unable to launch Fedora 8 boot cd

kuser:) · 01-24-2008, 02:10 PM

Hi, for the purpose of my studying I just burned the Fedora 8 for i686 architecture on 3 of CDs and none of them is working. Two were black CDs from MEMMOREX (not sure about the maker) and one was a silver Sony CD. I tried both the CD-ROM and the DVD-ROM in my computer, and none of the CDs can launch.

The optical drives are trying to launch them but after couple of seconds they skip trying and boot my Windows OS from the hard drive.

I tried both the images available at http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora, and a copy of a CD from my university without any success.
For the CDs I burned at home I used the BOOT CD option in Nero Burning Rom, and to copy I used COPY THE ENTIRE DISK at my university's burning station (they are using nero too, but probably a different version).

I was wondering if there's any key combination or anything I could do to launch the Fedora 8 CD installation process.

If you need my PCs specs, I'd have to check on this but I believe it's a DELL P4 1.4 with 256 MB of RAM. I'll be able to confirm that tonight.

I hope I didn't miss any similar thread with such a problem (I used the search tool!)

jailbait · 01-24-2008, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuser:)

The optical drives are trying to launch them but after couple of seconds they skip trying and boot my Windows OS from the hard drive.

A CD can be made as bootable or not bootable. Your BIOS is acting as if the CDs are made non bootable. The way to check this out is to try booting your CDs on some other computer. If they will not boot on some other computer then you need to take another look at how you are creating the CDs and make sure that you are creating bootable CDs when you copy the CDs.

Some BIOS have bugs where they will not boot a valid bootable CD created using isolinux as the boot loader. You can check this out by taking a Linux install CD of some sort which for sure will boot on some other computer and trying to boot it (not a copy) on your computer.

----------------------------
Steve Stites

stoat · 01-24-2008, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuser:)

For the CDs I burned at home I used the BOOT CD option in Nero Burning Rom

Hello kuser:),

I am taking a risk of insulting you and embarrassing myself, but those words make it sound like you burned the ISO file itself to the CD. It happens a lot, so I have to mention it.

You should be transferring the image in the ISO file. That would be done with an option such as "Disk image or saved project" in Nero Express, for example. It may be called something else in other Nero versions or other software. But the point is to burn the image contained in the ISO file and not the ISO file itself as data.

Examine the files on the CD with a file manager. If you see the ISO file that you downloaded, then you are burning it incorrectly to disk. If you see files and folders, never mind what I have said and accept my apology.

kuser:) · 01-24-2008, 10:23 PM

I wrote down the POST information of the PC:

Code:

Copyright 1996-2002 Intel Corporation
PT.84520A.10A.0015.P02.0205221606
Dell Dimension 4500
BIOS Version A02
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 processor, 1.80 GHz
128 System RAM

Legacy Keyboard .... Detected
Legacy Mouse .... Detected
USB Legacy .... Enabled

Fixed Disk 0: ST340016A
		(Ultra DMA Mode ATA/100)
ATAPI CD-ROM LITE-ON LTR-24102M
ATAPI CD-ROM DVD-ROM DDV163210

I burned CD-RWs (to save on using CD-ROMs). I used the Nero, boot CD options, and even tried the different ISO modes to increase compatibility (no Joliet names etc.). So I burned the live CD i686, and the live CD i686 KDE images - all failed to boot.

Then I tried to install Red Hat 7.2. These CDs were copied at my university from the ones they have for students.
The interesting part is that it would only launch from the CD-ROM, and not from the DVD-ROM.
With normal (graphic mode) installation it went like this:

Code:

Running anaconda - please wait...
Probing for video card: ATI Rage 128
Probing for monitor type: DELL P992
Probing for mouse type: Generic - 3 Button Mouse (PS/2)
Attempting to start framebuffer based X server
Waiting for X server to start...log located in /tmp/X.log
1...2...3...4...5.........................................
.....................X server started successfully
Trackback (innermost first):
 FILE "/usr/bin/anaconda", line 477, in ?
	from splashscreen import SplashScreenShow
 FILE "/usr/lib/anaconda/splashscreen.py", line 21, in ?
	from gtk import *
 FILE "/usr/lib/python1.5/site-packages/gtk.py", line 29, in ?
	_gtk.gtk_init()
Runtime Error: cannot open display
install exited abnormally
sending termination signals...done
sending kill signals...done
disabling swap...
unmounting filesystems...
	/mnt/runtime done
	disabling /dev/loop0
	/proc/bus/usb done
	/proc done
	/dev/pts done
	/mount/source done
ejecting /tmp/cdrom done
you may now safely reboot your system

So I tried the text mode installation, but at about 90% of packages installation it gave me media read error, and a message telling me that there is probably not enough space on my hard drive, and I couldn't get any further. Note that I chose to erase all partitions from the hard drive which was done successfully.

In the end I tried Windows XP Professional CD (an original bootable CD from Microsoft) and it ran just fine. I can install Windows from this CD without any problems.

My guess is maybe there's not enough RAM on this PC to launch the Live Fedora 8 CDs. I wonder what you guys think.

And stoat, don't worry; the only help I consider a bad help is no help at all

jailbait, I'm going to try the CDs I burned on my university's PCs tomorrow morning 'cause I ran out of time today. I will also check what's on the CDs I burned just to make sure. Right now I'm unable to do it 'cause stupid Windows doesn't see anything on them.

-------------------
Ok guys, I just tried all the CD-RWs I burned at home and none of them worked at my university so I guess I'll give you a step-by-step listing of how I'm burning them, but that'll be tonight at the soonest.

Ok, here's how I burn the CDs:

In Nero Burning ROM:
1. I choose "New compilation"
2. I select the kind of compilation and I choose the ISO file:
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/8127/001zm1.gif
3. I set up the compilation like this:
http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/1971/002ej7.gif
and I also tried these settings:
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/298/003vc3.gif
4. I set up burning options as in the screen below:
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/7193/004wj4.gif
and I burn it.

I guess I'm either burning the CDs incorrectly, something's wrong with the DVD drive, or they can't read the CDs I'm using. I just installed Windows from a bootable CD and all went fine, but the DVD doesn't read ANY CDs (even the Windows bootable one).
--------------
My instructor was so kind to give me a boot CD, so I'm going to see if it runs and then check all my hardware and everything to make sure all is working (or not working).

--------------------
Guys, the new CD from my instructor works, but since the computer has only 128 MB RAM the startup ends with a black screen and the login command prompt. How do I install Fedora 8 from that point?

kuser:) · 02-04-2008, 10:26 PM

guys please, is there any command to install it if it gets to the black login screen? I can log in as root, but don't know what to do next...

lazlow · 02-05-2008, 01:24 AM

On whether the CD was burned in the proper manner: With a running computer look at what is on the CD/DVD. If you see one file (Fedora.iso or something) you have not burned it in the proper manner. If you see files and subdirectories you have burned it in the proper manner.

There is a further complication on the iso: Have you checked the sha1sum of the ISO to make sure that it was downloaded without error. Assuming that it was you should also check the sha1sum of the burned disk to make sure it was also burned without error.

Minimum Graphical install (F8) requires 192MB of ram, 128MB for text only: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Beats/ArchSpecific

kuser:) · 02-05-2008, 11:16 PM

I solved it!
The point is not to burn the media as bootable or new iso compilation. All you do is you open the existing iso compilation file (downloaded from the internet) in NERO and burn it this way!

I found this website helpful: http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/ins...ll-cd-dvd.html

Also, instead of the Live isos, I should have downloaded the "Install Media" i386 DVD one, since it has the installation option right in the boot loader.

Lastly, I thought I would be unable to see the folders and files in Windows after burning the media. I was wrong. If you burn it properly, you'll see all the contents of the CD or DVD. If not, all you'll see is just the media's label name (if you gave it one) and nothing inside.

And I'll be needing more help with other stuff too!

Thank you for your time and effort friends!