Win/Slacko Dual install on two separate partitions [solved]

[rolle]

Hello,

I am facing a boot Problem I can't handle myself.

I am trying to set up am small Workshop-PC on basis of a FSC Futuro S400 ThinClient. The machine runs on a small 5GB HDD (Microdrive). The HDD ist is split up in two Partitions. Partition1 (sda1, 4GB) is NTFS-formatted and contains a minimal WinXPsp3 installation. Partition2 (sda2, 1GB) is ext2 formatted and should contain a Slacko5.3.3 frugal installation. The Installation was done via the universal Installer with "ide or SATA HDD" as boot-device. As Bootmanager I use Grub4DOS in the MBR of the HDD (built with the Grub4DOS config wizard).

The Problem is: When booting Puppy from sda2 (wich is correctly identified as hd(0,1)) the boot process starts as usual an then the screen shows this:

searching for puppy files ............ pausing puppy_slacko_5.3.3.sfs not found. Dropping to initial ramdisk console

and I get something like a terminal-prompt.

BTW booting WinXP is working properly in this setup!

For fault finding I have attached a screen-shot of sda1, sda2 and my hdd-partitioning.

My current menu.lst File:

Code: Select all

# menu.lst produced by grub4dosconfig-v1.7.2
color blue/cyan yellow/blue white/black cyan/black
timeout 10
default 0

# Frugal installed Puppy

title Puppy slacko 5.3.3 (sda2/slacko5.3.3frugal)
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /slacko5.3.3frugal/initrd.gz
  kernel /slacko5.3.3frugal/vmlinuz   psubdir=slacko5.3.3frugal pmedia=atahd
  initrd /slacko5.3.3frugal/initrd.gz

title Puppy slacko 5.3.3 (sda2/slacko5.3.3frugal) RAM mode\nBoot up Puppy without pupsave
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /slacko5.3.3frugal/initrd.gz
  kernel /slacko5.3.3frugal/vmlinuz   psubdir=slacko5.3.3frugal pfix=ram pmedia=atahd
  initrd /slacko5.3.3frugal/initrd.gz

# Windows
# this entry searches Windows on the HDD and boot it up
title Windows\nBoot up Windows if installed
  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

# Boot from Partition Boot Sector

title Puppy slacko 5.3.3 (sda2:PBS)
  uuid 62fc016d-cd10-4a52-afff-7b5f6b991cd1
  chainloader +1

# additionals

title Find Grub menu on HDD
  errorcheck off
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /menu.lst && configfile /menu.lst
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /boot/grub/menu.lst && configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /grub/menu.lst && configfile /grub/menu.lst
  errorcheck on
  commandline

title Find Grub2\nBoot up grub2 if installed
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /boot/grub/core.img
  kernel /boot/grub/core.img

title Grub4Dos commandline\n(for experts only)
  commandline

title Reboot computer
  reboot

title Halt computer
  halt

I tried nearly every variation in the Universal-Installer and Grub4Dos-Config Wizard, but I get the same negative result. In my oppinion, evrything is set up correctly - but maybe there are some further restrictions ???

Thank you very much for your help!
rolle

[bigpup]

title Puppy slacko 5.3.3 (sda2/slacko5.3.3frugal)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /slacko5.3.3frugal/initrd.gz
kernel /slacko5.3.3frugal/vmlinuz psubdir=slacko5.3.3frugal pmedia=atahd
initrd /slacko5.3.3frugal/initrd.gz

Try making the kernel line look like this:
kernel /slacko5.3.3frugal/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=slacko5.3.3frugal pfix=fsck

Not sure why yours is not this way to begin with. That is the normal way Grub4dos config would make it.

If that does not work, try removing:
pmedia=atahd

This makes it search harder for the SFS file. Will take a little longer to boot.

[rolle]

I tried both of your suggestions, the abrupt stop while booting remains.

For further information i took two Screenshots:

* screen1 pops up straight after the grub4dos-menu and stays for about 10-15sec (strange!)
* screen2 is the fault-message after puppy starts "booting".

My current menu.lst:

Code: Select all

title Puppy slacko 5.3.3 (sda2/slacko5.3.3frugal)
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /slacko5.3.3frugal/initrd.gz
  kernel /slacko5.3.3frugal/vmlinuz   psubdir=slacko5.3.3frugal pfix=fsck
  initrd /slacko5.3.3frugal/initrd.gz

title Puppy slacko 5.3.3 (sda2/slacko5.3.3frugal) RAM mode\nBoot up Puppy without pupsave
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /slacko5.3.3frugal/initrd.gz
  kernel /slacko5.3.3frugal/vmlinuz   psubdir=slacko5.3.3frugal pfix=ram,fsck 
  initrd /slacko5.3.3frugal/initrd.gz

At the moment I use the Slacko-CD in combination with slackosafe.2fs but I still want to get rid of that clumsy usb-cdrom drive.

