I lost my os and can't do a fresh install.
 

I had Xubuntu on my tiny D505 Latitude laptop but Xubuntu was too big for it. So I tried (using Unetbootin) to install something else but in the process I lost the Xubuntu. So the laptop now has no OS.

So I put in a usb drive with an OS on it (that I made using Unetbootin) but the laptop without the OS doesn't recognize the usb drive.

I have installed a OS before but I get mixed up about how to do it. As far as I can tell, you have to have a OS to begin with. Then you choose either the linux or windows Unetbootin. Put an OS on the Unetbootin and then reboot the computer and there you have it.

When I hit F12 key repeatedly starting the laptop up it does give me the screen (I'm still pretty newbie here--and I'm not sure it's the BIOS screen or not) that reads:

--Diskette Drive
--Internal HDD
--Cardbus NIC
--Onboard NIC
--Diagnostics

I was hoping the USB would show up there too but I tried repeatedly and no luck.

Any ideas as to how I can get this done? Thanks.

A bootable USB stick may well show up as an HDD so it's worth looking at that option to see whether you can choose the HDD it boots from. Obviously you do need a bootable USB stick which can only be prepared from a computer with an OS installed.

Hi Gregg...

Take a look in the BIOS and see where the option to boot from USB is located in the boot order. Change it to boot before the hard drive. :)

Regards...

My netbooks has 2 hot keys.

One to access bios > ESC

The other to pick boot order when a pen drive is inserted > F12

http://tech.madcatsden.com/Resources.../D505/BIOS.htm

See? Google can be your pardner if you let it.

PS. My netbooks are more rare and exotic vs a big corp. like Dell is.

Edit: reading up on yours. You might need to borrow a external usb cdrom/dvdrom drive and boot off of that. I have a older ide dvdrw drive that works for that called a EZ DUB Liteon. It is built like a tank.

2nd edit: reading some more

So I do not know what to think.

AntiX fits on cd. Debian and Ubuntu Netinstall (if you know how) fits on cd.

Salix 32 bit fits on cd. Slackel 32 bit fits on cd.

Just more research

3rd edit. Try a different usb drive and use dd like I did in my salix intro intro thread I showed you. All modern iso's are pretty much hybrid isos and take to using dd OK. Just not damn small linux just to name a few.

Thanks 273. I actually had tried (in my desperation) the HDD. No luck.

But see, yeah, like you said, that's the thing as I understand it--a bootable USB stick can only be prepared with an OS installed.

So I'm pretty out of luck, then? Just pitch the laptop?

Thanks ardvark. The USB doesn't show up anywhere in that BIO page. Only what I listed in my OP.

P.S. Happy Easter! (belated)

Thanks rokytnji. I don't know how to "use dd" like you did. I looked at that salix intro thread and as far as I could tell I'd have to be in the terminal to use that dd and I can't get in the terminal. (I'm sure I'm missing something.)

I guess the bottom line is you've got to be real careful not to screw up when you do a new install. It's an ancient little laptop so it's not the end of the world. It'll be a good lesson for the future though.

P.S. Yes, the Dell site is cool. (And looks like it was hard to find!)

Hmm, doesn't your laptop have a CD-ROM drive? You could just install Xubuntu using that, unless there's something I'm not understanding. :confused:

Thank you! Hope you and your family had a nice Easter. :)

Regards...

Ah ah ah. Thanks ardvark. Hmm. See, I didn't think the laptop had a CD drive because the CD drive didn't show up in the BIOS. But now I was just looking at the laptop and althouogh it doesn't have a CD drive it has a removable Diskette drive (which showed up in the BIOS) and so I can put a (I've got an identical laptop that has a CD drive) CD drive in there and try it from there.

So use Unetbootin to burn whatever iso I'll be trying onto a CD on my regular computer (even though it asks for a reboot as if it's on the computer the install is going on?), then plop the CD into the OS-less laptop and see what happens?

Hi...

It's worth a try, although I don't understand why the computer that you're burning The .iso on would ask for a reboot. :confused:

just make sure you go into the BIOS on the laptop in question and make sure that the swapped CD-ROM drive is recognized and that its assigned place in the boot order is before the hard drive. :)

Regards...

Ardvark, Whenever I make a usb drive in Unetbootin at the end of the process it asks if I'm ready to reboot. I'm not knowledgeable about the whole burning process and if a usb drive (or CD) is "bootable" or "live" or not. Even now I'm looking at potential distros and some file downloads say they're for CDs, some say they're "live" some don't. It's confusing.

Hi Gregg...

You don't need and/or use unetbootin to burn a disk with. You can use other software like Brasero or Xfburn. I've always had good results with Brasero. To burn an .iso, click the option to "burn an image" with whatever program you use. :)

Regards...

