Dell D8200 USB Knoppix Image Recongnition Issue

Forum: USB booting
Topic: Dell D8200 USB Knoppix Image Recongnition Issue
started by: emunity

Posted by emunity on July 31 2007,10:51

Dell D820 Inspiron not D8200 sorry about that.

Finally after several days I am now registered. I am a newbie but have 10 years experience with Linux. Mostly with configuring and compiling kernels because it just seems like a lot of fun to me and a huge challenge.

Anyhow after 2 weeks of frustration I should have realized from the posts that I reviewed that it not a problem with the source code or DSL in general on USB flash drive and should have realized it was an issue with my Laptop USB.

I deduced this conclusion from the fact that the USB stick will boot from my HP workstation PIV.

So weird that the latest and greatest Intel Core 2 duo processor with the intel 945 chipset on a laptop will not complete the boot process.

I watched it boot over and over again seeing that it wants to so badly read the image file but for some reason it doesn't. It recognizes the USB devise obviously because it boots the kernel and the Initrd is working completely.

So I have to conclude either an issue with my D820 BIos version A07 the latest and or a conflict with the Code in the LinuRc within the gunzipped file which I gunzipped to review the source with not much help.

I also read a thread with the Dell laptop 5115 I believe with known issues so I have to assume this could also be the similar issue with my D820.

Now why does Ultimate Boot CD, in my case Ultimate Boot USB work flawlessly. I added applications, Norton Ghost version 12 , Acronis version 10. A separate USB stick with a bootable MS does partition so I can update my BIOS in any computer any time I want as long as it supports USB booting.

With all of that working why cannot the DSL Knoppix Image be read properly after the USB devices are detected?

I am hoping that either Dell and or a combination of the Newer 4.0 Alpha version of DSL will take care of this annoying issue.

Any comments welcome..

Thanks for reading my post!!

Posted by curaga on July 31 2007,11:10

Might be a BIOS issue, but since it's a core2duo you probably have over 128m ram and can boot toram, and 'cause initrd loaded, use the initrd version of DSL 3.4. It has everything in the initrd, thus eliminating problems like these..

Posted by emunity on Aug. 01 2007,00:46

I have that toram in the script of the grub file. But the problem is it seems to want to read the Knoppix image file then quickly stops so it doesn't load the image file and I drop down to a limited shell.

The kernel boots fine , its the FS that never gets mounted because it cannot find Knoppix image. This is crazy if it boots and sees the kernel and initrd files why can't it see the Knopiix image and load it?

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Aug. 01 2007,02:57

It's not crazy. Loading the kernel and initrd is the bootloader's job. If DSL cannot automatically recognize your hardware, using the dsl-initrd version (where the KNOPPIX image is stored in the initrd file) can be an easy alternative.

Posted by emunity on Aug. 01 2007,03:27

Wowo I have to try that I did not knwo there was a DSL-Initrd version. Is the protocol the same as the WIKI doc's so to do? I do Method II of Install from within a Linux OS Fedora 7. This is great if it will work? I know it sees my hardware. There is like a nansecond flash :P And for some reason it just does not find the knoppix file but it sees all the hardware.

Is the DSL initrd version an ISO or embedded version or just a patch you can configure in? Is there a Faq's or a special link to install it on the USB device?

Thanks for the help and information I'll check out that file.

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Aug. 01 2007,03:39

Speaking specifically of this scenario, the unrecognized hardware in question is your usb drive media.

I believe the download version comes in an iso. Just check out the downloads page.

You can either overwrite the minirt from that iso, or manually make your own.

Posted by emunity on Aug. 01 2007,04:01

Ok getting a kernel panic VFS: Cannot open root device "" or 03:01. I probably should have it as a Label or not? oot=LABEL=/ script, on the Kernel line?

I tried root=/dev/sda1 sda2 sdb1 and sdb2 and no luck. Any other idea because technically this should work right?

Here is some of the error script:

EXT2-fs error (device ramdisk(1,0)): ext2_read_inode: unable to readd inode block - inode=3937, block=16387
Attempt to access beyond end of device
01:00 rw=0, want=22033, limit=4096 and it sais that a few more times only difference is want=22034, 22035 and 22036.
VFS: Cannot open root device "LABEL=/" or 00:00 so I give up on putting LABEL there. The it sais please append a correct "root=" boot option.

Maybe I should not be formating the sdb2 partition in Fedora 7 since it used a 2.6 kernel and might be an issue with the 2.4 DSL kernel? Yes No?

Is there anything special I need in the kernel script line besides what is ther already such as root=/dev/sda2 ro toram, noreject frugal vga=791 acpi=off

Have to have acpi off or I get a kernel panic. Also I like to see the penguin on boot up vga=791.

Also I have two partitions as Wiki How to sais an win95 sdb1 and linux sdb2. Also I am using a Monster 8gb USB mini hard drive so its not relly a flash but probably is seeing as such?

I tried different root devices so it must be something to do with the ext2 fs I created from within Fedora 7 using kernel 2.6 vs the 2.4 kernel on DSL?

Well just in case I went ahead and did fdisk and formatting over again in Red hat 9 with a 2.4x kernel in case that was the issue and its not.

I tried the 3.4-initrd version on a PC that is known to boot the DSL-ISO on the USB without problems so that initrd version doesn't work at all on any PC.

Is there some addtional script on need on the kernel line to make complete the booting without getting that error above?

Anyhow hope you can help?

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Aug. 03 2007,04:00

Did you verify the download/copy?

I seem to remember the dsl-embedded's minirt being slightly different than the standard one in the ISO's ... you may have to adapt it to your usb, but not sure if your problem is related to that. I remember some others have seen some root vfs errors before, you might want to look into that.

Also, there's some problems in your boot parameters, but I'll leave that to mistyping.