Dear mandrivausers

Please bear with me on this - I am a complete Linux newbie ... but a newbie commited to learn something ... new.

System:
1GB ram
Western Digital Caviar HD @ 15gb (has Unbuntu installed) or 250gb Maxtor PATA DiamondMax21 (formatted)
Athlon 1800xp
GeForce 2 Graphics (I think) - The mobo doesn't have ob graphics.

Initial problem: Mandriva 1008 Spring DVD (from Linux Format magazine) - Splash screen loads. Click on Install. Kernel loads 100%. Second splash screen with progess bar in bottom left starts, and then hangs at about 99%.

I have tried to install on a freshly formatted 250gb HD, then on another HD which has ubuntu 8.04 (note, ubuntu works fine - only I don't know how to install drivers and what not!). It hangs on both, as above.

So, I've spent a week searching for resolves for this, have found a few answers that didn't work, and am now at a loss.

I have tried modifying the Boot Option with "linux noapic nolapic acpi=off ide=nodma" (whithout the quotes) in various order - some, all, one off, etc but get no where at all. It could be that I am modifying the Boot Option incorrectly, as I am adding the noapic to the end of the string that is automatically there.

Eg: initrd=alt0/all.rdz automatic=method:cdrom vga=788 splash=verbose linux noapic nolapic acpi=off ide=nodma

I have tried Splash=0 and verbose, as well. Also, reducing the screensize option.

Verbose gives me a better idea of what is happening:

Loading programme in to memory (100% red bar)

proceeding, please wait...
exited abnormally -- received signal 11
sending termination signals... done
sending kill signals...done
unmounting file systems...
/tmp/media
/tmp/stage2
/dev/loop0
you may safely reboot or halt your system

Any help would be very gratefully received.

Sounds to me like the disc you got might be bad, but that's just a theory. You say Ubuntu loaded with no issues, right?

What you might try, if you've got a good connection and some time to spare, is to download a new 2008.1 i586 dvd iso from one of the mirrors, burn it, and go from there. That might be better for you.

Make sure you get the i586 version of the disc, not the 64 bit version. That also could be your issue but I don't know for sure.

Could you perhaps try and see if the Mandriva live CD - One - can boot? You can download it at http://www.mandriva.com/download , or http://torrent.mandriva.com/public . thanks!

From when I usually do this, I put it on the kernel line, rather than the initrd, this could be why it's not working for you. And if you add to the kernel line, you don't need to put linux, just the noapic, etc, etc, is OK to put here.

liquidzoo, thank you for the very prompt reply. Much appreciated.

Ok. Yep, Ubuntu is installed (I can't get the USB W/Lan to work, but that's another issue).

I would download the dvd iso, but I have no dvds. What I did download, though, is mandriva-linux-one-2008-spring-KDE-int-cdrom-i586 and that just goes belly up moreso than the dvd.

right, this is where I put on my newbie t-shirt. Where is the kernel line? I have a feeling that many will be laughing at that question

When you're booting the CD, I think there is an option you can choose (I've not booted it so unsure), but you can edit the boot parameters to boot with those options. If that's what you've already done, then I guess it must be different to editing a standard boot config from when it's already installed on your machine. I've not got the CD to hand, so can't tell you exactly what option it is. I'm probably more than useless at this stage

When you boot the CD and get the intial menu, what options do you see? Post here, and I'll then tell you which one to choose - unless of course, someone has the CD and posts back before to say which one to choose and edit.

Thanks Ian

From the Spring DVD I get 4 options -

Boot from hard disk (which boots Ubuntu)
Install Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring
Rescue System
Memory Test

Pressing F3 gives me more options - F1 > F6 : Help / Language / 800x600 / DVD / Driver / Kernel Option

There is also a Boot Option line, where I was entering the noapic, etc

I have just found that pressing "ESC" starts a text mode interface, with Boot:

I tried noapic nolapic ... nothing happened. Interestingly, I tried linux noapic nolapic and it set off ... but then went back to the progress bar and hanged at about 99% as before.

EDIT: And, the keyboard goes down (no response & and flashing caps lock)

OK, we need the kernel option line - give that a go and add the noapic stuff. The flashing lights on keyboard indicate kernel panic when it couldn't boot.

is the kernel line the black screen with "boot:" ? ie, from pressing ESC at the graphic splash.

From your menu description, press F3 to get to more options, then F6, I believe, for the kernel options

I have tried all of the kernel options - same result: Panic. Would it be a hardware issue?

Thank you all for your help thus far.

Just out of curiosity, what version of the mandriva dvd do you have? I'm not sure if you can get the kernel version from that dvd boot menu, but if you can, it would be a great help.

From the subject: "Mandriva 2008 Spring DVD"

When you said you tried all the kernel options, was it on the line that I mentioned or was it on the original line that you tried before my suggestion? If before, try like I mentioned and see if it helps. If it doesn't, please try the Mandriva 2008 ONE Live CD to see if you can boot this. The Live CD is a good test to see if your hardware is supported without actually installing the operating system. This can also rule out if it's a problem with the install DVD or your hardware.

Just out of curiosity: is the first harddrive a SATA drive? I remember that some months ago, there was a huge problem reported with almost every linux distro when using PATA and SATA drives. Maybe the problem is located there.

