Linux - HardwareThis forum is for Hardware issues.
Having trouble installing a piece of hardware? Want to know if that peripheral is compatible with Linux?
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
This is a real long shot. I am having trouble getting an Osborne Computers 486DX2 machine to boot from CD. I Have a Smallwall distro that I want to put on it to let it act as a firewall. The machine finishes its memory count, tries to boot from floppy and harddisk (previously zapped by a failed RH8 install - not enough memory) and does not even try the CD drive anymore (it used to before RH nuked it.)
I wasnt aware that a 486Dx2 Could boot from a cd.. wow..
anyway...
Press Delete, or F1, or Esc.. or whatever key it says to press during the start up memory test, and browse around the bios, you should find a page that says something like.. Startup or Bootup order, with CD, Floppy, HD and the order the computer checks them in upon startup
Yes, 486 used to be able to boot from CD (or at least this one did - Osborne made great machines). I tried the CMOS setup but there is no way to set boot order :-(
Er and sorry, it is Smoothwall I am trying to install, not Smallwall.
Is there a way to create a boot diskette that hands over to the CD drive on initialisation?
OK, did that. It booted from floppy and at the appropriate point asked me to choose install method (cdrom or http.) Chose CDRom and then it says there is "No IDE CDROM found!" Back to square one. Bosh.
Wow, now that's a real good mess... Perhaps your power supply is going out? Or the cables are not aging gracefully? Cant think of anything short of replacing the drive. Since cd drives are 10$ now should be pretty easy.
Does the bios detect the drive? Try setting the bios manually rather than to autodetect. You may also want to try it on the other ide channel (make sure you change the jumpers)
David & Caeda, thanks for input. I decided to use another machine (an IBM thang) for the firewall as there is no way I am going to start messin with with ide channels, jumpers etc (especially as it was recently workin'). Instead, I shall liberate a new (to me) CD drive on the basis that I've probably fried the one I have somehow and try again. I will get this 486 to work, it's such a fast machine that it is a real pity not to. As I now have a firewall almost set up, I'll nominate the 486 for a drop-in internet station for the kids.
Another option with Smoothwall is a network install. My Smoothwall computer won't boot from CD and the boot disks won't recognize the CDrom drive either.
I just turn on Apache on my Slackware box and dump the install files in there. Then, after booting, just point the setup program to your web server, and you don't need the CD at all. It's supposed to work with ftp also, but I've always just used Apache.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.