boot log
 

any way to save the log of a boot that hangs?
i have to boot from the HD instead of cd (no cd burner), some distros hang when i try booting them, so I was looking for a way to save the log to a text file so i can examine it further. (i have a working os(puppy) to which i could access the file)

It depends on where it locks up.

If the kernel is crashing before the OS even loads, then I can't think of any way to log that output short of a serial terminal. If the machine locks up after the kernel is initialized and the OS has begun starting up processes and the like, then the kernel output should have been saved to a log file already.

Try booting into Puppy and seeing if there is a file along the lines of /var/log/dmesg, and see what it contains.

no such file exists on either partition.
and I'm not sure if it hangs on the kernel, or initrd