Problems while installing Mandriva 2007 [solved]

[keith11]

I am downloading Mandriva 2007 free DVD ISO. I have worked on linux (I am just a beginner always, because I use Linux off and on and end up with problems and then formatting my whole system, so no real experience) before and mandrake 9.2. My questions/concerns/doubts are as follows:

 

1. I am using Windows XP Pro SP2 and the thing I am afraid the most is that if Mandriva 2007 creates problem, at any stage, including the installation and if I wish to just stay with Windows, is it possible to undo all the changes Mandriva will make, like the entry in the boot prompt and other entries in the system? That has always been a big worry for me before installing any linux that they make some changes in the system and the boot prompt and then I can't find how to remove all the entries including the one in the bootprompt.

 

2. I also wanted to know if someone has been able to configure their Intel Pro 2200 b/g wireless cards on Mandriva 2007 or does Mandriva does this by itself? I have read on other forums where people say Mandriva does by itself and some say it doesn't; some say it won't work. It is extremely important for me that the wireless function on my Toshiba M35-S320 works.

 

3. I have 768 MB RAM and a 80 GB hard disk; how much should be my pagefile equivalent in linux and do I have to convert NTFS to FAT in order for Mandriva to recognize the files on windows drives?

 

4. Based on my experience with this free version I may buy the Mandriva 2007 Powerpack version. Will I be able to upgrade from free to Powerpack or will I have to re-install everything?

 

5. Are there other differences between the Powerpack and the free version other than that all software applications on free version are non-proprietary?

 

6. I read somewhere that ISO files have to be burnt at a slow speed (maybe 3 or 4 kbps) so that all the packages in linux distributions are burnt properly. Is this true and how much speed should I choose on my PowerISO or Alcohol 120 (I have both, which one would be better?)?

 

I am aware they are too many questions and I will greatly appreciate if I can get help on all these issues. Thanks.

[ianw1974]

I am downloading Mandriva 2007 free DVD ISO. I have worked on linux (I am just a beginner always, because I use Linux off and on and end up with problems and then formatting my whole system, so no real experience) before and mandrake 9.2. My questions/concerns/doubts are as follows:

 

1. I am using Windows XP Pro SP2 and the thing I am afraid the most is that if Mandriva 2007 creates problem, at any stage, including the installation and if I wish to just stay with Windows, is it possible to undo all the changes Mandriva will make, like the entry in the boot prompt and other entries in the system? That has always been a big worry for me before installing any linux that they make some changes in the system and the boot prompt and then I can't find how to remove all the entries including the one in the bootprompt.

 

Yes it is possible. Removing the boot loader is simple, and when back in Windows, you can delete any partitions in the Disk Manager that Windows isn't recognising - as these will be Linux based partitions.

 

2. I also wanted to know if someone has been able to configure their Intel Pro 2200 b/g wireless cards on Mandriva 2007 or does Mandriva does this by itself? I have read on other forums where people say Mandriva does by itself and some say it doesn't; some say it won't work. It is extremely important for me that the wireless function on my Toshiba M35-S320 works.

 

No, but I've been able to configure an ipw3945 which was probably much harder. The ipw2200 series should work quite easily, you can use the apps in the easyurpmi sources to get what you need without having to compile too much from source.

 

3. I have 768 MB RAM and a 80 GB hard disk; how much should be my pagefile equivalent in linux and do I have to convert NTFS to FAT in order for Mandriva to recognize the files on windows drives?

 

Swap in Linux normally never needs to be more than 512MB, although I normally allocate 1GB just in case. You have lots of hard disk space, so why not. You don't need to convert NTFS to FAT, which is almost impossible unless you have Partition Magic or something and I'm even unsure if that can convert it anyway. Normally it's one way from FAT to NTFS. Linux can read NTFS partitions, but writing to them is limited and risky at present. If you want to share data between Windows and Linux and save it, then create a FAT32 partition, or use USB sticks to move it all about.

 

4. Based on my experience with this free version I may buy the Mandriva 2007 Powerpack version. Will I be able to upgrade from free to Powerpack or will I have to re-install everything?

 

You can upgrade, and if the same version, it won't cause many problems anyway. Normally, it's best to ensure you partition your system with at least a swap partition, / partition and /home partition. That way if you ever need to clean install, you can format / and leave /home as it is with your data in, and you can clean reinstall without losing all your data. Of course, make sure that format is NOT selected for /home, otherwise you will lose it.

 

5. Are there other differences between the Powerpack and the free version other than that all software applications on free version are non-proprietary?

