cannot boot linux, endlessly loops to acer start screen & back 2 knoppix penguin...

[MrSandwiches]

Hi I'm new to linux/knoppix

I am trying to access/save files from an unbootable Windows XP laptop (acer, oem installation, windows could not start- corrupt- windows/system32/config/system)

i have knoppix 6.2 and can load from cd (downloaded by bitorrent ) to the screen with the penguin and it tries to boot then says; loading linux.................then loading minirt.gz.............

THEN comp. starts a repeating cycle of going to a white acer start screen that has the option of DEL enter setup or F12 enter BIOS then loops back to the knoppix booting as i described above

I have tried a few cheatcodes but it seems to be rebooting/restarting (with a beep) before linux gets a chance to boot anything

Have also tried to stop automatic restarting from BIOS somehow but dont know how to do this, (and when i disabled "power on self test" it restarted with memory test failed - dont know if that is relevant)

Any ideas?
Thx

[rokytnji]

I would see if booting up on another computer would give the same symptoms. Also would do a md5sum check of download.

[MrSandwiches]

thx,
i got: out of range 35.4 Hz / 43 hz with the same monitor on another win XP....and tried cheatcode "failsafe" and that worked - forgot to connect a mouse and dont seem able to do anything now(keyboard seems to do nothing although i dont know what to type & dont know what failsafe is...!?)anyway will work on that, but failsafe did NOT work on original comp. ...?

am still trying to get proper access with knoppix on 2nd comp. (i have the taskbar, pic of hills/cloud, MY Documents folder in top left but dont know what to do now...)

[MrSandwiches]

i right clicked the downloaded knoppix iso, sent to winMD5Sum, opened md5 file that came with download, copied, pasted and compared =same

[rokytnji]

i right clicked the downloaded knoppix iso, sent to winMD5Sum, opened md5 file that came with download, copied, pasted and compared =same

Ok. winmd5sum is a windows md5sum checker if I remember correctly so if it is. Then your download is ok.

When you burned the iso. Did you use a good quality cd and burn it at a slow speed like 4x or 8x? what windows software did you use to burn cd?

I usually suggest Imageburn for Windows users and it is freeware. Nero is fine also. But burning a iso cd should be done on a cdr sometimes instead of cdrw and burned real slow. Cdrw cds can be flaky sometimes.

Make sure your mouse is connected next time you boot cd. Failsafe is safe graphics mode and uses vesa driver which gives most any computer a desktop screen.

after searching for a how to for Knoppix 6.2. I think you would have a easier time recovering files using a Ubuntu CD instead of Knoppix 6.2. All the knoppix links are old (2007) and are for knoppix 5 and 3.

Here is Computer First Aid Using Knoppix

Geek to Live: Rescue files with a boot CD - Boot CD - Lifehacker

for older versions of Knoppix which maybe you should consider using instead of 6.2.

In case you wanna go with Ubuntu

Yet Another Technology Site: How to recover your Windows files

[MrSandwiches]

thx very much for all the info

used "isorecorder V3" at 7x to write CD -slowest possible
BUT not the best quality CDs -they were pretty cheap
so will try better quality
and will keep reading about other options etc (i have tried knoppix 3.4 with no luck,on same media though) maybe if i take it to local computer shop they can attach hard drive to another comp ?(and would have to have some equivalent to knoppix i suppose) as i'm not game to do that ,also i've nearly reached my download limit for a while and want to finish with this...

the files on comp are not really that important, i just want to see if i can do it now(retrieve them) and start to try and reinstall/recover XP

[MrSandwiches]

okay, booted knoppix successfully on second XP computer (the out of range 35.4 Hz etc corrected itself automatically after a while so no need for failsafe -it booted normally/automatically after that and mouse was fine when plugged in this time)

so i'm more inclined to think its the comp. rather than a media problem now
I understand is still worth trying another "live" CD and may have time /resources to do that

anyway, thanks for your help

[rokytnji]

Good to hear the cd is ok. On the computer it boots up on. you could practise going into xp from knoppix and save a picture file or some such to get a feel on how to do it. It is how I learn. Trail and error.

[MrSandwiches]

I have swapped RAM (512 Mb memory thing) from another comp and now Windows boots up normally

I tried to change something in BiOs and when restarting it came up with a "memory error", someone suggested running memtest from Knoppix and many errors came up - so they suggested swapping hardware parts and luckily the ram is the only thing i can easily locate and i had a second comp here...

thanks for the help
Matt