Thanks a lot for your Input!
rolle

[nilsonmorales]

check the iso sum
MD5 Checksum: a1d5bbe8c93b121a6a90ad543ad7f1aa

mount the iso and copy the .sfs file in your slacko5.3.3frugal directory
but remame the directory for something more simple
just slacko could be good

i have this problem when the files are bad copy so i can do this by hand
only extract the 3 files in the iso and paste in the directory
remember if you rename the main directory you will need edit the menu.lst
kernel /slacko5.3.3frugal for
kernel /slako/

sorry my english sucks

[bigpup]

Another idea to try.
Make kernel line look like this:

kernel /slacko5.3.3frugal/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd pdev1=sda2 psubdir=slacko5.3.3frugal pfix=fsck

Put pmedia=atahd back in.
Add pdev1=sda2

When editing, make sure a space between items is one space. May affect.

* screen1 pops up straight after the grub4dos-menu and stays for about 10-15sec (strange!)

That is probably caused by not having pmedia=atahd in entry. It is looking for all storage devices, not having a specific type identified.

[rolle]

What I did:
* download the .iso again
* check md5-checksums
* replace the vmlinuz, intrid.gz, puppy_slacko_5.3.3.sfs
* rename folder to 'slacko' (as suggested)
* modifiy menu.lst, update foldername

The boot-process still fails at the same point, same fault! Same screens...

Could there be something wrong with my hdd-setup? Currently my ext2-partition holds the boot-flag, but in the past I had tried both variations.

Any further suggestions? Thank You!

@nilsonmorales: Don't worry, I'm not a native speaker either

[bigpup]

I posted above about the same time as you, so try that idea.

Another idea could be save file causing problem having been used with the live CD. Delete save file or temporarily rename so it does not get used.

You could do a partition check with Gparted.
Will need to boot with live CD, using boot option puppy pfix=ram, so partion is not mounted. Do not think this is really the problem, something wrong with partition.

[rolle]

@bigpup: I had not seen your Posting before submitting my last post.

I tried your last suggestions -> boot fails again with the same screen exept: 'pausing' in

pausingpuppy_slacko_5.3.3.sfs not found. Dropping to initial-ramdisk console

dos not shop up.

hm....

[rolle]

Our posts were crossing again hang-on I'll try your last tips!

[rolle]

Results:
* Deleting the save-file dos not alter anything
* A file-system-check with gparted gave positive results, everything fine.

I have attached a screenshot of the device-info-box. Maybe this helps. I once read (in context of Ubuntu installation), the boot-partition should not be further away from the MBR than the second half of the hdd. This does not apply in this case....or does it?

[bigpup]

Running out of ideas.
Stuff you have tried, are things that seem to help, with other people having similar problem.

Only other ideas:

Running from live CD.
Make sure no other Slacko files are on computer other than the ones in /slacko5.3.3frugal directory.
Look on sda1 also.
If any found delete them.

May be some kind of support issue with the atahd controller in this computer.
Try an install of a different version of Puppy.
Wary 5.3
Lucid 5.2.8.005

[MinHundHettePerro]

rolle,

it seems a bit strange that in filesystemcheck.jpg both your sda partitions are represented by floppy icons. You could run

Code: Select all

parted -l

from command line to check for further clues ...

hth / MHHP

[bigpup]

Good point by MinHundHettePerro.

I too was wondering if the drive was really being seen as a atahd.

[rolle]

ay be some kind of support issue with the atahd controller in this computer.
Try an install of a different version of Puppy.
Wary 5.3
Lucid 5.2.8.005

I was thinking the same! Therefore I've installed wary5.3 (.iso from 04/04/12) in a second folder on sda2 'wary' and copied the two paragraphs in the menu.lst file. Boot pramaters are exactly the same.

exerpt from current menu.lst:

Code: Select all

# Frugal installed Puppy

title Puppy slacko 5.3.3 (sda2/slacko)
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /slacko/initrd.gz
  kernel /slacko/vmlinuz   pmedia=atahd pdev1=sda2 psubdir=slacko pfix=fsck
  initrd /slacko/initrd.gz

title Puppy slacko 5.3.3 (sda2/slacko) RAM mode\nBoot up Puppy without pupsave
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /slacko/initrd.gz
  kernel /slacko/vmlinuz   pmedia=atahd pdev1=sda2 psubdir=slacko pfix=ram,fsck 
  initrd /slacko/initrd.gz

title Puppy wary 5.3.3 (sda2/wary)
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /wary/initrd.gz
  kernel /wary/vmlinuz   pmedia=atahd psubdir=wary pfix=fsck
  initrd /wary/initrd.gz

title Puppy wary 5.3.3 (sda2/wary) RAM mode\nBoot up Puppy without pupsave
  find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /wary/initrd.gz
  kernel /wary/vmlinuz   pmedia=atahd psubdir=wary pfix=ram,fsck 
  initrd /wary/initrd.gz

=> and it works! Erverything works like expected. I configured wary, built a savefile and rebootet about five times. Booting WindowsXP works as well.

The following tests were done on with the wary5.3 installation:
* 'parted -l' recognizes a ATA-hdd but the pmount-manager recognizes sda1 & sda2 as floppy devices. The desktop-icons are definately floppy-disks. This had always been like that, regardless of the puppy-linux version (slacko, wary, lucid, saluki I've tried so far).
* Anyway - how do you copy from the URXVT commandline window? Seems impossible... I made a small screeshot for you

Some further thoughts:
* Don't forget, this is a old FSC ThinClient with passively cooled miniATX mainboard. The mainbord features a CF-Card Slot. I put the old Seagate ST1 Microdrive (this is a small 1" hdd with CF-formfactor for embedded applications) in there.
* Windows refused to accept this CF-Card as internal hdd until I installed a additional driver. Before that the drive was recognized as 'removeable device'.
* I am aware of, that these Microdrive have a limited lifetime and don't like excessive read/write cycles. Therefore I use frugal installs for Puppy, the main OS. The WinXP does not use a swap-file and is only used for special purposes, i.e. controlling measuring equipment. If it dies - that's life! I'll get a proper CF-Card after that.

[rolle]

Well, I forgot to mention that the slacko5.3.3 install still gives the same fault

[bigpup]

Anyway - how do you copy from the URXVT commandline window? Seems impossible...

copy - highlight item.
paste - click middle mouse button.

I wish you had told us all that info about the CF card slot in the beginning. I figured it had to be something like that. Slacko is designed for newer hardware and probably just does not support your hardware.

To keep version of Puppy small they can not provide support for everything in one Puppy version.
130MB for Puppy.
3+GB for Windows and other Linux operating systems.
In Puppy land, if one version does not work, another one will.

Good to hear this was not a wast of time and we all learned something.
Welcome to the Puppy Kennels

If you could please change the topic subject and add solved to the end.
This info may help someone else.

[rolle]

Sorry for the huge amount of spelling-mistakes in my last post, I should not write that late at night.

copy - highlight item.
paste - click middle mouse button.

Thanks alot! There must have been a solution to this

I wish you had told us all that info about the CF card slot in the beginning. I figured it had to be something like that. Slacko is designed for newer hardware and probably just does not support your hardware.

Well actually I did, but wasn't too explicit about it. Please refer to my opening post. I still think that slacko5.3.3 should work on this machine. Why? => Before switching to the dual-OS System I did some experiments with a frugal slacko install on a 256MB CF-Card (single ext2-Partition, grub4dos in the MBR), and that config works quite well. Main Problem was the minimum disk space left for the slackosave-file.

One last question: Could slacko-puppy depend on or refer to a file from sda1? If I remember correctly (sorry for that blur, but I did so many reinstalls of different puppy-derivates on different drive media in the past week - I'm a little bit confused by now ) the initial configuration from post#1 booted once. After shutting down and building slackosafe-file I got that boot-fault at every single boot of slacko-puppy. So I deleted sda2 and built a new partition with same filesystem and repeated the whole installation including new MBR and menu.lst. When that failed aigain I have opened this thread. Since then every new variation of slacko&sda2 failed to boot. But sda1 was left untouched (exept from the menu.lst-file), maybe I should dig here??? Maybe there went something wrong with the very first slackosave-file?

Anyway. Now it is clear, that <basically> everything is configured correctly. Maybe I can get slacko to boot some day . Wary5.3 is a nice Puppy-derivat too, so I'll just use this one in the mean time.

Thanks a lot for your support! Your help is much appreciated!

PS I am going to add a [solved] soon!

[bigpup]

Could slacko-puppy depend on or refer to a file from sda1?

It is possible in booting with a live CD, that something got put on sda1.
One option, on first shutdown, is to have the Puppy sfs file copied to hard drive, so the CD boot gets it from the faster hard drive, to make booting faster.
I would look over sda1 and make sure no Slacko files are there.

There is a chance some old data is on sda2 from all the removals and installs.
Even if it does not show up, most is still there until overwritten. Deleting really only deletes, the info, as to where it is located and name.
A reformat of partition usually eliminates this issue.

I usually use the latest Gparted live CD to do partitions and formats.
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/

I have seen problems that forced me to write all zeros to the partition, just to make sure everything is gone. Computer data is all a bunch of ones and zeros, just in a certain pattern, with an info table telling location and name of data package.
.

[rolle]

It is possible in booting with a live CD, that something got put on sda1.
One option, on first shutdown, is to have the Puppy sfs file copied to hard drive, so the CD boot gets it from the faster hard drive, to make booting faster.
I would look over sda1 and make sure no Slacko files are there.

Yes, nothing found on sda1, no hidden files either.

Well I reformatted sda2 two times using a Puppy live CD and gparted. Maybe I'm going for the current gparted live-CD for the next attempt.

In the last instance I'm going to try a complete new System-setup covering both partitions. But that might take some time until I'm ready for this. I still need to gain more experience with puppy-linux.