Invalid system disk

ddhuyvet · 10-04-2004, 02:33 PM

I'm still quite

, just managed to install Mandrake 9.2 on my AMD.

Now I wan't to install Slackware on an old PII Compaq Deskpro EN series. It hasn't got a cd-rom so I'm trying a floppydisk install.
When I try to boot with the bare.i bootdisk, I get "Invalid system disk". I'va tried other like bareacpi.i, raid.s, adaptec.s and I've tried using another diskette. I've tried the bootdisks from Slackware 10.0 and 9.0. I always get the same message.

Anybody got any ideas as to what could be the problem?

My plan was to use it as a fileserver, since it's got a rather big harddisk (6Gig).
Any tips are welcome. I'm willing to try any distro as long as I can use it as a file- and maybe webserver for testing.

kilgoretrout · 10-04-2004, 10:47 PM

How did you go about making the floppy? If your in windows, you have to use the rawrite.exec on the cd to make the floppy.

ddhuyvet · 10-05-2004, 01:59 AM

I made the bootdisk in Mandrake:

Code:

dd if=bare.i of=/dev/fd0

I checked the floppy and there where files on it, I think also a bootloader.

kilgoretrout · 10-05-2004, 03:18 AM

Try doing it in windows but do a full format of the floppy in windows first.

ddhuyvet · 10-05-2004, 05:16 AM

I tried it in Windows before I did it in Mandrake, but I couldn't get the Rawwrite to work.
I downloaded the Rawwrite exe together with the Bootdisk, but for some reason it didn't work.
I can't quite remeber what went wrong, but when I have the time I'll try it again and post here what the prob was.

ddhuyvet · 10-08-2004, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kilgoretrout
Try doing it in windows but do a full format of the floppy in windows first.

Tried that, but still the same:
Invalid system disk
Replace the disk, and then press any key

kilgoretrout · 10-08-2004, 01:38 PM

I'm beginning to think it's a hardware problem. Can you get any bootable floppy to boot from that drive, eg windows startup disk? The other thing to check is your bios setup; is the drive recognized by the bios and is it set to boot from the floppy first?

ddhuyvet · 10-08-2004, 02:50 PM

I seem to be getting the same error with an MS-DOS bootdisk.
But when I check my BIOS it does recognize the drive and it is first in the boot sequence.

I don't think I can get a cd drive into this pc, but it does have a networkcard, with is also recogized by the bios. Is there any way I can boot via the network?

Or do you know any other way I can get to boot this thing? I got the pc with a completely empty harddisk,

ddhuyvet · 10-08-2004, 06:28 PM

OK, I finaly managed to boot. I just did a reset to default in the BIOS and now it boots from the floppy without a problem!

Tnx for the help anyway!