2004.5 beta won't boot on old machine

I still haven't been able to get any of the new beta versions to boot on my poor old AMD K6 300. It's in an IBM Aptiva. Two IDE HDDs at IDE 0 one primary and one slave, and a secondary IDE CD ROM. The 2003.10.02cd1.iso boots and runs just fine. Additionally, all the Betas boot and run just fine on my other old machine that is sort of a similar setup...an old PII 400mhz, except that it has two CD drives.

The problem I am having is that when it tries to boot, it quickly shows one line of loading grub2, or something like that, then goes back to the bios splash screen..then goes back and forth between those, trying to boot. I've tried to press several keys to intervene without any luck.

Any suggestions?

I'll soon be installing the stable release, but would like to play around with the Beta on that machine if possible, for some of the additional and upgraded packages that are included.

I am a total noob though, and don't know the first thing about Linux. I do know I like what I've seen in Mepis so far!!!

Thanks in advance for any input you may be able to offer.

dumb_noob

So, I'm out of luck then??? I guess my only hope is to go ahead and install the current latest stable release (2003.10.02) and hope for the best, or upgrade from there? ?? It seems to do just fine as a live CD in that release on my K6 AMD 300. Hell, I had even gotten a new CPU fan in hopes of doing a full install of the upcoming new Mepis release and going full blown Linux on it.?? And the beta releases seem to do OK on my old Pentium II 450 box.?? And Knoppix boots up?? fine on both.??

Was just curious why the new version wouldn't boot on my old junker machine. (that's all I have is junk!...crap for brains, and crap for equipment!) Not that there would be much demand for that in the distro.?? Too bad, though. Some of us poor folks would like to try this too!??

Thanks for your input.

No, I haven't ever actually done an install. Hopefully very soon. I was kinda waiting and wishing for the new version but looks as if it's not going to fly on my dinosaur machine. And I'm very Linux stupid but, if the live CD runs/boots fine, all the hardware detection seems to be fine, I don't see any errors as it is loading, why wouldn't I expect it to perform OK installed to the HDD?

Plus, if Mepis v2003.10.02 will boot and run live, as well as Knoppix v3.2 and v3.3 (I'm downloading v3.4 now), I was just curious as to why the new (beta)versions of Mepis wouldn't and if there was anything I could do to make it work?

Long story on why I'm trying to use the K6 AMD 300 for my Mepis "training". Suffice it to say that for now it's my Linux trainer. I've also got a decent amount of RAM...at least for this old beast.

Still, if I got an install of Mepis to my HDD (2003.10.02) and it was running OK, I "should" be able to upgrade stuff, right? Generally speaking, I'm pretty much a "take it as it is" kind of guy, but hopefully once installed (assuming I'm able to) I would also think that I could even upgrade the entire distro if the need arose and I ever got the knowledge to do so. (tall order)

I've also seen another post in the forums with a very similar machine that seemed to indicate a successful install and setup of Mepis( http://www.mepis.org/node/view/601#2086 )which led me to believe that I should also expect similar results. I realize "your results may vary".

Thanks again for your input.

Edit:?? after further review, my old Pentium box is actually a Pentium III 450 mhz processor.?? Not a PII as I had previously indicated.?? Also, it looks as if the new version of Knoppix (v3.4) will not boot on the old K6 AMD either.?? I'm not sure if my K6 is a K6 1 or a K6 2.?? I would imagine it to be the older of the two.?? Perhaps it's something in the new kernel that prevents booting in such an old/incompatible machine?

Edit#2: I did get the latest version of Knoppix (3.4)to boot on the K6 AMD 300, so I don't know if I can attribute it to be a kernel issue or not. But again, I'm too ignorant and naive about all this stuff. Knoppix identifies the CPU as AMD K6 with multimedia extensions and 64kb of memory(cache).

Oh, I realize there are many other alternatives out there. Gosh, too many to shake a stick at. Again, I'm a true novice in every sense of the word. Before I go back out into the "search mode" for that elusive perfect end-user desktop distro, I think I'm better off sticking with Mepis for the time being. If I absolutely have to, I may comandeer the Pentium III 450 mhz that is reserved for other uses in my household for my Linux training. But this may cause a severe rift in my marital peace and calm and be hazardous to my general well being. Even setting up a dual boot would not be looked upon favorably, but I guess I may not have a choice.

I still hope that I can find a way to work things out on the old AMD K6.

Hope springs eternal for dumb noobs!!!

Well I wouldn't expect the Mepis developers to lose much sleep over whether or not the newer releases of Mepis would work on such an old machine. As the previous poster stated, there are plenty of other options in Penguin land if need be. So far, so good with 2003.10.02 running from the CD and I would hope it would only be better when installed to the HDD. Still wonder why I get the no boot behavior in all the Betas of one line of "Loading Grub 2......" and then nothing else. I would still probably be happy with the previous release on that poor old machine, knowing I can eventually get it the way I want it through upgrades and such. However that will be a long process with a steep learning curve for me.

Regards,

dumb_noob