Desktop Suddenly Stops Booting Any Live Linux Disks 1

[julianvb]

2015-11-22

My 2004 Compaq Presario SR1020NX has been running Linux Mint 17.1 well for two years. Recently it suddenly stopped running any live Linux distribution disks including Ubuntu, Puppy Linux, Browser Linux, Damn Small Linux, Linux Mint. I've not yet tried a Windows XP installation disk because I do not wish to lose my current Linux Mint system.

My system's hardware and software are in sound health. The only thing I suspect is the BIOS and perhaps some mysterious software I don't know. Any help in diagnosing this issue will be much appreciated.

julianvb

 

[rclarke250]

the cmos battery may be shot, typically they are good for about 10 years, but mileage may very.

 

[julianvb]

Hi, rclarke250,

Good idea. That's something I haven't thought about even though my motherboard's battery was last replaced less than two years ago. I'll replace it and report back. The battery proved to be in good condition.
Thanks.

julianvb

 

[ClayTaco]

While you've got the case open you should check the capacitors. Bad caps will be slightly puffy (or they may be entirely blown) and may have a brownish look (or be leaking their guts out).
If replacing the battery doesn't work you can pull the motherboard and look for any burnt connections. Even if it's able to boot to bios there could be some shot connections going to ram, processors, etc.
Older or less capable bios' won't always be able to detect hardware failures on the motherboard.

I know that you said you tried DSL and Puppy linux but make sure you're using distro versions capable of running entirely in ram. If you're able to boot into those you can run some tests on hardware that will give you a better since of what's going on physically.

 

[julianvb]

ClayTaco (MIS)
24 Nov 15 02:12
While you've got the case open you should check the capacitors. Bad caps will be slightly puffy (or they may be entirely blown) and may have a brownish look (or be leaking their guts out).
If replacing the battery doesn't work you can pull the motherboard and look for any burnt connections. Even if it's able to boot to bios there could be some shot connections going to ram, processors, etc.
Older or less capable bios' won't always be able to detect hardware failures on the motherboard.

I know that you said you tried DSL and Puppy linux but make sure you're using distro versions capable of running entirely in ram. If you're able to boot into those you can run some tests on hardware that will give you a better since of what's going on physically.

Hi, ClayTaco,

I've never had any trouble running live Linux disks on my computers since 2008 until recently. The trouble I am reporting is relatively new. That is why I am use the adverb 'Suddenly' in my thread's title. My machines' 1.5GB of RAM is sufficient even for running large live Linux distros such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint, for many years. I should have pointed out that my RAM cards pass memtest86 again and again. My desktop in question is a Compaq Presario SR1020NX which features a new dvd and cd drive and an 80GB HD as well as two 1GB RAM cards.

My concern with this issue stems mainly from the possibility that my current LM17.1 might get into trouble one day. I know what it means having to re-install any O.S. As of now, everything is working fine software and hardware-wise. Thanks very much for your good advice.

julianvb

 

[xwb]

Could it just be that the DVD reader needs cleaning.

Alternatively, since it is from 2004, try burning your DVDs at the lowest possible speed. It might be that the DVD reader cannot take the higher speeds. I have that problem on some of my laptops.

 

[julianvb]

Could it just be that the DVD reader needs cleaning.

Alternatively, since it is from 2004, try burning your DVDs at the lowest possible speed. It might be that the DVD reader cannot take the higher speeds. I have that problem on some of my laptops.

Hi, xwb,

Thanks for your suggestion.

All of the live CDs were burned long ago and have always worked on this desktop and my other computers until lately. The issue I'm reporting is a new phenomenon. In short, when I try to boot up a live CD, it doesn't matter whether I place it in the CD or DVD drive, both of which are about two years old. My RAMs are new too. In short, the system works flawlessly otherwise.

julianvb

 

[ClayTaco]

How far does the computer get in its boot cycle? Does it successfully load the bios?

I'm guessing you've got some spare hdds laying around. Is the computer able to load with a known good drive and OS?
Is another computer able to boot using your Mint drive?

