Tech Support Request

2006-04-26 | rzeznikj at stout

[N3WBI3]

I have a fried CD-RW. I don't know how it got that way (died all of a sudden).

So, in the meantime, I'm borrowing an external Yamaha and have it hooked up--as I can't afford to replace the CD-drive.

Question 1: I'm running Suse 10.0 Eval, first updated KDE to 3.5.1 and then updated the kernel to 2.6.16-default. Since the kernel upgrade, I cannot get any USB devices to start. I've tried editing /etc/fstab as recommended, but the devices won't mount--and if they do, nothing shows up in Konqueror. I did however, and only once, did

Question 2: How can I add this device to PhoenixBIOS so I can boot from it--the device doesn't show up at all. I'm going to need to be able to boot from the external drive to do any upgrades or patches.

thanks much!!

stout

[N3WBI3]

TechSupport PING

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[stainlessbanner]

Any chance you could use Grub to boot from cd? just a thought

[Xenophobic Alien]

Get windows!


HA HA

Sorry just had too....

[Quix]

GREAT JOB!

CONGRATS.

LONG overdue.

So blessed to see you take the bull by the horns . . .

the computer by the disc drive . . .

the software by the line numbers . . .

Microsoft by the . . . short hairs . . .

. . . well . . . whatever fits.

[kingu]

Boot into the bios, select boot device, choose USB. The device won't show up on a configuration screen in the bios, but that's fine, it should still attempt to boot off the external drive before attempting to boot off of an internal drive.

Better yet, if your bios offers a secondary boot device and third boot device, choose USB for all three.

The alternative is to borrow a USB drive (could be a card reader or a usb thumb drive.) See the various SUSE forums for instructions on how to make a USB thumb boot disc - it is rather detailed, but can be accomplished in shorter time than it takes to explain.

Lastly, NEVER update the kernal or anything unless it is for a specific security problem or functional upgrade. Absolutely keep to the stable branches of the kernal and software.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Can't help much with Linux...but I can help with finding an inexpensive CD-RW replacement.

Try this one. It'll cost you 13 bucks.

[zeugma]

Question 1: I'm running Suse 10.0 Eval, first updated KDE to 3.5.1 and then updated the kernel to 2.6.16-default. Since the kernel upgrade, I cannot get any USB devices to start. I've tried editing /etc/fstab as recommended, but the devices won't mount--and if they do, nothing shows up in Konqueror. I did however, and only once, did

Looks like part of your question didn't come through. I'm not sure if Suse 10 started with a 2.4 kernel. If it did, I think I know what part of the problem. There were major subsystem changes in the /dev/ subsystem. Direct upgrades from 2.4 to 2.6 kernels can be problematic unless you take  some precautions.

Question 2: How can I add this device to PhoenixBIOS so I can boot from it--the device doesn't show up at all. I'm going to need to be able to boot from the external drive to do any upgrades or patches.

It really depends upon whether or not the BIOS supports the option to boot from USB.  Many older motherboards don't support this. We have several laptops here and only a couple even have this option. If you check the boot order, where you can change if you want the hard disk, cdrom, or floppy to boot first, is there an option for booting USB? If not, you're probably out of luck on that option. 

You might take a look at this page:
 http://thomer.com/linux/migrate-to-2.6.html and look at the section about USB. The page is specific to RedHat, but the section about USB should apply.

If you give a little more info about your upgrade, it would probably facilitate us helping out.

[rzeznikj at stout]

Suse 10 ships with 2.6.13-15 default.

The only distro that I've known that still ships with a 2.4 by default is Slackware.

Up until now, I've never had a problem updating kernels. I learned how to do this on Slackware--I got a 2.6 kernel (other than the one provided) to run. I ran a similar process when I had Suse 9.3 (though the process was a little easier IMO). Still no problems--everything still functioned.

Of course, as for the fried drive, it just died suddenly. The kernel upgrade had nothing to do with the drive--other than not being able to read it--if it worked.

The machine isn't even two years old--though it's an emachines desktop that my folks originally got a deal on.

I'll have to check BIOS when I log off tonight (which will be in a little bit)

[zeugma]

Suse 10 ships with 2.6.13-15 default.

