'Unable to Load Idlinux.c32'

[Panchanan]

Task: To change the OS from Windows to Linux based; Debian OS

System model: Compaq Presario CQ40-317TU Notebook PC.
Processor: Intel Pentium Dual CPU T3400 @ 2.16 GHz.
RAM: 2Gb 2012MB
System: 32 bit operating system
BIOS version: Hewlett-Packard F.24 11/24/2008
OS: Windows Vista Home Basic originally installed on 7/2/2009

Checked: Identified Minimum System Requirements for Debian 12 (Bookworm)

• 2 GB RAM or more
• Dual Core Processor or higher
• 20 GB Disk Space or more
• Bootable Media (USB or DVD)
• Internet Connectivity (Optional)

Assuming - Debian 12 should work on Compaq Presario CQ40-317TU Notebook PC.

Steps taken:

1. System Data backup
2. Created a bootable USB using Rufus with debian-12.1.0-i386-netinst.iso
3. Changed Boot sequence
4. Boot stops with the following message:

"SYSLINUX 6.04 EDD 6.04-pre1 ...
Failed to load Idlinux.c32
Boot failed: please change disks and press a key to continue."

Requesting advice/s to proceed.

 

[osprey]

In cases like this it's worth verifying the bootable usb with the checksum to make sure that the "burn" is good. There are a few different programs to write these usbs, BalenaEtcher being more favoured than Rufus in some quarters, though people have been successful with both. Alternatively, it's possible to run a linux live disk or rescue disk and write the usb with the dd command, or other linux writing tool you might investigate as long as the machine has 2 usb ports, or will run a usb hub.

 

[Brickwizard]

Welcome to the forums,
just because it had Windows 32 bit doesn't mean it is a 32 bit machine my first try with those specs would be Mint LMDE 64 bit [Debian based] [your CPU is a 64 bit job]

Download LMDE 5 - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.

www.linuxmint.com

2008 to 2012 is the era when manufacturers were changing from Optical installation to USB [check the BIOS to see if USB is a boot option] Also it was around the time the change from a full BIOS to UEFI started, if you cant boot a distribution with UEFI then try choosing legacy mode

EDIT

If it only has a 32 bit motherboard [not uncommon in budget brands at that time] then I suggest your first try should be with Antix 32bit

https://sourceforge.net/projects/antix-linux/files/Final/antiX-23/antiX-23_386-full.iso/download

 

[kc1di]

Hello @Panchanan,
Welcome to Linux.org forum.
Debian 32 bit should work. Check your download iso make sure it not corupt, Or as @Brickwizard said try LMDE 32 from mInt.
MX-Linux also offers a 32bit version that may work for you. 2gb ram is not a lot though so would expect that it would run fairly slow. Good luck.

 

[Brickwizard]

2gb ram is not a lot though so would expect that it would run fairly slow.

Hi KC.. These machines were never that brilliant, the CPU was reasonably fast for that year, but the rest was , shall we say lacking, the screen had a lower resolution than most competitors, sound and graphics were known to give problems,

 

[MikeWalsh]

Hi KC.. These machines were never that brilliant, the CPU was reasonably fast for that year, but the rest was , shall we say lacking, the screen had a lower resolution than most competitors, sound and graphics were known to give problems,

.....because the whole thing would have been built DOWN to just meet the Windows minimum specs. Yah. Have to agree with you there.

It constantly amazes me why manufacturers used to do this, knowing full well that the resulting experience would be dreadfully slow & lack-lustre. I mean, they would have at least performed a test install.....wouldn't they?

I too would recommend a 32-bit OS in this instance, if for no other reason than that it will at least be more responsive, and less "laggy" with those kinda specs...

Debian IS incredibly stable, and is the 'parent' of so many others.....but for itself, it's not the easiest to install. AntiX, for instance, is much easier; I've used this myself a few years ago, and can confirm that.

We'll get ya going somehow.


Mike.

 

[Panchanan]

Thank you People.
It will take me sometime (say - 2 hours) to test out what you have suggested.
Appreciate your quick response and anticipate I am able to understand and do as advised.
Shall revert with an update.

 

[Brickwizard]

It constantly amazes me why manufacturers used to do this, knowing full well that the resulting experience would be dreadfully slow & lack-lustre.

Mike don't forget Most users, back then, only knew of Windows [ mac was too expensive for the mass market] so they didn't know any different.

 

[kc1di]

Antix woiuld be a good choice. But give several a try.

 

[MikeWalsh]

@Panchanan :-

Hm. Okay. Well.....

Research shows the CQ40-317TU was upgradeable to a max of 8 GB RAM. These are the people I use here in the UK:-

https://www.offtek.co.uk/hp-compaq/...notebook/presario-notebook-cq40-series?step=1

This is just for information. That 4 GB DDR2 So-DIMM will be as expensive as it is for one simple reason.....there's not much call for them nowdays. These can be obtained far cheaper elsewhere online, if you don't mind shopping around.....and if you can add some more RAM, it will open up far more in the way of possibilities, because this is your main bottleneck here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

The "T"-series Intel Pentium dual-cores were not bad CPUs; fairly responsive for their time. A mate of mine had a Dell 530s "slimline" tower; came with a dual-core Pentium "T"-something, just 2 GB RAM, and it had an out-of-date Vista install that was in a shocking state. It was SO far out of date it couldn't even install the newer installer that was required for the more recent updates, that's how bad it was. It hadn't been updated for years, and was like a ticking time-bomb if the truth be known.

