[SOLVED] Error when booting Fedora (was: complete linux newbie installing Fedora)

[easychair kenny]

Hi - (my first post)
I've been looking in the help files, but I still can't figure out why this isnt working. I have windows 2000 on a computer I want to completely change over to fedora 5. I downloaded the image files, burned them, and tried booting from it, but it doesnt work. I tried making a boot disk and changing the BIOS order, and that didnt work. All it says on my screen is "boot error".
Could someone point me in the right direction? Ive been reading help files and scanning forums for days, and I have no idea why this doesnt work. Thank you very much :) :)

I have a Pentium III,20GB HD, 512, ( I know, but its just for learning linux)

[Parcival]

I downloaded the image files, burned them, and tried booting from it, but it doesnt work.

In this situation I would verify the checksums of the image files. As a matter of fact, you should always verify the checksums when you download Linux software from the web.

The server you downloaded your images from should also provide relatively small files containing the checksum. After you have downloaded the image you should compare it against this checksum; if it is correct, you're sure to have an errorfree image.

Furthermore, some burning programs also allow to verify the burned disc upon completion. If you have this option available I recommend to use it, although it may take a while. A lot of botting errors we see in this forum comes from inproperly written discs.

I have a Pentium III,20GB HD, 512, ( I know, but its just for learning linux)

This is very decent hardware for a Linux computer. You will find that with the same hardware you will have more speed under Linux than in Windows (depending on the software packages you install).


BTW, in the future we'd like you to start threads with more meaningful threadtitles that describe the core of your problem. This makes it easier for people using the search function to find the correct threads. This time I edited the title for you, but in the future threads with poor titles will be locked so you have to repost with a good one.

[banzaikai]

How, exactly, did you burn the images (program/method/OS)?

There's a special way to burn ISOs, and if you don't use it, you get a data CD with an iso on it. Also, some Windows-based burners I've used have a nasty habit of not "finalizing" the CD after the image has been copied. Adaptec/Roxio has a utility in it that'll check for this - as does K3B - so make sure the CD is "closed" or "finalized".

What drive are you using? Some older models don't like being fed CD-R or CD-RWs.

Did you use the DVD ISO? If so, make sure the OS you're storing it on has support for large files (>=2GB), like NTFS or ext3/Reiserfs. If you use FAT-32, there's a chance that the file got truncated.

Note: I've thrown FC4 on a little P2-300/384MB 30GB dual-boot without problems. My own P3-600/384MB 40GB dual-booter runs without a hitch. The only problem with installing I've had over the years has been with the CD drive not liking CD-R/W media. If you can, swap drives to see if that cures your problem. The only FC5 install I've done was for my cousin, and that went without any issues on his AthlonXP2000/512 80GB.

banzai "porn 4 pyros" kai

[je_fro]

How did you burn the discs? Have a look here:

http://linuxiso.org/viewdoc.php/howtoburn.html

[easychair kenny]

Thanks to everybody who helped. This is a great forum, and unlike others, you dont snub newbies and refuse to answer basic questions. I took Parcivals advice and checked the sha1sum, and it was incomplete, so i downloaded again. I also looked at the site recommended by je_fro, and it helped. Im actually installing it now. Thanks again!

[Parcival]

Have fun with your new distro. :)