[GTALUG] Unbootability

[Bill Heagy]

My standard suggestion: when things go strange, especially on an old 
system, replace the bios battery.

Bill

On 21/10/14 12:48 PM, Bill Thanis wrote:
> Try a boot disk circa 2005.
>
> This sounds like you have some hardware that is deprecated and no longer
> has modern kernel support.
>
> Bill
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 10:49 AM, Peter King <peter.king at utoronto.ca> wrote:
>
>> I'm trying to revive an old computer.
>>
>> The CPU is an Athlon XP 2500, on an Asus A7X87 motherboard, with 3GB
>> of RAM.  The internal connections are all PATA.  It has both USB ports
>> and a DVDRW drive installed.  Up until a month or so ago, it ran as
>> well as an old computer could, with Gentoo installed.  Then a hard disc
>> went bad, and that's when the fun began.
>>
>> The BIOS, which dates from 2004, wouldn't let me boot from a USB stick
>> (the only options are USB-FDD and USB-ZIP).  So I started burning boot
>> CDs, all of which fail: Gentoo current install disc; SysRescue CD; the
>> Debian 7.0 live install disc; Archliinx; and OpenBSD.  As I said, they
>> all fail, quite early on in the process: the BIOS tells me "ATAPI CDROM:
>> No Emulation" and then starts loading each disc, but fails one way or
>> another, never getting through a kernel load as far as I can tell (which
>> isn't very far).  I have swapped the DVDRW drive out for another one,
>> with no change in results; I have changed the PATA cable connected to
>> the DVDRW twice, also with no change in results.  MemTest seems quite
>> happy with the installed RAM.
>>
>> The boot failures are inconsistent, but, for what it's worth, here is
>> how they each fail:
>>
>> (1) Gentoo install disc: Gets as far as starting to load the kernel when
>>      the screen goes black.  Sometimes that triggers a BIOS reboot, but at
>>      other times it just sits there.  Tried several combinations of kernel
>>      modules: nofb, noacpi, no-hardware-detection, and so on, without any
>>      making a difference.
>>
>> (2) Sysrecue CD: Latest version simply segfaults after the "ISOLinux"
>>      declaration.
>>
>> (3) Debian 7.0 live install disc: Gets to the menu of choices, and will
>>      usually allow me to make a choice; picking "Install" in any form
>>      causes a black screen followed by a reboot.  Under the "Advanced"
>>      menu I can run MemTest, though.
>>
>> (4) Archlinux install disc: Once I got to the menu, with the motherboard
>>      wildly beeping in the background, but wasn't able to select any of
>>      the choices.  Every other time it just triggers a reboot.
>>
>> (5) OpenBSD 5.6 install disc: Starts loading the kernel but freezes after
>>      printing the UC copyright notice.
>>
>> Google turns up lots of suggestions for the "no emulation" message,
>> most of which are either "switch the cable" or "change the drive", both
>> of which I've tried, as noted.
>>
>> The next thing I'll try is to remove one hard disc, install it in some
>> other functional computer, and install a bootable Gentoo (or whatever)
>> on it there, then reinstalling the disc on the old computer to see if
>> it will boot from it.  I'm happy (enough) to do that, but I'm bothered
>> by the brick wall I've hit in trying to do something ordinary, namely
>> to boot from a CDR.  Any ideas?
>>
>> --
>> Peter King                              peter.king at utoronto.ca
>> Department of Philosophy
>> 170 St. George Street #521
>> The University of Toronto                   (416)-978-4951 ofc
>> Toronto, ON  M5R 2M8
>>         CANADA
>>
>> http://individual.utoronto.ca/pking/
>>
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>>
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-- 
Bill Heagy

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