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Help RequiredHi all, I am competely new to linux and don't have a clue how to work it or anything about its commands. My background is a Nortel/Cisco engineer so have more experience on comms, I am also an MCSA in server 2000/2003. My request for help centres around this: In my new job I have to administrate 4 Debian servers one of which has just failed so i have been throwing into the deep end. The machine won't boot stating cramfs wrong magic, bogus sectors amongst a whole raft of other issues. I thought that by downloading a live CD I may have been able to fix the fault as in my mind all it needs is a hard drive scan using fsck. However the CD-Rom wont boot. I used a windows 98 boot disk to access the CD but it wont launch. So a floppy is in my opinon the only way forward for this solution. What I need (I think) is a LiLo floppy image that can be downloaded to windows machine (if there is one), ran from there and used to recover the Linux server. In addition to this any info on how to recover the drive would be greatly appreciated. As the server is down at the moment This in my mind is the quikest solution, as I have no knowledge of Linux. Many thanks in advance. Bookmark/Search this post with: 
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Re: Help Required
Pull the HD(s) out and plug them into a working machine so you can inspect them. If you're really unlucky they will be RAID and then you'll really have fun sorting things out. If they are RAID, mount them READ-ONLY to inspect them and don't run fsck on them until you have correctly assembled the array. Is that machine an Intel-x86 based machine? If it's Intel-64 (IA64) or some other CPU family then it's not surprising that the CD you've tried don't work.
Re: Help Required
I had pulled the HDD out already and then reconnected it hoping that would have done the job but it did not. No raid array installed just a single 1.2GB HDD. The previous guy doing the IT before me custome wrote the Kernal to suit what he needed but left no documentation on what was going on. It is an x86 machine but it was manufactured around 1999 so its old, but I still expected the CD-Rom to be bootable....no such luck!
Thanks for giving me an answer.
Re: Help Required
It sounds like the HD is on its way out anyway; if there is important data on it which hadn't been backed up, it's time to image it and recover data.
Most computers from 1999 booted from the CD; did you check the BIOS setting to make sure it was set to boot from CD? If it doesn't boot from CD, it's probably time to replace the machine anyway. At that age, computers often cost far more to keep running than to replace. In fact, I can get computers which out-preform it but which only consume a fraction of the power - technology has moved on.
Re: Help Required
Checked BIOS and everything, done all the usual stuff to rectify the faults before coming to the forum. I hear what you are saying about the the technology moving on my five year old laptop is more powerful. But such is life and this is a business environment and I don't control the purse strings so will have to repair it in the mean time. If it were up to me I would replace it with a Cisco ASA.
Re: Help Required
If you really need to revive that machine, the 2 best options are:
1. see if there is a BIOS update for the machine which allows CDROM booting.
2. set up the HD in another computer (use Install CD 1). With the help of a second Linux computer, it is even possible to format the HD so that you have swap space and the main partition; the swap space can initially be formatted differently and the installer can be put on that partition so the installation can begin when you switch on the older computer. Alternatively you can have 3 partitions: swap, install, and root. Just be aware of BIOS limitations on hard disks from that era; some had max 2GB HD, and some 6GB; if you have such a limit, you need to partition appropriately and put key boot files where BIOS will find them.
The Debian documentation (www.debian.org - click around to find it) has a section on various installation tricks; it may even cover installing from HD.
Re: Help Required
Tried the thing with the BIOS already, as stated tried everything before coming to the forum.
Not to sure about the Disc1 thing, as this was a custom wrote OS/kernal and is only 97MB in size.
All the rest will be to hard to achieve in the short term because as previously stated I know nothing about Linux so trying all sorts of stuff that requires advanced Linux knowledge is piontless when I dont know the basics.
I found out how to make a LiLo boot floppy and a Grub one also, so will give these a try.
Thanks for the help all the same.