At this stage you might be better off with a USB image that you know is designed for that. It seems you have another machine with which to create the USB sticks so what OS is it running? You can usually dd a lot of recent .iso files to a USB stick under Linux and they will work -- unetbootin is a useful and necessary tool but not without problems.

Okay. I burned the .iso (lina-1.2-non-pae.iso) in K3b. Went smoothly. Fit on CD. The iso is Puppy Linux (the lina) and I got it from here:

http://smokey01.com/carolina/isos/non-pae/

Put it in the CD drive of the laptop. Powered on. F12. Got BIOS. Chose the CD drive and nothing happened.

And I don't know how to switch the order of the BIOS, which you were suggesting.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks 273. This laptop is not recognizing the USB so that's out. And yes, I have another machine. It's running Xubuntu 15.10.

Hi Gregg...

I'm sorry but I don't support Puppy Linux because of a certain "legal issue" or question. I'm happy to support Xubuntu, if you'd like to try that one. :(

Regards...

Sure, ardvark. At this point I'd like to get something on there. Anything really. What would be the smallest Xubuntu I could get on there? I'd give it a try. But I don't know. Like I said, when I chose the CD drive in the BIOS the computer did nothing.

I notice that the instructions for updating the BIOS on that machine are to download a program, put it on a bootable DOS USB flash drive, and boot from it, which implies that the machine is capable of booting from a properly formatted USB flash drive.

Hi Gregg...

Hmm. Take a look at "page 2 of 7" using rokytnji's link here. Hopefully, you will see the same thing. Is the CD-ROM listed? If so, make sure it's at the top of the list using the "u" or "d" key. :)

Regards...

Thanks rk. The USB drive I've been using is NTFS and it's been empty (except for the install file). I should have a bootable DOS USB drive? The last OS on this laptop was Xubuntu. And I don't really know how to make a bootable DOS USB drive. Actually I don't think the USB drives I'm making now are bootable. Or at least that's the way it seems.

Ardvark, This is what I see. (screenshot). I can't move the order around with "u" or "d" or any other key. (When CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive is highlighted or any of them are highlighted.)

Up and down arrow keys to change the menu. But. Something sounds broke somewhere if no cd's boot.

Even the screen gives instructions.

Edit:

This thread is turning into a wonderment.

Agree on the wonderment comment. But it seems to me it shouldn't be. And as far as the screen giving instructions, that's just for choosing which device to boot from. Ardvark is talking about changing the order of the boot devices.

I of course don't know what the exact requirement might be. The instructions for any Linux distribution should tell you how to make a bootable USB flash drive with the installer. Sometimes it's as simple as "dd if=whatever.iso of=/dev/sdX" (that's for a hybrid ISO), others have more complex instructions to follow. But either way, the partition on that drive is not likely to be one of the DOS FAT variants.

If the problem is the BIOS insisting on a particular partition type, you could try just using fdisk to change the partition type to 0x0b (W95 FAT32) or 0x0c (W95 FAT32 (LBA)). Make sure that partition is flagged as "active" and see if that works. Linux doesn't care much about the partition type. The change would be just to make the BIOS happy. But you would need to have a working Linux machine to make the change. You can't do it in Windows without destroying the filesystem in the partition.

Thanks rk. See, like I was saying, I think I'm doing something wrong or leaving something out. I have just been downloading an install file and then burning it onto a CD or USB drive. There is nothing about following instructions on how to make a bootable USB with the installer. In fact, there's been nothing about an installer. I'm sure this is my fault as I'm taking on more than I know to handle.

I think I need to backtrack and find out just what exactly makes for a bootable USB drive/CD. Seems I've made several unbootable USB drives and CDs so far.

When you are making an actual CD, you have to be sure to select "Burn as image" or the equivalent. The sign that you have done it wrong is when you mount the CD in Windows (or other OS) and see just one file there. That indicates that the drive has an ISO9660 filesystem with the ISO image inside it. That's wrong. The ISO image is a bootable ISO9660 filesystem and needs to be copied to the raw disk.

Instructions for making a bootable USB flash drive using either Windows or Linux can generally be found from the home page for whatever Linux distribution you select, but of course you need to have some machine with some working OS to do that. Reading through this discussion, I'm not sure what position you find yourself in right now.

Hi Gregg...

From what I can see from your thumbnail, you're not in the BIOS. I think that's part of the problem but at the same time, it should boot using your method. Going into the BIOS would possibly give you an idea if the drive is being recognized or not.

The BIOS screen It should look like what I mentioned in my last post (using rokytnji's link.) You will need to take a quick look at the Dell splash screen to see what key will get you in. It will most likely say "Setup" instead of BIOS. ;)

Regards...