I wiped Vista off the drive, added another 2 GB RAM, and installed an up-to-date Puppy Linux on there for him. He's been as happy as a sandboy ever since.


Mike.

 

[Panchanan]

Thank you People.
It will take me sometime (say - 2 hours) to test out what you have suggested.
Appreciate your quick response and anticipate I am able to understand and do as advised.
Shall revert with an update.

Update: Sorry, I could not do this now.
Will try later and get back tomorrow. Thank you.

 

[Brickwizard]

If none of the above work, then try using my checklist [below]

Why Linux fails to load, common reasons
1] Corrupt download [check SHA sum]
2] bad burn to installation USB medium [try again] [if you used Rufus then try Balina-etcher]
2A] if DVD then use DVD-r and burn at slowest speed
3] Wind 8.2 and higher quick start/fast boot or secure boot not disabled [doesn't normally apply to older versions]
4] defective pen-drive/DVD [try another]
5] hardware fault,
5A] If old style HDD run integrity check [bad sectors will stop Linux installing]
5B]if SATA SSD check for hidden partition at the beginning of drive [this will stop Grub from loading] and delete it before re-installing Linux
5C]If M2.NVMe check, your system is NVMe compatible [not all M2 sockets are]]

 

[Panchanan]

In cases like this it's worth verifying the bootable usb with the checksum to make sure that the "burn" is good. There are a few different programs to write these usbs, BalenaEtcher being more favoured than Rufus in some quarters, though people have been successful with both. Alternatively, it's possible to run a linux live disk or rescue disk and write the usb with the dd command, or other linux writing tool you might investigate as long as the machine has 2 usb ports, or will run a usb hub.

Hi Osprey, I couldn't do a checksum check, or run a rescue disk.
As you suggested, tried BalenaEtcher "balenaEtcher-Portable-1.7.9.exe" >right click >run as administrator > after a few seconds of processing indication the app didn't open on this laptop.

While reporting this issue here, I had made the bootable USB using Rufus 4.2 with debian-12.1.0-i386-DVD-1 image on a friends desktop as wasn't able to do so on this laptop. And since there was an error while booting created this thread.

Now since I have you people to assist, formatted the USB and tried burning the USB again and following is the result.

Like BalenaEthcher, Rufus 4.2 also didn't open. So far only Rufus versions before 2.18 opened on this laptop.
I used Rufus 2.0 to flash USB using 3 different ISO images with no success. Respective logs shown below;

Rufus version: 2.0.639
Windows version: Windows Vista SP1 32 bit
Syslinux versions: 4.07/2013-07-25, 6.03/2014-10-06
Grub versions: 0.4.6a, 2.02~beta2
Locale ID: 0x0409
Found USB 2.0 device 'SanDisk Cruzer Blade USB Device' (0781:5567)
1 device found
Disk type: Removable, Sector Size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 3818, TracksPerCylinder: 255, SectorsPerTrack: 63
Partition type: MBR, NB Partitions: 1
Disk ID: 0x0003ED01
Drive has an unknown Master Boot Record
Partition 1:
Type: FAT32 LBA (0x0c)
Size: 29.2 GB (31405899776 bytes)
Start Sector: 2048, Boot: Yes, Recognized: Yes
Scanning image...
Disc image is an ISO9660 image
Will use /isolinux/isolinux.cfg for Syslinux
Detected Isolinux version: 6.04/20200816 (from '/isolinux/isolinux.bin')
Could not get ISO-9660 file information for file boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod
Could not read Grub version from 'boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod'
Could not detect Grub2 version
ISO label: Debian 12.1.0 i386 1
Size: 4078876672 bytes
Has a >64 chars filename: No
Has Symlinks: Yes
Has a >4GB file: No
Uses Bootmgr: No
Uses EFI: Yes
Uses Grub 2: Yes
Uses Grub4DOS: No
Uses isolinux: Yes (6.04)
Uses KolibriOS: No
Uses ReactOS: No
Uses WinPE: No
Using image: debian-12.1.0-i386-DVD-1.iso
Checking for Rufus updates...
Checking release channel...
Updates: Unable to access version data
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/20200816/ldlinux.sys
Unable to send request: Unknown internet error 0x00002F7D
Could not download the file - cancelling

