Can we just recap.

When you add root=/dev/sda1 nomce quiet nosplash vga=791 does antiX boot to a login prompt, either the gui one or cli/black screen?

If so, what happens when you login as user?

anticapitalista wrote:Can we just recap.

When you add root=/dev/sda1 nomce quiet nosplash vga=791 does antiX boot to a login prompt, either the gui one or cli/black screen?

If so, what happens when you login as user?

Ok, I prefer to take some pictures to the screen so that it would be more clear and easier for us to understand what's going on. Just give me some time and I'll do that __{{emoticon}}__

Hi again __{{emoticon}}__

I took 3 screen shots. I believe these pictures are better than million words __{{emoticon}}__

Thank you in advance __{{emoticon}}__

P.S.
I'm sorry, I don't know why no.3 became on the top and no.1 on the bottom. Just look at it from the bottom to top. From 1 (last one) to 3 (first one).

When you get to the boot option use the root=/dev/hda1, add between the nomce & quiet the following one at a time to see which one will work, btw ignore the message about the fsck and just hit Ctrl D to continue, that message means that the time is fouled up, only a temporary problem and can be fixed later.

nodma

acpi=off

noapm

nopcmcia

noagp

noapic

if one of these codes works and you get to the desktop, then be sure to note which one you used and then /boot/menu.lst can be edited to add that option to the boot screen. But first things first.

cheers,
ohh

Get to the stage in your first picture, login as root then type

e2fsck /dev/hda1

anticapitalista wrote:Get to the stage in your first picture, login as root then type

e2fsck /dev/hda1

Ok, I did that and it was checking something. After that, I rebooted, started again and got the same as of screen shot no (3). I tried to run the same code:
But it says that hda1 is mounted.

What's next?

Oh my God, I don't know what is going on with that crazy laptop.

After I ran: I rebooted and got the same as of screen shot no 3. I tried to type the same code again but it said that hda1 is mounted.
I typed HELP then exit to reboot. Suddenly, it started to do some stuff and then I got a Window but under CLI asking for my location and then another one asking for the city. Then, it asked me for my username and password. Then it said"Welcome to antiX power by something" and the prompt.

I tried to type: startx but nothing happened. It says"no such process" and showing error. ALL in CLI.

I have a feeling that I got it up and running but it's CLI not GUI.

I guess the next step is how to get the desktop with GUI instead of CLI?

By the way, I tried apt-get update and got errors because I'm not connecting to the internet, I mean that laptop is not connected to the internet yet. Which means (again) that it's up and running (the laptop) but with CLI.

Looking forward for the next step __{{emoticon}}__

Thanks a lot!

P.S.
The screen shot below shows the output of"startx".

when you get to the cli, since startx failed try this

su to root

then
cd /etc/X11

then
rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

then type
exit

at user prompt type
startx

cheers,
ohh

oldhoghead wrote:when you get to the cli, since startx failed try this

su to root

then
cd /etc/X11

then
rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

then type
exit

at user prompt type
startx

cheers,
ohh

That's done. Now, I'm getting weird Desktop with light blue background with no icons on the desktop. One main task bar on the bottom (just like Windows) with Debian as the title of the menu (just like Start in Windows) and 4 workspaces with NO mouse pointer and the laptop seems not responding to anything even CAPS Lock. I have to force shutdown by pressing and holding the power button.
I can't find the default desktop for antiX.

Any idea?

Is there any hope that laptop will be up and running with GUI instead of CLI?

Please, check my previous post (the one before this) and let me know how to fix that.

Thanks a lot!

Did you check the md5sum value of the ISO file before burning it to a CD? Did you burn the CD using DAO and a speed of 8X or less?

Phil

pcalvert wrote:Did you check the md5sum value of the ISO file before burning it to a CD? Did you burn the CD using DAO and a speed of 8X or less?

