Do you have access to a CD drive? I have found that the most reliable method for testing and troubleshooting on older computers is to boot Puppy 4.3.1 from a CD
In terms of identifying why your mouse is not functional I think 4.3.1 will be helpful in diagnosing this - if only you can find a method to boot it into ram.
USB formatting and installation is troublesome on newer puppies - especially when using older hardware. Puppy 4.3.1 contains utilities that are a good match for the boot requirements of older computers such as yours.
After 4.3.1 many puppies "upgraded" their version of "syslinux" and this adversely affects usb booting
I now only use syslinux 3.73 - which is the version that comes with Puppy 4.3.1
If you have no access to CD drive you could try setting up a fresh usb stick with only Puppy 4.3.1 on it.
Here is a good thread to help with this:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=54566
I also made myself a list of instructions based on that thread but also with some other steps/clarifications added. It might look complex but I found it more reliable across lots of different hardware than any other method.
My notes are in this post:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 996#902996
Maybe you have a bad copy of Puppy 4.3.1 - I would recommend downloading the iso again (from different location perhaps?) then building a new bootable usb stick.
USB-Mouse not working in Slacko 6.3 after HD install
I've now installed pup431 that way: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=54566
Now there is no bootloader on hard drive:
While booting:
... grueling...
Now there is no bootloader on hard drive:
While booting:
Code: Select all
Try (hd0,0): EXT2: No grldr
Try (hd0,1): non-MS: skip
Try (hd0,2): Extended:
Try (hd0,3): invalid or null
Try (hd0,4): EXT2: No grldr
Try (hd0,5): Extended:
Try (hd0,5): non-MS: skip
BIOS: Drive = 0x0, H=2, S=18
Try (fd0): invalid or null
Cannot find grldr
...
If you followed that posted topic and did what it said.
syslinux bootloader would be on the USB drive.
syslinux.cfg would be on it with settings for syslinux bootloader to use.
That message says it is looking for stuff for a grub boot loader like Grub4dos.
Did you ever have Grub4dos on the USB drive????????
Why is it looking at 6 different partitions for stuff?
How many partitions are on this USB drive?
Did you Use Gparted to make a new partition table, new partition, and format that partition fat32?
syslinux bootloader would be on the USB drive.
syslinux.cfg would be on it with settings for syslinux bootloader to use.
That message says it is looking for stuff for a grub boot loader like Grub4dos.
Did you ever have Grub4dos on the USB drive????????
Why is it looking at 6 different partitions for stuff?
How many partitions are on this USB drive?
Did you Use Gparted to make a new partition table, new partition, and format that partition fat32?
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected
YaPI(any iso installer)
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected
YaPI(any iso installer)
It seems as if the bios will not look at the usb drive while the HDD is in that state.
Are you able to remove the HDD and see if the bios now sees a bootable usb stick?
Also - I would like to double check something you said earlier - I think you said that the usb mouse does not function if you boot from Slacko 6.3 installed on hard drive - is that correct?
Did you try unplugging then re-plugging the mouse?
Are you able to remove the HDD and see if the bios now sees a bootable usb stick?
Also - I would like to double check something you said earlier - I think you said that the usb mouse does not function if you boot from Slacko 6.3 installed on hard drive - is that correct?
Did you try unplugging then re-plugging the mouse?
@rimatheou
I Still use Puppy 431 along with several other older Puppy's on equally ancient computers, all booting from a USB!
I'm with greengeek, try removing the hard drive and then booting from the USB. Have you made the USB bootable by ticking the flag in GParted?
If all else fails and the BIOS will not see the USB stick as a bootable device, try the boot manager, PLOP.
https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagers.html
Enclosed an image of one of my USB sticks with various older Puppy's frugally installed using Grub4DOS. There is no need for multiple partitions.
I Still use Puppy 431 along with several other older Puppy's on equally ancient computers, all booting from a USB!
I'm with greengeek, try removing the hard drive and then booting from the USB. Have you made the USB bootable by ticking the flag in GParted?
If all else fails and the BIOS will not see the USB stick as a bootable device, try the boot manager, PLOP.
https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagers.html
Enclosed an image of one of my USB sticks with various older Puppy's frugally installed using Grub4DOS. There is no need for multiple partitions.
- Attachments
-
- USB-Bootable.jpg
- (39.85 KiB) Downloaded 276 times
OK!
I think we are getting confused on what you are exactly doing and what your problem still is.
Need to be detailed and specific.
Booting from what device?
Using what boot loader?
You do what?
You see what?
At this point.
I do not know if booting from a hard drive is a problem.
Booting from a USB drive is a problem.
