Slackware 12 - can't boot from installation CD

[Andre Aronen]

I can't boot the Slackware 12 install CD on an older Gateway (Athlon 650MHz, Kadoka motherboard)). The BIOS boot order has the CD-ROM first (of course). Right after the second BIOS screen, where the OS should load, all I get is a generic "Boot Failure - press any key to try again" message which appears to be generated by the BIOS (not by the installer). The activity light on the CD-ROM will flash for a second during this time, but that's it.

I am also unable to boot from the CD using the Smart Boot Manager (sbootmgr.dsk) on a floppy. The SBM loads, but it finds about 20 entries of "Removable" and 6 entries for "CD-ROM" - of course, of the latter, none of them will boot. They all pause for a second after hitting Enter, then I receive "Disk Error! 0x01."

I've tried different CD-R media and a different (newer) CD-ROM drive - no dice.

Strangely enough, this same system will boot and run the latest DBAN and Knoppix 4.0.2 without any problems.

This same Slackware 12 install CD will boot fine on my new-ish laptop (Core2Duo), so I'm pretty sure the CD is fine and is not corrupt. I burned the ISO only after checking the MD5s on the downloaded files, and I burned it with Nero as I have in the past without incident. Been using Slackware since version 7, so this is definitely not all new to me.

Any ideas?

[Dapper Dan]

I've had the exact same problem with Slackware 12 install cd. It will not boot on this one machine but will boot on all my other machines. And the first machine will boot all other live cds and install cds but not the Slackware 12 install cd. Glad I'm not going crazy... lol!

Sorry, I don't have an answer for you...

[oz]

The only thing i can think of is to try utilizing some of the various cheatcodes available through the F-keys after the disk begins to boot, but before the installation routine actually starts.

[NightSky]

Has to to be something w/your system... I booted with cdrom on win98 hm built sys...

[siduri99]

I had this same issue with my computer. Most likely it is because the bootdisk is created with this option: -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 32 -boot-info-table \ -sort, its the 32 part i think is what my problem is and a good chance is yours as well for slightly older pc's. However u can make a new iso some steps on how to do this are in the isolinux folder on the dvd, or some people are talking about it here: Unable to boot Slackware 12 disc

however the way i got it to work was inside the same isolinux folder there is a another folder sbootmgr, there is a lot of different versions of rawrite and a sbootmgr.dsk file, use the rawrite to make a floppy with the sbootmgr.dsk as the image, then boot to that floppy and it will give you a option to boot to the cd. it worked very well for me and was a lot faster than making a new iso.

[vonfeldt]

just thought i should thank you guys. this post saved my behind a couple times now. and an additional note; i had to 'rescan' for the bootloader to see my cdrom. then fired 'boot from' and all is good!

thanks again.
-tofer

[gringito]

I've had the exact same problem with Slackware 12 install cd. It will not boot on this one machine but will boot on all my other machines. And the first machine will boot all other live cds and install cds but not the Slackware 12 install cd. Glad I'm not going crazy... lol!

Sorry, I don't have an answer for you...

how bout me do ya have an answer for me !! im having the same problem i love installing various distros but i recently burned a copy of slackware 12 and last night EASYS which is slackware but neither one will boot ive never had this problem a few months back i tried darkstar slackware and it was fine.. as i have read here it seems dto be th boot block value.. set it at 4 right". and then burn another image with the new value.. a quick tutorial on this issue would be helpful! and i would greatly appreciate it!!

[gringito]

I had this same issue with my computer. Most likely it is because the bootdisk is created with this option: -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 32 -boot-info-table \ -sort, its the 32 part i think is what my problem is and a good chance is yours as well for slightly older pc's. However u can make a new iso some steps on how to do this are in the isolinux folder on the dvd, or some people are talking about it here: Unable to boot Slackware 12 disc

however the way i got it to work was inside the same isolinux folder there is a another folder sbootmgr, there is a lot of different versions of rawrite and a sbootmgr.dsk file, use the rawrite to make a floppy with the sbootmgr.dsk as the image, then boot to that floppy and it will give you a option to boot to the cd. it worked very well for me and was a lot faster than making a new iso.

hmm can i burn this to a cd i have no floppy!!

[clickit]

I feel sheepish to suggest this but I made a similar mistake.
Most BIOS's have options as to what to boot from, which to use, and what the order is. Possibly you (like me) need to set the BIOS up to boot from the CD.
Hope you did not make my mistake.

[felPmy]

Slack 12.1 The Slackware Linux Project

You can also try to make a GRUB floppy disk, and then boot using the floppy disk and tell GRUB to boot the cd. See the GRUB manual if you do not know how to do that.

"Knoppix 4.0.2 without any problems"

Boot into Knoppix, and then manually install Slack 12.0 from the cd. Be sure to install the bootloader.