Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

gozlin · Joined: 28 Jul 2010 Posts: 7

I have a live CD that works on my Dell desktop, but I really want to use Puppy on my old laptop. I am new to Linux and have just taken an introductory course in Linux.
When I try to boot on my laptop I get an error message:

Disk error BB, AX=4280, Drive 82

or

isolinux: Disk error 01, AX=4200, Drive 82
Boot failed: Press a key to retry.

I have installed max ram for this system, 256MB. I have tried using some of the boot scripts, but no luck. Can someone help?

rcrsn51 · Posted: Sat 31 Jul 2010, 15:04 Post subject:

Since you know that the CD is good, the most likely explanation is that the optical drive in your old laptop has failed. Does it have a working OS like Windows that you can use to test the drive?

gozlin · Joined: 28 Jul 2010 Posts: 7

Windows 98 SE is installed on this system. I just ran the diagnostics from Dell and they reported everything working "optimally."

rcrsn51 · Posted: Sat 31 Jul 2010, 17:09 Post subject:

But can it read CD's?

gozlin · Joined: 28 Jul 2010 Posts: 7

Yes, it's a Toshiba that reads data and audio CDs. No write capability. The diagnostics found no problems with it.

I burned the CD on my desktop system that is running Windows XP, dual-booted with Linux on a separate HD.

Ray MK · Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 672 Location: UK

does it have a floppy?

rcrsn51 · Posted: Sat 31 Jul 2010, 19:24 Post subject:

Let's try this again. Boot up Windows. Insert the Puppy CD. Open Drive D: or whatever drive letter the CD drive is. Can you see the files on the CD?

gozlin · Joined: 28 Jul 2010 Posts: 7

Yes it has a floppy...and yes I can see the files in Windows.

boot.cat, boot.msg, help.msg, initro.gz, isolinux.bin, isolinux.cfg, logo.16, lupu_501.sfs, vmlinuz

rcrsn51 · Posted: Sat 31 Jul 2010, 19:43 Post subject:

OK. Then the next approach is to use a boot floppy that can launch Puppy off the Live CD. You will set the BIOS boot priority to the diskette drive and boot with both disks inserted.

There are a number of Puppy boot diskettes around. The first one I would try is "grubflop" from here.

gozlin · Joined: 28 Jul 2010 Posts: 7

Sorry for the time lapse, I'm still learning to work with archived files. For grubflop, do the unarchived files both go on the floppy?

rcrsn51 · Posted: Sun 01 Aug 2010, 13:53 Post subject:

If you are working from Linux, extract the file grubflop.img and burn the diskette with the command:

gozlin · Joined: 28 Jul 2010 Posts: 7

Thanks for your patience and guidance. Puppy 5.01 is working on my laptop, and it really flies! It even recognizes my USB flash drive that windows never did.

rcrsn51 · Posted: Tue 03 Aug 2010, 18:22 Post subject:

Glad to help.

Just out of curiosity and for the benefit of other newcomers, what procedure did you use?

gozlin · Joined: 28 Jul 2010 Posts: 7

I reburned the CD from my linux system, simplyMEPIS. I should have done that first, the laptop was reading an error that my PC wasn't picking up.