I downloaded the R1/Alpha2 Anyboot image and used Win32DiskImager.exe to make a USB stick. Got through that without any problems. I booted an existing Windows PC (HP Media Center m7470n) from the USB stick, intending to try a live session and not install to my hard drive. I got to the black Haiku screen and then a command line popped up at the top of the screen, displaying a kernel panic message. The system froze at that point. Was forced to power off the PC as the mouse and keyboard were unresponsive.
Tried powering up again and now I am stuck at the HP bios screen (which displays the options Esc=Boot Menu, F1=Setup, and F10=System Recovery). Can’t get Haiku to boot at all. Can’t get to the HP Boot Menu to boot Windows from the hard drive. Can’t get to Windows safe mode, etc.
I notice that when I power up, the keyboard (PS2) flashes twice then goes dead. USB keyboard doesn’t light up at all.
Shouldn’t happen but since it somehow did I will provide some help. I assume you have Windows XP. Should be similar for other Windows. Not sure if you have BIOS or Windows error. Can you get into BIOS (usually delete or F2 key)?
Shut system off & unplug for about 15 minutes to make sure everything is clear out of memory. Then try starting system.
Computer boots, BIOS (Basic Input Output System) takes over, setting up your system hardware and booting the device.
Did you try boot menu & selecting disk drive to boot? You try F1 to go into BIOS setup? To check your boot device. I believe F10 will replace your Windows copy & maybe applications with those from a recovery partition. (go to HP site to learn more about system recovery before trying that)
For BIOS fault:
ps2 and usb are controlled by the BIOS. You can try resetting the BIOS settings. Can you get into BIOS and reset to defaults? Otherwise, will require opening up the case (very careful for static - grounding - touching metal very important). Have you ever worked inside a computer? Power system off, then turn off switch on power supply & unplug from power outlet, open case, remove watch battery on the board, wait 30 minutes, do reverse. BIOS settings will go back to default.
Windows fault:
Could be bootsector issue. Use Windows XP CD. Boot, use recovery console. Type fixmbr and then fixboot in DOS window. That will fix any Windows drive boot issue you have. Reboot.
Still doesn’t boot? Then, you can either use Recover System (may wipe & replace your OS + programs) or boot Windows XP CD, go to install Windows and it will search for previous copy on disk drive and prompt to repair that one instead (called repair-install). That will reinstall Windows keeping your applications but requiring you to redo all of your Windows updates.
Thank you for the quick reply. This is an XP pro machine. I can’t get past the initial HP screen (PS2/USB keyboards are completely unresponsive), so am unable to check/change the boot sequence or any other bios settings. I will try resetting the BIOS back to default by pulling the battery as you described. I’ve tinkered around inside PCs quite bit over the years, but have somehow managed to avoid ever having to pull or replace a battery.
Ok, sounds good. Hope it works for you. If not, try disconnecting hard drive data connector. Maybe BIOS trying to read drive information (auto detect drive) and somehow causing the system to freeze up.
Getting stuck at HP boot screen sounds like BIOS settings were corrupted somehow from the crash. A BIOS reset should fix the issue. I’m sure you’ll let us know how it goes.
I unplugged the power cable and let it sit overnight. Tried booting once more before opening up the case, and this time the PS2 keyboard came back to life. Was able to get to the boot options and boot the XP hard drive again.
Now that I know how to get around the bios problem, I’ll continue playing around with the USB stick and see if I can get Haiku running. I have a couple other sticks that I’m going to try. Will make note of specific error messages this time.
I’m really looking forward to getting this running on my PC. I had BeOS running on a 386 around ten years ago and I loved it!
Ok, I thought it might be either BIOS settings or binary code not clearing memory. On older systems, the battery won’t hold a charge (date/time gets reset many years back when unplugged). So, unplugging computer from wall for 1 to 3 days gives same result as removing battery.
Go into Haiku’s safe mode and play with those options. Hold down SHIFT key as the system starts booting Haiku. Those safe mode options will give best chance at booting Haiku on your PC.
[quote=xamor]I unplugged the power cable and let it sit overnight. Tried booting once more before opening up the case, and this time the PS2 keyboard came back to life. Was able to get to the boot options and boot the XP hard drive again.
Now that I know how to get around the bios problem, I’ll continue playing around with the USB stick and see if I can get Haiku running. I have a couple other sticks that I’m going to try. Will make note of specific error messages this time.
I’m really looking forward to getting this running on my PC. I had BeOS running on a 386 around ten years ago and I loved it!
Thanks again.[/quote]
get a spare bios chip. I had a MSI board corrupt a bios once playing with linux.