Linux won't work on my system... Is it my hardware?

[JackNimble]

Ok, I have not tried three different Linux distro's (Redhat 7.2, Redhat 9.0, Slackware 9.0) and each one locks up at random points in the install procedure... Each time it is a different area, so I have no idea where to go next...

Can anyone tell me if there are any know issues with any of the following hardware?

P3 1000Mhz CPU
3Com 10/100 NIC
Rambus RDRAM
nVidia GeForce 256
Soundblaster Live! Value
Samsung SD-612 CD/DVD-ROM
Iomega Internal 100MB Zip Drive
WD 40GB HD (EIDE, 7200RPM)
Intel (i810/i820??) mobo chipset
Dell onboard sound/video chipset (type/brand unknown)
U.S. Robotics 56k v.90 Fax/Data/Voice modem

My system is originally a Dell pre-built (XPS B1000r), so if anyone knows of any issues in general with Dell systems, please post that information as well...

Thanks!!!

JackNImble

 

[chsh1ca]

How exactly are you installing? Booting from CD, or using install floppies? You already created a thread on this topic (replyhere), but failed to respond to all of the questions that were posed.

Anyway, I reiterate:

Originally posted by: Cyphermonk (AKA JackNimble)

No matter what I do or what I try, I will get to a point in installation, and then the system will just lock-up and when I reboot, nothing is detected, so I have to begin installation all over again.

By nothing is detected, do you mean drives are not seen by the BIOS? If so, I'd say you have a bad bios -- either toasted or in need of an update.

With Slackware, the CD will not boot/load, so I am using a bare.i boot disk to try and install install disks 1 & 2, but it locks up when I put disk 2 into the the floppy drive...

How did you create your slack CD? I personally just created an ISO and burned it that way, and if you did something similar, then you probably forgot to toggle the bootable flag. Slack should boot fine off the CD.
At any rate, I personally highly doubt it's the kernel being used, I've seen slack 8.1 boot a 486 SX/33 without issue (haven't tried it with 9 yet, but there are no fundamental changes that should cause something like what you're describing). Combine that with the fact that that's really pretty recent hardware, all things considered (no more than about 2 years old). I'm running it on an older box here now (D/800 on a Gigabyte G7ZE board), so I doubt its kernel age.

 

[JackNimble]

>>How exactly are you installing? Booting from CD, or using install floppies? You already created a thread on this topic
>>(replyhere), but failed to respond to all of the questions that were posed.

I did respond...

The RedHat distro's (7.2 & 9.0) are being installed from CD.. Using fdisk, I totally remove all partitions from my HD (even ran fdsik /MBR) , I insert the RedHat CD into my CD/DVD-ROM drive, and then reboot the system. Redhat Installation process begins. In version 7.2 installation locks up before even entering graphical mode (usually at RAMDISK: Image found at block 0). In version 9.0, I get to the grahpical installation setup process, format / partition the hard drives, setup up Networking defaults for (eth0), choose packages I want to install (everything), then begin installation, and RedHat locks up...

For Slackware 9.0, the CD will not boot, so I created a DOS partition, copied LOADLINE.EXE, the bzImage from \Kernels\Bare_I, initrd.img to C:\Loadlin and then ran:

LOADLIN bzImage initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/hda1 rw

This loads linux into RAM, by which I am able to then delete the dos partition, create a Linux and a swap partition

I then run Setup, which begins the slackware setup/installation program. I set my swap drive, my source (CD) and my target, then I choose the filesystem (ext2), set my blocks to 4096, then choose my packages... I have tried choosing packages ranging from ONLY the Unix system files to EVERYTHING, and like with RedHat, the installation process will RANDOMLY lock up at different points each time I run it...

>>By nothing is detected, do you mean drives are not seen by the BIOS? If so, I'd say you have a bad bios -- either
>>toasted or in need of an update.[/quote]

By 'nothing is detected' I mean that when I reboot after an installation lock-up, nothing works (i.e., the RedHat CD's will not be detected or be booted from like they did before the installation lock-up). This means that I have to completely re-wipe my HD to a blank state before I can try installation again...

>>How did you create your slack CD? I personally just created an ISO and burned it that way, and if you did
>>something similar, then you probably forgot to toggle the bootable flag. Slack should boot fine off the CD.
>>At any rate, I personally highly doubt it's the kernel being used, I've seen slack 8.1 boot a 486 SX/33 without issue
>>(haven't tried it with 9 yet, but there are no fundamental changes that should cause something like what you're
>>describing). Combine that with the fact that that's really pretty recent hardware, all things considered (no more
>>than about 2 years old). I'm running it on an older box here now (D/800 on a Gigabyte G7ZE board), so I doubt its
>>kernel age.[/quote]

I have two Slackware CD's... one which I got from my Unix II instructor, the second which I downloaded as an .iso from linuxiso.org and burned to CD using Fireburner... RedHat 7.2 came on CD's with the book for my Unix 1 class, the RedHat 9.0 CD's were downloaded and burned as .iso from linuxiso.org...

