Issues with various things: install, ext files and wireless

Message

sasha · #1 Post by **sasha** » Fri 29 Jun 2012, 21:32

First let me say Hi I am new to linux. I have known of it's existence for years but never used it. I picked up an old Dell latitude CPI 366 with 128mgs of Ram 4 gig hard drive for $8 Windows 2000 was on it but busted so I thought I would give a free OS a try. After looking and trying I settled on Wary Puppy as the best bet for the machine, but
I can't install to the hard drive( the best option for what I want to do) I keep getting ext2 ext3 failure, Kernel in panic , not synching all sorts of error messages I followed all the instructions watched the videos etc. I can run it from the CD and can save personal file my setup to a USB flash (4 gig) and it reboots fine in that format. Frugal install doesn't work either maybe my hard drive is to old to support ext files? doesn't work with fat files either also Wary recognizes my wireless card finds my network I put in my wep key but is unable to connect to my network (windows network) but I still should be able to get online I know the card is good because I used it in an XP laptop. It looks great but I can't do anything with it. I tried DSL, Slacko, Legacy, lucid. ubuntu won't partition HD so I can't install 5.0 so I guess it's my machine but Wary is suppose to be for older machines Shouldn't and IDE ATA be able to accept EXT files? let me know what I could be doing wrong

rjbrewer · #2 Post by **rjbrewer** » Fri 29 Jun 2012, 23:21

This is the link I recommend for 1st time full install.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 782#201565

Partitions are now called "sda" not "hda".
It will be necessary at the end to run "Grub" bootloader
from the menu.

#3 Post by **Flash** » Sat 30 Jun 2012, 03:08

Also I'm not surprised you're having troubles, with only 128 MB of RAM. Have you created a swap partition? If not, I'd recommend either doing that or adding more RAM (minimum of 256 MB total).

rjbrewer · #4 Post by **rjbrewer** » Sat 30 Jun 2012, 03:20

Flash wrote:Also I'm not surprised you're having troubles, with only 128 MB of RAM. Have you created a swap partition? If not, I'd recommend either doing that or adding more RAM (minimum of 256 MB total).

That is both discussed and demonstrated in the 1st part
of the link I gave.

sasha · #5 Post by **sasha** » Sat 30 Jun 2012, 03:51

It runs fine on 128 and I gave it a 500mg swap in fact legacy 4 mini never used all the 128 when I had it running from live cd I just can't get any Puppy linux to install. I will be putting laptop right in front of my desktop and follow instructions verbatim from that link and see what happens tomorrow
Dwight

#6 Post by **Flash** » Sat 30 Jun 2012, 04:57

Good luck!

sasha · #7 Post by **sasha** » Sat 30 Jun 2012, 04:58

well I followed the instructions as close as I could but it was a little different as I was installing Wary not dingo I got
Ext2-fs error bad entry Kernel panic no init found try passing init= option to kernel file system type0x83 etc
so I maybe I should try something else? or different linux? suggestions?
All puppy versions run on the laptop but only live or having a save file on a usb stick but won't with a save file on hard drive It just won't work not very impressed maybe I am just not a linux person?

bigpup · #8 Post by **bigpup** » Sat 30 Jun 2012, 08:41

I think your problem is a bad hard drive or one that is not getting partitioned and formatted properly.
It may have disk surface problems or dead storage areas.
To find out. I would use this:

Gparted live CD

For partitioning I would suggest you use the Gparted live CD that you can get from here.
You can download a free version to make your own Gparted live CD.
It is up to date and specifically made to run Gparted.
Info:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted ... ve-stable/

To check out the physical condition of the hard drive. If you know the manufactures name, you can go to their website and download test programs that will do complete test of the hard drive.
You can make a bootable CD of the programs similar to the Gparted live CD.
Example:
Western Digital has Data Lifeguard
http://support.wdc.com/product/download ... 30&lang=en

Burn_IT · #9 Post by **Burn_IT** » Sat 30 Jun 2012, 13:56

Snap Bigpup!!
I might have suggested Hiren's CD which includes Partition Wizard that does the same.
It also has mini Windows and Mini Linux on it as well as most of the Manufacturer's Disk tools.

