antiX-forum

Anti:

(quoting):

I neglected to report that the low end machine I had loaded this one on (the same machine that refused to take Absolute or Slackware) won't book to the AntiX install. It'll boot from the cd but not from the hd. I forget the error.
I think my next step is to change where the bootloader(I forget the Linux name for it) is installed. I've been taking the default which I think is MBR, I can't remember what the other choice is....

-Curt

______________

I have suggested that he join this list and post information. Don't know that he will, though, so am posting what he sent me here.

He is brand new to Linux so who knows what the issue might be?

Wonko

He may have a problem with the bios, or his MBR is messed up.
Does he get the grub menu to come up?

He could also try booting from a floppy disk.

I would check to see if the boot flag is set in his/her /root partition.

fdisk -l should show you if it is. If not, the easiest way to set it is with Gparted.

eriefisher

eriefisher wrote:I would check to see if the boot flag is set in his/her /root partition.

fdisk -l should show you if it is. If not, the easiest way to set it is with Gparted.

eriefisher

I was incorrect when I said he was a newbie. Turns out he's been running other distros for a while. Will mention fdisk to him and suggest my old 'in a pinch' trick: boot up a Slackware CD and use THAT fdisk to see what is happening.

The easiest way is to use the AntiX cd. once on the desktop open a terminal and type "fdisk -l" as root. If you don't see a boot flag on the /root partition open Gparted. Once it's open select the partition right click and choose manage flags, check boot flag. Close everything up and restart, it should boot.

eriefisher

diesel.
Whatever happened with this? Give up? Get it fixed? What was the problem?

You say it boots from the CD, insert a Knoppix cd (any version) at the prompt type:

knoppix 2 lang=us vga=normal

it will give a bigger font and will take you to a root prompt (#) in text mode, no need to go into X.

At the prompt type:

# dd if=dev/zero of=/dev/hda

let it run for the amount of minutes you need according to the size of your hd for example:

40 Gb = 15 minutes

if it's bigger, do it accordingly.

After the time elapses press Enter (wait a few seconds, it gives some info), at the prompt:

# halt

it will stop, expels the Knoppix CD, pull it out, and insert the antiX installation CD, manually reboot the box, and do your thing.

The object of this exercise is to clean up all the cowebs on old boxes, it might help.

moron wrote:diesel.
Whatever happened with this? Give up? Get it fixed? What was the problem?

Never heard for sure. Last I heard he had loaded Mepis 7.0 on one of his computers but not sure if it is the same box with which he was experimenting with antiX.

You're welcome anyway