Well here's a weird thing. I have just installed a new 80gb IDE hard drive by Hitachi, bought from Bipra, into my laptop. I went to install Bodhi Linux and notice this unusual message when booting from the disc:


BOOT CD-ROM TYPE: CD-ROM/Non-Emulation Booting

Anyway to cut a long story short - I have tried installing Bodhi Linux, Xubuntu and Ubuntu and in each case I have the same problem after this message - it installs fine but with some unusual flash up pictures where I get two of the picture on the top third of the screen - but then when installed - no wi fi. Nothing available to connect to. Then when I try to shut down it gets stuck.

I then tried installing Windows 7 - no problems whatsoever - installed fine, everything there - wifi working and list of networks to choose from. It still had the non-emulation booting message at the start though.

So I want to know what the heck is going on with this new hard drive that it will install Windows 7 but not Linux.

I am no computer expert, but do know how to install an operating system. My powers of deduction tell me it is something to do with

a) this weird message (what IS non-emulation booting).
b) ISO's burned to discs rather than manufacture produced discs (all the discs are fine I have used them on other machines).
c) Some software on the hard-drive that only lets it work on Windows 7!

Any help would be very grateful received as I want Linux on it!

Incidentally, all was perfectly fine with the old hard drive.

I'd suggest you run a copy of PartedMagic: that runs in RAM and will let you see what the current structure of the hard drive looks like. Even some other small distro (Puppy, TinyCore) that could run in RAM will be separate from the hard drive itself and give you at least some sense of what might be the problem.

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Thanks. I have a CD of Puppy linux with gparted on - would that do? When I loaded the OS earlier, at the partition stage it just showed the whole 80gb drive to partition. Well slightly less than 80gb.

did you disable secure boot?

There doesn't seem to be a 'secure boot' option in my bios. I did try resetting the bios to default but it didn't make any difference.

The laptop is a Packard Bell Easynote R1000 - quite basic and I suppose a bit old but was in perfect working condition - had it since new and it's only had light use.

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The shotgun...

The 80GB HDD is the only HDD in the machine? Something on some storage medium is reacting to anything other than the one type of CD/DVD it expects.

Are you trying to boot a linux CD starting with the computer shut down? Can you boot a linux CD without any HDD installed?

If you can, the problem is most likely in the OS, but if you can't it is the BIOS. Can you make any useful changes in your BIOS settings? Can you update your BIOS(an Internet recommended solution)?

Are you trying to boot the newest versions linux? Can you indeed boot a CD of Puppy?

If yes, you could then use GParted on it or on PartedMagic to look at the partition and possibly format the HDD, provided that would help. You can also put Puppy or PartedMagic on a USB-stick provided you are allowed to boot from a USB.

As a BIOS work-around, and if there is a drive, you might be able to use a floppy to boot a linux CD. The PLoP boot manager should also work, if you can get it to boot from a floppy or a USB.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/boot-fr...t-via-plop-cd/

Lastly, when you installed Windows 7, did you put everything on one partition, or let Windows set up with two or more? You can legally download a copy of the Windows 7 installation DVD for your license and use it to make a custom installation of Windows 7 on one partition in the expectation that the problem will go away. That is if the problem resides in the OS installation, and not the BIOS.



https://sites.google.com/site/linuxl...ry/windows-iso

If you run Gparted from your Puppy LiveCD, look in the upper right-hand corner where it shows what drive it is displaying. There is an arrow (or maybe two, up and down) which you can click to show any other drive that is present in the machine.

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Please can you confirm if this is your computer?!

If yes then it is better to install some lightweight GNU/Linux distribution, like Lubuntu, or Antix, or any other aimed for old computers, the lighter the merrier.
Best way to check out if the system in question is going to run well in your computer is to run from a USB pendrive to avoid wasting CDs, for that use Yumi in order to create a bootable USB device, if the live session runs really well/fast then you can then install the system in the hard drive.
Things you should pay attention before installing the system, CPU and memory usage, smaller the usage the better, for that open the system monitor for the current live session that you are running.

Regards

a) not an issue I think.

b) some old systems can't run cd-r or cd-rw at all. Most can use cd-r if burned at the very slowest speed, on best quality disk. New systems don't care.

c) not hard drive, system. Almost no computer is testing with linux. Run memtest for a few days, set bios to default or failsafe, check all connections, use best quality cables like hard drive, run OEM hard drive diags, test power supply, use common keyboard, remove extra cards from slots.

If it's a significantly old system you might need to install a non-pae kernel with your linux distro. Probably something with 486 in the name depending on the distro.