sasha · #10 Post by **sasha** » Sat 30 Jun 2012, 14:56

I am beginning to think it is a bad hard drive I may just pick up a known good one they are pretty cheap used The hard drive may be the reason it was at Thrift Shop and why windows was trashed in the first place. This only a test bed unit as I have a couple of other that work fine sadly this being my first attempt at linux is so frustrating
Dwight

sasha · #11 Post by **sasha** » Sat 30 Jun 2012, 15:04

or the machine is trash
dwight

rjbrewer · #12 Post by **rjbrewer** » Sat 30 Jun 2012, 15:23

sasha wrote:I am beginning to think it is a bad hard drive I may just pick up a known good one they are pretty cheap used The hard drive may be the reason it was at Thrift Shop and why windows was trashed in the first place. This only a test bed unit as I have a couple of other that work fine sadly this being my first attempt at linux is so frustrating
Dwight

With old hard drives I always use "Dariks Boot-n-Nuke"
(it's free) quick erase, to clean the drive.
It also tells if the drive is going bad or not.

sasha · #13 Post by **sasha** » Mon 02 Jul 2012, 17:15

well i burned that CD no go it wouldn't load duke and nuke
I give up right now the best I can do and what works the best is Lucid with a save file on a usb stick but then that ties up my only usb port and I have to still run the live CD. I partitioned the drive ext2 and linux swap the linux swap gets loaded so that part works but ext fails. Maybe if i can increase the memory I can free up the CD ROM? All this means is more money into something that needs ie hard drive, memory. I can't get the wireless card to work on it either. It recognizes net work but won't log on even with wep key . I tried 2 different cards. So I spent a week, 12 Cd's and I am not any further along than I was a week ago. So I will put this on the shelf for now and see what comes along that I can further experiment with If I could at least get on line with it that would be cool
Dwight

rjbrewer · #14 Post by **rjbrewer** » Mon 02 Jul 2012, 19:11

sasha wrote:well i burned that CD no go it wouldn't load duke and nuke
I give up right now the best I can do and what works the best is Lucid with a save file on a usb stick but then that ties up my only usb port and I have to still run the live CD. I partitioned the drive ext2 and linux swap the linux swap gets loaded so that part works but ext fails. Maybe if i can increase the memory I can free up the CD ROM? All this means is more money into something that needs ie hard drive, memory. I can't get the wireless card to work on it either. It recognizes net work but won't log on even with wep key . I tried 2 different cards. So I spent a week, 12 Cd's and I am not any further along than I was a week ago. So I will put this on the shelf for now and see what comes along that I can further experiment with If I could at least get on line with it that would be cool
Dwight

Get 1 or 2 cd-rw discs; save a lot of money.

Dariks (dban) should boot even if a drive isn't present.

Many of the newer puppies need 256mb ram in order to
remove disc once booted. Swap is not ram.

Wireless question should be in a separate thread and
accurate description of the chosen card is needed.

sasha · #15 Post by **sasha** » Mon 02 Jul 2012, 20:49

Ok thanks for all the info but this becoming to much of a headache I am probably going back to original OS as someone is giving me a free install disk and see if that works I think that will solve a lot of issues
Dwight

#16 Post by **Flash** » Tue 03 Jul 2012, 01:45

If you can't get Puppy to work I'll be surprised if you can get Windows to work.

sasha · #17 Post by **sasha** » Fri 13 Jul 2012, 13:13

Compaq Presario 700 While still and older retro looking machine I picked it up for ten bucks 900hz processor, 512mg memory 20 gig hard drive no wireless but Ethernet modem winxp was trashed because there were errors on hard drive I used duke nuke to fix it and Wary puppy installed without a hitch. I even switched to Lucid and Slacko but I think I like wary best so far so I put that back. I think this may be able to run other flavors of Linux maybe Racy? wary on steroids? also I this is the only laptop I have seen that has keyboard like feet on the back to lift it up for easier typing nifty now if I can get the wireless working and a new battery it will be truly nifty
Dwight

sasha · #18 Post by **sasha** » Fri 13 Jul 2012, 13:19

Flash wrote:If you can't get Puppy to work I'll be surprised if you can get Windows to work.

That's kind of rude. Win 98se worked fine on the Dell latitude I installed all original dell sound video drivers etc. from their website Works Wiz bang I plan to use it to run Audacity as a spare unit to record my guitar stuff.
Dwight

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Issues with various things: install, ext files and wireless

Issues with various things: install, ext files and wireless

changed laptops> Compaq presario 700