Phil

Thanks for your reply.
It's true that I'm new to antiX but I'm not new or fresh user for Linux __{{emoticon}}__
I have more than 40 Distributions on my PC and I don't keep any copy of iso files UNLESS I check MD5SUM after downloading. That's step 1 for me __{{emoticon}}__

I have two PCs, one has 9 OS's and the other has 6. That laptop is very old and has no CD-Drive nor any other device I could use to install except an USB Port but I need something like Plop to be able to boot from that USB port.
After long struggling with that laptop, I bought a Mobile Hard Disk Enclosure, took the laptop's hard drive out, connected to one of my PCs using that enclosure I bought and installed many Distributions like Vector and SliTaz. None of these OS's worked while connecting to my PC. After the first reboot, I got error message. Yes, I disconnected the other HDD in that PC so the laptop's hard drive was the only HDD on that PC.
I thought it's better to test it while it's connecting to the laptop so I returned it back where I took it from, turn the laptop on and .... you can follow the beginning of this thread.

I think antiX is working now on that laptop but:
1- It's working on CLI
2- Have change sda1 to hda1 and type"startx"

After that, I got nothing but a blue background ... well, I already explained that before.

Thank you!

Hi,

If I were you I would reinstall antiX. But before doing so, I would wipe the HDD using the badblocks command in destructive mode. The test is performed with the drive unmounted.

See:
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"https://calomel.org/badblocks_wipe.html"
linktext was:"https://calomel.org/badblocks_wipe.html"
====================================


After doing that you'll need to partition the HDD again. If you get that far, that is. It's possible that the drive will fail the badblocks test.

Phil

pcalvert wrote:Hi,

If I were you I would reinstall antiX. But before doing so, I would wipe the HDD using the badblocks command in destructive mode. The test is performed with the drive unmounted.

See:
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"https://calomel.org/badblocks_wipe.html"
linktext was:"https://calomel.org/badblocks_wipe.html"
====================================


After doing that you'll need to partition the HDD again. If you get that far, that is. It's possible that the drive will fail the badblocks test.

Phil

Hello again Phil,

Honestly, I don't want to re-install antiX again. Even if I have to re-install again, I have to do that while the hard disc of that laptop is connected to one of my two PCs. I guess the same will happen again and again. The drive or partitions naming is different for some reason that I can't understand.

The best thing that I could do at the point is to check the HDD whether it's faulty or not.

Is there any command that I could run under CLI to check the HDD? if it's faulty, then there's no point of keep trying. However, just to let everyone here knows, that laptop has Windows XP SP2 and it was up and running without any issue whatsoever. The only issue was the slowness of XP, that's all. I doubt there's something wrong with the HDD but it's better to check it. Again, no point of keep trying and trying while the HDD is faulty.

Hope someone could help me with that command to check the HDD from CLI.

I think that Phil is on the right track, when I dl an iso, I check the md5sum and then after burning a cd or dvd I check the md5sum. It will save a lot of grief in the long run. Also, the media that the iso is burned to will impact certain older hardware, I used to use cd-rw, but found that they were very unreliable, they might boot on newer hardware but would fail on my old dell laptop, or if they did work and I manage to do an install, then anomaly's would surface. I now use only quality cd-r or dvd-r. As to the harddrive, you might want to read this post, a short one.

viewtopic.php?f=40&t=2795

The op is a long time debian and antiX user who adheres to the KISS philosophy, which I too endorse.

You could spend days trying to figure out what went wrong, but really, double check the md5 sum's', wipe the drive and then reinstall. If you end up in the same boat, well then just chalk it up to experience and move on. The fact that XP worked fine on that laptop, but ran slow is not surprising. XP was very efficient in running on low ram, contrary to what many may think about XP. But, of course you had to deal with BSOD, virus's, spam, etc. and remember the hardware was designed for windows. I have found that where XP ran but was slow, when I installed antiX it really flew. I know from working with older hardware that it is exasperating at times, but a real joy when I did get it working.
I don't know why you got a debain boot screen, but the fact that you can't do anything there is indicative of a failed install, ie bad burn, etc.
Just my 2c

cheers,
ohh