New to linux, problems with initial boot: fedora

[evildylan 0]

Ok so this is the first time ive actually installed the linux Os on anything. I have an abit kr7a-133R motherboard with an AMd xp 1600 processor. I use two WD drives one is 6.4GB and the other is 20.0GB.

 

the problem that im having is. i downloaded the 3 iso images from linux and i made a boot floppy using "rawrite" and the bootdisk.img file. I shut my machine down and set my small er HD to master and my bigger HD to slave. I boot using the floppy and after about 5 seconds of actual floppy activity i get a

 

boot failed: please change disks and press key to continue

 

Either im clueless and dont know how to read but i am totally stumped as to why this is happening. I have followed the installation instructions closely and cant seem to get it to boot any farther than that.

 

i formatted the smaller drive that i want to install linux on and put the 3 iso files on it and a boot.iso file.

 

any suggestions would be welcomed. Please forgive my ignorance as i am very new to the linux world.

[matttah 0]

uh, not sure if this will work, but make sure you burn the iso's as images, then just mmake your cd drive as one of the first boot devices and it should auto read to the installer...

Daum

[evildylan 0]

im trying to install it from my hard drive.

[danleff 0]

I have never installed from a hard drive, but right off I see some potential issues.

 

Could you give us a link to where you got the fedora ISO's?

 

Just putting the iso files on a hard drive does not make them bootable/usable. I would think that you would have to extract the files to a hard drive, so that the floppy boot disk can find the actual boot files on the hard drive, with a program such as isobuster

 

If I am correct, the boot.iso file is a CD boot file.

 

Point to the instructions, as well when you send the link - where the hard drive install instructions are found, and I will take a look.

 

I assume that you do not have a CD burner?

[matttah 0]

ya you are giong to have to have the isos extracted from the images...it would be worth it to try to find a friend to burn them if you don't have a burner, it is gonna be a pain trying to install from the harddrive is my guess.

Daum

[evildylan 0]

heres the regular download site.

 

http://fedora.redhat.com/download/

 

heres the install from a HD instructions.

 

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/install-guide/s1-begininstall-hd.html

 

heres the install guide that i was using.

 

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/install-guide/

 

the fedora page linked me to the linux 9 install page so im assuming that the install procedure is the same.

 

yeah ive got a burner. I jsut never have any luck burning bootable CDs

[jjcohen 0]

You shouldn't have to do anything special to make the first disk bootable. Just burn the iso images using easy cd creator or something like it.

 

You can use isobuster to extract the files from the iso images, but installing that way will be very painful - I really wouldn't recommend it unless you absolutely have to do it that way - like if your CD-ROM drive doesn't work.

 

Your motherboard shouldn't be any problem for a modern distro. You shouldn't even need a boot floppy.