So I got another floppy drive connected via the parallel port, this one can't be marked as bootable by the bios, however I can run loadlin from it and this way the CDROM is plugged in at the kernel boot time. However I can't seem to get the correct file/options set to boot the linux kernel on the SuSE floppy using loadlin from a DOS prompt. Here is what I tried: loadlin e:\linux root=/dev/hdc ro It loads the kernel with the following standard messages:: LOADLIN v1.6a (C) 1994..1996 Hans Lermen <lermen@elserv.ffm.fgan.de> 'Loading..........................(etc - 1 1/2 lines worth)' Then it starts the boot of the kernel. This time is does recognize the CDROM since it is installed at boot time with: hda: TOSHIBA MK3003MAN, 2937 MB w/128kB Cache, CHS=746/128/63 hdc: TOSHIBA CD-ROM XM-2402B, ATAPI CDROM drive But right after: Partition check: hda: hda1 hda2 hda3 < hda5 > hdc: media changed Then it errors out with: [MS-DOS FS Rel. 12,FAT 0,check=n,conv=b,uid=0,gid=0,umask=022,bmap] [me=0x0,cs=0,#f=0,fs=0,fl=0,ds=0,de=0,data=0,se=0,ts=0,ls=0,rc=0,fc=4294967295] Transaction block size = 512 UMSDOS Beta 0.6 (compatibility level 0.4, fast msdos) [MS-DOS FS Rel. 12,FAT 0,check=n,conv=b,uid=0,gid=0,umask=022,bmap] [me=0x0,cs=0,#f=0,fs=0,fl=0,ds=0,de=0,data=0,se=0,ts=0,ls=0,rc=0,fc=4294967295] Transaction block size = 512 [MS-DOS FS Rel. 12,FAT 0,check=n,conv=b,uid=0,gid=0,umask=022,bmap] [me=0x0,cs=0,#f=0,fs=0,fl=0,ds=0,de=0,data=0,se=0,ts=0,ls=0,rc=0,fc=4294967295] Transaction block size = 512 VFS: Mounted root (iso9660 filesystem) readonly. Unable to open an initial console. So this time it booted and mounted the CDROM read-only, however now it is complaining about a console path. Any clues??? John Griffin

If your CDROM is on an IDE controller and is ATPAPI then you can probably change your BIOS setting to make it bootable. It could be the setting that allows you to determine the boot order.

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Nope, I went into the CMOS configuration and the only bootable devices are the floppy or the hard drive.

Thanks anyway.

jpg

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Is your CD-ROM a bootable CD-ROM? The SuSE CD set is bootable... that's how I installed SuSE on my Toshiba Satellite.

Mark

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I seem to have run into a small problem in attempting to install SuSe 5.3 on a Hewlett Packard OmniBook 5700CTX. I have a Xircom PCMCIA 10/100-Ready network card, and the standard HP CD-ROM and 3.5 floppy drive modules.

When I boot using the SuSE boot floppy in the 3.5 drive, the kernel doesn't recognize the CD-ROM because it was not installed since I was using the 3.5 floppy drive. Secondly the Xircom PCMCIA card is not in the list of supported network cards. There is a '-- More modules --' option but that just pulls in the same list of kernel modules. There is nothing in the SuSE manual about what this '-- More modules --' option is, or how to utilize it.

So I am stuck, I cannot install from CD-ROM because the kernel doesn't see it at boot time (since it is not plugged in), and I cannot install over the network since there is no Xircom module.

Any suggestions?

John Griffin

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