Thinkpad 380Z

[Matthew Tebbens <matthew@tebbens.com>]

Hello !

I am trying to boot & install Debian on the following brand new laptop:

Thinkpad 380Z (2635JGU)
Pentium II300a
96MB ram (97728)
4GB HD
CD
floppy.


Booting from the 2.0.2 CD using DOS/loadlin dies with:
...
cryptic messages here
...
RAMDISK: Couldn't find valid ramdisk image starting at 0.
...
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 01:00


So I grabbed the latest boot disks:
---------
2.1.5 - resc1440.bin
dies right after "Loading linux ......"
with just a cursor on the next line.
---------
2.1.5 - resc1440-safe.bin
dies right after "Loading linux ......"
with just a cursor on the next line.
---------
2.1.5 - resc1440tecra.bin
dies right after "Loading linux ......"
with "A20 gating failed"
---------
2.1.5 - resc1440tecra-safe.bin
dies right after "Loading linux ......"
with "A20 gating failed"
---------

So I then went back to the CD and tried loadlin
with root.bin on a floppy:

loadlin linux root=/dev/fd0

[insert disk, press enter....bla]
dies at:

RAMDISK: Couldn't find valid ramdisk image starting at 0.
...
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 01:00

---------

I tried many different boot parameters to all those methods, includeing
floppy=thinkpad.....etc

---------

I then grabbed the RedHat boot disk, and it boots fine, although the
messages go by so fast I can't relay them here.

---------

Can someone step me though what I should be trying, so we can fix this
problem ?  I would much prefer Debian over Redhat ! :)


Regards,
Matthew

matthew@linuxapps.com
matthew@tebbens.com