Yea, same error as always

Hey guy, I've got nothing else to do for the moment, so don't worry about my state of mind. I think that a lot of dependencies are missing to install the GUI, since you used the first KDE CD. At this time I think you'll get a system with GUI up and running a lot faster if you get the NETINST from Debian (this link) and restart from there. It will get you a GUI and everything if at the final step you select Desktop.

Kind regards,

Eric

At least the NETINST CD is something I've used a lot in the past and it's fast en good. Never used the KDE CD although it should work out too.

Shall we go for a netinst? If so, I need to clean off the drive and menu, as we talk about earlier.

Ok, no problem. Shall I clean of the partition, and the now-junk menu?

wait though Lorax
if your gonna burn a cd
a net install cd is kinda waste of 700MB

I do not mean to step on your toes EraicTRA at all

I suggest you either
go get this script
and download all the isos'
that it will make into a cd
http://multicd.tuxfamily.org/

Note also that all my stuff comes with netbootcd-3.1.2
which can net-install any Major distro!
http://netbootcd.tuxfamily.org/

so, i got netbootcd on phalanx-9.04
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Syste...DE-52442.shtml

the smallest download I have with netbootcd-3.1.2
is...errr.
damn I dont have anything small..

so, you wanna put netbootcd-3.1.2 by itself on usb??
its like 6MB!

Hello,

Yes, clean out the house (at least for what concerns this Debian install).

Download the netinst from the link I posted (it's only 150Mb so should take long) and boot from that. You don't have to clean up the boot menu list in my opinion.

I also found you a step by step guide for this particular install, with screenshots and everything:
The Perfect Desktop

Kind regards,

Eric

I loaned USB drive to someone yesterday :-<
And I can't burn CDs.
If I can NETINST, it may just be the ticket.
But I just want to know why. Why did Ubuntu load, and boot, but only once and quite crappy. Why did Kubuntu load and boot, only once (but it worked like a dream!) ??? The rest of them get NEARLY finished before errors start, or Beast freezes......

Anyway, NETINST now??!!!

What's the fastest way to properly clean the partition? Not sure if I have patience to download some other software at this point. Should I use winderz to format that partition? Then, the new install can re-format it again to ext3 or whatever...

Hello linus72,

Don't worry, I've got pretty large toes ;) figuratively speaking that is.

That's a pretty good idea you posted there. This way Lorax can install several NETINST from one CD without having to burn another one everytime. I'm downloading as we speak because I think it's a pretty nifty thing to have around.

Damn, my internet is playing tricks on me again. Been having ADSL problems for months here and the freaking company apparently cannot find what's wrong. Going off and on and off and on.

Kind regards,

Eric

I would go for the netinst now and I don't think there's need to delete the partition. Just indicate the partition to install on when asked and the partitioner should take care of it, reformat it and copy the new files onto it.

Why the others failed, ran once, or ran good, I don't know. That's pretty hard to say at this moment.

Kind regards,

Eric

Thanks so much for all the help guys!
I imagine this will take a few hours, so I'll post here when it's done.
Peace!

No problem Lorax, hope to hear success story pretty soon

Kind regards,

Eric

Oh dang!
One more thing...
When the winders download dialog pops up, has two radio buttons: Open with, or Save file, which one shall I choose for NETINST?

Save, it's an iso like the others.

I'm not kidding at all when I say, it all fell apart exactly like I expected it to.
There are two identical OS', besides windows: The failed CD Debian, And the now-failed NETINST Debian, both reading each others files, causing confusion, not to mention the two menus now. When the original menu pops up, I need to select Windows, just to get to another menu, with windows and Debian. Try again....

This is so freaking strange, I really don't have a clue why this is happening. If I understand correctly you are just booting from the Grub4Dos which refers to an image of Debian. Is there any possibility you can make screenshots of the steps you make before rebooting into Linux and post them?

Kind regards,

Eric

This is getting out of hand. One install attempt creates a menu. Another attempt creates a SUB-menu. I actually now have 3 Debians. I need to clean the shxt off.

The error box, after the initial reboot (approx 2 min into the installation) says, Your CD Rom could not be mounted. Put it in the drive and try again.

There is definately cross-talk between the two attempted Debians. In the past few min I was asked for my password. WHAT? I didn't eve get far enough to CREATE a password.

I suppose this couldn't actually happen when you are trying to install over a completely different OS, like Debian over Slackware, or Fedora over Windows.

Sub-GRUBs

Hi,

Ok, first things first, let's clean up everything.

Open your c:\boot.ini file and delete the line
Next delete all the files in the directory C:\boot. That should take care of your boot menu problem and the multiple images.

After that clean up all your partitions except the Windows partition of course.

Next step is to extract the two necessary files from the netinst iso as explained in the howto you used.

And then start from scratch installing grub4dos and configuring the boot options.

That should at least give you a clean install with only this Debian netinst.

Kind regards,

Eric

I would try it here but problem is that I don't have any Windoze pc in the house.

In my unqualified opinion, I'd say it's not any hardware issue. My winderz installs and operates like a dreamboat. I'm on a 30-day trial of xp, re-installed monthly for several years now. I like to be objectional but I don't think I an idiot when partitioning and formatting, and I'm always always careful when making OS selections, changes. I just think there is too much JUNK on my drives, IMO

You always install your Windows from CD right? Do you have any option, a friend or so that can download the Debian NETINST image for you and burn it on a CD from which you can then boot?

ok, zapped the files, then will re-dl the grub4dos, then clean the partition....

is the netinst any different from the iso cd that i was using all week?

