I have been trying for days to install Linux 10.0 OE on my system. I started with a clean Seagate HDD, but when that gave problems I went & bought a Maxtor HDD. Both give the same problems
I just cannot get past the partitioning/formatting bit of the installer. Occasionally I get an error like " ext2 formatting of hda6 failed", but usually the system just freezes, sometimes with mouse pointer movement, sometimes without.
I have tried various partition options including:- use free space, use existing partitions, erase entire disk & custom disk partitioning. The one time I managed to get past this stage was when I selected Custom Partitioning, allowed hda1 to be the 5.8Gb ext3 partition Linux had previously set, the swap file as Linux previously set, but I reduced the size of the hda6 /home partition to about 3Gb. It got past the format stage, but did not give me enough room to install the features I require. It seems that I can get away with formatting a partition as long as it is no bigger that 3-5 Gb, but this is not a good way forward with 80Gb of available storage.
I have read that there seems to be general issues between Linux & nForce2 chipsets, so this is my favourite theory at the moment.
I have tried various settings including:-
In the BIOS, APIC=disable
In the BIOS, HDD access mode = Large (also tried LBA)
At the F1 command line, linux noapic nolapic (both on their own and together)
Tried Mandrake 10 CE, Mandrake 10 MNF, Fedora Core 1, but they all give problems at the same equivalent stage.
The system was working well with Windows 98SE prior to using FDISK on the system. I am not being ambitious, W98 has been deleted to keep it a single boot system.
I have a version of TomsLinux 1.7.185, so I think I have access to tools that can manually format partitions. Being a total newbie to Linux, this will be tried once I work out how to do so.



Can anyone help !

Which motherboard model? I have two computers with Nforce2 chipsets( a DFI and an ABIT) running Mandrake 10.0 official just fine so I don't think it is the chipset. I have APIC enabled and the the H/D set to LBA. Before the 2.6 kernel I had trouble loading most Linux distros.

Try a live distro with the 2.6 kernel like Knoppix 3.4 and if that boots up then you know Linux works with that motherboard.

If you downloaded your iso's, did you check md5sums before burning to cd? It's possible you have a bad download


The md5 sums will be at the site you downloaded from

If it is just the partitioning part, my guess is bad download or burn, since you have already tries the other options. (apic is evil!) Why not partition the drive with a portable distro, like MEPIS, and then just perform an install? I suspect that you will encounter more problems, though.

In answer to PAIN999:-
System
******
ECS N2U400-A nForce2 based Mobo
Athlon 2000+ 512Mb 266MHz
GeForce 4 MX420 AGP
Maxtor DiamondPlus 8 40Gb
Seagate St340016A 40GB
Hitachi DVD-ROM GD-7500
Cellink RF optical wireless USB mouse
Soundblaster SBPCI-128
Funnily enough, I am about half way through a d/l of Knoppix v3.4 rel 17/may/2004, so I'm part way towards trying your idea.

In answer to mdg (is that right?):-
I've just downloaded winmd5sum & used it to check the md5sums. All OK - at least I know the d/l are OK.

In answer to Ixthusdan:-
If I am right it won't be a bad d/l of burn. I have also tried a previous d/l of Mandrake 10 Community, which gave the same problem. The same mdk10 CE has already been running on another system. Also, I bought a DVD with Fedora Core 1, which also gives lockups during format !
I will add MEPIS to my d/l queue & try that.

Many thanks for the help & ideas. I'm off out on the Bandit1200 until the downloads finish in about 3 hours. :-)

hi!!!
im having the same problem that you.
i have a mobo Asus a7n8x-d 2.0 (nforce2 too) and it hangs the installation randomly, sometimes formating, sometimes writing part. tab, and sometimes copying the files.

my windows XP HD crashed after trying to install (problems writing the partition tab / mbr / boot loader) so i used my bootable Knoppix and works well.

you're not alone, ..i will try noapic and nolapic, turning APIC off in the bios and other stuff....

I had the same type of problems, random freezes, mainly during disk activity. I tried all the noapic, nolapic tricks and leaving usb things unplugged. In the end I updated the motherboard BIOS and have not had a single problem since. I have a shuttle FN41 board (nforce2). If your board is more than a few months old it may be worth checking if there are updates available.

To Ixthusdan:-

OK I've got Knoppix v3.4 2004-05-B04 d/l, on CD & booted up, but where is the partitioning & formatting software ? I've tried to look through all its menus, but I don't recognise which software to use (still too new to Linux desktop)

Ixthusdan:-
I just remembered, I've also got MDK10live, will that be able to do the formatting/partittioning ?

Green bandit
If you have the knoppix and you feel comfy then I find it 'safer' with the nforce2

however 2.6 and MDK 10 hjave changed round ... before this it appeared many people (including me) had problems whereas others didnt. Now those who didnt do and ,,,, you get the picture!

Those that DO in 2.6/MDK 10 seem to have fixed it with bios updates....
I havent tried becuase im one that it just worked for in 10 !

