DVD wont boot

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Today I was excited to learn that 11.4 was released. I havent used linux in a long time and the screenshots Ive seen have made me want to try it out.

But as always with linux, things are never easy. After downloading the 64-bit dvd image, I burned it to disc. I then swapped the sata cables from my windows ssd to a spare hd (I dont have any spare sata slots left). Unfortunately it keeps coming up with boot manager missing errors. It seems the 11.4 dvd isnt bootable.

I tested my setup with the Windows 7 dvd just to make sure it can boot from an optical drive, and sure enough that worked.

I made another dvd, this time burning at the slower speed of x4, but that has the same results.

If you want more people to adopt linux, you need to make it as simple as possible and after spending 2 hours wrestling with this, I have failed to get anywhere.

2

Hmm Did you just copy the ISO or did you burn the image as an ISO image. Big difference. Also did you check the checksums of the file to make sure you have a good download. Instructions are on the download page.

3

I did a sha1 and sha256 check before burning. I used write image to disc on Imgburn.

4

No one else seems to be having this problem so it must be something you are doing/not doing. But if you have done what you said you did I can’t think of anything else that would cause this. Try one of the CD images. It may be a problem in your burner.

5

I have the same problem. As with every update of opensuse I downloaded the 64-bit full install iso and burned it using k3b. I used different DVD+R brands, but my notebook’s BIOS does not boot from the DVDs but hangs. HP Elitebook 8530p.

6

On 03/10/2011 08:06 PM, swarfega wrote:
>
> It seems the 11.4 dvd isnt bootable.

did you check the MD5sum of the iso you downloaded before you burned
the disk?

if you put that DVD into your drive when windows is running, and look
at the contents of the DVD with your windows file manager, what do you
see…maybe you see one file with an .iso extension?

did you read any of the information available from the download page
which will help you get a good install disk?

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

7

Its not one .iso image, it looks like the image was burned to the dvd but without the boot instructions?

8

I created an account just to state that I’m also having the same issue! I created a USB boot drive using the Live KDE version and it wouldn’t boot! It just kept giving the error message

boot:
Could not find kernel image: gfxboot

And just to be sure, I downloaded another distro, created a USB drive using the same exact method and that worked! So, yeah, I think the iso is busted!!

9

In my case I suspect a BIOS bug (I checked the MD5 sum, checked the DVD after burning). Which computer/laptop are you using?

10

I created a bootable usb thumb drive with the 64bit dvd iso and it worked for me. I used the usb-zip option in my bios.

I used imagewriter since I had no luck with unetbootin.

11

Its a self built one.

12

On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 21:06:03 +0000, swarfega wrote:

> Its not one .iso image, it looks like the image was burned to the dvd
> but without the boot instructions?

If you put the disc in the drive with an OS running, what are the files
you see on the disc?

If you burned the image to the disc, the boot information is there, and
you should see a directory listing with lots of files and directories.

If you burned the ISO file to the disc, you would have just the ISO file
on the disc, and that won’t boot.

It’s easy to make that mistake, done it myself once or twice in fact.

Jim

–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

13

I stand corrected! Guess the problem was with unetbootin (weird since it worked with another distro)!!. So, I tried imagewriter and that solved the issue! Thanks.

14

ok ive managed to get it installed onto the hdd by using the live cd. I got as far as installing the ati driver but now it boots to the prompt instead of kde.

15

I finally circumvented my problem as well: First I booted from the 11.3 installation dvd in the grub menu, paused further booting and then changed the installation dvd for the 11.4 one. I waited for this dvd to spin up properly and selected “installation”. The setup program came up and installation worked perfectly with no further problem.

16

On 03/12/2011 06:06 PM, dgrafenhofer wrote:
>
> I finally circumvented my problem as well

and, did you log the bug you circumvented?

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.1.8, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

17

Well, I guess that it is a BIOS bug (and not an opensuse bug), and I am in contact with HP regarding this issue.

18

On 03/12/2011 07:36 PM, dgrafenhofer wrote:
>
> Well, I guess that it is a BIOS bug (and not an opensuse bug), and I am
> in contact with HP regarding this issue.

i think you are right (a BIOS bug) because other HP users are posting
about in other forums here…

personally, i think a bug should be logged here, or at least a notice
made in the Hardware Compatibility List:
http://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Hardware

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.1.8, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

19

ok ive managed to get it installed onto the hdd by using the live cd. I got as far as installing the ati driver but now it boots to the prompt instead of kde.

I saw the same thing with someone else who upgraded also.
If you type “startx” at the command prompt, does your Desktop appear?

On his, the desktop appeared but very dim so there seems to be more with his system than “just” starting the Xserver.

Tony

20

If you have Radeon HD series then you may have been bitten by a bug report that bit me with my Radeon HD3450. IF your situation was similar to mine, then the work around is to use the boot code “nomodeset”. Then later (if your hardware is new enough, but not too new) install the proprietary fglrx driver.