booting trouble

[mimosa]

But I tried it on three machines (so it's not the drive) and the md5sum checks out. I can try burning another one ...

Here is a reasonably accurate copy of the output:

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error: "prefix" is not set
Searching the device to boot from
*Checking:(memdisk)
                (hd0)
                (hd0, msdos 8)
... 7,6,5,1 
Error: Could not find the root device!
We've been searching for:
identfile salix-mate-13.37-32.live
identcontent: [looks like an md5sum]
Available devices are (as above)
--> Rescue shell

Btw I looked at the files and it's obvious copying them into a partition on the reformated stick isn't going to work. Anyway, I'll have another go the conventional way and if no luck, try with a brand new stick!

[Adys]

I already followed those steps

Please be more precise. Do you mean you started over again, now from step #1 up to #9? If that's the case, then which method you used after step #9? LiveClone or unetbootin 575+? What exact step failed? Any messages when booting? There are too many different aspects that could be the main problem. We need more specific reports.

That still leaves the "prefix" problem with Maté. I will make an image from the disk to exclude the possibility of a bad burn.

(@Adys, why might that not work? I intend to use Brasero's copy-disk function, but copy to an iso; then md5sum the result)

If you made changes, it doesn't work. If you run the syslinux/isolinux installer, it doesn't work (it is different every time). And if you don't make changes, you still need to take the DATA-ONLY to calculate the checksum (as oppose to the checksum of the whole CD, which would include parts of the CD "outside" the original ISO). I'm not saying there is no way. I am saying it is easy to get the wrong comparison results. There are programs to make the comparison easy (but I have more experience with Windows-based programs for this specific task, not so much with the Linux-based ones).

what if I copy the files currently on the stick, reformat (to FAT32 ), and copy them back in? Should that work?

No, re-format ALONE may not be enough. Using "dd" on sdb (which includes the MBR) changes "everything" (MBR, VBR, volume size,...). So, it may or may not work in the future. I, again, suggest following the steps from #1 to #9 and then using unetbootin version 575 or later, manually selecting the desired ISO image.

That still leaves the failure to boot from CD. But then why does the very same image work from USB?

Maybe it was just a bad burn. The specific media itself could be wrong (bad quality), or burnt with an inadequate speed, or...

Please report (with details of what you effectively do this time and the messages you see when trying to boot).

EDIT: typo.

[Shador]

That message about prefix is absolutely NO problem an occurs always!

Available devices are (as above)

Sorry, but that's a bit inaccurate. Maybe your BIOS is not properly making the USB stick available? Could you give me all devices it lists at least all except hd0*.

Please provide identcontent as well. Apart from that do this with the USB stick mounted on /somedir:

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cat /somedir/salix-mate-13.37-32.live

Btw I looked at the files and it's obvious copying them into a partition on the reformated stick isn't going to work. Anyway, I'll have another go the conventional way and if no luck, try with a brand new stick!

You're changing your setup in such a quick pace there's no chance getting accustomed to one setup to find the root problem. But nevermind, I'm not having a problem here.

[mimosa]

@Shador

There are two problems here: booting from CD (which is what produces the output I posted above, so there is no USB drive and shouldn't be); and booting from USB - which works using the dd if=salix.iso of=/dev/sdb method, but not the conventional way. For the time being I suspect hardware to be the cause and my next step is to buy a brand new stick and try with that. If that doesn't work I think I should create a separate thread for problem 2.

On the second question though, when I unpacked the files from the CD, I noticed an extra directory was created:

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mimosa[~]$ ls matefiles/\[BOOT\]/
Bootable_NoEmulation.img

Should this be there?

On the first question, fwiw, here is as much of that long number as I copied down before getting bored. But I'll get the full number if you need it:

7cb4af53c54 ...

Following Gapan's suggestion about the disk, I suppose I should try with a fresh burn even though the md5sum is right.

EDIT

Here is the .live file *from the unpacked iso*:

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ident_content=7cb4af53c545d15a9700b88239736732
basedir=/
iso_name=salixlive-mate-13.37-32.iso

... and that is the same number.

[Adys]

The NoEmulation image should be there, yes.

About the rest, I was trying to help you with the USB device, but now you are back with the CD issue, which could be a completely different problem (like just 1 bad burn), or the same (for examples, BIOS boot device compatibility and other BIOS settings, or hardware problem).

With the downloaded ISO (not the image from your burnt CD), check your checksum. If it is correct, burn it to a CD-RW using x4 or x8 (not more not less), according to the speed accepted in BOTH the optical drive and the specific CD media.

(BTW, there are simple methods to check if a burnt media is OK, but that's for a future Salix release).

[JRD]

The NoEmulation image should be there, yes.

For USB, no you shouldn't put that directory (which is not one). It's ElTorito magick.
But it does not harm to put in on USB stick btw, so not a problem.

[Adys]

The NoEmulation image should be there, yes.

For USB, no you shouldn't put that directory (which is not one). It's ElTorito magick.
But it does not harm to put in on USB stick btw, so not a problem.

This happens when we mix different issues. To clarify my words, the boot directory, which includes in it the NoEmulation image, is normally found in the CD (and it should be there in the CD, yes), as mimosa said. It has no use in the USB device, but if it is there in the USB device too, it is still not going to make you problems with booting it.

[Shador]

What about the devices listed at boot except hd0* devices?

[mimosa]

@Shador

There are none. And the CD drive should appear, right?

That would suggest that though the drive is available to BIOS (otherwise the process wouldn't get that far) it is not available very shortly after. And that does looks like a local problem - except that I saw the exact same behaviour on three different machines with different hardware; and Ubuntu boots fine from CD, as did Slitaz.

I will try burning the CD again (though I still don't understand why copying from the burnt CD back to an image and comparing the md5sum with the original download is an insufficient check to rule out a bad burn) and try it in different machines, just to be really sure.

I guess most people don't boot from CD very often, given the possibility of using a memory stick. Has anyone actually tried booting Maté live from CD?

[JRD]

Just to be sure : is your CD drive connected using ATA or using USB ?