Install Linux on netbook that will only boot from hard drive?
 

I bought a Samsung N150 netbook with the idea that I would install Linux on it.

Now that I have it, I learn that it will *only* boot from the hard drive.

Is there any Linux distribution that can install itself on this machine? Preferably in a separate partition allowing boot to either Linux or Win 7.

This needs to be a high confidence installation, because if the existing Win 7 installation is screwed up there appears to be no way to recover.

I once saw a tutorial for loading an iso image in grub4dos. I think you should look for something like that.

Disclaimer: Bratmon is not responsible for system damage. Take advice at your own risk.


Also, are you sure it can't boot from usb?

A quick search online showed the Samsung N150 can boot to any USB device, you just need to adjust the settings in the BIOS. From there you can either use a USB CD-ROM and load install CDs normally, or create a bootable USB drive and install from that.

There is at least one post on the Ubuntu forums about a person successfully installing Ubuntu on the N150 over USB.

Problem Solved
 

The first entry in the BIOS boot sequence is "USB CD (N/A)". The help says that "<Shift + 1> enables or disables a device." Not on this machine it doesn't. <Shift + 1> just makes a beep.

I found the solution. I had the CD image on an SD card in the reader and on it I found a program called wubi.exe. Wubi is a Windows program that installs Ubuntu in a folder on the Windows partition. (Why would someone name an installer wubi?) It modifies the boot sector to offer you the choice of booting to Windows or Ubuntu.

I would rather that Ubuntu were in its own partition, but this works.

Thanks to both of you for trying to help.

"N/A" means "not applicable", so it is telling you that it hasn't detected a USB CD-ROM. When you try to enable it, obviously that isn't going to work because it doesn't detect your device.

That also wouldn't be the option to select for booting to a USB flash device, that is only to boot to a USB CD-ROM. You didn't say which you were trying to do.

I had a CD image on an SD card inserted in the card slot. Win 7 recognized it and installed Ubuntu to a folder on the Win partition. The BIOS did not recognize the same image.

I just chatted with SamSung support and the "tech" didn't know squat about BIOS.

Have you tried booting from USB as was suggested? Unetbootin is a useful tool.

Wubi; Windows UBuntu Installer ;)

I had a similar installation a while ago. I just put the HDD in another computer.

I wouldn't touch your hard drive until you find out how to return to OEM state.

Your netbook ought to boot to a USB device. See pendrivelinux.com for ideas on how to be a flash drive linux install. It might be the safest way to make linux work. A $5 1G flash could be used for a great starting point. They run fast enough too from usb's. I use then all the time.

While you are at it you may wish to create an image of your hard drive or see how one is supposed to return to OEM state. Might be a hidden partition on boot use F key?

Could borrow a pal's usb cd drive to run live cd's.

I have one question... Windows7? If you have windows 7 I'd just do a hdd install on another computer and swap back.

If you do this I'd note the following:

1) Make sure it's a 32bit computer with similar part.

2) Have either Vista or Win7 already installed
- copy your cd key for backup

3) Back up every personal file on the computer, unless nothing is worth it.

Why all that? Well really as long as you load a generic kernel with all the generic modules loading you shouldn't have any hardware problems as long as it's x86 based, or is it 386? Something like that. As far as Vista/Win7? Both of those use the same install methods, basically you copy all the files, reboot, THEN it installs (well configures) everything. It's not like WindowsX where you had to have the drivers loaded for it to install right. They just have a single install image (install.wim?) and that has every driver ect for it to run. That's how we get the WinPE tech running, because really it's all there. Basically you can swap hdd's with win7/vista to almost any computer and it will boot just fine. People have argued me with this, and I know it's not reccomended but I do it all the time. I never re-install windows when I upgrade stuff, and I went from a AMD64 (semperon) to a phenom II x2. So I'd really suggest swap if you want, it'd save you a shit tone of hastle if you want it as a partition.

That isn't how BIOS works. It doesn't understand disc images or anything that advanced, you need to have a physical USB CD-ROM drive, or else setup the USB device itself with a bootloader.

Just putting an ISO on a storage device will do absolutely nothing.

MS3FGX, John V is talking about a different deal. I think ubuntu has a batch file or exe file that can install ubuntu like wubi does. What he means is copy the iso contents to a sd and run from windows, not boot to sd.

There are some distro's that are like that.


Still the VM is a good first choice. (second plug for that idea)

I used unetbootin to create the CD image on the flash drive that BIOS didn't recognize as a CD.

Both Windows 7 and Mac OS X recognized the image as a disk and treated it as such. BIOS did not. I have ordered an external CD/DVD drive because I've been wanting one anyway, and we'll see if BIOS will boot from it. Not that it's needed, since I do have Ubuntu installed now.

It wasn't an ISO, it was a DMG installed on the SD card with unetbootin.

Hate to sound like a broken record, but have you tried booting from an inexpensive USB thumb drive, as several of us have suggested? Clearly your BIOS does not support boot from SD. :)

http://www.sammynetbook.com/plugins/...opic.php?11842