Mandrake 9.2 won't even boot from he cd to install

[Privateer189]

Hello. I'm a newbie to Linux who runs alot of wintel hardware. I did research, and found that Mandrake was reputed to be one of the best for beginners. I went to linuxiso and downloaded the latest disk isos for it, and then burned them. However, i refuses to boot. My screen says "boot from atapi cd..." and stays there for a minuted or two as the cd spins, then proceeds to Windows. I've tried different burning programs, I've tried using Nero bootloader, and just about everything I can think of. I'm running a machine with a 2 Ghz processor, 384 megs of ram, and a 60 gig hard drive. My disk drives are a 16x DVD-ROM and a 32x/10x/40x cd-burner. My current operating system is XP Pro. I hope that some one here can help me.

[sclebo05]

did you verify the ISO (cd image) with an md5sum program? maybe the iso is bad. also, did you burn the ISOs as images or as data cds with iso files on them? i have seen instances of both....

[GreatPaladin]

I use Suse 9. Previously I used Mandrake 9.1. And it's okay. I predict if computer you cannot booting from the CD, there's possibility you got damaged cd, or your PC you has no support to boot from cdrom ( but if you have a new pc, surely have support). Try cheque of other cd. Sorry if my english not good.

[Privateer189]

I burned them as images, of course. I've used both nero and dedicated ISO burning software for that.

I don't think that it's corrupted because I can extrat the image just fine, but I'll try verifying it.

And yes, it can boot from disks.

[GreatPaladin]

Why don't you try the cd in other pc. May be the cd lens went bad.

[klugee]

1) If you stick the first Mandrake CD into your computer while in Windows, it should autorun and pop up a graphical window with the Mandrake Logo and a couple of options on it (or you may need to double click on the CD to get the autorun). If this occurs, the CD has been burned correctly (and the problem probably is in your bios/hardware).

2) Alternatively, you could install Mandrake from a floppy. To do that, go to Mandrake's website, find the instructions, and create the install floppy. The install is pretty much the same as a CD install, except without pretty graphics (but still just as easy). As a word of advice: If you install from a floppy, stick the CD ISO's into the root directory of your drive (ie. C:/)

But that's just my 2 cents.

[Privateer189]

If I put the CD into my HP USB drive, it doesn't autorun, but I can go call up the graphical interface by going into my computer or the run command. When I click the install button on the interface, it tells me it's going to shut down my computer and install it. Since it's a USB drive, however, that won't work. Swapping them doesn't work either.

So, now that I'm done giving a seeminly pointless description of the very thing you're talking about, Klugee, I've got a follow up: since it seems to be in the BIOS/hardware, what should I turn off to make it work?

P.S. There's nothing wrong with the CD drives. They play music and DVDs just fine.

[Crashcourse]

Hi!

It might be a little bit easier to help if you gave us your computer´s specs.

[Crashcourse]

...umm... actually I ment to ask which motherboard and chipset do you have?

[mm-sources]

maybe your mobo doesnt support usb booting, or maybe the usb cd drive doesnt support it. do you have an internal optical drive?

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by Privateer189

I don't think that it's corrupted because I can extrat the image just fine, but I'll try verifying it.


You can extract the image from the cd meaning the cd has the single iso image on it instead of a filesystem with files and directories?

That would indicate that you burned the iso as a file and not a image.

[Privateer189]

Crash, I'm not one hundred percent about the chipset, but I know that it's VIA-manufactured. The board is an XFX P4XE-MVB model with the Awatd BIOS.

MD, I'm sorry if I've given you the wrong impression. What I meant was that if I load the ISO into an extraction program, such as WinRar or Magic ISO, which basically decodes the data, that it does so without a hitch. The disk, when opened in an explorer window, looks just like any other program disk.

MM, see above. It refuses to boot into the setup program from either of my internal optical drives.

[klugee]

Since you can get the CD to "play" in windows, I think it burned correctly.

sadly, I don't know enough about hardware to figure out what the problem is there :-(

My recomendation:
1) Do a floppy install. It's really just as easy as a CD install.
OR
2) Download Mandrake 9.1 ISO's, burn them, and try to install with those. A friend of mine ran in to a problem rather like yours, and the 9.1 iso's worked fine. Go figure.

-klugee-

[Crashcourse]

Sorry, I´m out of ideas, but as Klugee above wrote, trying MDK 9.1 would be a wise thing to do. It´s a lot more stable than 9.2 and differences between 9.1 and 9.2 are not so dramatic after all.

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by Privateer189

P.S. There's nothing wrong with the CD drives. They play music and DVDs just fine.

Since the boot process is attempting to boot from the install cd, I would say the iso image is corrupt. Did you verify the md5sum with the iso?

Have you tried creating the boot diskettes (from the diskette images on the install cd) and booting with the bootdisk with the install cd in the cdrom?

[Privateer189]

Uh. minor point: No floppy drive installed on the machine.

No, I haven't verified it, but a friend of mine burned it and says it worked fine. But I think there may be a firmware prob with my main burner, so I'm going to try a copy of the disk that was burned on his machine.