Tiny Core Linux
Tiny Core Base => TCB Talk => Topic started by: srmarchi on November 20, 2020, 12:36:46 PM
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Hello all,
I'm a newbie Linux user and this is the first time on the forum, I'm not sure I posting in the right thread.
I'm trying to bring back to life an old 586 Amd and TCL is a good choice for OS.
I've tried all versions 5.1 through 11.0 and all versions freeze or reboot after the message: "Booting the Kernel" with no error message.
I have tried some bootcodes but no success yet.
I would like to know if you have how to show or save the log execution or enable to show the error message.
586 AMD SIS
48MB RAM
2MB Video Trident
CF Adapter with 256MB flash card
Every help is welcome!
Thank you!
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If the kernel fails to boot, there is no way to save logs. The earlyprintk options may let you see some messages.
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Hi, srmarchi!
As You mentioned, that You are new to Linux, I assume, that You wrote the TinyCore to SD card using Windows? Is there an option to write CD disk? What versions (TinyCore, TinyCorePLus, Core) have You tried?
By the way, there are even earlier versions, for example 4.7.7. Your machine is quite aged, so why not to try.
Good luck!
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As You mentioned, that You are new to Linux, I assume, that You wrote the TinyCore to SD card using Windows? Is there an option to write CD disk? What versions (TinyCore, TinyCorePLus, Core) have You tried?
By the way, there are even earlier versions, for example 4.7.7. Your machine is quite aged, so why not to try.
Thank you jazzbiker and curaga!
Yes, I used the Universal USB Installer on Windows and its work well, the same SD card with TC 11.0 runs perfectly in the Pentium 4.
I'm just trying with TinyCore.
Good tip about version.
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Of course I am not insisting, but working OK on P4, the same card may refuse to work properly on the old BIOS. That's why I mentioned CD. By the way, in the first post You talked about CF card. Is it really CF or SD?
Have Your box any hard drive? I think You will be very limited in possible tasks without swap.
P.S. Current TC version is 11.1
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I got your point. But I'm afraid the BIOS has no CD boot option.
My mistake, I'm using a CF to IDE adaptor and no hard drive.
Yeah, very limited...
But I won't stop yet, because I saw a 486 running TC GUI 8.2.1 with only 40MB RAM :)
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Hi srmarchi
... all versions freeze or reboot after the message: "Booting the Kernel" with no error message. ...
Find the syslinux.cfg file on your CF card. Add the following to the end of the line containing the word quiet :
debug waitusb=5You should now see kernel messages displayed when you boot. Maybe the messages displayed at the point it freezes
will be of some help.
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Hi, guys!
No boot from CD in old machine? Never seen anything alike. Maybe no internal CD drive? Maybe Your box have floppy??? 8-0 Just wondering. If You are talking about IDE-CF adapter - heh, I've found such an artefact in the museum ) Even a pair of them of different kinds. First is just mini-IDE and CF connectors crossover. And my memory prompts, that it was really functioning just upon a time. But for some reason I've added SMD ceramic capacitor blocking power lines. The second is controller card with two chips and and obviously was too slow to work as system drive.
So if You got such an adapter (I mean the first one), Your system see it as the hard drive, right? Was Your adapter successfully functioning before?
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Hi, srmarchi.
Welcome to the forum.
It sounds like the bootloader is failing.
Do you have any spare IDE hard drive ?
Usually, mother boards don't recognize adapters when booting.
If you do have a drive, install the system on that with tc-install/tc-install-GUI on your Pentium 4 environment.
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Find the syslinux.cfg file on your CF card. Add the following to the end of the line containing the word quiet :
debug waitusb=5
Hello Rich,
I added the code but the result was the same...
No boot from CD in old machine? Never seen anything alike. Maybe no internal CD drive? Maybe Your box have floppy??? 8-0 Just wondering.
