My computer displays "boot failed" when I attempt to boot with the Red Hat 9 startup diskette. I am trying to install Linux 9. I am running Windows 98SE. The Red Hat 9 startup diskette works fine on another PC running Windows 98(Ed.?). My computer boots fine with the Windows 98 startup diskette.

The files on the Red Hat 9 startup diskette were copied onto the diskette with the rawrite.exe program on the ShrikeDisk1.iso I downloaded from a Red Hat mirror site. I extracted the iso file with Undisker. The source file for the startup diskette was bootdisk.img, contained on the Shrike.iso file.

I have a 2 year old PC, with a Pentium 4 1.7mhz. My bios software is from Award Software. The bus type is PCI.

I am really interested in exploring Linux. Can anyone please help?

Thanks

Have you tried changing the bios so it boots from the cd?

I have only a CD-Rom with no write feature, so I am planning on a hard disk install with the files downloaded from the internet.
I don't know how to change the bios if that will help - any ideas?

Ah. What pc do you have? Normally, on boot up, you will see (very briefly) a line which says "press F12 (or whatever) for bios".

I'd also suggest creating a new boot floppy - yours may be damaged or corrupted.

The computer is a made to order system from BCI (Best Computer) in seattle. I don't see a line to press F12 for the bios (the Red Hat 9 install manual also says there should be one). Any ideas on accessing such a line at startup?

what happens immediately before "boot failed"? Does linux at least start to load off the floppy? does the light come on for a few seconds (on the floppy drive)? could you simply re-create the boot floppy with another disk and try it again... just some thoughts...

chrisseattle said initially that his machine boots from a win floppy ok, so it doesn't look like a bios problem.

[ but this "get into the bios setup" is often masked by some fancy graphics that covers most of the interesting stuff that the vendor deems too confusing for the average user. As soon as the computer starts up, keep hitting F2 and the "Del" key -- one of them is most likely to get you into the BIOS setup. Once in, there is usually somewhere an item "quiet boot" or so that you should disable to see all the good stuff in the future. In the BIOS boot menu is usually a "Boot" item that lets you set the boot order - usually floppy, CD, disk, in that order. ]

I wonder why you try the boot floppy in the first place - the CD 1 is bootable and you can do without a floppy.

Give the CD boot a shot.

mlp

In the award 4.51 and 6.0x bios "del" is the key the enter the setup. And the option to boot from a cd is under "Bios Features".
Noah

the floppy starts up and sounds like it starts to load right before the "boot failed" message displays. I found the bios setup and the floppy drive is set to boot first. I am on a real budget right now and only have a CD-rom (no write capability) - thus the reason for the diskette boot up. I just copied the bootdisk.img onto another floppy with another utility on the ShrikeDisk1.iso, called Rawritewin, and the diskette booted fine on another guy's PC in my house, so it appears there is definitely something amiss on my computer.
I would still appreciate thoughts from people. Thanks. (my PC boots fine from the Win98 startup diskette, and I just can't figure out why it treats the Red Hat 9 diskette differently?)

You do not need a cd writer to boot off it. All you need to do is set your bios to boot off the cd first, and put Red Hat cd 1 in the drive.
Noah