installing w/o cd boot

[jasonmax]

I am attempting to install Fedora Core 3 on a older machine. (the is my first attempt at a linux install)

533 Mhz AMD K6
128 Mb RAM

Here's the issue. The motherboard and processor belong to an old Compaq Presario. The BIOS on the motherboard (as best I can tell) is the most recent available version. When I go into BIOS, it is extremely limited in options. It doesn't allow me to select the CD-ROM as a boot option.

I put the first CD (burnt using NERO) into the cd drive and started it up. The computer goes past the COMPAQ loading screen, then sits at a black screen with a blinking underscore ( _ ). I am unable to input anything or even use CTRL+ALT+DELETE to restart (the computer is currently running Windows 98 SE). I then wondered if the issue was with my cd's, however my other PC boots right into the FEDORA boot screen.

So what are my options? The computer has USB ports and I have a 128 Mb JumpDrive, but there are no options in BIOS for usb booting either.

Is there anyway to boot from a disc, or to copy the files to the hard drive and install from there? Or am I just out of luck? If so is there another flavor of linux that does allow floppy booting, so that I can rid myself of windows on this machine?

thanks in advance for any and all help.

edit: This computer has Windows 98 SE, and I was hoping to format and run Linux as my sole OS.

[johnnyq]

If your Ethernet card has PXE Support, try a PXE Install, or try booting from a floppy

[jasonmax]

how would i create a floppy to install from?

(i am completely new to linux - this is my first attempt at a linux install).

[rikuume]

Originally Posted by jasonmax

how would i create a floppy to install from?

(i am completely new to linux - this is my first attempt at a linux install).

This is a question I would like to know as well. I have FC2 and the only .img file I could find for booting from was for a disk bigger than a floppy such as a zip drive. I didnt see the regular boot.img, netboot.img, pcmcia.img and so on. Does Fedora come with a boot.img that will fit on a floppy or is it possible to use a old boot.img?

Oh and Jasonmax you can definetly use an older version of linux to do this. Redhat 9.0 will boot right up from a floppy. Just put the RH9.0 cd in your cdrom drive and use the rawrite utility (located in \dosutils on the RH cd) to make the bootdisk. Use the images\boot.img

Hope that helps a little

[johnnyq]

install Smart Boot Manager on a floppy, and then use that to boot from your CD, this will make sure u boot off your cdrom