The use of suddenly is what made me assume that it is a physical issue. But we all know what assuming does
Is the Compaq capable of booting from a USB? 2004 is kind of on the edge of whether it'd be capable or not

 

[julianvb]

Only the Browser Linux live CD reveals enough information on how far the booting process goes before it totally stops. I am not sure if I've posted a screen shot on this forum.

Yesterday I managed to boot this Compaq indirectly with a live Ubuntu USB stick by means of a Plop Boot Manager CD. I also ran the Seagate's diagnostics for DOS Hard drives and found the HD OK. It seems to me that the hardware is OK.

Julianvb

 

[julianvb]

ClayTaco,

You may find the following partial recording of a good Browser Linux boot-up on one of my Linux Mint machines of interest. I captured only the beginning of the process. I hope you can find some useful clues in it by comparing its info against my previously posted picture.

2015-01-01 Partial Screen Recording of Browser Linux Boot-up Process:

Loading drivers needed to access disk drivers.........
Searching for Puppy files in computer disk drivers.....
loading personal file /lupusave.2fs (sda1)...
Loading the 'lupu-510.sfs' main file ... copying to ram....
Setting up the layered filesystem...
Performing a 'switch_root' to the lauered filesystem ....
Making the filesytem usable...
Updating...
...
...

Julianvb

 

[ClayTaco]

One of the potential causes for switch_root trouble is hardware failure
First make sure pfix is set to ram
Try changing the log level to 7 so we can get some more information, make sure your debug isn't set to silent

Here's some info on changing boot parameters:

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/BootParametersGeneral

The issue isn't with the Kernel panic but rather the switch_root, found a great explanation as to what a kernel panic is on another forum

The most-important thing to realize about this message is... what it is actually saying. (It's all "geek speak," so bear with me.)

(0) A "kernel panic" happens when the kernel realizes that it is hopeless to continue. (If that happened to you, well, "you'd panic too.")

(1) When Linux starts, it automagically creates one process. That's "process #1," and its name is init. I don't need to explain here all of the things that init (and "init" alone...) does: the important thing to know is, "init" is not allowed to die.

(1a) If "init" does die, for whatever reason, the message given is deceptive: it says that someone "attempted to kill 'init,'" when the actual truth is just that "'init' died."

(2) The computer does a lot of disk-I/O activity "in the background." So, there's a tiny amount of time that passes between a request to write something to the disk, and the point in time when that disk-write is physically complete. Bottom line is... "not syncing" is good, and "syncing" means that you just scribbled your disk. Don't ask me why.

(3) The real problem that you need to actually be concerned about is described in the messages that precede this one. Not "this one!"
Source

I've got some big projects coming up at work so I may be away for a while but don't get too distracted by Puppy linux failing to load. Rather look at why several distros fail to load and what the failures have in common. If all else fails go dumpster diving for PC's, you can find 4 year old equipment for cheap if not free fairly easily. Pop in your mint hard drive and copy to a good drive's partition thereby eliminating any possibility of hardware failure.

 

[julianvb]

ClayTaco,

I agree with you on not-so-old PCs. I bought on Craigslist a very good 2011 Dell Latitude laptop this spring, which performs better than my pre-2005 computers on account of its more modern hardware.

I am using Browser Linux only as a diagnostic tool. It is the only live CD that provides any boot-up information whereas the other distros just leave a two-line clueless message or nothing at all when they fail to boot.

Many thanks again.

Julianvb

 

[julianvb]

Hi, Everyone,

I recently solved (effectively bypassed) my problem by burning a live Plop Linux DVD.
Plop Linux comes with a Boot Disk Manager known as PlopK, which works wonderfully for me in booting up my Linux desktop independently of its BIOS.

Plop Linux is available at

http://www.plop.at.

Julianvb

 

[rclarke250]

nice., Thanks for the info.

 

[ClayTaco]

@Julianvb Glad you were able to get it working! Thanks for posting the fix you found, plop looks really interesting. I'll have to play around with it.