null Posted June 12, 2004 Report Share Posted June 12, 2004 (edited) I just finished assembling my brand new system for a linux distro. Components I bought are: Antec Lanboy aluminum case, with 350 w FX 5200 128Mb video card 512 Mb DDR 400 RAM MSI mobo (KT400A) W-D 200GB H-D (a spare drive I have used before) TDK CD burner, internal (I own 2 diff models - tried the install with both) I downloaded the 4 FC2 ISOs (from redhat) a couple of weeks ago, and burned them like so: cdrecord -eject dev=0,0,0 -v /home/blah/blah I burned the first 2 ISOs that way, which used the max speed of 12x, and burn free Off. When I found out about the speed parameter, and the burnfree parameter - I burned disc 3 & 4 like so: cdrecord -eject speed=4 dev=0,0,0 -v driveropts=burnfree /home/blah/blah When I tried to install FC2 on my brand new machine, and when I go thru media check, disc 1 passed, but the other 3 failed. So I get ticked off and downloaded disc 2,3,4 again (this time from ftp.nluug). I burned them this time on my win2k box with Nero 6. Went back to my new linux box and tried the install again. Disc 3 still fails the media check, but disc 2 & 4 passed this time. I don't know if its a hardware prob since it is new, untested components, or if something else is wrong. I'd like to get linux on my new machine to at least see if the machine works. So, anyway, now I decide to install FC1 instead - since I have some verified FC1 discs that I have installed successfully before. When FC1 is loading, it gets partly into the install (farthest I got so far is the Time Zone selection), then its just says "install ended abnormally" or something... any ideas? something in BIOS I need to do maybe.. oh yeah - that reminds me.. I checked PnP OS in BIOS and it was already NO Edited June 13, 2004 by null Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted June 12, 2004 Report Share Posted June 12, 2004 Does the bios has different presets? -failsafe -default -performance try them all. PnP....turn it on ;) ....doesn't make much, if any, diff anymore with kernel-2.6 like it use to. If it doesn't help, turn it back off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted June 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 I just tried again after setting PnP OS to Yes, same error. I tried installing my RH9 CDs (successfully installed many times before with same CDs) - errors out almost immediately with the message: Error 2 reading header:cpio:bad magic I googled this message, and found many people having the same problem. Most advice given is "download again - your CDs are probably bad". But I know in this case I positively have GOOD FC1 CDs and GOOD RH9 CDs. Neither will install. Sometimes the advice given was "bad hardware, or bad CD drive..." If I've got a bad mobo, I need to know about it cuz I need to take it back if so. Guess I'll pull the Sony DVD burner out of my win2k box and stick it in my new linux box and see if that will fly. What a pain... not linux's fault though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted June 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 continuing saga: I took my Sony DVD burner from my win2k machine (a drive known to be good) and hooked it up to my new linux machine, tried installing FC1 (discs known to be good), got into the install to the point where it says Probing for video card (identified as FX-5200 - which is correct), probing for monitor - which it identified OK, and probing for Mouse - which it also identified OK. Then it says something about starting X, and then I get a blank black screen, and then back to the boot messages and it says Install Ended Abnormally... So maybe a bad video card - I just bought the stupid card at a big local computer show, so I have no idea who the dealer was. They said "oh yes, everything is brand new...". It did have the correct box, and the correct sealed stuff inside. But who knows. Any other ideas? I installed the video card myself - maybe I did something wrong, or is there something in BIOS to do ? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted June 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 (edited) well, duh... After taking a break for an hour or so, I got back into BIOS on my new machine and looked everywhere for something. Turns out I found a selection for Primary Graphics Adapter: PCI. Well, I have an AGP FX-5200, so I changed it to AGP. Well, just tried installing again - still doesn't work. Tried FC2 (disc 3 passed media check this time) but install bombed out quickly. Tried again with RH9, this time I get: Install Ended Abnormally - received signal 11 Edit: a search of other boards for "signal 11" shows that most people say that it is caused by bad RAM or hardware. Edited June 13, 2004 by null Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted June 13, 2004 Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 Can you swap out your ram? Do you have a copy of memtest86? My guess at this point is ram or cpu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted June 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 (edited) I don't have any more DDR400 RAM, but I can pull out the 512Mb DDR stick from my win2k box - I thinks it is DDR333. Thanks Ix, I didn't think of trying that. The hardware store where I got the