Attn Gowater:-

The BIOS update route won't work - I checked my BIOS & it is the same latest version that is currently on the ECS website, namely 1.0b

I do get the picture in that it explains why there seems to be no consistency in which distros/versions work with nForce2 chipsets. I hear that MDK10.0 Official has got 2 different kernels in it, is there a way of getting it to use the 2.4 version to do its installing (it would let me test your now=problem, so B4=OK idea) ?

Im messing with the 64 bit right now but what I can say is there are LOTS of versions of kernels. Often the little -100mdk on the end is enough to change something like this.

Honestly I booted two VERY similar mandrake kernels and the hardware detection finds a CD/DVD recorder or a CD reader accrding to the kernel! Yopu might only need a different subversion of the same kernel.

Id honestly try and format from knoppix. ... you can get the version with 2.4 and 2.6 kernels and make the partitions etc., then choose use existing partitions .... in the install.
I also found installing over a network more reliable when the problem is on the IDE channels! I copied them to another PC and used the http install !

If you have Mandrake move, the partitioning program can be found in Hraddrake. Just launch HardDrake and click on the hard drive. You will have a configure option which will bring up the partitioning tool, all in gui.

I still haven't got the answer.
By using Mandrake Move10 I managed to get one HDD partitioned (I'll leave the other one for another day) with a /boot partition, a swap partition & a larger / partition. But when it came to trying to install MDK10 OE using existing partitions, the system froze (execpt for a non-functional mouse pointer).
It is obvious that I am missing the real problem !
I've given up for the day.
One problem I've got is that even after reading IM09 from the FAQ, I don't know whch mount point to assign to what sized partition ??!! But first I have to sort out the instability problem.

I suggest partitions as follows:
/
/home
/usr
swap

You don't need a /boot partiton, and it can be confusing.

I am not familar with ECS BIOS but maybe one of these tricks might help. Try the CPU disconnect in the BIOS if you have that option, and disable everything that your not using like maybe SATA and RAID. Linux uses the RAM differently and since I have a double sided DIMMs in dual channel i had to find a beta bios on one motherboard that I could enable command per clock so you also might look for a beta BIOS too.

I have now also tried disabling loads of stuff in the Bios including UDMA access to HDD & CD/DVD. I haven't got RAID or SATA & there is no CPU disconnect setting in the BIOS (I've also read something about that causing a problem).
I've d/l & tried MDK10Move2, but after showing the Welcome screen and the desktop background, it does nothing else, no toolbar or any buttons.
MDK10Move lets me get a bit further. I am able to get to a working desktop and launch HardDrake2 v9.1.1, but when select disk hda then click on the "run config tool" button, the config tool does not run. If I boot the system, then go to Control Centre > Hardware > DiskDrake, but that locks up with "detection in process" on the screen. Occasionally I get a bit further.
I did manage to get 3 partitions yesterday (as per my post June 01 0900), but then MDK10 OE locked up during the installation of packages, but at least it got past the selection of which packages to install. I know my partition selection was not ideal, but surely it would at least allow an installation ? I can't get MDK10 Move to work for long enough to get the 4 partitions suggested by Ixthusdan.
How big should / /home /usr & /swap be ? (hda=40Gb hdb=40Gb) ?
I don't think it is formatting itself that is the problem, it seems to be any type of sustained activity :-(

As you still have nforce2 problems you could look in this forum. I don't know if you have found this forum already, but I found it very helpfull. The nforce Linux forum is full of questions and possible answers to your problem. It was from there that I realised I needed to update the BIOS for the Shuttle motherboard.

also TRY knoppix.
Move is based on Mandrake kernels whereas knoppix is based on debian.
For the sake of a dload it could work!
often where one fails the other will work!

Just used W98 FDISK & FORMAT to clean up buth HDDs.
Then tried Knoppix 3.4 rel 17/may/04. I got about 5 seconds of working desktop before it froze. The command knoppix26 just lead to a blank black screen. Reformatted the drive, & tried MDKMove2, it also gave a blank black screen.
MDKmove(dated 03/Dec/03) loaded up OK, but when I try to run Control Center or HardDrake, I get a few seconds of the message "detection in progress", then it just dissapears. On the 4th attempt, HardDrake let me create several partitions that (I stayed with its choices), but it doesn't report that a partiton is formated after doing so.

I tried the nForce2 link given, but couldn't get through.

Any more ideas from anyone

This kernel bug report may provide a bit of help. It is a long page so scroll down and you will find several different kernel parameters you could try a boot time. Also, it is reported that the nforce2 bug is fixed in kernel 2.6.6 if you could somehow get hold of that. Of course, your problem may be unrelated, but the symptoms are the same.
The link in my previous post to the nforce forums should work!

Many thanks to mikeoneil for the links to the other forums - the nForce link worked today OK :-)

I would recommend that anyone else having nForce2 lockup / freeze problems work their way through these forums as there are many many options to try!

I have had a quick read through several pages of info, and it would appear that one way forward is to go & try different kernel versions, but can anyone explain to me if there is a way of using a certain kernel version (say 2.6.6) with MDK10 Official. I just do not yet know enough about Linux to know if it involves recompiling, patching, or just command line parameters ?