 

Powerpack was to make it easy by providing some of the closed-source drivers on the CD/DVD that the Free version didn't have. However, if you have Mandriva Free, and then set up your easyurpmi sources, you can get exactly the same stuff across an internet connection. That's the only major differences, other than that you're making a donation to Mandriva for all their hard work by buying Powerpack.

 

6. I read somewhere that ISO files have to be burnt at a slow speed (maybe 3 or 4 kbps) so that all the packages in linux distributions are burnt properly. Is this true and how much speed should I choose on my PowerISO or Alcohol 120 (I have both, which one would be better?)?

 

I've never burnt mine at a slow speed, and all my disks have been OK. Others have had problems, and burning at 4x has made it more reliable for them. It all depends on your hardware. The burning software isn't too much to worry about, I use a freebie if I ever use Windows, and it works fine for me. Before I used Nero, so Alcohol should be just as good if not better.

 

I am aware they are too many questions and I will greatly appreciate if I can get help on all these issues. Thanks.

 

No problem, that's what we're here for ;)

[keith11]

Thank you so much for answering all my questions! I do have partition magic but I am leaving converting the f: drive into fat32 for later. While I was trying to do this a few minutes back, it said I may lose multi-stream data, so i just left doing it. I am not much clear on urpmi, but I will ask that later if I am not able to figure it out. I am going to install mandriva 2007 free version now. Wish me luck!:) Once again, thanks for taking time and addressing all my concerns.

[ianw1974]

Good luck, and no worries. You should be fine. Easyurpmi is easy enough, just visiting the link at the top of this page and following the instructions will get you sorted. Just use the "compressed index" option, otherwise you download main/contrib at 25MB each. Not good if you have slow internet connection. And these files change frequently, which means downloading the 25MB again. And again. And again.

 

Compressed index just means package names and brief package info, so much better. The rest is just what files are a part of this package, and change log info, which isn't all that useful unless you like that sort of stuff.

[keith11]

Well, here I come with my first problem and it happened so fast. Kind of disappointed. I burnt the DVD at 4x through Nero and whenever I try installing it it gives me two errors; "fatal error during initialization" and "unable to load loop back" something and then asks me to restart. Every time I face the same error and I can't figure out what's wrong. I burnt the DVD at a slow speed (although not necessary as ianw74 mentioned) and still its not installing. I am saying this because before burning the DVD I read on some forum that a person got an error like mine during installation and he was advised to burn the DVD again at a slower speed, but I have already burnt it at a slower speed and still the same problem. On one of the consoles (when I press alt+F3) it shows the system finds an error in installation when it has loaded bootsplash. I don't know what it means but I am providing this information in case it might help in analysing the problem. Any help, please?

Edited December 28, 2006 by keith11

[ianw1974]

Try booting with some additional parameters, you can press ESC at the menu that appears, and then try typing:

 

linux acpi=off

 

or even:

 

linux noapic

 

and see if it works any better. If not, then make combos of the above:

 

linux noapic acpi=off

 

and you can even use the nolapic parameter too:

 

linux noapic nolapic acpi=off

 

If none of that works, post your full hardware specs, motherboard, processor, memory, etc, etc, etc.

[keith11]

I tried all the four commands but the result is the same. Following is my hardware specs:

 

Toshiba Satellite M35-S320 laptop

Intel Pentium M processor 1.5 GHz

RAM 768 MB

HD 80 GB

Intel Pro 2200 b/g wireless

15.4" diag WXGA display, NVidia Geforce fx Go5200 with 32 MB DDR Video memory

DVD-ROM/CD-RW multifunction drive (I burnt the Mandriva DVD with an external I/O Magic DVD burner)

The speed at which I burnt the DVD was 4x in Nero.

 

Please let me know if you need more information as this is the only information that comes to my mind when I think about hardware specs. Also, can there be a problem in the burning of the dvd?

 

I have been reading a few forums to find the solution to my problem, but to no avail. I am pasting what I noticed in the logs and as kernel messages WHEN the installation terminated with "unable to mount loopback" error. Following is the log (when I pressed alt+F3):

 

have to insmod zlib_inflate

needs zlib_inflate

/module/modules.mar:No such file or directory

warning, insmod failed (zlib_inflate (null)) (1)

have to insmod gzloop

needs gzloop

succeeded gzloop

set_loop failed on /dev/loop0 (out of memory)

unsetting automatic

exiting bootsplash

third party:using modules location /sysroot/tmp/image

fopen (stage1.c:343) failed: No such file or directory

unsetting automatic

exiting bootsplash

 

 

Following are the kernel messages right before the installation crashed:

 

<6> loop:loaded (max 256 devices, max 1 partitions per device)

<6> gzloop: loaded

<3> /sysroot/tmp/mdkinst.clp: final offset wrong (0 not 40711266)

 

 

Hoping this can help find a solution.

