Installing Linux on a laptop

[diceisgod]

I have an old laptop (a Samsung Sens 810) I haven't touched in years. It had Windows 95 on it. I thought it would be cool to wipe out the harddirve and put Linux on there. So I did the following and now I am stuck (I'm surprised i got this far).

I turned in on and went to the command line mode. I typed "format c:". Ok now what?

I have a copy of Redhat Linux 8.0 (it's on 3 CD's). I thought the fucker would boot up from the CD drive and start the install but it won't. The boot sequence is: A drive then hard disk. So does the CD -rom not count as the A drive or do I have to get this thing started from the floppy drive? Does this thing recognize either the CD ROM AND the floppy drive as the "A" drive or is it just the floppy drive? Also I can't get into BIOS to try and mess with it. Is that possible or did I completely fuck that up when I typed "format c:"

How should I proceed? It's just keeps asking me to put a disk in the drive (the floppy drive I assume, it's just not seeing the CD).

[The Jays]

Create a boot disk?

[Goatweed]

you need to get/create a boot disk. Since you're still running Win95 on it, I believe you can go to HELP or something and look up CREATE A BOOT DISC. Otherwise, use Google, there are sites that have the disks ready for you to download.

As for your driveboot sequence, you need to go into your BIOS (usually by hitting F8 or something during bootup) and change the sequence to load the cdrom drive first - then instert the cd, reboot and it should work.

[Galt]

I think format c made it a doorstop

[diceisgod]

The people I expected to be worthless indeed were.

And Goat, I can't get into BIOS. I've pushed every button. All I see is a list with system information and the following:

Invalid system disk
Replace the disk, and then press any key (I DON'T HAVE AN 'ANY' KEY LOL)

Also it apparently keep looking for a disk since that message just keeps repeating itself

If I can into BIOS I might have a chance but that is part of the problem.



Edited By diceisgod on 1101494607

[Goatweed]

Invalid system disk
Replace the disk, and then press any key (I DON'T HAVE AN 'ANY' KEY LOL)

it sounds like you have a floppy in the drive - remove it, then try rebooting & hitting either F8 or F2 again during the bootup process.

[diceisgod]

I'm in! It was F2. And I was hitting the key too late.

[Goatweed]

I'm glad I could help.

[diceisgod]

This thing refuses to boot from the CD-ROM. The boot sequence is A then HD. There are no other options then some combination of those two. The CD ROm has been in the entire time.

[The Jays]

How was I worthless? I was right, create a boot disc!

[diceisgod]

Give me a procedure or site and I will recant.

[Keyser Soze]

maybe he needs to flash the BIOS and put a newer version with support for booting from CD?

or maybe he can use the bootdisk in some way to force it read the CD after it reads the floppy?

[diceisgod]

Exactly. That second thing you said there. I need to put something on a floppy (it can see the floppy) that says "Hey Mr Computer I am going to put in the CD ROm drive now and some CD's for you to install. Have a nice day." I guess that's a "boot" disk but when I try to google different things to try and find such a disk I get a bunch of jargon I don't understand.

[The Jays]

the computer doesn't understand pleasantries!

[Goatweed]

Ive only used a bootdisc to get me into DOS to delete some virus crap - your cdrom should be listed in the BIOS, if it's not then Keyser might be right - but youd have to get the BIOS flash upgrade from your motherboard manufacturer's website.

[HedCold]

try to get a newer version of linux. redhat 8 is really old and not supported anymore. mandrake and redhat have the 2 easiest installations, so get newer versions of them. (the free redhat is called fedora now. its up to fedora core 3.) of course, i'm not sure how it will run on an older laptop. you could try debian, but i've been having problems getting that to load the graphical desktop.
you didn't need to do formact c:, when you eventually get into the install for linux there will be something that lets you format your harddrive to make it into the linux file system.
as for the booting from floppy first thing, i have no idea, never had to do it. i mentioned getting debian because you can probably get a version to put on a floppy easier, that will load a simple version of linux, then from there you use commands to download and install the newer versions from online. this is where i had problems installing the GUI though

[Jack]

Download This

Download that on another computer. It will make a bootable floppy disk for you to use to boot the other system.

[diceisgod]

IT'S DOING STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[diceisgod]

Now it says the following:

Preparing to start your computer.
This may take a few minutes. Please wait...

The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive D.

Device dribver not found: 'MSCD001'
No valid CDROM device drivers selected

to get help, type HELP and press ENTER.



Now what? Can I put my CDROM in and load now?

[Gooch]

i'm imagining your sweet face and errant little brows furrowing as you try to solve this conundrum.