My bad. I had no idea what version Suse is up to. Should have checked on it myself before I started typing away. :-) From the context, it sounded like it was an older version.

You said that you were able to get the drive mounted, but it wasn't seen by konq. Does it show up with "df"?

[rzeznikj at stout]

df?

(hits man df)

OK...df /media/cdrom

output =

Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sr0 298280 298280 0 100% /media/cdrom

I can read the contents via ls -s in terminal.

[zeugma]

If it shows up with 'df', it is definitely mounted correctly. I've had inconsistant results of kde automagically automounting CDs and such, but if the device is mounted, you should be able to browse to it in konq. 

If you have konqeror open, you should be able to enter "/media/cdrom" where you would normally enter URLS and it will display the directory. 

[KoRn]

Wow that's a 'good' one. I flashed my BIOS once and couldn't get Linux to boot on it afterward. I was pulling my hair out. I feel your pain. The only thing I know to try you did, and was posted, so I'll be watching for an answer so I'LL know how to handle it if it happens to me lol. Good luck.

[ThePythonicCow]

As someone else noted, your BIOS may or may not allow booting off a USB drive. You'll just have to reboot into the BIOS and see what sort of drives it lists as options for booting from.

Grub (or lilo or any other boot loader) won't help if your BIOS can't read a boot block from the device in the first place.

Since it seems (a bit confusing to me, but seems) that you have managed sometime or someway to see the external drive mounted, I take it that your kernel is configured with the necessary USB driver and your hardware is working, and that not seeing the drive contents on your desktop is just some sort of minor KDE usage confusion -- well minor unless its happening to oneself. So I won't persue the usual diagnostics to see what might cause a kernel to ignore a device:

$ dmesg -s 99999	kernel messages
$ gzip -d -c /proc/config.gz	kernel configuration

As someone also noted, you should be able to afford a CD drive unless you're on a really tight budget. Someone had an eBay link above for one. Here's a link to 24 different models, brand new and name brand, the ten lowest cost of which are between $13 and $15 (plus shipping, tax) from newegg.com: CD/DVD ROM Drives . You really want to have something you can boot a CD from for repair and recovery in case something goes wrong with booting the system, as well as for upgrades. Heck, I've got a couple of spare CD drives in my old parts pile. You could probably get me to send you one if you promise to donate ten dollars to FR.

[N3WBI3]

Let me know when you get where you need to go with this..

[tubebender]

I think you said yesterday that you use Eudora. Is there a spell checker for Eudora similar to the checker here on FR with a drop down box?

I'm using Firefox on Apple 10.3.9

[L_Von_Mises]

I'm running Suse 10 as a file server at home using an external DVD writer and it took a little fiddling to get it to show up everywhere but it works fine. Later this evening after work I will look at what I used for my settings and pass it along to you.

Regarding beaing able to boot, what motherboard or PC are you using. Most of mine have an option for "Boot Other Device" which defaults to SCSI, USB, or SATA. My main desktop uses SCSI but if I have any type of USB drive (including thumb) it won't boot because no OS so it goes to USB before SCSI - not sure about SATA. Anyway - it is trying to boot from the USB device so setting to "other Device" if available as an option, should work.

[N3WBI3]

L_Von

Thanks that will be appreciated..

[Quix]

Yes, Eudora has a spell checker that's triggerable via a drop down menu or key strokes. It typically functions (selectable, I think) automatically underlining in red wrong words as you type.

Hope that helps.

[rzeznikj at stout]

OK.

For my BIOS--my computer runs PhoenixBIOS:

Under Main:

Legacy Diskette A 1.44/1.25MB 3 1/2"

Primary Master: WDC WD400EB-00CPFO (PM)
Primary Slave:
Secondary Master: HL-DT-ST-GCE-8483B (SM)
Secondary Slave:

Under Advanced:

Plug and Play: Yes
Reset Configuration: No
Primary Video Adapter: PCI
Local Bus IDE: DOS
Legacy USB Support: Auto
Onboard Lan Control: Enabled
Onboard Lan Boot ROM: Disabled

Under Boot

-Diagostics Disabled
-Quick Boot Enabled

Priority of Boot Devices:
CD-ROM drive
Removable Devices
-Floppy Drive
Hard Drive
Network Boot