Re: [newbie] Installation problems with 9.0
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On Friday 11 October 2002 2:07 pm, Jason Drushel did speak unto the huddled masses, saying: First of all, system specs. It's a Dell Inspiron 3200, P2-233 with 32mb RAM, 4gb HD, Neologic or somesuch video card. Any suggestions? either get some RAM or install an 8.x version, as 9 needs 64 MB i believe. - -- Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies. shane Profile at: http://dmoz.org/profiles/shen.html Proud to be a DMOZ editor since 10-98 Mandrake Users Club Member http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/club/ Registered linux user #101606 http://counter.li.org/ -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE9ppiQBwq+ZwvIN/oRAg2XAJ0XM+BlYnEk9K0OAF+zsDVLrzEMDQCeNnLu 1a4lQERwosoVTSCfP7tnBjw= =sVQo -END PGP SIGNATURE- Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] Installation problems with 9.0
Hi Jason, Welcome - The bad news is that 32 MB is probably too little for what you have in mind using Mdk 9. I had an old Dell with 64 MB - I eventually had to add 128 MB to make a fist of the hardware. Then it went along fine - on mdk 8.2 and now 9.0. (it chokes on Windows 98, NT and XP) . The processor will be OK but plenty of RAM really is needed - especially if you want (as I expect) a graphical User Interface. You could settle for a command line , but I doubt if that is what you really need right now. Best, AH. On Friday, October 11, 2002, at 09:07 PM, Jason Drushel wrote: Hi guys, new to the list, and to Linux in general. (obviously, or I wouldn't be posting here) First of all, system specs. It's a Dell Inspiron 3200, P2-233 with 32mb RAM, 4gb HD, Neologic or somesuch video card. snip Any suggestions? Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] Installation problems with 9.0
Win98 runs just fine on it. You're the third person to suggest RAM as the problem, so I'm more inclined to believe it now. And I can see that causing the various freezes during installation. But the error messages? How would that account for the securitypolicy and hard drive detection errors? At 09:31 PM 10/11/2002 +, you wrote: Hi Jason, Welcome - The bad news is that 32 MB is probably too little for what you have in mind using Mdk 9. I had an old Dell with 64 MB - I eventually had to add 128 MB to make a fist of the hardware. Then it went along fine - on mdk 8.2 and now 9.0. (it chokes on Windows 98, NT and XP) . The processor will be OK but plenty of RAM really is needed - especially if you want (as I expect) a graphical User Interface. You could settle for a command line , but I doubt if that is what you really need right now. Best, AH. On Friday, October 11, 2002, at 09:07 PM, Jason Drushel wrote: Hi guys, new to the list, and to Linux in general. (obviously, or I wouldn't be posting here) First of all, system specs. It's a Dell Inspiron 3200, P2-233 with 32mb RAM, 4gb HD, Neologic or somesuch video card. snip Any suggestions? Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] Installation problems with 9.0
Jason Drushel wrote: Win98 runs just fine on it. You're the third person to suggest RAM as the problem, so I'm more inclined to believe it now. And I can see that causing the various freezes during installation. But the error messages? How would that account for the securitypolicy and hard drive detection errors? With a low ram setup all kinds of other errors tend to show up. also if you have even one flaky chip on a set of ram modules it can screw up everything. If you just want to try linux on that laptop try mandrake 7.2 or 8.0, or try one built for a 486. as you'll note below I run three versions, but run 8.0 all the time as it works the best with my setup. ( no it's a amd 1700+ on an ep-8kta3l+ MB, 32mg Nvidia card and a SB Live gamer sound card and three Hard drives. ) but I got 8.0 to run on a 486 with 32 or 48 mg or ram. give it a try and use blackbox or such for a window manager to begin with. -- Mike McNeese currently triple booting win98lite Mandrake versions 8.0 and 8.2 and testing 9.0 - Linux registered user # 248955 If obstacles are all we see, then we've lost sight of our goal! Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] Installation problems with 9.0
Using the linux expert noauto command at the prompt I'm at about 66% through file copying, which is further than I've ever gotten into the installation. I'm sure now that I've said something about it it'll crap out on me though. If so, I'll give 8.x a try, thanks. With a low ram setup all kinds of other errors tend to show up. also if you have even one flaky chip on a set of ram modules it can screw up everything. If you just want to try linux on that laptop try mandrake 7.2 or 8.0, or try one built for a 486. as you'll note below I run three versions, but run 8.0 all the time as it works the best with my setup. ( no it's a amd 1700+ on an ep-8kta3l+ MB, 32mg Nvidia card and a SB Live gamer sound card and three Hard drives. ) but I got 8.0 to run on a 486 with 32 or 48 mg or ram. give it a try and use blackbox or such for a window manager to begin with. -- Mike McNeese currently triple booting win98lite Mandrake versions 8.0 and 8.2 and testing 9.0 - Linux registered user # 248955 If obstacles are all we see, then we've lost sight of our goal! Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] Installation problems with 9.0
This probably won't help, but check in the laptop's BIOS and make sure that Plug Pray OS is turned off (if applicable). It sounds like it's having difficulty detecting your hardware. Turning this off should help. On Friday 11 October 2002 02:07 pm, Jason Drushel wrote: Hi guys, new to the list, and to Linux in general. (obviously, or I wouldn't be posting here) 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? Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] Installation problems with 9.0
You were right the first time, it didn't help. :-p I downloaded 8.2 and went to install it, but half of the installation menu came up (yes, half) before giving me a boot failed message. May be the blanks I'm using, because the CD reads fine in my desktop systems. But still no luck for me in the Linux department in general. Drushel At 06:19 PM 10/11/2002 -0700, you wrote: This probably won't help, but check in the laptop's BIOS and make sure that Plug Pray OS is turned off (if applicable). It sounds like it's having difficulty detecting your hardware. Turning this off should help. On Friday 11 October 2002 02:07 pm, Jason Drushel wrote: Hi guys, new to the list, and to Linux in general. (obviously, or I wouldn't be posting here) 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? Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
