I am trying to install Mandrake 9.1 on a Compaq pc. This is a 133mhz with 48 megs of ram. And a standard cdrom player.

Because this is an old one, you cannot boot from cd. So I tried a bootdisk. You can start from the disk, but when it needs the cdrom it can't find it.

I think it has something to do, that the compaq pc doesn't have a normal bios like real pc's. When booting you can hold "ctrl" for a status screen. Normally linux doesn't use the bios, so I am not certain about this.

I do not have a NFS, ftp or http server from where I can get the linux.

I can copy the linux cd's on another pc, but Windows is installed on this. Also I cannot copy the linux cd's to the harddisk of the compaq pc. There is only one hd, and not enough space.

I have tried Mandrake 8.2 and Suse 7.0, these also have the same problem. They cannot find (mount) the cdrom.

Can any one help, I have run out of ideas...

Thanks.

Try hitting F10 when it is booting. Thats how I get into the bios of all my compaqs (7 of them)