Pup431 on flash drive won't boot in old laptop [SOLVED]
Pup431 on flash drive won't boot in old laptop [SOLVED]
I have an old IBM Thinkpad I series 1200-1161 with a 500MHZ Celeron CPU, 16GB HDD, and 512MB RAM. It runs OK with Windows 98 but I want to upgrade to a newer OS. Using Unetbootin I created a Live USB with Pup431. I tried it out on a Dell desktop with a 2.2GHZ CPU, 120GB HDD, and 2 GB RAM and it worked fine. However, when I tried to run it on the laptop it got to the end of the setup where an 'X' cursor appeared on the screen and would do no more. I experimented with various boot options but to no avail. Any advice would be appreciated.
Last edited by 431user on Tue 04 Feb 2014, 17:30, edited 1 time in total.
Thank you SO MUCH for providing us with a lot of useful information. This is a good thing to do -- the more we know, the less we have to ask.
*ahem*
When your Thinkpad gets to the X with the cursor...
Hold down the CTRL and ALT keys, and then (still holding the others down) press the BACKSPACE key. This should dump you to a command line interface where you see a bunch of text and a #. The # is the prompt -- type "xorgwizard" (all lowercase, no quotes) and press the ENTER key.
You should then see a DOS-like blue screen that lets you choose between "Xorg" and "Xvesa" -- the second option may be called simply "vesa" and there may be a "Probe" choice in between.
For now, choose "Xorg". Press ENTER to select it. You will see that it is "probing hardware" for a few seconds.
If yours is a Thinkpad with a 12.1" screen, use the arrow keys to select the 800x600x16 option in the screen to select resolutions (which follows the "probing hardware" bit). However, if your screen is larger (a 13.3" screen), select the 1024x768x16 option. Press ENTER to confirm your selection. You do NOT need to test it.
Once you've done that, the wizard will dump you back to the #. Type "xwin"(all lowercase, no quotes) and you should be in business.
If you still get the X cursor and nothing else, go back to the wizard and select Xvesa at the start. The wizard should do the rest
Do let us know, please, how it all works out. There's nothing we like more than hearing from a satisfied Puppian!
*ahem*
When your Thinkpad gets to the X with the cursor...
Hold down the CTRL and ALT keys, and then (still holding the others down) press the BACKSPACE key. This should dump you to a command line interface where you see a bunch of text and a #. The # is the prompt -- type "xorgwizard" (all lowercase, no quotes) and press the ENTER key.
You should then see a DOS-like blue screen that lets you choose between "Xorg" and "Xvesa" -- the second option may be called simply "vesa" and there may be a "Probe" choice in between.
For now, choose "Xorg". Press ENTER to select it. You will see that it is "probing hardware" for a few seconds.
If yours is a Thinkpad with a 12.1" screen, use the arrow keys to select the 800x600x16 option in the screen to select resolutions (which follows the "probing hardware" bit). However, if your screen is larger (a 13.3" screen), select the 1024x768x16 option. Press ENTER to confirm your selection. You do NOT need to test it.
Once you've done that, the wizard will dump you back to the #. Type "xwin"(all lowercase, no quotes) and you should be in business.
If you still get the X cursor and nothing else, go back to the wizard and select Xvesa at the start. The wizard should do the rest
Do let us know, please, how it all works out. There's nothing we like more than hearing from a satisfied Puppian!
Could also be a RAM issue -- are you SURE all 512mb are recognized? ThinkWiki says that your laptop only goes up to 192mb RAM, in which case you've got to install to the hard drive from another machine... you'll need swap space (like Windows' page file -- "virtual memory", it's called) to get Puppy to boot properly in 192mb RAM...
I would double check the RAM as well.
Often PCs support more RAM than the original specs say. That is usually because larger capacity sticks are now available than there were at the time.
Many old machines that have their capacity quoted when the maximum stick size was 128Mb will happily work with 256Mb or 512Mb sticks.
Often PCs support more RAM than the original specs say. That is usually because larger capacity sticks are now available than there were at the time.
Many old machines that have their capacity quoted when the maximum stick size was 128Mb will happily work with 256Mb or 512Mb sticks.
"Just think of it as leaving early to avoid the rush" - T Pratchett
Live USB on an old laptop
I followed your procedure and it stopped where it did before with the X cursor on the screen. Your comment on the RAM not being recognized could certainly explain a lot. Although the specifications list 192MB as the maximum when I ran Windows 98 it confirmed that 512MB was present but what if it was not recognized during the Linux installation? When I installed Puppy on my desktop, (successfully), I reduced the RAM to 128MB and reinstalled it, (again successfully), so I would think that would be enough RAM on the laptop. How would I check this? And if it is not recognized what could I do about it?
Don't even need Memtest.
It should tell you in the BIOS. IIRC pressing the F1 key at boot should get you there -- press the power button and immediately begin pressing F1 frequently and repeatedly, until you see the BIOS screen. Not sure what it looks like on an i1200 but on the T42 I used to have it was cyan (light blue) with black lettering. Very much a DOS-like screen
It should tell you in the BIOS. IIRC pressing the F1 key at boot should get you there -- press the power button and immediately begin pressing F1 frequently and repeatedly, until you see the BIOS screen. Not sure what it looks like on an i1200 but on the T42 I used to have it was cyan (light blue) with black lettering. Very much a DOS-like screen
Could be graphics driver problem.
If yes, try this:
Type xorgwizard at the prompt.
Select the vesa driver.
set resolution.
(set it to something you know is good)
run test to see if it works.
finish xorgwizard.
back at prompt.
Type xwin
should see desktop.
I hope this is the prompt.the 'X' cursor appeared
If yes, try this:
Type xorgwizard at the prompt.
Select the vesa driver.
set resolution.
(set it to something you know is good)
run test to see if it works.
finish xorgwizard.
back at prompt.
Type xwin
should see desktop.
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)
Success at last!
It turned out to be a RAM problem after all. When I originally tried to run the Live CD with 128MB RAM I was trying to run distros that were too big. I upgraded to 512MB which didn't work either. Then I tried Puppy but didn't realize that RAM was too big for this laptop to recognize. When I replaced the original memory and tried the Puppy Live CD it ran. Now I can play with Puppy and evaluate it after which I will probably have more questions for the group.
Thanks again to everybody for your help.
Thanks again to everybody for your help.
Yaaaaaaaay!
...odd, though. Usually when a system doesn't detect the correct RAM it will beep and refuse to boot. I wonder why it didn't, here...? (Rhetorical.)
Either way, since Puppy is now booting, could you do us a small favor? At the top of your first post there should be an "Edit" button. Please click that button and change the title to include the text [SOLVED] (just like that) so that others know that your problem has gone away
...odd, though. Usually when a system doesn't detect the correct RAM it will beep and refuse to boot. I wonder why it didn't, here...? (Rhetorical.)
Either way, since Puppy is now booting, could you do us a small favor? At the top of your first post there should be an "Edit" button. Please click that button and change the title to include the text [SOLVED] (just like that) so that others know that your problem has gone away