Mouse still not working when Puppy Slacko 6.3 is installed to the hard drive, and you are booting from that hard drive install.
Slacko 6.3 may just not be a good Puppy for your hardware.
I think we are getting confused on what you are exactly doing and what your problem still is.
Need to be detailed and specific.
Booting from what device?
Using what boot loader?
You do what?
You see what?
At this point.
I do not know if booting from a hard drive is a problem.
Booting from a USB drive is a problem.
Mouse still not working when Puppy Slacko 6.3 is installed to the hard drive, and you are booting from that hard drive install.
Slacko 6.3 may just not be a good Puppy for your hardware.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected
YaPI(any iso installer)
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected
YaPI(any iso installer)
OK - if you ever back to Slacko 6.3 and still get the mouse problem it would be interesting to see the output of the command: "#dmesg" after you replug the mouse.rimatheou wrote:I checked out two different mouses, a wired and a wireless one.
All I can suggest is that the timing of usb bus initialisation is different between an HDD boot and a usb (or CD) boot - maybe if it fails to detect an external mouse during boot (from HDD) then it can never allow any other mouse to be plugged in via usb.
(I have a similar problem on a Toshiba where it sometimes boots without recognising the touchpad mouse which is a usb device - after failing to detect it at boot it seems to lock it out and will never see it again)
@ bigpup
I'm also a little bit confused on what I've all done, because I cannot remember all the steps.
I now boot from hard drive, using Grub (not Grub4Dos). I run Puppy Linux 500 frugal in sda1 dir puppy500. X-Server is great. Mouse is working.
Booting from USB is no problem, I think you missunderstood.
I have the following interfaces:
eth0; Driver: sis900
wlan0; Driver: prism2_usb
Internet connection would be the next thing, but a new thread might be better.
I'm also a little bit confused on what I've all done, because I cannot remember all the steps.
I now boot from hard drive, using Grub (not Grub4Dos). I run Puppy Linux 500 frugal in sda1 dir puppy500. X-Server is great. Mouse is working.
Booting from USB is no problem, I think you missunderstood.
I have the following interfaces:
eth0; Driver: sis900
wlan0; Driver: prism2_usb
Internet connection would be the next thing, but a new thread might be better.
Someone here said that he has several Puppies on a usb drive. I want to check out different Puppies because of wlan detection, and I don't want to delete the Puppies from the usb drive. Can you tell me how to make a multiboot usb drive? I now have Puppy 431 and Puppy 500 on hard drive and Grub installed. X-Server ist great and mouse is working. I want to install puppy 520 and so on, until wlan is working (and mouse not 
) Now there is a usb drive with puppy 431 and one with 500. I have no more drives, and I don't want to buy.
) Now there is a usb drive with puppy 431 and one with 500. I have no more drives, and I don't want to buy.Each Puppy is a frugal install in their own separate directories.
Puppy 4.3.1 in directory puppy431.
Puppy 500 in directory puppy500.
Puppy 520 in directory puppy520.
Etc........
Install Grub4dos Boot loader, to the USB flash drive, to have a boot menu with each one listed.
Those are some old Puppies.
You may want to be using the latest version of Grub4dos boot loader.
Grub4dos config
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=51697
When you run Grub4dos bootloader config.
select the usb flash drive as the device to install on.
Select search only within this device.
All the other default settings are OK.
OK.
OK.
OK.
Done.
If you remove a Puppy version or install a new one.
Simply rerun Grub4dos config to update the boot menu.
Puppy 4.3.1 in directory puppy431.
Puppy 500 in directory puppy500.
Puppy 520 in directory puppy520.
Etc........
Install Grub4dos Boot loader, to the USB flash drive, to have a boot menu with each one listed.
Those are some old Puppies.
You may want to be using the latest version of Grub4dos boot loader.
Grub4dos config
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=51697
When you run Grub4dos bootloader config.
select the usb flash drive as the device to install on.
Select search only within this device.
All the other default settings are OK.
OK.
OK.
OK.
Done.
If you remove a Puppy version or install a new one.
Simply rerun Grub4dos config to update the boot menu.
Last edited by bigpup on Thu 21 Dec 2017, 18:00, edited 1 time in total.
There are several different methods that can be used to set up multiple puppies on one stick. Is it possible for you to post an image of what Gparted sees on the stick so we can see your partitioning arrangement and sizes?
Also - if you could take a screenshot showing what files are in each of the partitions that hold the grub loader, the menu.lst, and the puppy files, that will help us visualise your starting point.
Also - if you could take a screenshot showing what files are in each of the partitions that hold the grub loader, the menu.lst, and the puppy files, that will help us visualise your starting point.
