Core 4 Install Problems

[Rick Stevens]

On Wed, 2006-03-08 at 13:13 -0800, Albert A. Hocking III wrote:
> Ok, here is an example of the Error that I’m receiving:
> 
>  
> 
> ISOLINUX 2.11 2004-08-16 isolinux: Loading spec packet failed, trying
> to wing it...
> isolinux: Extremely broken BIOS detected, last ditch attempt with
> drive = 9F
> isolinux: Disk error 01, AX = 4209, drive 9F
> Boot failed: press a key to retry...
> 
>  
> 
> Here is my machine:
> 
>  
> 
> Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939
> 
> Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3200
> 
> RAM: 2 Gig
> 
> Video: ATI X800
> 
> Sound: SoundBlaster & Retek AC’97 (Onboard)
> 
> LAN: Marvell Yukon 88E8001/8003/810 (Onboard)
> 
> Secondary IDE: Inclose ID ATA66-2C (2 Cards Total)
> 
> SCSI: AMD PCI
> 
> Drives:
> 
> Samsung SV4002H 40 Gig
> 
> Maxtor 96147H8 60 Gig
> 
> Maxtor 4G160J8 160 Gig
> 
> Sony DVD DDU220E
> 
> Memorex DVD16+/-DL4RWND2
> 
> Quantum 4 Gig TM3840A
> 
> Seagate ST329OA
> 
> NEC CDROM 465 SCSI
> 
> Sony CDRW CRX14SS SCSI
> 
>  
> 
> When I tried to install, I took two different routes, first was a SCSI
> install (which had worked before) and the bios didn’t pick up on the
> disk at all.  Second was from an IDE boot and it posted the previous
> error.  In that time I spent a whole day trying to figure out how to
> install Fedora Core 4 from floppy and I haven’t found a way to do it.

You can't.  The 2.6 kernel is too big to fit on a floppy.  You either
install from CD, DVD, or network.  If your machine doesn't have a
CD/DVD, then you have to use something like a FLASH disk (pen drive,
etc.) to hold the boot image AND your BIOS must be able to boot from
a USB device (not all can).

> All of the images that I find from Redhat are too big for that type of
> medium and I don’t have a flash drive or any other type that is
> required.  Also, I spent the rest of the day trying to make a Boot
> Disk from http://syslinux.zytor.com/sbm but I was never successful. I
> could make the floppy bootable with the *.sys file that was provided
> but I couldn’t get the program to access the drive after that or
> figure out what files to copy so ldlinux.sys was the only file that I
> was aware of.

That won't work.  Again, the 2.6 kernel is too big to fit on a floppy.
You can get something like SmartBoot Manager and use it to boot off
media you normally can't (such as the aforementioned pen drive).


> I know what the obvious answer is and its one that I’m really avoiding
> for two reasons. I know that to track the hardware down that it
> doesn’t like I should completely tear the machine down and add one
> thing at a time after install.  This is undesirable for two reasons:
> 
>  
> 
>      1. it would take almost 2 days worth of work
>      2. anytime Windows has to reassign memory addresses, you run the
>         risk of the OS shutting down with Windows 2000

The first thing is to make damned sure your motherboard has the latest
BIOS installed.  You'd be amazed at how many problems go away when the
BIOS is correct.  Since the first error you get shows that the BIOS
didn't initialize things correctly, that's your first thing to check.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-    If your broker is so damned smart...why is he still working?    -
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