Ok, winderz is formatting the drive. That should do the trick! Still on 20%, so I will go roll a cig n smoke a bit. Then I'll get back to creating the boot thingy

Yeah, the NETINST CD is only the basics that get you up and running and connected to the internet. Then in the last option you can choose any additional software to install and it will download, install and configure it automatically.

I never worked with the CD you downloaded but don't understand why and where it went wrong.

Kind regards,

Eric

Ok, enjoy your smoke, I quit this year in January after 30 years between 1 and 2 packs a day. Sometimes though I can appreciate the smell, it's an ever ongoing battle.

Kind regards,

Eric

Chain reaction initiated after manipulation of grub menu, resulting in winderz crashing, before I ever had the opportunity to NETINST the Debian. Likely my human error. All this time I have been repairing, then reinstalling, winderz.

Now, the drive is clean. I will gather necessary recourses and proceed with NETINST.

This forum is a bit like a blog for me, as well as a help forum :-D

But it does allow you to boot from CDROM, right? I would just pay a few dollars and buy a couple of Linux distributions burnt onto CDROM, or as other LQ members have suggested, get a fried to burn them for you. Check http://www.distrowatch.com for cheap Linux burnt CDROM links and for comparisons of some Linux distributions. With your older hardware, you could choose a slightly older distribution with a smaller kernel and less software to install.

Yea man! I have been considering shelling out 10 or 15 bux on a few distros, at least so I can rule out my ISO packager, and my DVD burner, as potentially faulty. To get the CDs that I currently have, I downloaded the torrent ISOs, burned to DVD (data), then a few days later went to mom's and burned each ISO to their own image CD. Multi-step hassle. But, not to say that I'm a minimalist, I do like to try to make the most of old hand-me-down stuff, like my computer, She-Beast. I also enjoy learning to R&M my own stuff, and tinker with projects on my own rather than hire out the work. Needless to say, I'm ready to purchase some CDs, as most other options have proven ineffective.

...or if not ineffective, I'm just doing it all wrong over and over, and don't realize it.

I think I'd recommend wubi at this point. You can get it here:
http://wubi-installer.org/
I believe(not certain, but would be surprised if you couldn't) that from there that you can install a distro directly onto your harddrive instead of running off of a file on Windows' partition. I'll try it out in the next few minutes.
EDIT: Make that hours...

OK, mdever, let me know.

I have been sitting here for 3 hours now, reading PDFs, sorting emails, reading my ethnobotany blogs and forums, a few movie torrents... basically everything I love to do on a computer. It is working just fine. As reliable as ever.

I was wondering why this site is still on my screen, after all the aggravation that I have been through the last few days, and the 40+ continuous hours of lost sleep.

I am spent. Somebody remind me what I am doing here. Inspire me to give up, or to try again.

Well; wubi will atleast allow you to use Linux instead of Windows; and it's easier to install than the previous methods given. So that alone is a plus. The only thing that is really distasteful about it is that it's on an NTFS partition; and apparently has problems when shut down incorrectly because of that (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wubi_%2...29#Limitations). Of course, it's probably slower as well.
Other than that; it looks pretty good. It even has a Kubuntu version available. It's probably easier to install other distributions from it as well; but I don't know if it would be easier for someone who doesn't know that much about Linux yet. I know it's easier for a terminal junkie like me ;) . But I wouldn't recommend my methods to someone brand new to linux.
In any case; the estimated wait time for wubi is at 10 hours for me; so I'll tell you if I was able to easily* get something like Kubuntu onto another partition around then.

*My definition of easily involves as little terminal as possible; very little knowledge of how block devices like harddrives and partitions are referenced by Linux; very little self modification of the menu.lst file; and no self installation of GRUB. Really installing it is different than installing GRUB4DOS.

Sweet reply, md! Look forward to your results.

Installing Linux from ISO
 

steps:

1: boot from from any linux bootable media
2: at boot prompt write "linux text askmethod" and press enter
3: after entering select "hard drive" from options and press "OK"
4: select the partition("like /dev/sda1 or other") where you hold the
iso image and press "OK".
These steps install the linux from an iso

???
How could it be just that easy
???

Hello Lorax,

What's up!? I see you're still hanging in there, that's great to see. I saw some post about Windoze having been screwed up, so I imagine you did a fresh install, keeping some of the space on the HD free for Linux?

Also noticed a post concerning wubi, that's another alternative but in my opinion not that good. It creates like a virtual drive and runs ubuntu within Windoze. It will not give you good results in regards to performance.

Where are you at now? Have you been able to get the NETINST burnt to CD by someone?

I'm at the office now, but be checking in on regular intervals.

Kind regards,

Eric

Hi Eric!
I was just now about to reboot, after completing the grub4dos tutorial, to get the NETINST going.

No, no CD made. I was just going to install per the tutorial, from HD.

Any last minute comments before I run this?

My prayers are with you and my fingers are crossed :D

Bootin...............

Am I supposed to have the NETINST CDrom in the drive?
It keeps looking for it. Says it cant mount the CDrom.

I thought it was supposed to mount the ISO that's sitting patiently on the partition

Also, I can not start winderz like normal. Seems I need to have the winderz installation CD in the drive in order to start winderz. I figured this out, because, I was about to re-re-re-re-re-reinstall xp

AFAIK it should load from the partition if you setup the bootloader correctly and point to the correct partition.

I am now readjusting the boot.ini, and the menu.lst . Then rebooting w/o xp CD

The files are back to original condition. Rebooting...

This is another strange issue. In my opinion the Grub4dos doesn't change anything in your Windhoos environment, only one line in the boot.ini you have to put in.

I'm starting to believe that you have a powerfull witch living close to you that is hexing you.