install stalling!

[widesteps]

Hi all,

This is a stab in the dark...someone might have had the same problem or someone with a better knowledge of PC hardware than me (not difficult!) might see the solution for the chips.

Installing FC1 on a 3/4 yo Win98 box. AMD Duron 650 MHz, 128MB, 20GB Samsung disk, 48xCD.

Installation always hangs during the latter stages of installation Q&A session. Repeated attempts shows there is no single trigger point for the hang but the furthest it gets is at the start of the disk formattiing. It just hangs, keyboard lights always flash at the time of hang.

Tried various boot options, fiddled with BIOS settings e.g. turned on/off acpi, upnp. Also tried installing Red Hat 9 and got the same result.

Any clues/ideas?

Cheers

[bosox]

Originally posted by widesteps
Hi all,

This is a stab in the dark...someone might have had the same problem or someone with a better knowledge of PC hardware than me (not difficult!) might see the solution for the chips.

Installing FC1 on a 3/4 yo Win98 box. AMD Duron 650 MHz, 128MB, 20GB Samsung disk, 48xCD.

Installation always hangs during the latter stages of installation Q&A session. Repeated attempts shows there is no single trigger point for the hang but the furthest it gets is at the start of the disk formattiing. It just hangs, keyboard lights always flash at the time of hang.

Tried various boot options, fiddled with BIOS settings e.g. turned on/off acpi, upnp. Also tried installing Red Hat 9 and got the same result.

Any clues/ideas?

Cheers

did you verify that your install media is good with the media check feature in anaconda? did you verify that your ISO images are in fact good ones. check here for help with that http://www.linuxiso.org/viewdoc.php/verifyiso.html

HTH

[Ug]

Dammit I was just about to suggest that.

[widesteps]

Sorry I should have mentioned that I am using FC1 and RH9 CD's that have both been used in successful installations. In fact I am writing this on a PC that has successfully installed using both sets of CD's.

I am convinced it's a H/W issue. I am looking for advice on tweaking the PC. Would the IRQ's cause a problem do I have to look at any jumper setting that kind of thing. I must add that the PC was shafted with win98 on it. It would boot into win98 and then at various points crash/hang/blue screen. I put it down to win98 and/or virus. So I thought I would scrub it and install my dear ol' linux - start afresh so to speak, but it's looking like a H/W issue, yes/no?

cheers

[gertdesmet]

Hey,

I am trying to install Fedora Core1 on friend computer (PIII 500mhz, HDD 10 GB, 64MB RAM, CD rom 12x) and i get the same problem then you do. Freezing during install just before partitionning. I am also sure about the cd. I have tried many BIOS config and Fedora options but none worked. I will try to switch some hardware tonight to make some test and to try to find out what is causing this. I am also pretty much sure it is a HW problem.

I will let you know. In the mean time, any tips are welcomed.

[widesteps]

Theres a certain warmth knowing you're not the only one!

[widesteps]

Well it can't be a H/W problem co sI have just installed Windows XP!

This is a little embarassing for linux to say the least.
I have tried redhat 9, FC1, Mepis Live CD, several bootdisks including partboot, Ark linux and Knoppix and they all fail somewhere in the boot/install. Kernel panics are quite common.

Do they make H/W specifically for Windows?!

[micha]

Do they make H/W specifically for Windows?!

Well, that's not new (just see for ACPI).

[widesteps]

If this helps...

The error I get with linux installs is:

ntrr: base(0xd6000000) is not aligned on a size(0x0000) boundary
Kernel panic: Attempted to kill the idle task!
In idle task - not syncing


any ideas?

[mhelios]

Have you tried appending "ide=nodma" to the list of kernel parameters?
http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/....cgi?id=117001


If that doesn't work, follow Arjan Van De Ven's advice is this report to get the necessary debugging info and then file a new bugzilla report.

http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/...g.cgi?id=21137

[Bana]

Have you checked memory with the memtest86 test? Or perhaps you could try formatting from the linux rescue mode and then try? (shooting in the dark)

[crackers]

Have you set, in the BIOS, "Plug-and-PLay OS" to "false?" The Linux kernel drivers (wisely) expect the BIOS to handle PnP, whereas Winblows wants to control it all...

[widesteps]

Have you set, in the BIOS, "Plug-and-PLay OS" to "false?"

Yes

Have you checked memory with the memtest86 test?

Yes

Have you tried appending "ide=nodma" to the list of kernel parameters?

Yes

Update..update...

First apologies, I misled, Windows XP eventually failed in it's install - which is a bit of a relief really if you are a linux fan!

Moving on, Successfully booted into linux rescue (no partitions mounted) and started looking around the disk using fdisk and parted. Disk appears fine. However at a random point in my rescue mode investigations I got a kernel panic caused by a general protection fault. At the time I wasn't doing anything just staring at the screen and thinking when bam it happened. As far as I know no disk access or cdrom was being accessed, no command being entered, just silent karma was in progress. The linux rescue disk is fine as I have used it for installs and recently to resize my root partition on my main box (see http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/sho...=1975#post1975)
Could it be memory HW probs? I have ran the memtest86 for ages (how long do these tests take?! or do they cycle?) and had no reported problems up to the point I stopped them and that was after a long time.

Or could another piece of HW be failing after time due to heat or whatever?

I'm in the dark

cheers

[Jolly]

had a similar problem
the way round it was to use a win98 boot disc go in to fdisk remove all the partitions
replace disc with fedora cd, restart
then setup partitions using fedora

this seemed to have worked for me

[tikboy777]

unplug all your usb devices parallel port and fire wire stuff then install it again...