fc-test2 installation question

[James Wilkinson]

Peter Horst wrote:
> This may be a bit generic of a question - I hope it's sufficiently 
> on-topic. Here's the situation: I'm trying to install Fedora Core Test 2 
> (386) on a PII-450 machine that's currently loaded with Debian (stable). 
> I'm using files that I downloaded via torrent, SHA-1 checksummed, then 
> loaded onto CD-Rs. The machine is configured to boot first from the 
> cd-rom drive, but when I reboot with a CD-R in the drive I invariably go 
> right to the Grub (1.5) boot menu. What am I doing wrong?

As you suspect, this isn't really related to the fact you're loading a
test release.

There are two possibilities: somehow the disks haven't been burned
properly, or you're having problems with the CD drive on a computer that
old.

You can check the first option by trying to boot from them on another
computer.

For the second option -- how long does it take for your CD drive to
recognise that there's a CD-R in the drive? If you're booted into
Windows, can you hear the drive spin up? Does the drive LED come on? How
long does it stay on?

My experience is that many CD drives take longer to recognise that
there's a bootable CD-R in the drive (or, worse a bootable CD-R/W) than
the BIOS will wait to see if you can boot from the disk.

One way around the latter is to see if you can make the BIOS check the
CD drive while the CD is spinning. Doing this involves inserting the
disc at precisely the right time. How you do that is up to you -- you
may find that rebooting with the drive tray open does it, or opening and
closing the drive tray immediately after boot, or rebooting from the
BIOS menu.

Good luck!

James.

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E-mail address: james | The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily
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