 

Thanks.

Edited December 28, 2006 by keith11

[ianw1974]

Press ESC to get into the BIOS, there's an option in Tosh laptops for the BIOS to control the devices, or set by the OS. I always change this so that all devices are detected correctly by the BIOS, and not left to the OS. Maybe this is where your problem lies.

 

My new lappy is a Toshiba Tecra A8 with 1.66GHz Core Duo, and I've got it all working with Mandriva 2007, so it could be this. Otherwise, I'm unsure. Maybe try a Live CD like Knoppix or the Mandriva One CD to see if this will boot OK.

 

It's quite good when using one of these, as it shows if your hardware works fine before installing.

[keith11]

Press ESC to get into the BIOS, there's an option in Tosh laptops for the BIOS to control the devices, or set by the OS. I always change this so that all devices are detected correctly by the BIOS, and not left to the OS. Maybe this is where your problem lies.

 

My new lappy is a Toshiba Tecra A8 with 1.66GHz Core Duo, and I've got it all working with Mandriva 2007, so it could be this. Otherwise, I'm unsure. Maybe try a Live CD like Knoppix or the Mandriva One CD to see if this will boot OK.

 

It's quite good when using one of these, as it shows if your hardware works fine before installing.

 

On my laptop I have to press the "F2" key to go to BIOS, but it's of no use as my BIOS doesn't have the option you indicated. It is Phoenix bios 1.6 and it doesn't have a lot of features. Somewhere over the internet, someone had just the same problem I have and his problem got solved by burning another dvd and then installing. His problem was diagnosed from the logs he posted (and which are exactly like mine) and the experts advised him to try burning a new dvd as they thought the memory errors indicated the media was corrupted or didn't work. I tired that too, but didn't work for me. I have never come accross a version of linux whose problems can't be solved by working around a little, but for the first time, this bug in Mandriva (I think it is a bug because I came accross so many people who have the same problem and no one knows how to solve it for sure) has disappointed me a lot. I needed linux to run an application for school, and the application works on mandrake, but it doesn't seem I can install Mandriva 2007 on my laptop. Please let me know if you think my situation still has some hope and something can be worked out. Thanks.

[keith11]

I am sorry to post in this message so late, but I observed many people have been reading this thread of mine about installation and although I found the solution I forgot to post in this thread (I posted in another thread). As anyone who will read all the replies in this thread, there were many things and workarounds suggested to me to solve my problem, but nothing worked and guess why! Nothing worked because as silly as it sounds, I didn't check the md5sum of the ISO I had burnt, but when I did, I realized my ISO was corrupted so I fixed it with uTorrent and then burnt the DVD and everything worked. So, if anyone is confused after trying every solutions suggested by the experts here, please know the ISO image that you burnt can very well the culprit. Hope this information helps. Good Luck!

[3DsDeltaDawn]

Well, here I come with my first problem and it happened so fast. Kind of disappointed. I burnt the DVD at 4x through Nero and whenever I try installing it it gives me two errors; "fatal error during initialization" and "unable to load loop back" something and then asks me to restart. Every time I face the same error and I can't figure out what's wrong. I burnt the DVD at a slow speed (although not necessary as ianw74 mentioned) and still its not installing. I am saying this because before burning the DVD I read on some forum that a person got an error like mine during installation and he was advised to burn the DVD again at a slower speed, but I have already burnt it at a slower speed and still the same problem. On one of the consoles (when I press alt+F3) it shows the system finds an error in installation when it has loaded bootsplash. I don't know what it means but I am providing this information in case it might help in analysing the problem. Any help, please?

 

I am having the same problem. I initially installed the live cd version and then did a live update. I erased the hard drive and gave up Windows and all was well.

I then installed all available updates, since I'm a hog for having everything and rebooted to a never ending orange screen after entering user and pass.

So, I finallly figured out how to get the DVD version through all means necessary and slapped the DVD in the drive, I was planning on using the instructions from http://www.howtoforge.com/the_perfect_desk...007_spring_free

but a fatal error occurred and I had to restart. I have tried all of the options with no success and I am determined to rid myself of the MS domination. The only way I can get up is through the CD unmouted manner.

 

Can I get some advice here, cuz my hair is thinning rapidly.