Installing Debian Squeeze on a 1201n
 

Hey all,
I'm having trouble installing Debian Squeeze on an Asus 1201n (no disc/floppy). I managed to get the Debian install iso on a USB, it boots into the install screen and before I start the actual install where it loads all the packages onto the disc, it says that it can't find a debian CD (because it's on a USB now...is there I file I can edit in the ISO so it looks for /dev/sdb?). I've tried all the USB tutorials on debian.org, but none of them boot! (even with the USB properly formatted, etc.) The only thing I could get with a semblance correct operation was the Debian-live disc, but it has no HDD install script (ala Ubuntu).

Has anyone managed to get debian onto their 1201n? Please let me know how! I spent all of last weekend trying this with absolutely no results!

How did you prepare the usb stick? Please be specific.

Usually it should be two steps

1. cat boot.img.gz > /dev/foo
2. mount /dev/foo and copy the iso to it

Cheers,

Evo2.

The ones that did not work I used dd to copy the image to /dev/sdb, one one that did work, I used the ubuntu startup disc creator (but it couldn't find the disc...).


I'm trying another method now, so I'll be back with some fresh info in the next hour or two (I hope).


EDIT: I also used the unetbin method without any success.

Well, you still didn't try the standard method as I outlined in my post.
It's just four commands: cat, mount, cp, umount. Let me know if you need more details.

Evo2.

$ sudo cat boot.img.gz > /dev/sdb
bash: /dev/sdb: Permission denied

=(


Here's the method I tried just now though (and failed):

Run unetbootin to make USB drive bootable
*Select "Custom"
*Kernel = the vmlinuz file
*Initrd = the initrd.gz file
*Click "OK" to copy the files to the drive

$ gunzip boot.img.gz
$ mkdir /media/iso
$ mount -o loop boot.img /media/iso

<sudo'd nautilus to dragged everything to usb>
<dragged debian-testing-i386-netinst.iso and debian-testing-i386-CD-1.iso.bak to usb drive>


I booted to the jump drive and it just gave me a flashing cursor for about 10 minutes beneath a short 'about' message for the boot up program on the USB before I gave up. =(


EDIT: I also checked the md5 sums of the ISOs and they were fine.
EDIT2: I also used the amd64 images, but was too lazy to change the filenames in this post
EDIT3: Give me a sec, I found out that just chmod'ing the device is enough to allow root to cat to it.

UPDATE:
Here's what I just did, let me know if it's wrong.


$ sudo chmod 777 /dev/sdb
$ sudo zcat boot.img.gz > /dev/sdb
$ sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdb /media/iso
$ sudo cp debian-testing-amd64-netinst.iso /media/iso


EDIT: Yea this didn't work either. I'm going to be really bummed out if I'm stuck with ubuntu. =(
EDIT2: BTW, the error I'm getting when I boot to USB is: "Boot error" That's it.

This method worked for me, but i tested it with stable:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.p...=53256#p307103
All other methods failed. I ain't got no idea why and gave up, then i ran across the link.

Hmm. That looks fine to me.

Can you confirm that there is no problem with the hardware? For example try doing a usb boot with some other distro using this same usb stick.

Also, are you sure you have the correct boot.img.gz? Where did you get it from?

Cheers,

Evo2.

Well this one at least got me into the boot menu, but it was giving me some sort of kernel module error. Then I realized I used unetbootbin to install lenny, but I put the squeeze ISO on it. I'm going to try throwing the Lenny ISO on it for CD1 and if that doesn't work I think I'm just going to cry myself to sleep tonight.

Evo2: I got the boot.img.gz file from here, which was referenced in the debian wiki. I've used this USB stick to install ubuntu two nights ago after a debian install failed with the same errors I'm having tonight. Oh and I haven't checked the md5 hash of it, but I downloaded it twice (once before ubuntu and once after) and it gives the same errors.

@evo2
My PC boots from USB for sure and i don't have got this problem with any other OS.
I have read lots of how-to's, i had a thread at forums.debian.net, i tried it with Lenny, i tried it with Squeeze, and i tried it for three days.

The odd thing is that for some people it works nice and easy, for others it doesn't
(with my last experience with unetbootin in mind i can imagine that people for whom it works might think one is pretty dump if one doesn't get it running. Took me less than 5 minutes including the download of a netinst-cd with that very last method i linked to)

The question is why it simply doesn't work for some of us.

Ok, so I assume you are following the five steps in the section:

"Squeeze (testing) using an updated d-i"

Can you please just concentrate on this method for now and tell us exactly what errors you get.

Please be sure to redownload the .iso and boot.img.gz files and take note of the time stamps of the files on the server.

Evo2.

I might follow that method if i know where it is to be found.
I used those how-to's:
http://www.linuxconfig.org/install-d...t-memory-stick
http://www.debian.org/releases/stabl...h04s03.html.en
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.p...9&hilit=initrd
http://blogs.koolwal.net/2009/02/25/...rom-usb-drive/
http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/t...without_a.html
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC/H...ndardInstaller

Perhaps some more. The error was:
no CD found.

evo2: My top priority at the moment is to get a working machine, but I'll do my best to do work on the other methods this weekend. I'm about to see if I can use j1alu's method to install squeeze - I got stable working with it, but it had no compiler/wired/wireless support. I couldn't tether to my phone either! If testing works for this method I'll let you know and start documenting the others this weekend (remind me if I forget).

(Of the errors I recall, they were as follows: 'Boot error' or the syslinux screen hanging up for 10 minutes with a blinking cursor line, or just 'No operating system found' and once loading into the install screen only to discover it can't find the sources (keeps looking for the CD, but to be fair, this is because I installed it via the Ubuntu Startup Disc Creator) These are probably useless for you without the methods used, however.)

That method is in the link you posted in post #9.

Evo2.

The key to getting the installer to recognize the usb stick and not query for the CD is to use the hdmedia iso.