNDeal,

to point 1:

Maybe it´s a problem in the security-settings of your BIOS.
Check, if there is an option, that denies booting from "removable media" (like floppy).
In some BIOSes, there are up to three possibilities, to prevent booting from CD or floppy.

a) CDROM enabled in BIOS (I think so)
b) order of boot-devices (floppy should then be 1st, then CDROM, then harddisk)
c) security settings, that don´t allow booting from CDROM and/or floppy

Maybe, it´s a workaround for you, to choose the "floppy" section in your GRUB-Bootloader

to point 2:

turn off that graphical interface means to boot in runlevel 3 (multiuser with network)
to test it, you can simply switch to another screen by typing [ctrl - alt - F2], login as root and type in "init 3". You should recieve a message like "runlevel 3 reached".

To set it for every boot (so as an standard):
start yast, system, runlevel editor - switch to "expert mode"
there you can set the "standard runlevel after system start" to "3 multiuser with network"

Hope it helps

Pete

Thank you, that was VERY Helpful. I followed your instructions and it worked flawlessly!

As for point 1, I decided in the end to simply remove the CMOS battery, wait a while, and replace it. This did the trick, as I was immediately able to boot from whatever device I choose.

Shap