Press "P" for Perseverance
by Timothy Patishnock
I was inspired by Archilles' article from the Volume Forty, Number One! issue of 2600 to write of my own experiences in salvaging an HP TouchSmart 9300 Elite All-in-One Desktop as a hobbyist project. Despite the fact the machine was hilariously old (it was relevant in the era of Windows 7), it featured a capacitive touch screen which I thought could be put to good use as either a glorified slideshow machine or a touch-based sign-up page for use in my church.
For background, I obtained this HP computer officially from my workplace for a reasonable amount of money ($25), considering the age of the hardware. Earlier this year, a coworker of mine purchased an identical machine from work for use with a non-profit she started. Her goal was to have a portable, simple machine that would:
- Start up like a "normal" computer.
- Automatically login as a non-privileged user.
- Launch a desired program (VLC).
- Automatically launch a looping playlist of video files.
It needed to have the ability to obtain security updates as well as function in a kiosk manner without the use of an Internet connection. This was crucial as she would be traveling around the state in areas which did not have terrific wireless Internet access and would need to display videos regarding her non-profit. Such a project was straightforward and a pleasure to work on. She took the machine to a venue she participated in and said it worked like a charm.
Naturally, as of this writing in 2024, neither my coworker's machine nor the machine I purchased could be expected to function running Windows 7 daily. Thankfully, there are alternative operating systems like GNU/Linux available to breathe new life into still functional hardware. For me it was a "no-brainer" for choosing the tried-and-true distribution of Debian GNU/Linux. I fell in love with Debian while in college after discovering that my first exposure to GNU/Linux, namely Ubuntu, was based upon Debian. The tinkerer part of my brain then, as it is now, enjoys understanding how the inner workings of a given system function in order to maximize productivity and enjoyment of said system.
So, with the latest ISO release of Debian GNU/Linux (www.debian.org) obtained via their official website and utilizing a copy of Rufus (rufus.ie/en) on Windows to flash said image onto a spare USB drive, I started one of the most interesting (not to mention frustrating) projects I've worked on in ages. I mentioned earlier how I worked on an almost identical set of hardware to the machine I wanted to work on to help a coworker out. During that procedure, the installation of Debian GNU/Linux functioned like any other installation I had done over the past 15 or so years. I like to think of it as a rhythm of sorts, and it was on this day that rhythm went horribly awry. Almost immediately, something was different during installation, and something was wrong.
Upon attempting to launch the installation of Debian GNU/Linux, I received a cryptic but fatal error: error reading sector 0x6afc0 from hd0
My first inclination was to utilize my search engine knowledge to track down what could be causing such a strange error. This led me on a wild rabbit trail of answers, ranging from corrupted installation media to faulty hard disks. Since this machine was old enough to have a mechanical hard drive, I opted to purchase a solid-state drive for a reasonable amount of money and donate this to the church as well. Upon launching the installation media after installing the solid-state drive, I was presented with variations on the "error reading sector" message. This was quite puzzling, as the drive was brand new. Next, I tried launching the installer with various boot parameters, to no avail.
Determined to keep pressing forward, I opted to try utilizing different ISO files for the installation media. My thought was the error messages may have been prompted by a lack of specific drivers for this machine... no such luck. The error persisted. The wackiest notion I had was to try reinstalling (albeit, temporarily) Windows 7 before replacing said installation with a Debian GNU/Linux Live DVD image. I'll admit there was quite a surge of nostalgia upon hearing the Windows 7 startup chimes. Unfortunately, upon booting the installer into the live image, my machine kernel panicked and locked up. This was proving to be an incredibly baffling experience. Finally, I started testing parameters within Rufus to see if, just maybe, a setting or so was preventing this installation from occurring.
I opted for an MBR partition scheme with the target system being BIOS or UEFI (due to the age of the hardware I was working with). Secondly, I added the advanced drive properties option of adding fixes for older BIOSes (namely, extra partition, align, etc.). Finally, when prompted to select how the ISO image was to be copied to my removable flash drive, I was presented with a choice I had not really noticed before.
A message appeared asking if I would like to write the image in one of two following modes: ISO Image Mode or DD Image Mode. There was a sentence just before the selection point that I thought could be a game changer: "...If you encounter issues during boot, you can try writing this image again in DD Image mode." I figured, "Well, I haven't tried this before, so let's give it a shot." After a couple of minutes transferring the files via DD Image mode, I inserted the USB drive into the HP desktop I was working on. Bracing myself for another round of frustration and disappointment, I maneuvered my arrow keys to select Install and press Enter. I waited for what seemed like an eternity despite being fractions of a second. The machine moved to the classic installation screen!
From there, I was able to successfully configure and install the machine how I normally enjoy setting up Debian GNU/Linux and felt the electric thrill of joy running through my mind. This had been the most difficult installation of any operating system I had ever encountered. Yet, it was also the most satisfying; I never gave up nor surrendered to frustration and even learned some interesting pieces of knowledge in the process.
It reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from the television series Babylon 5: "If you are falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly. You've got nothing to lose." I fell for quite a period with this project, but in the end, I flew. I hope you'll fly too, when it comes to your next difficult project!