Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Fedora 14 LiveCD doesn't work on my PC

May 12, 2011 3:03AM PDT

Hi. I've tried to run LiveCD on my computer, it loads at some point and then the screen freezes/ goes black and the led in front of the PC start to blink over and over again. I've tried to run nomodeset and Basic Video options on boot menu interfase, however none of these solved my problem. What can i do?. Do i meet hardware requirements?. Pentium III, 256 MB RAM, 500 Mhz, 52x CD drive.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Clarification Request
Tell more about this PC.
May 12, 2011 6:45AM PDT

The blinking light is where? On the display? If so I think it's a video/card issue but the machine details appear missing. If it's a DELL say what model. Same for other makes. No make, then tell what it's made of.

And do try other Live CDs.
Bob

- Collapse -
Oh here we go again....
May 13, 2011 1:33AM PDT

The blinking light it is on the physical control panel of the screen, (Its a LED) where else could it be?.
I was thinking it could be a video issue, but i am not sure about this. As mentioned i tried nomodeset and lowered video, but only using Basic Video option from the boot menu.

It is not a Dell machine, actually i dont know what kind of machine it is, aside from the processor and memory from the BIOS menu. As far as i know, it is a DIY or something, i can open the case and look for the specific model of the motherboard, but is that really necessary? I dont know if it can help me to solve my problem afterall.

I would love to try other LiveCDs but i can't spend all the day trying OS after OS. ...and you know what i mean.. Plain

- Collapse -
Odd.
May 13, 2011 2:10AM PDT

It's rare to not know your machine. I mean you paid bucks for it so knowing what it is can help determine what the issue is.

My bet is the video card is not supported or the video mode is beyond that of the LCD display. But look at the details given about the machine, the LCD so far.

Without those, you may be stuck with trying more distros.
Bob

- Collapse -
More details
May 13, 2011 7:54AM PDT

I dont know much details about the machine because it was a gift given around 2000 or something/ 11 years ago. And the machine itself its a PC clone/ DIY / IBM PC compatible or whatsoever.

As mentioned above, i can open the case and look for the motherboard model and chipset if you want. But i must insist, maybe that will not help so much. I boot from the OS on the machine IDE-0 / Windows ME installed.

I didn't found any relevant data on System via Control Panel.

But i did found it has 16MB of video RAM memory though, and it is a SiS / Silicon Integrated Systems 630 / 730 chip in the video card and the computer uses not a LCD but a CRT, cathode ray tube monitor, Samsung Syncmaster 550v.

That being said...what can i do?. I tried other distros and still getting the same result. Introducing vga= number parameter in boot it is not helping though.

- Collapse -
That helped.
May 13, 2011 12:14PM PDT
- Collapse -
Refresh....
May 14, 2011 2:41AM PDT

I had gone through the posts mentioned above, but there is no answer afterall, the person who posted the question was left to try rescue mode, and he or she nor mentioned if the problem was solved or if moved to other distro.

At this point reading through maybe the black screen issue could be result of a vertical and horizontal refresh and sync modes misalignment or something. Is there any way how to set up these parameters correctly?

I dont know what syntax i have to input to configure this option, as i said what it shown me after
boot: _
was to put something like
boot: live vga=ask
and it did shown me vga/vesa modes, but that only changed the display of the text command line during load.

- Collapse -
Answer.
May 14, 2011 2:52AM PDT

Let's skip to the answer. Change or install a supported video card.

If that's unacceptable, install an OS that does work on this hardware.

Thanks for clarifying that we can move directly to "answers" with no hard feelings over the direct, no gloves or trying to avoid hurt feelings "answers."

Given it's from 2000 or beyond you might want to look at those free Pentium 4 machines you see on curb sides around town. They may be a fine source for either an entire machine or a video card.
Bob

- Collapse -
That is odd
May 14, 2011 1:18AM PDT

What other distros did you tried?

I use Live CDs since the early 2000 and the one that really worked was Knoppix.

A Live CD is not really as good as the Install CD/DVD. If you want, try to install the OS instead.

- Collapse -
Answer
IMHO
May 12, 2011 10:44AM PDT

Even that you meet the minimum requirements for a Live CD you are pretty brave.

What version are you running?

If is the latest, is pretty much too low to be useful. GNOME and KDE are pretty demanding on RAM.

- Collapse -
So...
May 13, 2011 1:35AM PDT

Linux at this moment it is new for me. But i dont see it hard. As mentioned i used Fedora 14 LiveCD which don't run, but what else can i do?. Is there any option i do have?

- Collapse -
Yes
May 13, 2011 8:56AM PDT

Knoppix, Mandriva One and PCLOS they are all Live CDs.
There are more but those are my favorite ones.

- Collapse -
Other options tried already
May 14, 2011 2:23AM PDT

I found that due to the characteristics of my computer i shall try small or lightweight linux OS for my computer, so i tried Puppy Linux and DSL still no avail. All them seem to work only on text mode, but can't run on graphics mode. Since it was suggested could be a video drivers issue or something, is there anything that i can do?.