Rufus version: 2.0.639
Windows version: Windows Vista SP1 32 bit
Syslinux versions: 4.07/2013-07-25, 6.03/2014-10-06
Grub versions: 0.4.6a, 2.02~beta2
Locale ID: 0x0409
Found USB 2.0 device 'SanDisk Cruzer Blade USB Device' (0781:5567)
1 device found
Disk type: Removable, Sector Size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 3818, TracksPerCylinder: 255, SectorsPerTrack: 63
Partition type: MBR, NB Partitions: 1
Disk ID: 0x0003ED01
Drive has an unknown Master Boot Record
Partition 1:
Type: FAT32 LBA (0x0c)
Size: 29.2 GB (31405899776 bytes)
Start Sector: 2048, Boot: Yes, Recognized: Yes
Scanning image...
Disc image is an ISO9660 image
Will use /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg for Syslinux
Detected Isolinux version: 6.03 (from '/boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin')
Detected Grub version: 2.06-13
ISO label: antiX-Live
Size: 1602099200 bytes
Has a >64 chars filename: No
Has Symlinks: No
Has a >4GB file: No
Uses Bootmgr: No
Uses EFI: Yes
Uses Grub 2: Yes
Uses Grub4DOS: No
Uses isolinux: Yes (6.03)
Uses KolibriOS: No
Uses ReactOS: No
Uses WinPE: No
Using image: antiX-23_386-full.iso
Downloading http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/grub-2.06-13/core.img
Downloading 'core.img' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/grub-2.06-13/core.img
Unable to send request: Unknown internet error 0x00002F7D
http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/grub-2.06-13/core.img was not found - will use embedded version
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.03/ldlinux.sys
Unable to send request: Unknown internet error 0x00002F7D
Could not download the file - cancelling
Checking for Rufus updates...
Checking release channel...
Updates: Unable to access version data

Rufus version: 2.0.639
Windows version: Windows Vista SP1 32 bit
Syslinux versions: 4.07/2013-07-25, 6.03/2014-10-06
Grub versions: 0.4.6a, 2.02~beta2
Locale ID: 0x0409
Found USB 2.0 device 'SanDisk Cruzer Blade USB Device' (0781:5567)
1 device found
Disk type: Removable, Sector Size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 3818, TracksPerCylinder: 255, SectorsPerTrack: 63
Partition type: MBR, NB Partitions: 1
Disk ID: 0x0003ED01
Drive has an unknown Master Boot Record
Partition 1:
Type: FAT32 LBA (0x0c)
Size: 29.2 GB (31405899776 bytes)
Start Sector: 2048, Boot: Yes, Recognized: Yes
Scanning image...
Disc image is an ISO9660 image
Will use /isolinux/isolinux.cfg for Syslinux
Detected Isolinux version: 6.04/20200816 (from '/isolinux/isolinux.bin')
Could not get ISO-9660 file information for file boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod
Could not read Grub version from 'boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod'
Could not detect Grub2 version
ISO label: LMDE 5 Cinnamon 32-bit
Size: 2037473280 bytes
Has a >64 chars filename: No
Has Symlinks: No
Has a >4GB file: No
Uses Bootmgr: No
Uses EFI: No
Uses Grub 2: Yes
Uses Grub4DOS: No
Uses isolinux: Yes (6.04)
Uses KolibriOS: No
Uses ReactOS: No
Uses WinPE: No
Using image: lmde-5-cinnamon-32bit.iso
Downloading 'ldlinux.sys' from http://rufus.akeo.ie/files/syslinux-6.04/20200816/ldlinux.sys
Unable to send request: Unknown internet error 0x00002F7D
Could not download the file - cancelling
Checking for Rufus updates...
Checking release channel...
Updates: Unable to access version data

When tried to access the link through firefox, following is the error.

404​

File not found


The site configured at this address does not contain the requested file.


If this is your site, make sure that the filename case matches the URL as well as any file permissions.
For root URLs (like http://example.com/) you must provide an index.html file.


Read the full documentation for more information about using GitHub Pages.


GitHub Status — @githubstatus

Now I have no clue where to look at for a solution to get rid of this unsupported, virus prone, un-updateable and vulnerable Windows and move on to a light weight Linux OS compatible on this laptop.

 

[Brickwizard]

Have you tried booting from a DVD ?

Internet error 0x00002F7D, this is a windows code, it is usually associated with your Antivirus blocking a connection [try disabling it]

 

[Panchanan]

All your inputs inspired more reading and experimentation leading to some progress.
Thank you all.

Was able to create LMDE Imaged Bootable USB using Rufus.

Something worked and have currently stuck after booting from USB with LMDE 32.
System booted from USB and showed an elegant LM logo for a while then stuck with following message in a dos prompt
"
modprobe: module dm-raid45 not found in module.dep

BusyBox v1.30.1 (Debian 1:1.30.1-6+b3) built-in shell (ash)

(initramfs) _
"
Cant proceed without your advice/s; However please anticipate late response from my end.

 

[Panchanan]

 

[Brickwizard]

from the terminal run..
sudo apt-get purge dmraid
sudo update-initramfs -u

then reboot that should clear it

 

[Panchanan]

from the terminal run..
sudo apt-get purge dmraid
sudo update-initramfs -u

then reboot that should clear it

 

[dos2unix]

Is busybox a full implementation, or just a subsystem like WSL?

 

[Panchanan]

Is busybox a full implementation, or just a subsystem like WSL?

How should I check that?