mobo, processor & RAM from installed the proc & RAM in the mobo for me for free, and they also installed the mobo into my case for me for free. I just took it home and put in my new FX-5200 video card, the H-D and a CD burner. When googling "Signal 11", it seems it is a seg fault - so probably memory problem. I am wondering if there is something in BIOS that will fix this. On Red Hat's site, there is a help site for Signal 11 errors and they say to try to turn off CPU cache in your BIOS and try installing again. My BIOS doesn't have a setting called CPU cache. It does have a setting for Internal Cache, and some other similar sounding things. So I'm not sure what to try. I did try disabling Internal Cache - but install still errored out. Edit: I saw memtest86 mentioned on linuxquestions.org site, in a thread like this one. Is it something you try on another computer, or during the boot process on the problem machine? Edited June 13, 2004 by null Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted June 13, 2004 Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 normally you just urpmi memtest86 and it's setup in the booloader to be run from there. Since you're not installed you'll have to run it from a floppy, which I've never done but know you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted June 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 Guess I'll take the machine back into the hardware shop and tell them I'm unable to install anything due to a possible memory error. Maybe they can stick the RAM in another machine and see if its ok, or run some kind of mem test on it - of course all they'll have is windoze machines laying around. Redhat said that even if some RAM works on "another OS" it may not work on a RH machine - said linux was pickier. Before I bought the MSI mobo (KT4AV), I did some checking on MSI's website to see if the mobo would be ok for me. On their site it said that that mobo ONLY supports DDR400 RAM that is certified by MSI (only samsung and micron according to my user's guide). However, the shop told me they just sell kingston RAM to everyone regardless what mobo manufacturers say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted June 13, 2004 Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 well kingston is a name brand.....should be ok. I have an abit mobo and they are known for not liking the reject/OEM ram. I got it anyway and they work fine. Saved me $$$. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted June 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 I am typing this post on my new linux machine...!!! yay ! I pulled out the kingston DDR400 and stuck in an old DDR 256Mb from my win2k box and IT WORKED ! I just got thru installing FC2, and so far its great. Nice to see k3b available during install (noticed that xcdroast was not offered though). Anyway, thanks to Ix & bvc. I was really frustrated yesterday - a wasted day. While reading the users guide for my cheapo mobo - it only supports DDR400 from samsung. Also, it only supports ONE DDR400 module, even though there are 3 RAM slots. I am going to take back the DDR400 module and tell them to instead get me a DDR333 512Mb. That way, I can add another module later if I want to. I don't know what the big speed diff is between DDR400 & DDR333 - is it even noticable ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted June 13, 2004 Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 (edited) I'm no hardware guru so maybe someone will set me straight. First, I don't know the diff from 333 to 400 except just that..... 333 to 400. I have a AthlonXP 1900+ that has a limit of 266. So even though my fsb can do 400 and my ddr ram can do 400 they WILL only do 266, because of the processors limitation. In the next 6 months I will get an AthlonXP 3200 that'll take care of that slow down So, what is you processor capable of and is it limiting other things? Again, I could be wrong, but this is my understanding of how it all works/flows together, or is suppose to. congrats! Edited June 13, 2004 by bvc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted June 13, 2004 Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 While reading the users guide for my cheapo mobo - it only supports DDR400 from samsung. interpretation=there "in" with samsung....so they want you to spend $ at samsung. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null Posted June 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 Only DDR400 modules listed in the users guide that would work were: Samsung 256Mb, and a Micron 128Mb module. Well, that's too limiting. I wanted 512Mb This was a low-end MSI board ($60). I didn't have the $ for a better board. I wonder if it was the brand that didn't work, or maybe it was the larger size... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarissi Posted June 13, 2004 Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 Most times you should not notice a difference. Note that the faster the RAM, the LESS you can install, due to bandwidth limits. The max for DDR266 (PC2100) on 32 bit mobos, is 4 GB, 3 GB for DDR333 (I think). This limitation is due to the memory controller in the chipsets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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