Joe Harkins wrote: > At 03:02 PM 7/12/2002 +0100, you wrote: > >> Could you tell us please, >> a) how many hard drive, there size, and what's on them by way of >> partitions. >> so some sort of partition table would be useful. > > > The box has two hard drives. > > drive 1: Maxtor 2BO20H1 (running Win XP) - 19+gigs - one partition. > drive 2: Maxtor 86480D48 (target for M8 install) - 6+ gigs - see below > >> b) what partition tools you have besides mandrake cd1, if any. > > > Partition Magic 7.0 - when opened after an attempted M8 install, > claims there are some partition size errors that it auto-fixes and > then reports that D2 has "error 108" and is "BAD". The HD can't be > formatted with PM. > >> c) I cannot remember which mandrake version, remind me. > > > M8 > >> d) Is this a single install of mandrake with windblows. or, on it's own. > > > see above > >> e) Any particular hardware that you think may be difficult, ie some usb >> devices can be awkward. Some makes of hard drives too. >> we ought to know what mobo,processor,memory, etc you have. > > > MotherBoard is a Holco 694T-686B The processor has 128 SDRAM. There > are no USB devices installed at present. > > I can provide a SiSandra 2002 analysis of just about everything on the > machine. I don't know if you've ever seen a SiSandra report but it is > so detailed that even after eliminating many of the tests and data > regarding stuff you obviously won't need, it comes out at almost 600KB > as a TXT file. I could not send it to the list. May I send that report > as a private attachment to you or anyone else who want to see it?. > >> f) You keep mentioning text installs , is your mouse not being >> recognised ? >> if so what make ? > > > The Logitech mouse is being recognized. The reason for the > text-install is that it was someone's suggestion, here on the list, as > a way of avoiding the crash that occurs during graphic install as soon > as the grinning penguins are displayed. > > A graphic install has never gotten past that point regardless of which > of the two usable partitions is tried. The M8 auto-allocate installer > creates 3 partitions (/,swap and /home). I also tried it with > one large partition plus a swap but that did not work any better. > > Strangely enough, as reported in sequential detail in an earlier post, > one of the many text-intsalls actually worked for three boots before > it stopped working. There probably is some significance in the fact > that the earlier text installs failed at a cryptic prompt > > [myusername@localhost myusername]$ > > that I now think may have been the "auto user / password" that either > was hung or running so slow it seemed to be. > > That suspicion is reinforced by the fact that when the install > actually let me in, it did so as I was starting to enter the user > name and pw into the prompt not realizing that it was configured, as I > now realize it had been during install, for auto open. > > After that, attempts to reboot into one of the GUIs got no further > than that prompt. If I wait five minutes, nothing happens. If I fill > in the user/pw, I get that same strange prompt that ends in $. And I > have no idea what it wants. Guesses (start, launch, run, etc) do > nothing but return the prompt. "exit" take me back to the user/password. > > Trying to launch into Mandrake from the BootLoader only gets as far as > a line that says something about "run level" (which means and wants > ???). The BootLoader will let me open XP. > > But subsequent attempts at text install of M8 no longer work. Now the > text install crashes and returns the cryptic series of errors messages > about "memory may be missing" and when that error is clicked away, > another equally useless message appears wanting me to "f2 to open a > monitor" (?) . That's a useless prompt because at that point the > machine is so hung that the only way out is to pull the plug from the > wall. The KB is frozen and even the on/off doesn't work. > > The points at which it the text install crashes (I've tried six times) > *usually* is immediately after I finish entering the dial up > information.But on two occasions it failed sooner. > > FWIW, the installs all get well into the second disk before failing. > That suggest to me that the partitioning is OK. Do you agree? I > suspect an incompatibility with something in the box. > > Also FWIW, D2 formerly held a WIN 98 install (3 partitions each > slightly over 2 gigs) that ran for about three years with no problems > other than the normally horrible Winstability. I upgraded the box, new > power supply, new mobo, more RAM, with the new 19+ gig HD as the > primary and the other HD holding data and programs as well. That ran > that for about 3 months before I decided to move everything to the > primary and install M8 on the smaller drive. > > My ultimate goal is to reverse that setup with Linux on the primary > drive and WIN on the smaller drive running the few WIN progs I must > have (mostly FilemakerPro and few others that I'm thinking may not yet > have Linux versions) . > > Any suggestions you or anyone else may have will be appreciated. If > you want the text file of the Sisandra report in private email, just ask. > > Thanks again, Joe > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? >Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com > First of all, Mandrake 8.0 has a very cowardly dodge for the hardware bug in the 686B southbridge (we had a WHOLE WEEK before release to try to figure one, in the midst of the last-minute rush so it is conservative and denigrates performance). Use 8.2, which has a much better workaround, and also a much better virtual memory scheme.
Next take off the cable select on your drives if you have it enabled. Glue them to their proper spots with jumper selection. Third, dump PM entirely. CLEAR the disk where you are going to install linux and leave it unpartitioned Let Diskdrake handle that. PM and diskdrake are obviously using different geometries on the disk. In FACT, boot from CD#1, hit F1, type 'rescue' without the quotes, then fdisk -l /dev/hdb and copy the top line for Cylinders, Heads, and Sectors. (Drive2 might be hdb or hdc or hdd or any of the others available. if in doubt, check from that same console with dmesg | grep hd to find where disk2 is being seen. Now once you have the CHS numbers, go into your BIOS and try to find auto IDE detection. It will present LBA, LARGE, and NORMAL options for your HDD. One of those will have settings matching what fdisk told you. Select that. Then the BIOS and the system will agree on disk geometry. If none of them have that, then you either have a very strange disk or you have a hardware problem. The very strange disk has a remedy but it is not for the faint of heart and its only observed occurrences have been with WD which officially doesn't support linux anyway. Fourth you may find it easier to do the graphics install, and set the bootloader to use the MBR (master boot record). Fifth, and very important, disable any MBR anti-virus checking on Windows. At least two antivirus programs stomp all over a modified MBR claiming a LILO pointer is a virus.
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