Thanks rk. Yes, I have burned (I'm not positive I've "burned as image"--I'll check next time I do it.) the file where it is in a split-up state on the USB flash drive.

Regarding your

The laptop I'm trying to install on does NOT have an OS. So I knew I couldn't install with Unetbootin, but some people are saying I should still be able to install it.

An additional thought, per Ardvark's last post--I'm not even in the BIOS.

Thanks Ardvark. I may be wrong (I won't be on that computer till tomorrow) but I don't think there is any info on the splash screen as to which key to hit. But yeah, I'll check tomorrow.

Just a friendly reminder from one of my previous posts

Anyways. That is what I read on the dell forum for your model number .

You misunderstand. You don't need to install unetbootin on the target machine. You install it on the machine you are running right now and run it to create a bootable USB flash drive that you then plug into the target machine. Unetbootin wants to use a USB flash drive with a single partition formatted FAT32, and makes it a bootable DOS drive that contains the installation image you chose.

Okay. I see what you were saying. I did F2 and got into the BIOS. On page 2, like you said, I found the boot order and changed it to put the CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive on top. However, when I exited (saving the changes) and powered down, then powered back up, hitting F12, the boot order came up the same as it was before I made the changes (the CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive was not on top).

In the BIOS it says 'for changes to take effect computer needs to reboot.' But there's no way of rebooting.

Any suggestions now?

I was wrong about the splash screen not saying anything. The splash screen says:

F2: Setup

F12: Boot Menu

But I'm still stuck. :( (See post to rokytnji).

No need to hit F12 now if cdrom is 1st in line on boot order in page 2 of F2 in bios.

Just hit the power button and let it rip/boot up.

Hi Gregg...

And if it doesn't, please go back into the BIOS, if you would, and on the first page where it lists the processor and other hardware information, check to see what's listed under the entry that says, "Modular Bay." Does it list the CD-ROM drive?

Also, please check the CD you're using and make sure it boots on one of your other systems, if you haven't tried that already. :)

Regards...

Okay, rk, thanks. So what you're saying is I CAN put Unetbootin on the target computer and do it that way, but I don't HAVE TO.

I just went through the process of making another--hopefully--bootable USB via Unetbootin and what I think threw me was I'd installed OSs before and always rebooted right away. And now I noticed (on closer inspection) the button just says "Reboot now?" and it gives an "Exit" button. My bad. I missed it.

Tried it. No luck. Just the black screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner of the screen.

Ardvark, it says:

And I'm not real keen on trying that CD on one of my computers that's working. What I'll do is put USB Storage Device at the top of the list and try it with a bootable USB drive.

Hi Gregg...

Hmm, ok, it sees the CD-ROM drive, that might step in the right direction. :D

The reason why I asked you to check the CD in one of your other computers was to see if the burn went correctly and to rule that out as an issue. Did this drive read correctly in your other laptop?

Regards...

Okay, I did the USB drive and the bar on the splash page took MUCH longer to go across and I thought it was going to work and at least it did something. See screenshot

I've never used the drive before in either laptop.

Found this. It's 15.10 but it's still not real encouraging.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/6967...ive-with-15-10

Do some of the options here help?

Regards...

I think I'll try to burn another image onto the USB.

Hi Gregg...

As another idea if the USB option doesn't work, I just found this option if the laptop in question has a working LAN (ethernet) port. :)

Regards...

Thanks ardvark.

I don't know. That looks pretty over my head and a privacy risk.

At least, it seems other people are having the same problem. (Misery loves company?)

New info. (Am I INCHING closer?) I put Xubuntu 14.04 "live" on a USB flash drive via Unetbootin and put it into the laptop. (I figured the laptop had Xubuntu on it before so maybe it would like it.) So I put it in and hit the power. This time the bar on the splash screen opened really slowly. I thought for sure it was going to work. But I got a new message. (It no longer showed that message about SYSLINUX 6:03 (see screenshot).)

Now it just says:

I was like, Duh.

"Missing operating system" means that there is not exactly one partition marked "active" in the partition table. Fix that with fdisk.

Rk, This sounds very promising. But I am not a techie and don't know how to fix anything with fdisk. And Googling around about fdisk and how to use it it seemed I had to get into the terminal of the target laptop and as far as I can tell I can't. (We are talking the partition on the target laptop, right?) Anyway, long story short, could you tell me how to do this fixing? Thanks.

You don't do that from the broken machine. Do it from a working one. On some working Linux machine, run "sudo fdisk /dev/sdX", replacing "X" with the appropriate drive letter. Here:Note the asterisk that was originally missing in the "Boot" column.