How to run Geexbox ?

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i did burn a cd and installed it on the usb from there only , after booting from that USB i get to the grub command screen and i dont know where to proceed ? thats the problemand how do i know whether my BIOS supports booting from a usb hdd , i thought it does because there is a specific option which says allow booting from USB
 
but how do i proceed onwards ?i tried the command kernel /vmlinuz but it says that the specified kernel cannot be loaded
 
manu1991, in an earlier post you said the screen goes black and the DVD ejects... It looks like it booted fine (the ejection is normal, happens for me too) but there is some graphics mode problem...You might need to press F1 and select another VESA mode I think I saw some table on the geexbox wiki...On a side note:I was able to boot geexbox directly off my USB HDD but near the end of the progress bar my PC just shuts off. I am now trying a custom ISO then I will try an older version ISO. Earlier it was not able to read the "second stage" because I copied the "GEEXBOX" folder to the root of the USB HDD when I should have kept the folder itself.But I am able to boot off a CD I burnt, then from the menu I can select the movies stored on my USB HDD :)I just want it all to work off the USB HDD so I can boot any darn PC into a home theatre system! :)
 
Nope :(I'm able to get Ubuntu LiveCD to boot off the USB HDD, this is known as "LiveUSB" I believe...But GeeXboX gives an error like "sbin/init syntax error ( expected" then my PC shuts off. Strange, it works if I burn the ISO to CD then boot...Maybe I should get one of those credit-card sized CDRs and burn onto that. Then I'll carry the CD and the USB HDD for a portable HTPC :)
 
Found a way! But there is a small problem which I have explained at the end of this. Have been smashing my head against this for over two hours! Here are the steps to create a bootable USB key (from within Windows).


[*] Create an empty virtual machine in VMWare. Basically use custom config and delete the hdd from the settings after creating the vm.
[*] Configure the vm to boot from a geexbox iso.
[*] Insert an empty usb key into a usb port of your computer.
[*] Boot the vm and immediately get into the bios (or use pause-break).
[*] Use the VMWare removable devices menu to attach the usb key to the vm.
[*] Let the vm booting process continue.
[*] When the geexbox screen appears, press F1 and then type install at the boot prompt.
[*] Select device to use (you might have to use check/ refresh a couple of times).
[*] On the cfdisk screen delete the existing partition (sda) and create a fresh partition of the full size, mark it bootable, and set the type to FAT32 (0B).
[*] Then write partition table to the key and quit.
[*] Now the geexbox config menu appears where, after you reformat /dev/sda1/, you can config various settings (since I am doing it in vm, I use 16 bit depth, else installation fails). Then finish the installation. An installation success prompt should appear at the end of the process. Else something is wrong.
[*] Close the vm, reboot host computer and make necessary changes in bios to enable booting from usb hdd.
[*] Comp. will now boot into geexbox.
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Only problem is that I have not been able to hear a single sound even though I have tried to play flac and mp3 files and even an audio cd. I think this might be because of my having done the installation from the vm without it having a sound device or my having used a default geexbox iso. But I am sure you people will be able to figure that out. If you figure it out, post info on how to fix that problem. Otherwise, I think this works.

Standard Notice:
1. I am not responsible for any data/ device that is destroyed/ becomes unusable in the above process.
2. If you don't know what you are doing, don't do it.


UPDATE:
I booted (in vm) using default geexbox iso and could play audio cd inside that (when I added sound device to vm) . But while installing onto usb key, vm core-dumped.
 
Did you use VM just to avoid burning a CD? I booted off a CD burned with the ISO and tried to install to USB. The partitioning worked but after entering the configuration (I picked all defaults) it failed with some error msg like "6 is too few parameters" ...One of the options I picked was 800x600 24-bit maybe I should try 16-bit like you...
 
Stopped using cds ages ago. Will have to go to a shop to buy one. Why bother. And I don't think I can burn the iso on a dvd. Besides this is more fun.Murphy struck again. Am unable to repeat the above steps. If an experiment is successful, something must have gone wrong.
 
:) yea, i use CDRWs to avoid wasting CDRs, i dont have a DVD burner...strangely, booting off the CD works like a charm, I can watch movies and all... just cant seem to get it to work with the USB... oh well
 
Caught me! Why waste 10 bucks! Let me see if I can locate some old cdrw. Then I can give this vm thing a go by.This is too much! Found a cdrw and burnt the default geexbox iso onto it using deepburner (nero is pathetic on a 120 dpi system; ui doesn't scale; bad programming).Comp. boots into geexbox but does not play a thing (including the audio cd). But when I use the same cd to boot into the vm, it plays the audio cd perfectly. What's going on!
 
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