Can't Install Linux

[lxskllr]

I've been trying to get Ubuntu(8.10, 9.04), and Mint(whatever the latest is) installed, and it freezes up every time.

I'll boot to the CD, and I'll pick either install or run as a live CD. It goes through the bouncy progress bar, then to the update bar. After it completely updates(loads), my screen blanks, and it sticks there. No CD or HD activity :^/

Any clues as to what the problem is? My CDs check out fine, and 1 of them I've used to install on a different computer. My specs are below...

Intel 865 mb (Asus P4P800SE)
P4 2.8ghz
Albatron TI4200
HP DVD drive
512mb ram

Nothing is overclocked

 

[skyking]

That sounds like either:
1) Bad ram. I know, it probably worked fine with <insert other operating system here> but still, it has that smell.
2) Problem with the DVD drive.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: skyking
That sounds like either:
1) Bad ram. I know, it probably worked fine with <insert other operating system here> but still, it has that smell.
2) Problem with the DVD drive.

When you say bad ram, do you mean errors in Memtest? I haven't tested it yet, but I do have other ram I can try. If it memtests alright, the rams ok, right?

I have some spare CDrom drives I can try. I'll give that a go after I check the ram.

Thanks for the feedback :^)

 

[skyking]

You got it, any time.

 

[lxskllr]

Ok, memory checked out ok, and I made a bootable USB install, and it's still a no go. Booting from the USB drive gave me a cursor on a black screen(didn't get that before), but the cursor's non responsive. I'm posting from the USB live session on my main rig(in sig), so the USB drive works. I guess this points to some kind of hardware problem, but I don't know what. I'm leaning towards some kind of issue with the chipset, but I don't have enough experience with these things. Any ideas?

Edit:
Is there some way I can update the live disc(USB drive) on my main rig, so it'll work with the rig I'm trying to install Ubuntu on? I'm thinking some kind of extra fat image with lots of drivers built in(ala Windows), so it has everything it could possibly need to work.

Edit2:
I also tried installing Ubuntu through wubi, but it errored out towards the end of the installation. I need to get net access hooked up, and I can provide the log if you think that'll help. Nothing jumped out at me in the log file. The error was something along the lines of it looking for a file that didn't exist? Invalid path I believe it was :^/

 

[lxskllr]

Just an update...

I got it to install using the alternative install media, but my keyboard and mouse die at login :^S

I had this problem in 8.10, and I was hoping 9.04 would fix it. In 8.10, I could restart the machine a few times, and eventually it would work. I haven't been so lucky in 9.04 as of yet :^/

Is there a way I can login at the recovery terminal(keyboard works there), and load Gnome from there, bypassing the login screen? I'm curious if my keyboard will work if I can get to the desktop.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Have you tried resetting the BIOS to default values? If not, have you at least tried disabling ACPI in the BIOS or grub? Can you compare BIOS settings between the working rig and the non-working rig?

You said the RAM checked out OK, but how many passes did you let Memtest run? One pass isn't enough.

Is your mouse and/or keyboard USB? If so, have you tried plugging them in different USB ports? Can you test with a PS/2 keyboard/mouse? If none of that helps, try using a different driver for your graphics card.

As for starting gnome from the terminal, just enter startx.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser
Have you tried resetting the BIOS to default values? If not, have you at least tried disabling ACPI in the BIOS or grub? Can you compare BIOS settings between the working rig and the non-working rig?

You said the RAM checked out OK, but how many passes did you let Memtest run? One pass isn't enough.

Is your mouse and/or keyboard USB? If so, have you tried plugging them in different USB ports? Can you test with a PS/2 keyboard/mouse? If none of that helps, try using a different driver for your graphics card.

As for starting gnome from the terminal, just enter startx.

Thanks for the reply :^)

I was letting this sit for a bit due to a new snag, and some additional information. I'll give my known answers then give some new information.

Memtest I ran for 6 passes. That's shorter than I usually do a full test for, but I'm satisfied that it should work at least some of the time. With that many passes, a memory problem is usually rarer, so one of my install attempts should have worked.

Mouse and keyboard are both types. I've tried PS2, and USB. Where the cursor hangs, unplugging, and plugging back in have no effect.

New information... Sigh :^/

I found some information online that said BIOS revisions over 1006 had problems with Linux; I was using 1008. My daughter has the exact same board running 1006, and sure enough, the live CD worked fine on her machine. That's not an install of course, but I couldn't get that to work on my box. I downgraded to rev 1006, and now nothing works :^D It hangs during load on both my installed copy, and the live CD. There is an error code, but I haven't written it down yet. I was burned out last I tried, and didn't have paper handy.

Differences between mine and daughter's machines...

CPUs are different speeds (shouldn't be relevant)

Her HD is SATA, mine is IDE

She has an old SoundBlaster Live, I'm using onboard Realtek

She has a 6800nu, mine's a TI4200

Different optical drives, but both are IDE (shouldn't be an issue, as I got the alternative CD to install, and USB boot used to work)

I haven't completely scoured both BIOSs for differences, but I generally set them up the same way. I may have overlooked something, but I don't think that's likely.

That's about it right now. I really need to get that error code, and see what's up with it. Btw, I did try turning off ACPI, but that didn't give results. Also, When I tried starting Gnome from the recovery console, it sent me to the login screen, and of course the mouse and keyboard stopped working at that point :bangs head:

One last thing... The Ubuntu forums really suck. I've never seen so many people afraid of doing a search :^/ When you post a question, it gets knocked down fast, by people asking the same things over and over. Some of the questions were so damned obvious also. The answer would probably be in the first 5 results of a Google search :^/

Edit:
I forgot 1 additional piece of hardware. I have a Trendnet PCI Wifi card in my computer. That worked fine in a different machine* with Ubuntu 8.10. I guess it could could be a weird hardware issue at bootup, but I want to try taking that ou as a last resort.

