SOLVED - Trying out another distro has got me into trouble

[Maurice]

Again.

My setup is triple boot with Minime, Xp and Centos. Tonight I thought I would try out another distro. (I'm basically a Pclos loyalist and have been since 2007 but,like most of us, I like to have a look at other distros now and then)

But, installing another distro failed half way through, so - back to Minime as I thought.

Trouble was I couldn't get back. On rebooting I got the message....

Intel Boot agent GE v1 3 27
Intel Boot agent (pxe-2-1 built0s6)
pxe-e61 Media test failure
pxe-m0f exiting Intel Boot agent

I've never seen this Boot Agent before.

I put in my Minime livecd and redid MBR but got the same message -four times - with the same result each time. I even deleted the other distros leaving only Minime and XP on the menu. I switched off the machine for about 15 minutes but still got the same message.

Any help would be appreciated, although it's bedtime down here so my replies may be rather delayed.

[Just17]

You did not say if it occurred before the boot selection page or not .......  if before ....

Looks to me like a BIOS setting for pxe has been enabled .......  were you trying some type of network install or something?

I would suggest going into BIOS and disabling pxe and then see how things go ......

[Maurice]

You did not say if it occurred before the boot selection page or not .......  if before ....

Looks to me like a BIOS setting for pxe has been enabled .......  were you trying some type of network install or something?

I would suggest going into BIOS and disabling pxe and then see how things go ......

Yes - before. I couldn't find any reference to pxe so I disablbed Boot to Network and, for good measure, set things back to default.

Now the error message has changed to  No bootable device.....

I've had this before so I'll check on how I fixed it.

Many thanks for a quick reply Just17.

[sling-shot]

Redo MBR should work now.

[menotu]

and, for good measure, set things back to default.

Now the error message has changed to  No bootable device.....

Mebbe, go back into your BIOS and see if the correct hd is set as the first bootable one

[Maurice]

Thanks sling-shot and menotu. The bios had not changed and redoing the mbr did not fix things. I'm going to do a search on the No bootable device error now.

[Maurice]

All fixed. 

I checked on another thread that I started some time ago on this very subject No Bootable device and followed the procedure I used at that time - used my livecd, download Gparted. The boot flag was missing from Minime so all I had to do was replace it.

Many thanks Just17, sling-shot and menotu for that quick solution.

Maurice

[Phil]

Hi Maurice,

Have you tried VirtualBox, install getvirtualbox.

You will need a good machine and plenty of ram. Run live cd's to your hearts content after allocating some virtual memory, and if you like allocate say 10GB virtual disk space and install it. This way it will not mess your real system

And as an encore back up your system either as a live system or try clonezilla. If anything does go wrong it would be easy to recover your system.

[Just17]

All fixed. 

I checked on another thread that I started some time ago on this very subject No Bootable device and followed the procedure I used at that time - used my livecd, download Gparted. The boot flag was missing from Minime so all I had to do was replace it.

Many thanks Just17, sling-shot and menotu for that quick solution.

Maurice

Glad you got it working again 

I continue to forget about some hardware requiring the boot flag .... 

[Maurice]

Hi Maurice,

Have you tried VirtualBox, install getvirtualbox.

You will need a good machine and plenty of ram. Run live cd's to your hearts content after allocating some virtual memory, and if you like allocate say 10GB virtual disk space and install it. This way it will not mess your real system

And as an encore back up your system either as a live system or try clonezilla. If anything does go wrong it would be easy to recover your system.

Thanks Phil. No I haven't tried VB because I usually don't have any trouble installing and wiping other distros. In this case, though, Ubuntu sort of half installed itself on top of a formatted Centos then just stopped and hung. However I'm getting a little tired of distro hopping and I haven't come across any to match Pclos..

I think my problem is that I have far too much time on my hands.

[Phil]

Hi Maurice,

Have you tried Knoppix/Adriane? (with the audio on)
If you have not give it a spin. This one is not for installing and purposely runs as a live distro. Type adriane at the grub prompt if you have knoppix, and ensure the audio is on.

I cannot think of anything else you must see. I am always on the lookout for notable ideas.

[Maurice]

Hi Maurice,

Have you tried Knoppix/Adriane? (with the audio on)
If you have not give it a spin. This one is not for installing and purposely runs as a live distro. Type adriane at the grub prompt if you have knoppix, and ensure the audio is on.

I cannot think of anything else you must see. I am always on the lookout for notable ideas.

Looks interesting Phil. Dedoimendo, my favourite reviewer, gives it a really great write-up too. I'll give it a try.