(once I actually get a version of Linux running, I will b able to learn a lot more about all this)

Yep thats why I suggested knoppix over move.



Unfortunately Mandrake kernels are not documented like some non profit distro's. What is difficult to explain is that in addition to the kernel being improved in a linear fashion its also being improved in various other directions at the same time.

The official 'linus certified' kernel is www.kernel.org
as you will see there are plenty of version beyond the 2.6.6 stage (see the pre-releases)

but also there are kernel patches.
these are changes to the kernel that 'improve' performance/reliability etc. but are only partly tested.

http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/
contains some peoples own patches, for instance alan contains alan cox's.

Some patches make it into a later release others dont.

Now mandrake will generally patch certain things, before 2.6 the -mm (multimedia) patches increased performance on mm stuff and preemtimive mutlitasking. Pre-emptive is now built in to 2.6.

There are lots and lots of these, some used by mandrake and others not. One problem I had is that the 'advertised' kernel-source-x.x.x package of mandrake is not the source that was used to make the actual kernel-x.x.x-mdk.

I have never found ANY documentation that says what mandrake patch in and do not (on a specific kernel) but the kernels are usually pretty fast (and reliable) ...

Some kernels i boot and the hardware is completely different - these are minor version changes like the -mdk100 on the end and my hardware dissapears or reappears, things like the DVD writer gets id'd as a CD player and the cardreaders dissapear/reappear.

One way round this is to actually download your own source from kernel.org and compile it yourself with your own patches you also download,. its NOT as bad as it sounds but the first time will be a learning experience!

Another is just using the binary kernels and mandrake source.
Unforunately it appears some of the undocumented patches or changes are things that affect the nforce!

9.2 was the bane of my life! I actually stopped using mandrake altogether on my nforce machines although in retrospect the bios patches might have been usable (except I dont have a floppy drive)


The short answer is type kernel as the search parameter in add programs (MCC) BUTR make sure whatever you choose has the source available too if you have a nvidia and want to use the accel drivers

It seems then you need kernel 2.6.6 or later. I don't know how to go about compiling it yourself, and in any case you need a working Mandrake system before you can do that, in which case you wouldn't need a new kernel in the first place!
Mandrake Cooker may be a possibility, again I can't offer much help here, though browsing the ftp mirror reveals it uses kernel 2.6.7rc1 which is available as an RPM as well as a source RPM. I wonder if you could at least get your system to boot eventualy into MDK10 whether you could take the cooker RPM of kernel 2.6.7 and install that?
The last option which is not very satisfactory is just to wait a couple of months for MDK10.1 community edition.
Cooker page

Well, thats what I did on 9.2... I just used knoppix with a HDD install.

Then when 10CE was out I tried it out again!
If you were determined you could install knoppix and compile the kernel under knoppix.

Just getting a working kernel (unpatched) isn't that hard. If you get a preconfigured .confure then its just a make ; make modules_install; make_install

(hopefully)
personally, Id probably wait!
I just downgraded to 9.2 AMD64 becuase 10 cooker was proving too much time wasting. Sure I might try a 2.6 kernel but at least I have a WORKING kernel in the meantime even if its a 2.4 one.

I Look on the bright side, if I was using windows I wouldnt even have a 64bit one!

Knoppix 3.4 rel 17/May/2004 has failed me, even with 2.4 & 2.6 kernels on freshly formatted FAT32 partitions& so has MDK move.
I can't get this system to boot reliably to any Linux that I have tried so far so the RPM kernel2.6.7 is not yet an option.
I now have information overload & I am really gratefull to all that have been helping me, one day I hope I am able to help others. I'm not one of the lucky ones where X fails & Y works, so I have a lot of forum information to wade through before I hassle people for more information. I want to find a MDK patch that gets the nForce2 system going, if not I will use my 550MHz Jetway J542B system for Linux (already proved OK with MKD10CE) & use my 2000+ nForce2 system for my W98SE based Office system until MDK10.1 is released.
I do look on the bright side - I will end up not using Windows - somehow !
I'll probably go quite for a while now while I digest all this new info, but I'll be watching this space in case new suggestions arrive - my email notification is enabled.

It sounds like a lot of work.
knoppix and mandrake kernels are quite different....
keep the live disk though.

I suspect something in the bios or your REALLY REALLY unlucky ....

the thing about the knoppix or live CD's is you can test in a non destructive way.
do some searching, reading etc. and take a break though. Often this osrt of problem resolves itself when you look at after a weekend away.

sometimes its just we overlook the obvious....
consider taking it along to a linux user group (if you have a local one)

it might just be one tiny thng like the graphics card interupt or something which is handled differently in linux causing a conflict.
good luck at any rate.....

I have now managed to get MDK10 Power Pack working

I replaced the motherboard (ECS 741GX-M), RAM (different brand of PC2100) and processor (Duron 1.3GHz). Not an elegant technical solution, but it worked!

One day I will get back to retrying the nForce2 mobo, but probably not until the weather gets colder.

Many thanks to all those that offered help.

One day I WILL understand.