I finally decided to take the plunge and get into Linux, but I'm playing it safe and installing on an old (5 years or so) laptop I've had lying around not doing much. I don't want to risk losing data on my desktop systems just yet.
Anyway, I was told Mandrake would be a good distro to start with since I know nothing about Linux. Here are some problems I've run into trying to install 9.0...
First of all, system specs. It's a Dell Inspiron 3200, P2-233 with 32mb RAM, 4gb HD, Neologic or somesuch video card.
Ok onto the problems. When I first popped in the CD and booted from it I got a menu to hit F1 or Enter to run setup. I hit Enter and it loaded up. I saw a list of command lines, then it brought me to a grey pattern screen with an X cursor. And there it sat. Perpetually. I was forced to reboot after 10 minutes of that. So I'm thinking ok, maybe it was a fluke, I'll just try running setup again. Same thing.
I then tried other installation options. I tried vgalo first, no dice. I then tried expert, and voila. The grey pattern screen came up, but this time it was quickly followed by a blue screen. (I also tried text mode, but not until later on)
Here are where the real problems started. It asked me about third party kernels, which I said no to, then it brought me into the installation screen, or second stage install ,whatever you want to call it. It got through PCMCIA detection just fine, but when it hit IDE detection I got an error message. "An error has occurred insmod'ing module sr_mod failed."
I clicked OK a few times and eventually it detected the hard drive. I was now at the partitioning section. First attempt yielded a failure to format after the partitions had been selected. Second attempt everything worked. Great, now I got to pick my packages I wanted to install. Next came copying files, I was finally on my way. Then halfway through it kicked me out to the command prompt (or whatever it's called in Linux) with some error messages that I didn't write down.
At the time of this writing, it's a di-roll whether I can even get to the sr_mod failed error message. Sometimes it locks before the grey pattern screen, sometimes it locks at the grey-pattern screen, sometimes it gets to the sr_mod failed error, sometimes I can even get to the partition section. But never past that.
I first thought there was something about this laptop's hard drive or possibly IDE controller that Mandrake didn't like, but a quick Google search showed that some people were successfully running Mandrake (version 8.1, but still) on their Dell Inspiron 3200s. They didn't say if they had to do anything special to get it working, but it was working.
So what am I to do? I'm at my wit's end here and I'm almost ready to give up and reinstall Windows 98. But not yet...
Any suggestions?
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