Hello jazzbiker,
The 586 has 25 year old (also came from museum :)) , I may be forgetting something... just has boot by A e C drives... Mouse serial, no USB and one floppy unit. It has IDE auto detect and CF adpater is recognized by BIOS.
Welcome to the forum.
It sounds like the bootloader is failing.
Thank you polikuo!
I'm not sure about that, because using MS-DOS it runs very well.
I believe there is something wrong with the format of the CF card, perhaps MBR or file system (some flag?), because MS-DOS works well and TC loads vmlinux and core before crashing, I think if the adapter is the problem, it will not load in no situations.
Thank you guys!
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I believe there is something wrong with the format of the CF card, perhaps MBR or file system (some flag?), because MS-DOS works well and TC loads vmlinux and core before crashing, I think if the adapter is the problem, it will not load in no situations.
How about re-install the system on the CF card within your P4 machine ?
Boot with boot code "base"
tce-load -wil tc-install
Install the system from the net
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Double this.
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Hi guys!
I did the re-install as polikuo suggested and I got the same result: using vfat it freezes at bootloader and ext2 reboot after load the core.gz.
Additional I tried boot codes vga=1 and debug but no news.
I'm suspect about partitions and I have doubt about which format I can use (fat16, fat32 and ext2).
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It's not a disk/partition issue, the kernel is hanging.
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Hi, srmarchi!
It's strange that behavior depends on the file system type... What TC version have You tried during this failed attempt?
You didn't confirmed what type is Your CF adapter - chipless crossover or some sort of controller card?
Is it possible to try with HD drive to exclude CF failure?
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It's strange that behavior depends on the file system type... What TC version have You tried during this failed attempt?
You didn't confirmed what type is Your CF adapter - chipless crossover or some sort of controller card?
Is it possible to try with HD drive to exclude CF failure?
Yes jazzbiker... so strange and this is driving me crazy! :(
I'm trying just with TinyCore from 4.5 to 11.1.
I am suspecting of the file system x partition because at some point the version 8.2.1 started and worked in text mode using a 32MB multipartition card that was flashed by windows. I thought, OK, I can play this again and format it to free up space, but it doesn't work anymore ... hardware was not changed.
The same adapter with same card runs pretty well in the P4 (from 4.5 to 11.1), in amd586 just MS-DOS can boot, Puppy Linux said Urr! Wee... pain... :'(
The adapter is this one https://www.dx.com/p/cf-to-ide-3-5-female-adapter-card-black-white-2067205.html#.X7_PMmhKhPY
I don't know what's going on, can be geometry Card 32 256 512MB? From hardware point of view, when the system shows "Booting the kernel"? What it does? IRQs? ACPI? :-\
No hard drive compatible available...
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Hi srmarchi
I seem to remember that many many years ago I had problems with an old machine that was upset that I connected
a 320 GByte drive to it. Since that machine was booting off of a CD, I told the BIOS there was no hard drive. Linux
does not use the BIOS to find connected drives. It finds them on its own. Its possible your old machine is running into
partition size limits. Divide your card into 2 partitions. Make the first partition 30 MBytes and install onto that. Leave the
rest of the card uninitialized for now. Tell the BIOS there is only 1 drive and it's 30 MBytes in size. When you do the
install, use ext2.
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At least we have another result: now striped ;D
2 partition: fat32 (syslinux 4.0?) and ext2
Core 8.2.1
2 partition: ext2 (syslinux 6.07) and fat32
Core 11.1
images from 8.2.1
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Hi srmarchi
I think your video card doesn't have enough memory for the resolution it's attempting. Try adding the boot code:
vga=791
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Hi, guys!
Rich, srmarchi mentioned earlier, that at some point system started in text mode. It means that hardware and kernel have no controversies. Something changed, and it is definitely some repartitioning. What entity shows "Booting kernel"? Isn't it extlinux? Curaga stated, that kernel started but hanging, but is it possible that wrong partitioning (better to say not fully understood by aged BIOS) causes, that extlinux is thinking, that it is booting the kernel, but in fact it is blowing bubbles, counting stars and wistling nice melodies?
