Re: Can't boot anything....

[Kent West <westk@acu.edu>]

Kjetil Kjernsmo wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I think I'm in deep trouble. Possibly, it has nothing to do with Debian,
> it's a hardware problem, but possibly it has, and besides, it is here that
> all the nicest folks are, so I'm asking you.... :-) 
>  
Your description "feels" like a hardware problem. Odd that it just 
happened when you were playing with the kernel, but nonetheless, I still 
think it's hardware.

> OK, I'll take the short version first:
>
> When I try to boot, BIOS (?) does some checking, then goes on to list the
> PCI devices, and then nothing... It won't boot from floppy, it won't boot
> a Knoppix CD, and when it tries to boot from the HD, it spews out tons of
> "01 01 01 01 ".
The 01's are a relict of LILO not being properly 
installed/configured/able to boot.

Since the Knoppix CD (known to boot elsewhere) doesn't boot the system, 
nor does the floppy, even after you've changed the BIOS settings to boot 
off those devices, I'd strongly suspect lose IDE cables, a newly 
developed fault in the IDE ports (or misconfiguration in BIOS - try 
resetting to Factory Defaults), or a newly developed fault elsewhere in 
the motherboard (most likely since it affects both IDE drives and the 
floppy drive).

Strip down the system to the bare minimum; pull out sound cards, NICs, 
modems, etc, pull out all but one bank of memory, and swap memory around 
if you have extra sticks; make sure the fans are spinning; do you have 
any beeps out of the PC speaker on power-up? Diagnostic LEDs on the 
mobo? Disconnect IDE cables and try just the floppy by itself; then 
vice-versa.

Find the BIOS reset button on the mobo and activate it.

Remove the mobo from the case, disconnect everything, physically _very 
gently_ flex the mobo a bit, then move the mobo to a flat surface and 
_gently_ press down on the four corners/middle to try to try to get it 
level, then put an insulator (cardboard, etc) between it and the case 
and lay it on the case so that the power cables, etc will reach, and 
just connect the power supply, floppy (or one IDE drive), and video, and 
power up. If it doesn't work, you've got a problem in your mobo. If all 
works well, put the machine back together and see what happens. If the 
problem returns, you've probably got a short against the case somewhere 
or a cracked trace that doesn't show up until the mobo is screwed down.

--
Kent