Kushal Kumaran wrote:
On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:29:30 -0900
Siraaj Khandkar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 16 Feb 2008, at 05:10, Douglas A. Tutty wrote:
<snip>
If your Dell has a unix-type OS on it, you could use the debootstrap
install method from the installation manual.
It currently runs Red Hat 7.1, but the trouble is that now that it
has been decommissioned for over a year - no one remembers the root
password to it anymore :-(
For red hat boxes that old, you can boot them in single user mode
without it asking for a password.
<snip>
A while back I struggled to get Debian installed on the Dell Optiplex I
am using right now. It's a P4 2.8 GhZ machine. The issue was not that
the Netinst CD wouldn't boot, it was that neither Grub nor Lilo would
install to the MBR. RedHat Fedora Core 6 worked without a hitch, but I
did not want that distribution. I ended up installing Lilo manually
from a GParted CD after mounting the Hard Drive. I was then able to use
the Etch Netinst CD to install Debian. Further back in time, I had
difficulty installing any number of *nixes on 2 Compaq Proliant P III
200 SMP systems. Debian, OpenSolaris, FreeBSD, and Ubuntu, among
others, failed to get through the whole installation routine without
problems. Once again Red Hat Fedora Core 5 installed without any
problems. I put it on LVM too! I ran them that way for 2 years before
trying Debian again. Once again I had to manually install the
bootloader (Grub).
I posted to this list recently that I was able to get Grub2 installed on
this Dell but once again, I did it manually after booting from a Netinst
CD in rescue mode.
I know you said it would be nice if you could get a Debian CD to boot.
I was just trying to give you some background I've had with legacy,
server-class hardware. Some issues I've had with the type of hardware
you are describing;
Bad CD media (this has gotten me several times. Cant't recall if you
said you tried to burn another CD)
Bad ram (Memtest found bad memory on the Proliants even though the
installer didn't complain. This stopped the next boot)
Improper Bios settings. (the Bios settings are somewhat convoluted on
these machines and there might be something in there you need to
adjust, especially if you have RAID hardware)
How's your attitude? Bad things can happen if your Chi is out of balance.:)
Depending on your comfort level, I would attempt to upgrade the Red Hat
installation, get the machine back, (new root password) then try any
number of work arounds to get Debian installed if your heart is
absolutely set on it.
Michael
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