I've now installed Grub4Dos on the USB flash drive with nothing else on it. I have these files on it:
The flash drive is in only one partition partitionated and formatted with ext4.
Code: Select all
ls
grldr lost+found menu-advanced.lst menu.lst sdb_mbr.bak
This is menu.lst
Code: Select all
# menu.lst produced by grub4dosconfig-v1.9
color blue/cyan yellow/blue white/black cyan/black
#splashimage=/splash.xpm
timeout 10
default 0
# Windows
# this entry searches Windows on the HDD and boot it up
title Windows\nBoot up Windows if installed
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map --hook
errorcheck off
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /bootmgr
chainloader /bootmgr
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /ntldr
chainloader /ntldr
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /io.sys
chainloader /io.sys
errorcheck on
# Advanced Menu
title Advanced menu
configfile /menu-advanced.lst
commandline
I have a directory puppy431 on the drive and this is the content:
as it is described here: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=54566
Code: Select all
initrd.gz pup-431.sfs syslinux.cfg vmlinuz
EDIT : - looks like you and I were posting at the same time so you have already started what I was about to suggest below:
From this point on you have a number of options in order to load multiple puppies - we may all do it slightly differently so try not to mix different methods.
I have never used ext4 so my method may not be suitable but here is what I would suggest:
First - make sure that the boot flag is set on the stick.
Make a subdirectory with a name that reflects the first Puppy that you want to try. Go for a basic one that seems to have liked your hardware. I think you mentioned Lucid as one option. I will use puppy 431 as an example: call the subdirectory "pup431" and inside it copy the 3 files from the puppy 4.3.1 iso eg vmlinuz, initrd.gz and pup431.sfs
Now run grub4dos again to get a new menu.lst (you may even have to remove the one that is allready there).
Recent Grub4dos versions will identify the pup431 subdirectory as a frugal install and write the menu.lst in such a way that the stick can now boot from pup431. Older versions of Grub4dos do not properly understand frugal - and will build an incorrect menu.lst.
If the stick does not boot please post back what happens, along with the menu.lst contents.
If the stick DOES boot then you can now add other subdirectories with other names that identify which pup files you are trialling (eg Precise 56, Lupu2, Tahr503 etc etc). Manually add a new stanza into the menu.lst for each new frugal subdirectory. You should find it straightforward to copy the format of the pup431 stanza when you set up the other entries - just change the names as required.
Some puppies need more than 3 files loaded into their frugal directory - some puppies have a zdrv or an adrv etc. I don't know if they require special treatment in the boot stanza - others will be able to tell you.
I would suggest proving the "multiple frugal" method first by using puppies that have 3 files not the ones that have 4.
From this point on you have a number of options in order to load multiple puppies - we may all do it slightly differently so try not to mix different methods.
I have never used ext4 so my method may not be suitable but here is what I would suggest:
First - make sure that the boot flag is set on the stick.
Make a subdirectory with a name that reflects the first Puppy that you want to try. Go for a basic one that seems to have liked your hardware. I think you mentioned Lucid as one option. I will use puppy 431 as an example: call the subdirectory "pup431" and inside it copy the 3 files from the puppy 4.3.1 iso eg vmlinuz, initrd.gz and pup431.sfs
Now run grub4dos again to get a new menu.lst (you may even have to remove the one that is allready there).
Recent Grub4dos versions will identify the pup431 subdirectory as a frugal install and write the menu.lst in such a way that the stick can now boot from pup431. Older versions of Grub4dos do not properly understand frugal - and will build an incorrect menu.lst.
If the stick does not boot please post back what happens, along with the menu.lst contents.
If the stick DOES boot then you can now add other subdirectories with other names that identify which pup files you are trialling (eg Precise 56, Lupu2, Tahr503 etc etc). Manually add a new stanza into the menu.lst for each new frugal subdirectory. You should find it straightforward to copy the format of the pup431 stanza when you set up the other entries - just change the names as required.
Some puppies need more than 3 files loaded into their frugal directory - some puppies have a zdrv or an adrv etc. I don't know if they require special treatment in the boot stanza - others will be able to tell you.
I would suggest proving the "multiple frugal" method first by using puppies that have 3 files not the ones that have 4.
Last edited by greengeek on Fri 29 Dec 2017, 18:20, edited 3 times in total.
Remove that syslinux.cfg file. It does not belong there.rimatheou wrote:I have a directory puppy431 on the drive and this is the content:as it is described here: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=54566Code: Select all
initrd.gz pup-431.sfs syslinux.cfg vmlinuz