*That machine had HID locking issues also, but hard resetting a couple of times would get me through login, and it would work fine at the desktop. Related? I'm not sure. That one had a Via chipset, where I'm using Intel now.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Well it looks like that mobo has several issues with the latest kernels. Try some of these solutions and see if that helps. I'm surprised it works fine on your other machine.

EDIT >> I would also suggest trying a distro with an older kernel to see if the problems are related to the 2.6 kernel. Something like Damn Small Linux still uses kernel version 2.4.20.

 

[lxskllr]

Thanks a lot. It's a bit late to work on this tonight, but I'll try tomorrow. It almost looks like I need a SATA HD. That's a difference between mine, and my daughter's machines, and related to your linked page.

Interesting idea about the kernel. I've tried a few distros, but all have been 2.6x. I'll try DSL if the other ideas don't work.

 

[Nothinman]

Interesting idea about the kernel. I've tried a few distros, but all have been 2.6x.

That's because all of the development focus has been on 2.6, 2.4 is pretty much dead. It gets security fixes here and there but that's it.

 

[lxskllr]

So far no love with Ubuntu, but I can get DSL to run. I may abandon the whole thing. My daughter wants Ubuntu on her computer, so I might just give her my wireless card, and install it on hers. It looks like having a SATA HD is the key to success with this board.

Unetbootin lets you pick a custom kernel for setting up a USB drive. Would it work using a 2.4x kernel with Ubuntu 9.04?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Before I went through the trouble of (attempting to) compiling and running a 2.4.x kernel on Ubuntu, I would do one of the following:

[*]Buy a new motherboard (with decent Nvidia onboard video if necessary). Might be worth buying a new CPU as well.

[*]Install DSL and just use that. There are myriads of installable packages (MyDSL) available that aren't on the 50MB CD. See wiki for details on Using MyDSL Extensions on HDD installs.

[*]Run Ubuntu in a VM.

 

[lxskllr]

I might go with DSL for kicks. I have a working XP installation on that machine, I just really like Ubuntu :^D

Plan B will probably be best for my sanity(Install Ubuntu on daughter's computer). I don't want to buy expensive hardware, because the computer isn't that important. It's just a bedroom machine that I use to surf, watch movies, listen to music...

Thanks a lot for your help. You've given me some ideas, and got me pointed in the right direction :^)

 

[AnonymouseUser]

You're welcome.

I understand not wanting to buy new hardware just to try Ubuntu, and I'm really surprised that mobo has so many problems with linux. >_<

 

[Brazen]

Have you tried using the Alternate install CD for Ubuntu?

You might also try Hardy or Intrepid.

I would submit a bug report detailing your hardware and whether or not it works with the Alternate install CD and with Hardy or Intrepid.

 

[lxskllr]

I got Jaunty to install with the alternate install cd, but my mouse and keyboard die at login. I haven't completely given up on it, as I think it might work if I could just get to desktop. The problem seems to be the 2.6x kernel as anonymoususer pointed out to me, and it affects the live cds also. I've tried the live cd of 5.10, 6.10, 8.04, and 8.10 in addition to 2 versions of Puppy, and Mint. DSL is the only one that works, but my wifi isn't supported, and it's a little more primitive than I want for a daily driver.

 

[lxskllr]

Just an update for anyone who may run across this...

It turns out it's the wireless card. I took it out of my machine, put it in my daughter's, and no boot. It runs fine on my box now, sans card :^/

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
Just an update for anyone who may run across this...

It turns out it's the wireless card. I took it out of my machine, put it in my daughter's, and no boot. It runs fine on my box now, sans card :^/

Well now, that is crazy. You said earlier it was a Trendnet, but what model do you have?

I have this Trendnet wifi card in two PCs, both running Ubuntu (one is 8.10 64bit, other is 9.04rc 32bit), and have no issues with either other than poor performance (it's just as bad, if not worse, in Windows XP).

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser

Originally posted by: lxskllr
Just an update for anyone who may run across this...

It turns out it's the wireless card. I took it out of my machine, put it in my daughter's, and no boot. It runs fine on my box now, sans card :^/

Well now, that is crazy. You said earlier it was a Trendnet, but what model do you have?

I have this Trendnet wifi card in two PCs, both running Ubuntu (one is 8.10 64bit, other is 9.04rc 32bit), and have no issues with either other than poor performance (it's just as bad, if not worse, in Windows XP).

That's the one I have :^D It worked on my old Ubuntu box.

I was going to try ndiswrapper on a USB D-link I have, but it wouldn't boot with that connected either :^/

It's probably just as well. I've spent too many weekends trying to get networking going in Linux. That's been my biggest hassle all along. It started with 56k modems, and now it's wifi

 

[lxskllr]

Big bizarre update...

I left Ubuntu 9.04 installed from when I started this thread, but I've been booting to XP the whole time. A few weeks ago my computer restarted due to a power drop, and I was at the Ubuntu login screen, with the mouse and keyboard working. I couldn't remember what login I used when setting it up, so I just booted back into XP. Well today I made a real effort at remembering, and I made it into Ubuntu, Keyboard works, mouse works, and wireless works I installed 200 and some updates, then figured wth? I'll go for the gold and do a distribution upgrade. It went flawlessly, and I'm typing this in Ubuntu 9.10. I have no idea what changed in the time I made this thread, but I dig it. I F'n hate XP, and it's nice having a real O/S to use :^)