- This topic has 10 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated Feb 18-5:12 am by seaken64.
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jimmy
Greetings!
A friend of mine was given an old, almost 20 year old PC. I suggested he install Linux on it so he can tinker around, maybe play some old games, or learn the OS. I daily drive Linux myself, but have no experience with antiX. When I was looking up distros for old computers, both antiX and MX Linux were placed near or at the top of most lists. I actually chose MX Linux first, but ran into the exact same issue that I would have with antiX. The computer will boot to the live USB menu, but all options either a black screen and a blinking cursor, or a black screen and eventual lockup.
The computer specs:
AMD 64 3200+ – Although it’s a 64-bit capable processor, I chose antiX 32-bit.
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboard – Supports booting from USB
2 GB DDR
AGP video card – Not sure what brand / model as I didn’t take it out. It’s passive cooled with two VGA ports.Any help would be appreciated.
seaken64
Try booting to the console. Enter a “3” without the quotes on the bootline. Then run lspci to see if the video card is identified. Or inxi.
You can also try to use the Safe Video boot mode, or the Failsafe mode. The black screen with a cursor indicates a problem with the X windows video driver.
Seaken64
The AMD Athlon64 3200+ is more like 15 years old. And 2 GB of RAM is a lot, when compared to many of my computers that run antiX. I run a Pentium-III that is 22 years old everyday, on antiX-21-Full 32-bit with IceWM and 512M of RAM. I also run antiX-21-Full on an Athlon64 X2 3600+ with 2GB of RAM, but I use the 64-bit version on that one.
Welcome to antiX.
Seaken64
Hi there!
As I said above, I tried all the obvious menu options at the live USB screen. antiX, Safe Video Mode, Virtual Box Video, and Failsafe Boot. Any of those choices would result in an indefinite? black screen with a blinking cursor, or a black screen that would lead to eventual lock up. The couple of times it had a blinking cursor, I left it for 10 minutes once, 20 minutes another time, 45 minutes, and just over an hour. Never booted to desktop.
punranger
Just two cents here: You say you had the same results with MX. To me, that suggests one of two things: 1) The problem may not be related to any of the distros, but be a symptom of a hardware problem. 2) MX and antiX share some properties, and your problem may be related to these common properties. To determine if any of these could be the problem, I would recommend loading up a USB with for example Puppy Linux, which is very lightweight – probably the Tahrpup considering the computer is quite old, and see if you are able to boot into a desktop. (Puppy is a great tool, but not nearly as good as antiX for a HD install, btw.)
antiX linux: The best way to revive an old computer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCTaUAP6sSg
Anonymous
Boot them with the kernel parameter nomodeset .
rokytnji
$ md5sum antiX-21_386-full.iso d79595584679395ac589731685d9e251 antiX-21_386-full.iso $ cd harry@biker:~ $ cd Downloads harry@biker:~/Downloads $ ls antiX-21_386-full.iso.md5 screenshot.jpg harry@biker:~/Downloads $ cat antiX-21_386-full.iso.md5 d79595584679395ac589731685d9e251 antiX-21_386-full.isoJust something I do before I do a live usb run before installing. Saves me scratching my head later on.
Sometimes I drive a crooked road to get my mind straight.
Not all who Wander are Lost.
I'm not outa place. I'm from outer space.Linux Registered User # 475019
How to Search for AntiX solutions to your problems
Brian Masinick
@rokytnji: You follow “best practice” and your procedure always makes sense (whether we scratch our heads, wander about, or do what’s best).
Once we either “know what we’re doing” or choose to take a “risky path” for the sake of learning, that’s something else.
Otherwise it’s better to follow your example; then when something unexpected happens, at least you know you have an image that has been verified by a checksum.--
Brian MasinickThe AMD Athlon64 3200+ is more like 15 years old. And 2 GB of RAM is a lot, when compared to many of my computers that run antiX. I run a Pentium-III that is 22 years old everyday, on antiX-21-Full 32-bit with IceWM and 512M of RAM. I also run antiX-21-Full on an Athlon64 X2 3600+ with 2GB of RAM, but I use the 64-bit version on that one.
Welcome to antiX.
Seaken64
The Athlon 64 3200+ is 18+ years old 🙂 Though there were a few revisions of it, all of them are older than 15. I know it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago!
Just two cents here: You say you had the same results with MX. To me, that suggests one of two things: 1) The problem may not be related to any of the distros, but be a symptom of a hardware problem. 2) MX and antiX share some properties, and your problem may be related to these common properties. To determine if any of these could be the problem, I would recommend loading up a USB with for example Puppy Linux, which is very lightweight – probably the Tahrpup considering the computer is quite old, and see if you are able to boot into a desktop. (Puppy is a great tool, but not nearly as good as antiX for a HD install, btw.)
It could very well be a hardware problem. All I was told was that the computer was “working” before it was given to my friend. I never saw it beforehand. I actually had all hard drives removed while booting the live USB, because I don’t know the condition of them. I know one of them had Windows XP on it, but it can’t boot to the desktop due to corruption. The others could be OK or have bad sectors.
Puppy Linux was my third choice, but there wasn’t enough time in the day to try another distro. Next time I will give it a shot.
Also I may be mistaken on the CPU. I think it’s actually and AMD XP 3200+, not an AMD 64. I looked up the motherboard and it does not support the AMD 64 CPUs. I am pretty sure I got the motherboard correct because I googled the model number when I was at the boot screen. As for the CPU, I could have easily mistaken AMD 64 with AMD XP.
@rokytnji: You follow “best practice” and your procedure always makes sense (whether we scratch our heads, wander about, or do what’s best).
Once we either “know what we’re doing” or choose to take a “risky path” for the sake of learning, that’s something else.
Otherwise it’s better to follow your example; then when something unexpected happens, at least you know you have an image that has been verified by a checksum.The checksums for both MX Linux and antiX checked out. After verifying, I wrote the files to a USB on Windows 10 using Etcher.
rokytnji
Since I don’t use Windows anymore. I don’t even know what to suggest besides etcher since md5sum is OK. One second I hear one is OK. Then find out later it not OK. From rufus to unetbootin. Maybe some other member has a suggestion.
try some F key boot cheat codes at the initial grub screen like nomodeset or whatever. The screen itself tells you what F key functions is capable of.
https://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/docs-antiX-17/Boot_Menu/antiX-gfxboot.htmlSometimes I drive a crooked road to get my mind straight.
Not all who Wander are Lost.
I'm not outa place. I'm from outer space.Linux Registered User # 475019
How to Search for AntiX solutions to your problems
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