[pc110] Can't get PC110 to boot from floppy to begin install

Matthew Hershenson (mjh nospam at spies.com)
Mon, 23 Nov 1998 08:44:32 -0800 (PST)

I am trying to install Linux on a IBM Palm Top PC 110. I made
a boot disk from the "boot.img" file on my RedHat 5.0 CD. When I put
the floppy in the PC110 floppy drive and restart, the drive light goes
on for around three seconds and then I get the message:
Non-system disk or disk error
Replace and press and key when ready"

At first I suspected that the PC110 floppy might be "out of
alignment" compared to the floppy in my PC, but I could read and write
floppies in Win95 on the PC110 just fine. I see the same five
filenames on the boot floppy in Win95 on the PC110 compared to my
desktop PC. I also ran Win95's system utility "ScanDisk" on the PC110
on the LinuxBoot floppy and it didn't find any errors in doing the
"thorough" test. I was able to boot my desktop PC, which has a
Pentium Pro, off that floppy, so the disk seems ok by that test.
I also saw that "Alan's PC110 Page" described success with Red
Hat 4.2, so I got the boot floppy image for Red Hat 4.2 off the net
and made a boot floppy from it, but the same thing happened - the
PC110 won't boot off it.
Setup details: I have the port replicator, and I borrowed the
floppy drive and its cable from an IBM ThinkPad. I am powering the
PC110 using a Sony Camcorder battery eliminator. I was worried that
this might not be supplying enough power to the unit, but I checked
across the battery terminals while the floppy was spinning up and I
saw only a 0.1 volt dip which doesn't seem bad, especially considering
how the voltage out of a real battery will go down as it gets empty.
The unit is a model YDW. One thing I don't understand is that when it
boots, it says 07808 KB OK; I thought it should have 8MB of RAM. I
don't know if this is relevant or in any way related.

Any help/suggestions greatly appreciated, through the list or to me
at mjh nospam at spies.com

Thanks,
Matt