Srmarchi, I think You need to do Your best to recall the right pertitioning. And that will start the race, but without it will be waste of neural tissue.
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Hi jazzbiker
Rich, srmarchi mentioned earlier, that at some point system started in text mode. ...
Text mode is the console. Unlike a graphics mode, memory in a text mode is measured in characters, not pixels.
25 lines by 80 characters equals 2000 bytes.
... Curaga stated, that kernel started but hanging, ...
We don't really know what happened. When I told him to add the debug boot code the screen should have shown some
kernel messages, but he stated nothing changed. I'm not sure the kernel even started.
He is now getting a startup menu and booting to a garbled screen, which seems like a big step from where he was. It
sounds like switching to a smaller partition solved one problem.
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When computer is powered on it shows BIOS manufacturer data. Maybe this data can help find something about BIOS characteristics and limitations?
P.S. If it was possible to use grub... its microshell can assist to get some info.
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Extlinux could indeed load garbage, but the following messages starting from extract_kernel are from the kernel.
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I found this post where 486 reborn with linux https://yeokhengmeng.com/2018/01/make-the-486-great-again/
The guy use the partition in this way:
(https://yeokhengmeng.com/2018/01/make-the-486-great-again/images/gentoo-486-gentoo-default-partitioning-1024x247.png)
As my knowledge in linux is limited, how do I the config to do bootloader in fat and image in ext2?
Does make sense?
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Hi srmarchi
No, there's nothing special about that configuration for your case. In fact, he goes on to say he doesn't need that
configuration and uses this instead:
(https://yeokhengmeng.com/2018/01/make-the-486-great-again/images/gentoo-486-disk-layout.png)
Did you try the vga=791 boot code?
How big is the flash card you are using?
What is the make and model of the computer?
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Hi srmarchi
What is the make and model of the monitor?
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Hi srmarchi
Also, please show us the contents of your syslinux.cfg file.
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Did you try the vga=791 boot code?
Yes, vga=791, 1, 308... nothing different
How big is the flash card you are using?
working with 32Mb, 256MB and 512MB, class 2 and 4, compatible with period (586).
What is the make and model of the computer?
Motherboard J-MARK COMPUTER CORPORATION J-446A - Processor Am5x86-P75+-S CPU at 150Mhz - Award Modular BIOS v4.51G - 48MB EDO RAM
What is the make and model of the monitor?
Positivo (maybe LG or AOC oem) VGA 15" 1280x780 60Hz
Also, please show us the contents of your syslinux.cfg file.
>> extlinux.conf - 32MB Card - ext2
UI vesamenu.c32
MENU TITLE Tiny Core Bootloader
TIMEOUT 100
DEFAULT core
LABEL Tiny Core
KERNEL /tce/boot/vmlinuz
INITRD /tce/boot/core.gz
APPEND vga=791 waitusb=10:UUID="b3f491af-3475-4648-9e76-d33425ef680a" tce=UUID="b3f491af-3475-4648-9e76-d33425ef680a" noacpi
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Hi guys!
Good news!
Using the 256MB card with 2 partition FAT16 (235MB -> don't ask me why... flashboot picked this size) and another 12MB unallocated - unit size allocation 4096, my old 586 booted TC 8.2.1 in text mode.
I flashed it in W10 using Lili USB Creator... I'll try to understand what going on here yet.
Finally I can finish my vacation project ;D
Thank you for attention and patience!
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Great!
If I am not mistaken, in Corebook minimal memory requirements are defined as 28 MB for text mode and 48 MB for graphical desktop. I have one old laptop with 64 MB
of RAM, I use "nozswap" bootcode on it. But I have HD swap there, You don't. Making swap on CF card may be the way to kill it.
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Well, that's certainly interesting.