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I'am putting together some old parts of compaqs and i've finnally finnished but when i tried installing an OS mostly linux it wouldn't take them. any Ideas? I'd like to keep it linux (media capable) other than that I don't much care.
Since it's a miscellaneous bunch of parts, make sure you partition and then format the HD once you've got it installed.
If it boots up but won't install an OS (and depending on what error messages you're getting) it must be either the drives or the installation disks.
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it allows me to get into bios sometimes but it will not even read the installation disks
it constantly reads "operating system not found" though sometimes i get "nonsystem disk or disk eror please remove and replace" but not often
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I assume you're attempting to boot from the floppy drive. Make sure it's the first boot device in bios setup. If it's already that way then either the floppy drive or disk is bad.
I know compaqs often act like dust magnets and the floppy drive can really be filthy. Blowing the dust out with compressed air and cleaning the heads with windex or alcohol may be all you need to do.
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OK, well just make sure the cdrom is the first boot device. Otherwise it's attempting to boot from the HD and not finding any system files there.
Or the cd's aren't bootable.
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You'd either need to create a bootable cd (most burner programs can do that) or use a bootdisk with cdrom support. Once you boot with either one you should be able to put the linux cd in and do the installation. I'm not familiar with linux bootdisks or installation so I couldn't help much with that.
There may be cd bootdisk image files you can use. You might want to check at www.bootdisk.com to see what's available.
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Let me see if I have this right?
You're having HARDWARE problems installing LINUX, so naturally you ask in the DOS forum?
You say:
"what should I do if the're not bootable"
If "what" isn't bootable---the hardware (CDROM) or the CD?Did you burn the correct ISO and test in another computer? Most any Linux up to date CD should boot.
Older CDROM drives may NOT read burned CD's
Your hardware may NOT support booting from the CD. There are several things that must be in place for a CDROM (hardware) to be bootable:
The bios must support this, and of course the CDROM must be in the "boot order"
The CDROM must support booting, be properly installed, cabled, and jumpered.
Of course the CD must boot, and the CDROM must be able to read the "burned" copy. You can SOMETIMES check this by using a DOS based (floppy) bootdisk with CDROM drivers, boot with the floppy and see if you can read the CD.
If you must start with a floppy, I would think that whatever Linux distro you are using should have instructions---and maybe even a bootdisk, either on their website or ON THE CD. I haven't played with Linux in awhile, but just about any of the versions I still have----give you the ability to build a startup floppy from a utility on the CD
If you will post the Linux CD you have (version) Some of us might be able to find out.
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Maybe it depends on the age of the Compaq... I recall that some Compaqs had a separate partition on the HDD which held part of the BIOS(?). I hit this problem several times after FDISKing their HDDs and then finding nothing would work until I downloaded the Compaq setup disks and recreated the system partition.
Just a thought :-)
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 Xmsdsk ramsniffer
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DOS ..8GB barrier
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