I don't know if this applies to RH at all, but as I tried many other Linux distributions too I cam across this problem in Mandrake 8.1 as well. They offer a solution in their errata page : http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/errata.php3#floppy
Error scenario: The floppy drive is not accessible for use. Why: The PNP_BIOS does not initalize the floppy controller like the BIOS. Because of this, you may have difficulty access the drive with applications like mount or dd, and will receive errors such as "/dev/fd0: No such device or address" or "Input/output error". Solution: Boot your kernel with the "nobiospnp" option specified at the boot command line. I hope this will help someone :o) Lorenzo ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Finneran" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 3:49 AM Subject: RE: cannot make boot floppy > Hey Lorenzo! > > I have experienced the same or at least simular problem on several of my > machines. For me, there was nothing wrong with the hardware. It appears to > be a bug with the RH install program. > > This has happended to me when the install process failed to properly detect > and configure my network card, and then for some reason, you have to bypass > the boot floppy creation step (because it reports an error message even if > your floppy drive and media or okay). > > The part of your message "end up with a unusable RH" is too vague for me to > diagnose, but I would be willing to bet that your install went okay, except > that it didn't properly detect some piece of hardware or something. > > What type of computer and network card do you have and what seems to be > wrong with your installation? > Did you get any error messages to the screen or the log files? Does it seem > to boot okay? Can you see the network? > > As far as creating a boot disk, does anyone know how to do this from the > command prompt instead of from the buggy RH install process? > > Hope this helps! > > Rob > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Lorenzo Sandini > Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 4:21 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: cannot make boot floppy > > > Well I thought my RH7.2 wouldn't install because I couldn't configure it, > but it seems I have an hardware issue here. > > I am doing a plain KDE workstation install on a pentium 3 computer, empty > hard drive, and all is fine until the step where I make a boot floppy. I > just get an error "couldn't create boot floppy", so I skip this step and end > up with a unusable RH. Seems like GRUB and LILO won't install on my MBR > either. > > I tried Mandrake 8.1 and exactly the same problem regarding the floppy, > while LILO is installed correctly to the MBR and I boot correctly. > > Finally I tried Debian 2.2.5r and bam, same thing, it won't create the boot > floppy, but LILO is installed correctly like in Mandrake. > > Any idea ? > > I have just one floppy drive, and the other is disabled in the BIOS. > everything works fine under windows. > > Lorenzo > > > > _______________________________________________ > Redhat-list mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list > > > > _______________________________________________ > Redhat-list mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list > _______________________________________________ Redhat-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list