I am thinking of downloading SuSe and trying that one, but I'm beginning to think that there must be some sort of Hardware issue... The only component I don't know about is the Mobo, because its a Dell system, and they won't tell me what chipset/mobo maker it is... Someone told me that Dell typically uses straight Intel boards, but I'd hate to reflash the bios and be wrong...

So to reiterate:

1. I am not overclocking
2. Lockups occur at different points during the installation
3. Lockups occur with all distro's tried so far (RedHat 7.2, 9.0 & Slackware 9.0)
4. RedHat (both versions) boot from CD, Slackware does not
5. I am not partial to any distro, but RedHat and Slackware are what is used for my Unix classes...

I will also try to find/download Knoppix and see if that helps... Finally, if all else fails, I will pull EVERYTHING from the Dell system I can and then try to install again...

Thanks!!!

JackNimble

 

[Spyro]

Try turning off advanced power management in your BIOS, and I don't know if this applies to you or not but I had to have a disk in my zip drive before linux would install right. YMMV.

You could also try installing another distro, but I do think that this is a hardware related issue.

 

[Coldfusion]

I've had similar problems on a Dell GX1 (neither Redhat 9 nor Mandrake 9.1 will install, but Redhat 7.2 works fine). Same CD works fine on a GX110. Haven't tried the model you mention.

You may want to try removing your Geforce and installing with just the onboard video card.

 

[mikecel79]

Try turning off advanced power management in your BIOS

I think Spyro hit the nail on the head here. I had a problem installing RedHat 8.0 on a Compaq Deskpro EN and a Dell Optiplex GX1 until I turned off ACPI.

 

[drag]

yep the kernel modifiers (or whatever) to pass to the kernal at boot time are:
acpi=off
and
apm=off

but acpi mainly.

 

[Cyphermonk]

I think Spyro hit the nail on the head here. I had a problem installing RedHat 8.0 on a Compaq Deskpro EN and a Dell Optiplex GX1 until I turned off ACPI.

I went all through my BIOS, and as far as I can tell there is n APM or ACPI options anywhere...

Originally posted by: drag
yep the kernel modifiers (or whatever) to pass to the kernal at boot time are:
acpi=off
and
apm=off

but acpi mainly.

How do I pass modifiers to the kernel at boot time?

 

[drag]

Well for example in Slackware when you boot up with a CD you get a prompt, this before it boots completely off of the CD and it just sits their and says something like, hit enter to begin the install.

Then you hit enter and then all the system gibberish starts up on the screen as it boots up.

Then it says to login as root and enter set up to begin the install....

Well right at the beginning before all that, at the very first "lilo" prompt, before it does all the gibberish on the screen it says something about choosing which kernel you want. For more details press F2 or F1 or whatever. That's for selecting a special kernel, say, for extra SCSI support.

So at that first prompt you find out which kernel you want to use. THe generic name is "linux" or "boot" but some distros use something like ide.h or whatever. Pick the most generic one.

So at the lilo boot prompt you type:

linux acpi=off

And that will disable the power management.

Redhat will be something similar, and SuSE has a failsafe install option were they have a entry that will write out all the acpi=off and a bunch of other stuff.

For example on my nforce2 board I had to "linux acpi=off" to get it to install, otherwise it froze up on me. That's why I told you to try it.

 

[drag]

Oh ya, before I forget you need to add a "acpi=off" entry to your /etc/lilo.conf file,
it looks like this:
append="acpi=off"

Their are several lilo.conf examples on the web.

If your using grub you will have to edit it's configuration file, and it's sometimes /etc/grub.conf or /boot/grub/menu.1st or /boot/grub/grub.conf or a couple of other places.

edit: Grub's config would have a line like:
kernel = /boot/vmlinuz.whaterver root=/dev/hda1 ro
you just add it to that like such:
kernel= /boot/vmlinux.whatever acpi=off root=/dev/hda1 ro

This makes it disable acpi at every boot up, so you can avoid lock-ups in the future.

That is of course if this acpi=off stuff solves your issues, otherwise it doesn't matter.

 

[JackNimble]

I'm not using any sort of loader (Lilo or Grub)...

I tried passing these to the RedHat kernal, but it still locked up...

I also removed all hardware from my system except for the video card (I believe the Mobo has an onboard graphics chip, but there is no way for me to plug my montior into the onboard outputs...) and the systems till locks up...

I downloaded a program called ZZTOP from Dell's website that is supposed to reset the disk image, and when I ran it, I got a memory dump and some errors telling me that my disk image was corrupted. At this point, I have no idea if I will be able to fix the disk image...

So, first off, can anyone tell me what exactly the disk image is? And why repartitioning / reformatting the disk would not fix this problem... I've used fdisk /mbr to try an fix this problem, as I thought that the disk image had something to do with the master boot record, but fdisk /mbr did not fix it...

Thanks!

JackNimble