Error: "isolinux: Failed to access CD-ROM device; boot failed"

(Last modified: 26Feb2004)

This document (10091484) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

fact

Novell ZENworks

Novell ZENworks for Desktops 4 - ZFD4

Novell ZENworks for Desktops 4.0.1 Support Pack 1b

Novell ZENworks Imaging

Toshiba Tecra S1

symptom

Error: "isolinux: Failed to access CD-ROM device; boot failed"

Error: "ISOLINIX 1.62 2001-04-24 isolinux: Loading spec packet failed, trying to wing it"

Booting a Toshiba Tecra S1 laptop using a cdrom created using the bootcd.iso included with Novell ZENworks for Desktops 4 produces the above errors. 

fix

This problem has been fixed in version of bootcd.iso included in the next support pack release for ZENworks for Desktops 4.

Workaround:

Modify the ISO image before creating a CD from it. When modifying, replace isolinux.bin with the version included in syslinux-2.08.zip available at www.kernel.org, then make the ISO file again. You can use ISO editing software to modify the ISO image, or use a Linux distribution like SuSE (instructions provided below).

1. Copy the bootcd.iso file and an updated version of isolinux.bin to a /files directory on your Linux distribution.  To do this, you could always stick the ZENworks Program CD into the cdrom drive on your Linux machine and copy the two files over (If you have no other way of doing it, email the files to yourself, then open a browser in Linux and save the attachment to the /files directory)

mkdir /files     #this will create the directory for you to copy your bootcd.iso and isolinux.bin into

2. Next, you need to mount the ISO to see all the contents inside of it

mkdir /mp         #this will get your mount point created

mount -o loop /files/bootcd.iso /mp          #this will mount the ISO to your mount point

3. Next, you need to copy the contents of the CD to a working directory. This is because the ISO 9660 format is read only, so we need these files to be in the Linux file system.

mkdir /work           #this will get your working directory created

cp /mp/* /work         #this will get the files from the CD to your working directory

4. Finally, you need to copy the isolinux.bin file to the temporary working directory, and then make the new ISO file from there. (note: the new ISO in the example below, mybootcd.iso, is put into the same directory as the old one, mandating that it has a different name...however, you should name them differently to help keep your ISO files identifiable)

cp /files/isolinux.bin /work          #this will copy the isolinux.bin to the working directory

cd /work        #this will put you at the root of the working directory

mkisofs -o /files/mybootcd.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.catalog -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table *       #this will create the new bootable ISO image <mybootcd.iso> in the /files directory.  The switches just say to use this certain bootimage and create the catalog as this file and this is really a boot image, so don't emulate one, etc.

5. At this point, copy the new ISO to your Windows partition (or use Linux burning software) and burn/test the new CD.

document

Document Title:	Error: "isolinux: Failed to access CD-ROM device; boot failed"
Document ID:	10091484
Solution ID:	NOVL95694
Creation Date:	23Feb2004
Modified Date:	26Feb2004
Novell Product Class:	Management Products

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