Can't Install Anything but Redhat!

[AngelicKnight]

Ok, here's a wierd problem that has me stumped.

Custom built machine I threw together from spare parts, put in a hard drive that had a very limited Redhat 9.0 on it. I've been trying to install a new OS on this hard drive, but here's the thing:

I set the BIOS to boot from CD, but then the system won't recognize ANY OS cd except for Redhat CDs. I've tried booting from Win95, WinNT, and Slackware cds, and it fails to recognize them each time. Pop in a Redhat 7.0 or 9.0 cd, and it begins installation with no problem.

What in the world could cause such a thing? Until I figure this out, I'm stuck with a system that I can only install RedHat on!

(Pentium III 1GHz processor, standard 52x cd drive, 10gb HDD)

[SirDice]

Are the CDs writables? Maybe your drive has a problem with the brand? Did you try a copy from a different brand of writables? Can you try a different cdrom drive?

[AngelicKnight]

Yeah, tried a couple of drives, may yet try another before this is over.

The Redhat 9.0 is on writeable cd and installs fine. The Slackware is on the same brand of writeable cd and doesn't work on it. The Win cds are original installation cds, not writeables, and they won't work. It's strange, I tell ya...

[gore]

Never Fear, The Gore Father is here.

I've had this problem before:

First, Format the HD with Fdisk, or something similar, just erase all partitions, and the MBR. Second, when you finish that, don't continue the installation, just hit the power. Now get the CD out, and pull the plug on the computer shutting the power off. Pull out the Power cables and let it sit for about 5 minutes. I say 5 minutes because I smoked.

Then come back, plug in the power cable, and pop in a Windows CD, and try that out, if it doesn't work, which I mean, it should, I've had a similar problem and fixed it in about an hour, but it should work. Something in the BIOS could have been changed, do you know if you changed anything recently other than telling it Boot from CD-ROM first?

When I had this problem I formatted the HD and started over.

Also, I have one Machine here with SUSE on it, it will NOT boot Free BSD Disks. The Hardware isn't really a problem, but if I pop in Free BSD burned CDs, it won't boot them. And then I format and try again. Heh.

[AngelicKnight]

Awesome. This is my first intro to FDisk firsthand, so I'm checking out a tutorial on it...So silly question -- How do you get into DOS from boot-up in order to do this?

[cacosapo]

Originally posted here by AngelicKnight
Awesome. This is my first intro to FDisk firsthand, so I'm checking out a tutorial on it...So silly question -- How do you get into DOS from boot-up in order to do this?

hah

there is one on win95 boot cd, but you cant boot anything but RH .... only you can get this kind of error Angelic... Maybe that pc is haunted :P

If gore solution didnt work, try that;

boot if rh install disks.

when the "create partitions step" starts, delete all partitions and save it. DONT continue to install RH.

reboot to BIOS. Enter on bios config and select ONLY CD-ROM for booting. DONT choose HD as 2nd boot device.

put cd-rom on cd-rom unit BEFORE reset the machine.

try to install WIN95 for testing.

I have this problem with and PII 400 (cant remember MOBO brand - but its a crap one) and bios doesnt read any cds but WIN98SE with a valid HD boot partition. Go figure

[SirDice]

Try a bootdisk from http://www.bootdisk.com and see if you can read anything from the cds..

[AngelicKnight]

Well crud! It won't recognize ANYTHING in my floppy drive! Grr...I'm thinking maybe it's connected wrong or something, as the green light just stays solid green all the time...gonna scope that out next.