# apt-get install linux-image-486

(in the case of debian)

Thank you very much for all that advice. Yes the 80gb is the only drive. There are no sd card slots in the computer - the only other drive is the cd drive. All the Linux discs are non PAE and lowest spec, because I burned them to install on a really basic netbook - the Eee 701 8gb. Interestingly I had a CD of Crunchbang Linux which I had bought from the Linux shop so I tried that after posting this, thinking it may have been burned better - that one wouldn't load at all - got stuck part way.

The only other thing of significance I can think, regarding drives, is - that because the left mouse click no longer works, I use a plug in usb mouse - so one of the usb slots is in use via the plug in mouse.

The Xubuntu version installed perfectly well before I replaced the drive.

Yes I did wonder about updating the bios - I have the latest bios on a memory stick but wasn't quite sure how to update them without the laptops original Packard Bell software. And was also a bit reluctant as I know updating bios can mess things up completely if it goes wrong. Have updated bios many times on the Eee PC's but always done it through the Asus Update utility that came with XP and Windows 7.

Yes the computer is shut down before I boot the Linux cd - the cd drive won't open when the computer is switched off. So I switch it on, wait till it has booted whatever OS is still on there, put the cd in, shut down, then reboot. It does boot and it does load the OS but it loads the Linux ones either incorrectly or does something to the wifi.

So is this non-emulating booting thing telling me there is some other drive trying to boot as well then?

I did wonder about wiping the new drive in case there was some software on it.

Yes when I loaded Windows 7 I allowed it to make it's two partitions. I deleted any partitions, allowed it to make the two new ones, then formatted them. Windows 7 worked fine. I then went to try and install Bodhi Linux again (which is very light) - booted into ram for that one. Bodhi, xubuntu and Ubuntu have all loaded the same - no wifi afterwards and won't shut down. Crunchbang got stuck at the loading stage.

The only other thing I can think is, as you mentioned, something to do with the bios being compatible with the hard drive (the hard drive does show up in the bios) - the bios do seem very basic with not many options, unlike my Eee bios.

The original hard drive was only 50gb (a Seagate).

The new hard drive just slotted in where I took the old one out but I did notice there were two extra pins at one end, that are not plugged into anything.

Am going to go and try live booting with Puppy now.

Opened GParted in Puppy - it just showed the 80gb drive (well 74gb in the 'drive' box with the arrows (no other drives) and in the main partition box it showed as 72gb. Partitioned as for Bodhi Linux which is still installed). Again, it wouldn't shut down afterwards and got stuck, so had to switch off.

Am just doing mem test - although not sure what that is/does! Check the memory chip?

It says 'Memtest86 v4.20

It has 2gb crucial ram installed which I installed about 4 years old.

I'm just wondering what is in Windows, that isn't in Linux that is making it ok - maybe extra drivers? But the non-emulating booting message is still weird.

It sounds like Parted Magic has more tools - assume I can just download and burn it? After doing some googling I found a spanish post that had a similar thing and got round it, as you suggest, using parted magic and Plop boot manager - but it would be nice to know why this is happening.

Yes it is our computer - had it since new. Do have another laptop though, so can burn discs.

Mem test is taking a long time so will post again later.

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Mem test is Ok. Just taken hard drive out to have a look at it - one of the pins looked a bit bent, so straightened it and put it back in. Now tried reloading Xubuntu without the usb mouse plugged in - still comes up with the non-emulation booting message and there's still a wifi problem as part way through loading it says it can't configure it. But there's clearly nothing wrong with wifi card if it was fine in Windows 7 and found all the networks and connected ok. So am wondering if it is a driver/hardware thing. Will check to see if it will shut down properly now. I guess both Bodhi and Xubuntu are based on Ubuntu, so maybe it is an Ubuntu driver thing. I do have a copy of Linux Mint but I know that won't run on this laptop. When I install Bodhi I boot into ram then install afterwards, but even booted into RAM and running live, there is no wifi icon to connect to.

So - the non-emulation booting message is something to do with the laptop thinking there is more than one hard drive is it?

Ok to summarise:

Have non-emulation booting message, no wifi, won't shutdown, when installing any Ubuntu-based Linux.

Will load and run Windows 7 no problem - wifi fine, connection fine, shutdown fine.

Memory Ok, no bent hard disk pins, bios reset to default.

Update - just reinstalled Windows 7 so I could update the bios and now wifi not working on Windows 7 either. So I guess there could be a problem with the wifi card. But doesn't explain not shutting down in Linux/Ubuntu.

Hi.Could just need 'non-free' or older Firmware, if it is not malfunctioning? Best wishes and have fun.

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