Ian/all - thanks for your help on this.

Firstly, the One CD -

This gets as far as the first progess bar (from the graphic menu - boot from CD), and halts with keyboard caps led flashing. Kernel panic. However, the CD boots first time on my laptop, and runs very nicely! I tried this late last night, but was a bit scared that I might bork my Vista laptop. I needn't have worried, as it worked a treat (Live).

The Spring DVD -

I'm typing this from memory (I'm at work)

From the graphic menu, and pressing F3, enables more options, F6 being the kernel options. I have tried booting under all F6 kernal options. Also, as mentioned, pressing F3 brings up the Boot Option line, of which I have tried various additions to the end of that line (noapic, nolapic, etc).

Additionally, when pressing escape from the graphic menu the is a pop-up box asking if I want to exit to text area ... I assumed that this is what you meant by the "kernel line". From this black screen, with BOOT: in top left, I have tried "noapic nolapic", nothing happens. When used with "linux noapic nolapic" it does begin a sequence, starting with "linuz" I think. But, then returns to the progress bar and halts at about 99%.

That's about as far as it all goes. I could upload some photos of these steps, if you think it would help.

Can you confirm where the kernel line is?

Many thanks.

That'll be showing vmlinuz probably as it boots up the system - kernel stuff.

It will be difficult to ascertain what's going on, but I think what we could do with knowing:

1. Motherboard, manufacturer/model?
2. Disk controller type - IDE/SATA/SCSI?

processor we know, I have an AMD Athlon XP1800+ and don't experience the problems you have, but I'm using standard onboard IDE and a Gigabyte GA-7VTXE motherboard, 1GB of RAM. Well, I say standard, the IDE is a VIA chipset, and supported no problems.

If you've got Windows on the machine, open up the Device Manager and then check out the stuff here, so we can see the make/model of your hardware. It's freaking out somewhere, but what would be good also is.

1. Boot machine normally, press ESC to get verbose boot mode so we can see the screen, system loading and then finishing up with the kernel panic - it can help us see where the problem is perhaps.
2. Take a picture of this, as clear as possible and post it on here so we can see this screen of info. Make sure it's clear, so that we can read it - it will be better than you writing all the info down - but normally the last few lines of boot should give us the hint as to what went wrong.

I'm pretty sure that both are PATA - 40 Pin IDE cable dictates that, doesn't it? I will confirm this evening

I will follow up this evening (wife permitting).

I dont believe thats the issue, my main linux box is an AMD X25600 w/ 4GB ram and 3 SATA and 2 PATA's, and i havent had any issues.

HOWEVER when I did my 1st install, I did UNPLUG every drive EXCEPT the SATA I wanted as a boot drive.

BUT I just did a clean install last night (wanted to get rid of KDE4) and with all drives plugged in, had no issue.

j

Ok. I got another DVD of Spring 2008, today. Same thing happens.

One thing I should correct, from my opening post - the Graphics card is a GEForce 4 MX 440 (not GEF2).

I'm going to say that the 15.3gb HD that I'm trying to install to the most (the one with Ubuntu safely installed) is IDE PATA. The 250gb HD is definitely PATA.

As for the motherboard, I honestly can't remember. I can't even remember when I bought it.

There is no Windows OS on any drives.

I'm sorry if this is not much help, for those helping.

How long ago when you bought the motherboard/computer? Any bits replaced since it was bought? Or is it all original stuff.

I have an NVIDIA GeForce 4 TI 4400, so it's not going to be your video card that's the problem. Kernel panic is being caused by something, but I need to see that screen. Please boot, press ESC, then let us see the last messages on screen before it does the kernel panic. Without this, we're not gonna be able to help you.

Also, we could do with knowing what the IDE/PATA controller is.

The motherboard was bought around 6 - 7 years ago ... perhaps. I put the computer together myself from bits that I had accumulated.

Does this image help you? here

Looks like your IDE controller is a via chipset like mine then

Sadly though, that last error doesn't help much only suggesting that you might not have any memory in your system or that it's not recognised it. However, if Ubuntu does, then I would expect your system to be OK. Was there anything higher above the symlink stuff?

This time it halted on ide_disk.ko >> Here

Long shot, but try booting with these parameters:



otherwise, just try solely with:



to see if that helps. Otherwise, I'm unsure of what to try next.

I tried the above, with the following result: Here

Hmm, one more thing - did you check the md5sums of the iso's you downloaded to verify that they were downloaded successfully without any sort of corruption? I find it a bit weird that it doesn't seem to give any particular error, but random stops in slightly different places.

Ian. I salute you for your assistance with this.

The Live CD is part of the Ubunto DVD (purchased).
Spring 2008 DVD - from Linux Magazine.
Spring 2008 DVD - purchased distro.

Gutted.

It was suggested to me today, that I should (perhaps) change the bios RAID settings to "not do RAID"

So, I checked the bios and can not see RAID anywhere in the v6.00PG - yes, it's old - anywhere.

Does anyone think A. This is worth trying? B. Where the RAID is on v6.00PG?

Last ditch efforts before everything goes in to the bin

You prob don't have those settings in that machine unless it had software raid support in the BIOS.

I've no idea why it won't work for you, I can only think the CD's/DVD's are bad burns.