Can't boot Pizza Puppy

Message

Colonel Panic · #1 Post by **Colonel Panic** » Tue 06 Feb 2007, 00:06

Hi! I downloaded PizzaPuppy 3 today and burnt it to CD, but it won't boot up (unlike the standard version of Puppy I've got); the computer just goes straight to LILO and gives me the usual boot menu on startup as if the PizzaPup CD wasn't in the drive.

I've checked the CD and the PIzzaPup iso is definitely on there.

Any suggestions please as to what might be going wrong?

Thanks in advance,

Colonel Panic.

#2 Post by **Pizzasgood** » Tue 06 Feb 2007, 03:24

Did you burn it as an image? When looking at the cd contents, you shouldn't see an iso at all. You should see a bunch of files.

These files, to be exact:

boot.msg
initrd.gz
isolinux.bin
isolinux.cfg
pza_300.sfs
vmlinuz
zdrv_300.sfs

You can burn it from within Puppy by using the Burniso2cd script. I think it's in Start->Multimedia on the standard Puppy. Otherwise, make sure you use an option like "Burn CD image" or "Burn ISO image". Sometimes that's under the "Utilities" or "Copy" tab of the burner software.

You could also extract the iso and do a manual frugal install. I don't remember much about configuring LILO anymore, but I did write a How-To back when I did. You'd need to copy the pza_300.sfs, zdrv_300.sfs, initrd.gz, and vmlinuz files. vmlinuz and initrd.gz can go in a subdirectory, and the other two put at the top of the file-tree. Then just add an entry to the LILO config file, refresh LILO, and reboot.

Colonel Panic · #3 Post by **Colonel Panic** » Tue 06 Feb 2007, 10:29

You're right, I do have an iso file and nothing else! Looks like I was given duff advice by the guy running the library computer centre (have to set him straight)

.

I've had the same problem with Damn Small Linux when I burnt a copy of that a while back. I'll try your advice about extracting the files from the iso, I've got enough hard drive space.

Cheers,

Colonel Panic.

#4 Post by **Pizzasgood** » Wed 07 Feb 2007, 01:47

My how-to is at:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=9965

Also, since LILO and GRUB both let you put initrd.gz and vmlinuz in a directory, and since Pizzapup uses pza_ rather than pup_, it would be able to co-exist with Standard Puppy. You just have to make sure initrd.gz and vmlinuz are in a different place from the standard Puppy's files.

Actually, I have at least three versions of Puppy plus Pizzapup installed on my system right now (using GRUB, but it would work in LILO too).

Colonel Panic · #5 Post by **Colonel Panic** » Wed 07 Feb 2007, 07:41

Thanks for that PP, I'll give it a try.

Colonel Panic · #6 Post by **Colonel Panic** » Wed 07 Feb 2007, 23:59

I've followed your instructions, and it's working well; I've even got the Windows Vista theme to use, which I haven't seen before. Who needs Bill Gates's $300+ OSes?!

Great job you've done here, thanks.

Colonel Panic · #7 Post by **Colonel Panic** » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 22:01

Just one problem though; at the moment PizzaPuppy won't save my settings in the hard drive file, so I have to reconfigure GKDial each time I boot it up.

Sorry to have to bring this to your attention (I don't have the same problem with regular Puppy).

#8 Post by **Pizzasgood** » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 23:08

I'm on my way out, back on Sunday evening. Need more details to help. Thanks.

Colonel Panic · #9 Post by **Colonel Panic** » Sun 11 Feb 2007, 10:22

Thatks, I'll try and sort it out myself first. What seems to be happening is that it's making copies of the pizza_300.sfs file every time it shuts down, and then loads the original file (i.e. without my changes) each time I boot it up.

Colonel Panic · #10 Post by **Colonel Panic** » Mon 12 Feb 2007, 10:39

Still not recalling the settings, but since I'm being critical here, can I say I'm most impressed with its speed (even faster than Vector, which is a fast distro); every icon I click on launches the app pretty much instantaneously. Looks good too.

#11 Post by **Pizzasgood** » Mon 12 Feb 2007, 14:52

You aren't booting with the pfix=ram option, are you? That option prevents Puppy from loading the save-file.

Colonel Panic · #12 Post by **Colonel Panic** » Mon 12 Feb 2007, 22:17

Yes I was, and when I fixed it the problem was solved, so thanks and well done for spotting that!

Unfortunately, once I'd fixed that I lost my dialup connection and am having to post from regular Puppy. I'll try and sort it out in the morning.

Thanks again anyway,

Colonel Panic.

Colonel Panic · #13 Post by **Colonel Panic** » Thu 15 Feb 2007, 21:28

Hi again! A quick update; I've sorted it for now by replacing the vmlinuz and initrd.gz files in my Vector boot subfolder with the same files from my Puppy 2.00 CD, and it's working fine and I'm using it to post this. Fingers crossed that it stays that way....

Update again - er, no it didn't. I lost my dialup connection again and had to use the modem wizard to ping the serial port I knew my modem was attached to, and then save it as the /dev/modem connection - despite it being indicated that there was no modem there. Weird.

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum