Re: Problematic install on Dell Latitude LT
Unless I am mistaken, the system BIOS is responsible
for recognizing the CD drive (or any other drive, for
that matter) at startup. Once the OS is loaded, it
takes responsibility for these devices.
If the installer was unable to load the appropriate
PCMCIA drivers and detect your CD drive, that would
explain why you were presented with the choice of
installation media.
I would suggest confirming that there are no hardware
problems (specifically, the PC card, cable or the
drive itself). Also, if you haven't already, find out
which driver is required for your drive, and make sure
it is on the CD.
Dhruva
--- Henry Todd <zktm348@cs.rhul.ac.uk> wrote:
> Hi there -
>
> I recently bought a set of Debian CDs (official
> press, non-US version) and attempted to get Debian
> up and running on my old laptop,
> a Dell Latitude LT.
>
> I was wary of the install, as the CD drive connects
> through the PCMCIA slot, which seems to be a
> notoriously difficult method of
> installation. However, the CD drive appears to be
> bootable, and (seeing as I'm not too concerned about
> the laptop) I decided to
> try anyway. The CD drive booted into the Debian
> install system just as the manual said it would so I
> had high hopes. Especially as
> the floppy drive for this thing is knackered, so I
> was glad to read a full CD install wouldn't require
> a floppy.
>
> However, after partitioning the HD and initialising
> the root and swap partitions the time came to start
> transferring stuff across
> from the CDs. I was presented with a choice of
> installation media, both floppy drives, or some
> network options. 'Install from CD'
> didn't appear on the list. The manual stated that a
> full CD install would auto-detect the CDs and skip
> this stage anyway.
>
> Somewhat confused I tried skipping a few stages and
> getting PCMCIA support up and running to try and
> solve the problem, but as soon
> as I've answered all the questions it throws up (by
> accepting all defaults) it gives an error message
> ("encountered a problem
> initialising PCMCIA" I think) and drops back to the
> main menu.
>
> Now that the new partition table is written to disk
> the laptop will no longer boot to windows, so I'm
> committed. I don't mind but
> I'm wondering if there is any way to get Debian to
> recognise the CD drive. I'm slightly puzzled as the
> CD drive is bootable, so
> why can't Debian find it?
>
> Can anyone out there help?
>
> Many, many thanks,
>
> Henry.
>
> --
>
> Henry Todd
>
> Email: zktm348@cs.rhul.ac.uk
>
>
> --
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