Linux install, no floppy no cd ? network ... ... Hey guys, I have an IBM X22 laptop that has no floppy drive and no cd rom drive. I was trying to install ...

crnchyfrog · 09-10-2006, 09:12 PM

Hey guys,

I have an IBM X22 laptop that has no floppy drive and no cd rom drive. I was trying to install Slackware on it, but haven't had any luck.

I first tried to install it on a new harddrive using another laptop and just swapping the HDD, but it just showed "operating system not found". Even though it would boot in the other laptop.

I also tried using the HDD to boot via USB, and copied the Knoppix CD to the drive, but also got the same message.

I know that there is a PXE network boot mode, and I would like to install using the network, but my other machine is running XP. Is there someway to install it from XP on the machine using the network boot?

Thanks for the help!

jogege · 09-18-2006, 08:13 AM

I found myself in the same situation last week.Seems the X-series can boot from a USB Cd-rom but unfortunately for me, my old HP8230e was not detected by my X21's BIOS.

What I did was to pull the hard disk and place it in my thinkpad 570 and install Kubuntu Dapper & win2000. When I finished installing, I replaced it in the X21 and voila everything was working. I didnt even need to reconfigure X.

Hope this helps.

Starcub · 09-18-2006, 04:04 PM

Strange that the mobile 810 chipset will support booting from USB CDROM but the 915 desktop chipset does not.

As for the original problem... if you just copy the CD files to the USB HDD then I don't believe it will work. I think you need to install the OS on the drive internally (you should be abe to do it like jogege did) and then swap it back. Most kernels are setup by default to allow all possible drivers to load as modules, so different disk controllers or other hardware shouldn't be a problem. However, I think you still need to setup the disk MBR (performed by lilo or grub during OS install) to load the OS in order to boot it. If this didn't work, then I wonder if 1) the HDD was recognized by the BIOS and 2) if your kernel was configured to load the right disk controller drivers for the X22 (disk drivers being loadable as modules).

ChrisLilley · 01-10-2007, 04:17 PM

You could try using a 1GB or larger usb key and installing the iso image on it. And set boot order to usb before HD.

09-10-2006, 09:12 PM	#1
crnchyfrog Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: The Far East Posts: 122 Credits: -310	Linux install, no floppy no cd ? network install? Hey guys, I have an IBM X22 laptop that has no floppy drive and no cd rom drive. I was trying to install Slackware on it, but haven't had any luck. I first tried to install it on a new harddrive using another laptop and just swapping the HDD, but it just showed "operating system not found". Even though it would boot in the other laptop. I also tried using the HDD to boot via USB, and copied the Knoppix CD to the drive, but also got the same message. I know that there is a PXE network boot mode, and I would like to install using the network, but my other machine is running XP. Is there someway to install it from XP on the machine using the network boot? Thanks for the help! __________________

01-10-2007, 04:17 PM	#4
ChrisLilley apparently stable Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 739 Credits: 249	You could try using a 1GB or larger usb key and installing the iso image on it. And set boot order to usb before HD. __________________ Dell Precision M90 \| 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo 7200, 4Mb cache \| 2Gb (2*1024) Samsung DDR2-667 5.0-5-5-13 \| Seagate Momentus 7200.1 100GB 7200, 8MB cache \| 1920x1200 SEC matt \| NVIDIA Quadro FX2500M, 512Mb \| Maxtor 3200 USB2 500GB 7200, 16MB cache \| Sony DVD+/-RW DW-Q58A

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09-18-2006, 08:13 AM	#2
jogege Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 4 Credits: -49	I found myself in the same situation last week.Seems the X-series can boot from a USB Cd-rom but unfortunately for me, my old HP8230e was not detected by my X21's BIOS. What I did was to pull the hard disk and place it in my thinkpad 570 and install Kubuntu Dapper & win2000. When I finished installing, I replaced it in the X21 and voila everything was working. I didnt even need to reconfigure X. Hope this helps.

09-18-2006, 04:04 PM	#3
Starcub Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 552 Credits: 321	Strange that the mobile 810 chipset will support booting from USB CDROM but the 915 desktop chipset does not. As for the original problem... if you just copy the CD files to the USB HDD then I don't believe it will work. I think you need to install the OS on the drive internally (you should be abe to do it like jogege did) and then swap it back. Most kernels are setup by default to allow all possible drivers to load as modules, so different disk controllers or other hardware shouldn't be a problem. However, I think you still need to setup the disk MBR (performed by lilo or grub during OS install) to load the OS in order to boot it. If this didn't work, then I wonder if 1) the HDD was recognized by the BIOS and 2) if your kernel was configured to load the right disk controller drivers for the X22 (disk drivers being loadable as modules).