Re: netinst on old dell hardware
On 20120620_130712, Brian wrote:
> On Wed 20 Jun 2012 at 03:20:02 -0600, Paul E Condon wrote:
>
> > On 20120620_083247, Brian wrote:
> > >
> > > I used the mini.iso from
> > >
> > > http://archive.debian.org/debian/dists/Debian-5.0/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/
> > >
> > > successfully.
> >
> > Thanks, but I'm no longer confident that loading Lenny on the box will get
> > me closer to my larger goal, which is loading Squeeze and eventually Wheezy
> > on it.
>
> The goal is achievable. If other techniques don't give you a readable
> screen display or lead to errors it may be the only way to go. Anyway,
> there is nothing like doing it to see where you can get, so, having an
> hour or two to kill this morning, here is brief set of instructions and
> a description of the outcome.
>
> 1, Downloaded a Lenny netinst iso from
>
> http://www.debian.org/releases/lenny/debian-installer/
>
> and burnt it to a CD.
>
> 2. Booted the iso. Chose expert mode. Got to the configuring the package
> manager stage and gave archive.debian.org as the mirror and /debian/
> as the directory. As with the mini iso, the netinst iso contacted the
> mirror, downloaded what it needed and got on with preparing for
> offering to install software. I do not understand why you should have
> a problem with this step because archive.debian.org is structured
> like any other archive.
>
> 3. Deselected the desktop task and installed just the bare minimum.
>
> 4. Went with GRUB 2 as the boot loader to put in the MBR of the first
> hard disk.
>
> 5. Booted to Lenny. Altered sources.list to point to a Squeeze archive.
Ok. Trying to repeat your work, I accomplish all steps thru 4,
but I cannot boot to Lenny. Instead I get error message :
Error: Couldn't read file
Press any key to continue...
I press a key and get:
Error: You need to load the kernel first.
Press any key to continue...
Clearly food for thoughts about debugging the hardware.
Why isn't the kernel there? I answered all questions about kernel by
accepting the offered defaults.
Ideas?
( My idea is that maybe there is not enough RAM on this box. How much
should be needed? This box has 512MB according to sticker on it from
the vendor. )
--
Paul E Condon
pecondon@mesanetworks.net
Reply to: