GreenBandit Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 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 ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pain999 Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdg Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 If you downloaded your iso's, did you check md5sums before burning to cd? It's possible you have a bad download $ md5sum /dir/of/iso/file.iso The md5 sums will be at the site you downloaded from Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenBandit Posted May 31, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 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. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest antipop2003 Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 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.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeoneil Posted May 31, 2004 Report Share Posted May 31, 2004 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenBandit Posted June 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 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) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GreenBanditAtWork Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Ixthusdan:- I just remembered, I've also got MDK10live, will that be able to do the formatting/partittioning ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 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 ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GreenBanditAtWork Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 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) ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 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 ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenBandit Posted June 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 I suggest partitions as follows: / /home /usr swap You don't need a /boot partiton, and it can be confusing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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