I tried several times to install smart bootmanager to a floppy but kept getting the error message "SMBK bad". So I tried other sources of smart bootmanager until I found one which worked on my main box (1Ghz, 768 MB RAM, Xandros2, homemade). The machine boots from the floppy, displays the smart bootmanager menu, and boots either to hda1 or to the cdrom just like it's supposed to.

However, I need it for my ancient laptop (P1, 100Mhz, 16MB RAM, W95) because the laptop can't boot from a CD. I tried the floppy which worked fine in the main machine and got the error message "SMBK bad".

I don't understand why it worked in one but not in the other????? Is there some other way I can get my laptop to boot from its CD drive (BIOS gives only the options of floppy and HD)?

In faith, Dave
dave@christos.cjb.net
Viva Texas

Dave:
I'm a little confused here,most single operating system computers require that you only hit the power button, a boot manager is usually needed for multi-boot systems. Is there more to this that you failed to mention?
I have 5 operating systems on one hard drive all of which are on primary partitions & they are handled & designed by a boot manager called BootitNG, just to throw a little possibly useless info.

Well hello, not to change the subject but uh, where can I get this program?

I have an old 133mhz desktop I want to run linux on but it doesn't have the option to boot from a cd.

Thanks for the info, Derek

That is the original problem. You can get smart boot manager here.
http://btmgr.webframe.org/

www.bootitng.com download bootitng, you will have to create a floppy with this software, put the floppy in & start the machine, by pressing ok you will be installing the boot manager, I suggest you don't press ok but press "maintenance" & it will open a window with a few icons, hit partition work & it will show you info on all your hd's, highlight the partition you want to work on etc. With this handy little software you can create over 200 partitions, all on primary partitions with their own boot sectors so if you have problems with one os it will not prevent or affect the use of all the others. You can also slide partitions over if you need to enlarge/shrink the one beside it, you can create compressed images of a partition or a volume with extra software from their site and store it on cd or second hard drive or usb hard drive with all your favorite apps. and updates for future restoration if you want to clean up a particular os instead of plugging in 100 cd's to rebuild you just click the mouse a couple of times & it will be done in a few minutes.
It comes with extensive documentation so read it & read it again because it can appear to be complicated but after reading it a second time it shall not be so scary.

If what you're after is to wipe out W95 & install a Linux distro, just in case you are not aware....old computers with 16MB of ram usually had a BIOS that does not recognize hard drives over 512MB & if you have a hard drive larger then 512MB you may also have dynamic drive overlay software that was installed way back when to overcome the BIOS limitations. You may be able to install another OS but may not be able to boot it without the original dynamic drive overlay software, like ezze drive 2.8 which you won't find anywhere, in some cases you can boot but the C drive or Hda1 will be 512MB maximum.

And yes. you can also use it to boot a partition from a cd
OK Tink, the instructions on how to work these pages were so hard to find that I have'nt found them yet, I'm guessing the moderators are the instructions.
This is a test...trial & error sort of thing

You could try editing your posts, you know ...

No need to post many subsequent ones.
And while you're there remove the , at the end
of the URL, following the link won't work otherwise.



Cheers,
Tink

I think the problem we are trying to get to (I and Homey) is that the laptop won't boot from a CD. It's old. It's BIOS doesn't support that.

Smart BootManager installed on a floppy is supposed to allow one to boot one of those old laptops from the floppy and the floppy then allows booting from the CD. My problem was, after installing Smart BootManager, it worked fine in my new desktop machine but in the old laptop (which is where I need it), it showed only the error message "SMBK bad". I wondered if there were any ideas on what I might do next? Or, maybe, is there another program besides Smart Bootmanager which will do the same thing? (I saw the link to Bootit, but I'd like to have a free one if possible).

So, I'm not trying to select a particular OS to boot, as you might using Grub or LILO. I need to make my laptop, which doesn't boot from a CD, boot from the CD :^>.

In faith, Dave
dave@christos.cjb.net
Viva Texas

I wonder if you just have a bad floppy or smb image? Maybe make another smb boot floppy and/or use another image?

You don't have to give them a dime, the software is " Shareware " just download & create a floppy & use it, just don't hit "OK" when it first shows up on your screen, hit "Maintenance". As for what you do next you'll have to read the documentation for it cannot be explained in short.
Now boot-able CD's usually have a "Run" or "Autorun" or "Setup" or other way of getting it going via command, another thing you could try which won't hurt anything is to download or create a boot-disk, from www.bootdisk.com (for FREE) you get a Windows 95 boot-disk with generic cdrom drivers built in, your computer will not include cdrom drivers but Windows 98/ME will. It does'nt matter which one you use for this trial.
Put the floppy in the drive, start the computer, select "Start computer with cdrom support" it will proceed to load the cdrom drivers ( usually MSCD001 ) into memory not hard drive and give it a name, keep an eye on what it is for I've had some boot-disks call my cdroms R & X. At the dos prompt A:\> type E:\setup where E is the name the boot-disk gave your cdrom, if that does'nt work try something else like E:\autorun etc. If nothing works pull out the floppy & shutdown/reset/restart the computer, nothing will be different.
You still mention nothing as to what you want to boot and I'm just shooting in the dark here, it would be easier to give solid advice knowing all the particulars.

Homey:

I've tried several images from different sources. Also, the SMB boot floppy works fine on my big machine (the one which will boot fine from CD); it just won't work in the ancient laptop (which WON'T boot from CD :^>).

Junior Hacker:

I want to install Damn Small Linux 0.9.2 from a CD onto my ancient laptop but the laptop won't boot from CD. DSL will replace Windows 95. I hadn't thought to use a windows boot disk. I will try that.

In faith, Dave
dave@christos.cjb.net
Viva Texas

download the bin file
just chmod 777 whatever
./whatever.bin -d /dev/fd0 etc

Ironically I'm booted into knoppix right now because sbm booted the CD for me. I got the same error message when compiling the soruce earlier.

edit: I guess this is an old thread. i found it w/ google maybe 5 min ago trying to fix this error myself....dont kill me for bumping it.

1veedo: I certainly won't kiill you :^>. And within the next few days I'll try it (flu right now and I'm avoiding anything heavy). Your instruction is different... the other instruction I got was to copy it from a CD using dd.

Thanks.

In faith, Dave
dave@christos.cjb.net
Viva Texas

dpierce: i have similar problems, and maybe a solution ... check what i wrote in this thread
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...highlight=smbk