semiSfear
03-24-2003, 01:53 PM
Hi all.
Well I'm not sure if this problem should be in the hardware section. Although I'm 99% sure this odd problem is hardware related. Anyway on to the problem.
We were upgrading some computer systems at work and all the "older" computers were thrown away. So I took one home. No need wasting good hardware eh? ;)
So anyway I took a Del OptiPlex GX240 home. First thing I did was installing RH 8.0 The installation wen't smoothly without any problems (as always, god I love RH). But when it rebooted after the install I got this funky error message: wrong system disk or media, replace disk and press any key. Something like that. Well I figured the installation didn't go so well after all so I reinstalled but this time with a boot disk. When rebooting I got the same error message. So this time I booted on the boot disk/floppy and pow! RH 8.0 booted.
Here's my theory. Dell is known (as many other company comps such as HP and Compaq) for their so called "own optimized solutions". Even if it says loud and clear on the comp "designed for MS Windows" no one really cares, right? But it seems to me that the BIOS on the mobo (which is by they way Dell manufactured) do really care what OS is installed. My hunch is that the BIOS checks for a MS Windows boot loader, but when it's confronted with LILO it just starts to play dumb.
Now then here's my questions:
Anyone experienced similar problems?
Any work arounds, any boot params or such that I can use. Sure I could always use the boot disk, but come one. It's sooo much slower, and I think linux can do better than that ;)
Since I'm really convinced it's the mobo/BIOS that causes this problem. Anyway I could flash the BIOS, use another BIOS (not Dell BIOS)?.
I'v been also thinking that I could rebuild this comp to something better too. Since the mobo really do suck I could always invest in buying a new mobo (older mobos aren't expencive at all) and add the computer to my server collection. Maybe run a dedicated GW and FW or FTP server. The rest of the hardware is really ok. P4 1.7 GHz, 512 133 MHz SDRAM (not so good, but hey I already got a buffed gaming station) and a ATI Rage 128 graphixcard.
Lemme know if you got any suggestions or thoughts on the idea. Thanks in advance.
Well I'm not sure if this problem should be in the hardware section. Although I'm 99% sure this odd problem is hardware related. Anyway on to the problem.
We were upgrading some computer systems at work and all the "older" computers were thrown away. So I took one home. No need wasting good hardware eh? ;)
So anyway I took a Del OptiPlex GX240 home. First thing I did was installing RH 8.0 The installation wen't smoothly without any problems (as always, god I love RH). But when it rebooted after the install I got this funky error message: wrong system disk or media, replace disk and press any key. Something like that. Well I figured the installation didn't go so well after all so I reinstalled but this time with a boot disk. When rebooting I got the same error message. So this time I booted on the boot disk/floppy and pow! RH 8.0 booted.
Here's my theory. Dell is known (as many other company comps such as HP and Compaq) for their so called "own optimized solutions". Even if it says loud and clear on the comp "designed for MS Windows" no one really cares, right? But it seems to me that the BIOS on the mobo (which is by they way Dell manufactured) do really care what OS is installed. My hunch is that the BIOS checks for a MS Windows boot loader, but when it's confronted with LILO it just starts to play dumb.
Now then here's my questions:
Anyone experienced similar problems?
Any work arounds, any boot params or such that I can use. Sure I could always use the boot disk, but come one. It's sooo much slower, and I think linux can do better than that ;)
Since I'm really convinced it's the mobo/BIOS that causes this problem. Anyway I could flash the BIOS, use another BIOS (not Dell BIOS)?.
I'v been also thinking that I could rebuild this comp to something better too. Since the mobo really do suck I could always invest in buying a new mobo (older mobos aren't expencive at all) and add the computer to my server collection. Maybe run a dedicated GW and FW or FTP server. The rest of the hardware is really ok. P4 1.7 GHz, 512 133 MHz SDRAM (not so good, but hey I already got a buffed gaming station) and a ATI Rage 128 graphixcard.
Lemme know if you got any suggestions or thoughts on the idea. Thanks in advance.