[ltp] Bootable live CD on 600/600X?

[Michelle Klein-Hass]

On Thursday 13 January 2005 09:23 am, Ayaz Ahmed Khan wrote:
> /dev/rob0 typed:
> > Has anyone had success with a Linux bootable live CD on a Thinkpad 600
> > or 600X? I tried Ubuntu's live CD, every boot option I could see, all
> > to no avail. Burned 2 copies of it, checked md5sums, same result with
> > both copies: isolinux boots, but kernel crashes early in trying to
> > load. Ubuntu's install CD, OTOH, works fine. (This is Warty, BTW.)
> >
> > Slackware 10: similar. Install CD works, live CD crashes, but at a
> > different point. It said something like "attempt to read beyond end of
> > device," which I thought sounded like a media error. So I put it in
> > another laptop (NEC) and booted up fine.
> >
> > I've not tried Knoppix nor any of the many other possible choices. If
> > I'm unaware of a hardware issue, maybe I can get one of the above
> > working after I find out. Thanks.
>
> On my T21, I can't run Knoppix 3.4 at all.  Knoppix 3.1, which is the
> other of the only two GNU/Linux live CDs I have tried on my laptop,
> runs without a single glitch.

I used a Knoppix CD to test my 600e the day it arrived from ComputerGeeks.Com. 
It booted up happily. I also used an Ubuntu live CD to boot a docked 570e, 
and ran the installer from the Ubuntu installer to check the hard drive.

What can I say about laptops? There is a really big quantity of voodoo 
involved with them. My friend Chad had no trouble with ALSA+2.6.something 
below 8. 2.6.8 has the glitches with APM, so I had to move up to 2.6.9 to 
make everything work. Chad has the ALSA driver load up in his startup with no 
problem. The hack we worked out basically had me su to root and insmod the 
right module with isapnp=0 as one of the params. The hack broke when I made 
the foolish decision to update...should have left ALSA alone, but like a fool 
I updated it. Bad move. BTW our machines are almost alike...he just has a 
366MHz PII, I have a 400MHz PII in my 2645-IB1.

It's like SCSI on Mac in the bad old days, I swear. The stars have to be right 
to get a laptop completely functional. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a 
chicken in a crossroads to get it working. Sometimes that doesn't even work. 
It is frustrating as all get out.

However, one thing I might suggest: look closely at your optical drive. You 
should take it out of your Ultraslimbay and examine it. Who's the 
manufacturer? What speed? Is it working? If you have another optical drive to 
swap it with, you might get a different result when you try that. I have 
booted Knoppix with an LG-made CD-ROM, a Toshiba-made CD-ROM and a Panasonic 
CD-RW/DVD combo drive. Sanyo is another manufacturer IBM turned to for CD-ROM 
drives...maybe even Sony if my memory serves me right.

I don't know if there are diagnostics for non-recording optical drives under 
Linux, but I know that you can do some diagnostics in cdrecord for recording 
drives. Anyone who has knowledge of some program that can do diagnostics on 
optical drives, please chime in.
-- 
Michelle Klein-Hass
Box 2273, Van Nuys, CA 91404-2273
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