hello there, (please forgive my poor English) I've got an interesting case for you linux wizzkids...
I tried to install Debian 2.1 and now i can't boot from hard disk and floppy, or reinstall the system: I tried to install Debian 2.1 on a 486 with floppies.I managed to boot from hard disk, and started doing some linux. Soon i got tired of downloading the packages each time i wanted to try something new and ordered the cdroms. First wanted to configure the cd-driver for my creative labs CR-563 B in linux, it never worked out(also in dselect). After a while i convinced myself it would be better to reinstall (what would allow me to repartition as well). I still had a rescue and a boot disk. I repartitioned, and wanted to continue with a cdrom-installation. I couldn't configure my cdrom-driver. I tried a few things, and gave it up. When i wanted to reboot, i found out my hard disk was empty(i partitioned it), and i tried to reboot with my boot disk. Linux stopped booting with an 'unable to open an initial console' message. Then i could only try to reinstall with floppies. When i started the whole installation once again everything seemed allright, till i came at 'install the OS kernel and modules' where you have to insert the rescue disk (it was already inserted). i got 'this is not the rescue floppy...'message. tried it again and again, nothing helped. I threw the floppy away, took another computer, rawrited2 resc1440.bin to it, this one didn't work either, nor did any other floppy.(all formatted 14.4 disks that allowed me to start the installation but stopped at the same point). So these are my questions: how can i get Linux to understand that i'm using the right floppies? how can i configure my CR-563 creative labs in the installation program? what is this message when i boot from a boot-floppy:'unable to open an initial console'? here are some technical details: MB: Sis85c47,BIOS: Award v 4.50G,12MB ram, SB16 with CR-563B CDROM (proprietary), linuxver: Debian 2.1, kernel 2.0.36 Thanks!! damiaan