Hi,

I would like to install SUSE 7.3 pro on an old Compaq Deskpro Pentium 166 which is not able to boot from CD.

I created boot disks, which work fine in an other machine but not in this one. I get the error message "Boot failed: please change disks and press a key to continue."

What should I do?

ChriSchmi

I think the compaqs need a setup disk.

I did create a bootdisk though.
mkbootdisk didnt seem to work for me but this did.
Try it.

On another linux system mount the cdrom
do
Find / -name boot.img

change directory to where boot.img is.

then dd the image to a floppy like this. (dd is like a copy command)

dd if=boot.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=512

This will place the input file boot.img to the output file(floppy device) using a block size of 512.

I didn't found boot.img on SUSE 7.3 CD-ROMs. So I used the file bootdisk instead. I think this should be the right one. i created a modules disk and a modules2 disk additionally.

The first disk boots linux well. After the system asks me for the modules disk, it writes the data into a temporary ram disk. When it finishes, the screen becomes black. The scroll and caps LED are blinking. The floppy disk LED is on. No reaction...

What is my new fault?

ChriSchmi

mmm. The stuff I wrote was for RedHat.

I'm sorry but I dont use Suse.

I've got a copy but havent got around to installing it yet.

Is your hardware trying to tell you something?

If the floppy drive light stays on it can mean that the ribbon cable is the wrong way round. And sometimes you can find out what a hardware error is by counting the beeps or flashing light sequences.

The Floppy Cable is well connected. Otherwise the boot from floppy disk should not work.

Anyone else with suggestions?

Hey folks, I don't want to install a Windows system. This can't be the solution...

Are you making these boot disks from Dos or from another Linux box? If the latter, then may I suggest the following:

SuSe's README file (I just checked on the ftp site) states:
dd if=./myBestBootImageAccordingToReadme of=/dev/fd0u1440.
I would suggest (only a slight modification of the above):
cd /mnt/cdrom (presuming that's where you're cd is)
cd disks
dd if=bootdisk of=/dev/fd0.

I'm having the same exact problem... is there a solution??

I'm having the same exact problem... My system is a Compaq Deskpro EN Series, PII 350 machine... help?

I tried two Linux Firewall solutions:

1) Astaro Security Linux
Nice Linux distribution. A Firewall on CD. Download and support at http://www.astaro.de.

2) fli4l
Fli4l is a one disk router with some firewall functions. It can be use with one 1,44 MB floppy disk! If you want to add additional features like DHCP, Proxy,... you should use a harddisk, but it runs on a floppy very well. It is based on isdn4linux. Download and documentation at http://www.fli4l.de - Don't be afraid, there is an English documentation, too. :-)

I'm not ready with configuration. I will use a combination of the two products. Fli4l for ISDN connection and Astaro for firewall functions on two different old compaq machines.

ok, that was gay... i tried another floppy disk (not drive.) and it worked. lol