installation CD doesn't boot!!

khosrow · 2011-04-07 07:51:48

Hi everyone,
I am a Debian user and just decided to try archlinux.
I downloaded the archlinux-2010.05-netinstall-i686.iso image from one of archlinux official mirrors and burned it to a CD.
the installation CD does NOT boot on my IBM T23 laptop! I have Debian 6, Slackware 13, and Mintlinux CDs burned exactly the same way from their images and they all boot on the same laptop!
so, if step 0 fails, how much more trouble you can expect to get in future?!

-- Khosrow

JackH79 · 2011-04-07 08:02:01

With that attitude ...

How about telling us a bit more as when, where, maybe error messages, etc.
Maybe bad burn. Md5check-summed it?

khosrow · 2011-04-07 09:22:31

downloaded the image from http://archlinux.limun.org/iso/2010.05/
sha1sum --check sha1sums.txt returns: archlinux-2010.05-netinstall-i686.iso: OK
bad writing is ruled out. as I wrote in my previous post, I have 3 other images written exactly in the SAME way on the SAME media by the SAME drive, and they can all boot the SAME computer.
I bet you there must be something wrong with the boot loader.

-- Khosrow

karol · 2011-04-07 09:25:16

Unfortunately some people are experiencing problems with that image. Try the core image or an older one.
http://releng.archlinux.org/isos/ has newer images but they're for testing purposes. You may give them a shot anyway.

JackH79 · 2011-04-07 09:26:22

Edit:

karol wrote:

Unfortunately some people are experiencing problems with that image.

okay. I stand corrected

@khosrow
And, just a little tip: to get decent help here, you might want to try to be a bit less agressive.

Last edited by JackH79 (2011-04-07 09:29:34)

khosrow · 2011-04-09 03:31:49

to JackH79,

I don't think I was aggressive or anything like that. this was probably your wrong impression. my main point is the following: unfortunately, in the open-source world the developers have the tendency to exaggerate about their freeware, be it a simple code, or a whole operating system. they can probably justify it by saying that since the users don't pay anything, they are not supposed to complain. the point is that people spend time and effort anyway, which is valuable by itself. by seeing the advertisements they just think: Oh, this is exactly what I was looking for! but later they realize that they were not told the whole story. I've gone through this process many many times during the past 10 years.
personally, I don't mind paying for a clean and neat Linux distribution. I just haven't seen any!
Again, seeing all those comments about Arch being a "unix like" , "minimal", "clean", etc. I decided to give it a try. that's all. otherwise, my computer works OK, even without Arch. thanks for your help, anyway.

JackH79 · 2011-04-09 05:14:03

Well, if I got the wrong impression, then no hard feelings. But I'll explain why I did get that impression and, to be honest, still get:

khosrow wrote:

so, if step 0 fails, how much more trouble you can expect to get in future?!

Just because an installation medium didn't work as expected, you implied that the whole distribution can't be any good either. Now that, I think, is a pretty long stretch by anyone's standards.

khosrow wrote:

I have 3 other images written exactly in the SAME way on the SAME media by the SAME drive, and they can all boot the SAME computer.

Shouting angrily with CAPS doesn't really help.

khosrow wrote:

my computer works OK, even without Arch

hmm ...

Regarding your last post, I think you misunderstand Arch's purpose - or the purpose of open source software in general. But this topic has been discussed here on the forums ad nauseam. So as not to go completely TGN, I'll just refer you to the forum to read up on this and maybe the wiki.

Last edited by JackH79 (2011-04-09 05:31:38)

lives2evil · 2011-04-09 06:18:13

khosrow wrote:

unfortunately, in the open-source world the developers have the tendency to exaggerate about their freeware, be it a simple code, or a whole operating system. they can probably justify it by saying that since the users don't pay anything, they are not supposed to complain. the point is that people spend time and effort anyway, which is valuable by itself.

First thing first, I have to say I had the same impression as JackH79 does.
All the points, JackH79 has stated above. But still, I'm not quite agree with you. First thing first, open-source developers are human, just like yourself, their time and skill is limited, they don't have forever just to listen to all your complainings. Oh yes what you're doing is complaining.

However, they do not justify themself by saying such thing as no money no complains, they just continue developing their softwares, fix bugs and etc. They do not bear any responsibility to fix your problem but still they did, what else can you demand? If you wasted time and effort that's your problems don't tells me you've never wasted time and effort on many other things. And you must know that the time and effort just to make one simple softwares or fix a little bug (little to you) is many time larger than your effort.

Open source softwares is free to use, and they come with no garantee, you must understand and accept this when you start using it. So when trouble arise, complaining won't get you anywhere, asking for help politely is the way. If you want to complains buy some random softwares, you're free to complain then.
(Well, if I'm paid just to listen to complains like yours then I'm willing to do it all day)

Lastly, the people who are helping you is not developers themself but the community, users just like you. You want help from the developers? Go report bugs upstream, not just complaining unhelpfully.

Inxsible · 2011-04-09 16:09:09

Lets not turn this thread into what impressions users got or didn't get. Remember that not everyone is a native English speaker. Sometimes things might come as offhand. Please provide benefit of the doubt. Help the guy if you want, if not please refrain from posting.

As for the original poster, being a little more polite will generally get you more help, not only on this forum but any forum for that matter.

Keep it civil people!

khosrow · 2011-04-10 07:51:44

Okay, just one last word. sorry guys, I did not intend to offend anyone, etc. with that many posts, you guys must be big fans of Arch. I used to be a big fan of Debian, too. although, not as much these days, I am afraid.
I'm not an OS developer, but write programs from time to time mostly to analyze data. so, I know a little bit how tedious writing a program and later debugging it can be. I was just disappointed. it was like when friends recommend you a little nice restaurant they've just discovered in the town, and you decide to go there for dinner with a big appetite, but first thing you see on the table is a dirty spoon or plate. your friends might have been right and the food there be great, but you've already lost faith. Also, you guys are not the only ones who got hard feelings by attending this forum.
thanks for the wiki, but to be honest, it didn't help me feel any better. my experience doesn't fully confirm the "code correctness" philosophy.
I guess, I am done here, no more posting. I should probably continue my quest for the ideal OS, or maybe better off to just go ask Microsoft if they still accept refugees.
good luck everyone.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-04-07 07:51:48

installation CD doesn't boot!!

#2 2011-04-07 08:02:01

Re: installation CD doesn't boot!!

#3 2011-04-07 09:22:31

Re: installation CD doesn't boot!!

#4 2011-04-07 09:25:16

Re: installation CD doesn't boot!!

#5 2011-04-07 09:26:22

Re: installation CD doesn't boot!!

#6 2011-04-09 03:31:49

Re: installation CD doesn't boot!!

#7 2011-04-09 05:14:03

Re: installation CD doesn't boot!!

#8 2011-04-09 06:18:13

Re: installation CD doesn't boot!!

#9 2011-04-09 16:09:09

Re: installation CD doesn't boot!!

#10 2011-04-10 07:51:44

Re: installation CD doesn't boot!!

Board footer