Mandrake 9.2 ERRATA.... (Already)

[Guest anon]

#  Mandrake Linux 9.2 Installation Notes

# Mandrake Linux 9.2 Usage Notes

Mandrake Linux 9.2 Installation Notes

 

    * Potential hardware damage doing install with LG-based CD-ROM drives

    * When doing a network install, the network card does not seem to respond

    * Unable to install security updates during install

 

Error scenario: Installing 9.2 and being told unable to install the base system and subsequent reboot reveals that CD-ROM drive is physically dead.

Why: According to LG Electronics, their ODD (Optical Disc Drive) products do not support Linux nor do they test with Linux. Unfortunately, many Dell computers (possibly others) come with these CD-ROM drives.

 

Update Nov, 14th 2003: LG has released some firmware updates to various model numbers (they are noted specifically in the list), and a restoration procedure for previously affected drives. All users are encouraged to upgrade the firmware on their CD-ROM systems prior to installing or upgrading Mandrake Linux 9.2. They also provide a recovery procedure for the damaged drives.

 

Firmware updates & restoration procedure are available from LG's website and from Dell Support. To find the updated firmware on LG web page, click on "Product Support" then select "Device Driver" from the left-hand navigation menu, then select the "CD-ROM" product and you will be presented with different zip files that contain the fixed firmware updates. The firmware can only be applied by booting from a MS-DOS 6.0 boot floppy. Any difficulties applying the firmware updates should be sent to LG Technical Support. Note that intructions on how to apply the update are in the downloadable file "Dead.gif". There also seems to be some difficulty downloading the .zip files with Konqueror, so you may want to try Mozilla instead if you are having problems with the download. On Dell's website, click on "Downloads", type "mandrake" or the drive's model name in the search field, then click Go" and you will be presented with a firmware list.

 

If you do not have an MS-DOS floppy, you can use a FreeDOS floppy image and write it to disk by using "dd if=FDBOOT.IMG of=/dev/fd0 bs=1440k".

 

NOTE: Based on information we have received from LG Electronics' technicians, only CD-ROM models are affected by this bug. DVD-ROM/R/RW and CD-RW devices are not affected.

 

Error scenario: When doing a network install, on some recent machines, the network card seems to not respond (ie. no DHCP response received).

Why: Certain motherboards still have problems with enabling APIC.

Solution: When booting the installer, press F1 at the splashscreen and type "linux noapic" to disable APIC support.

 

Error scenario: When trying to install security updates during installation, after having used multiple CD-ROMs, the security updates are impossible to add.

Why: A bug prevents importing the pubkey file containing the GPG signature of the security updates packages.

Solution: Format a floppy disk with a DOS filesystem (in Linux, you can use the command "mkdosfs /dev/fd0"). Copy patch.pl to the floppy disk. Remove the floppy and reboot using the Mandrake Linux 9.2 CD1 to do a CD-ROM installation. During boot, press F1 at the splash screen, then place your floppy disk that contains patch.pl in the floppy drive. At the prompt, type "patch", then follow the installation as usual.

Mandrake Linux 9.2 Usage Notes

 

    * Autofs fails to use automount maps in LDAP

    * New installs of 9.2 on networks with large subnets appear sluggish or instable

    * Problems accessing Windows/Samba shares and printers after an upgrade

    * Problems with OpenLDAP queries after upgrade

    * The KDE desktop doesn't appear for users on desktops using NIS or LDAP for authentication

    * Unable to create a boot floppy from drakfloppy

    * When configuring the sound card, alsaconf doesn't start.

    * When enabling ACPI in kernel (by removing acpi=ht from boot options), the system freezes very early

    * When plugging in a USB webcam (some Philips models, maybe others) the system locks solid

 

Error scenario: Autofs fails to use automount maps in LDAP when running against OpenLDAP 2.1 or later

Why: autofs does not do an LDAPv3 bind and OpenLDAP 2.1.x requires LDAPv3 binds by default.

Solution: Until autofs supports LDAPv3 binds, enable LDAPv2 anonymous binds by adding:

 

allow bind_anon_dn bind_v2

 

to the /etc/openldap/slapd.conf configuration file and restarting the LDAP service.

 

Error scenario: New installations of Mandrake Linux 9.2 on a network with a large subnet (>1000 possible addresses in the subnet) appear sluggish. Additionally, embedded routers connecting 9.2-based machines to large subnets may have stability problems.

Why:The lisa network browsing service is started by default, however the default configuration generated by the init script enables pinging of the network. On networks with a subnet allowing more than 1000 IP addresses, the pinging can cause an overflow of the ARP cache on the machine, and additionally the list service occupies excessive CPU time. Similar effects can be seen on embedded routers that route between a 9.2-based machine running lisa and such a large network. Additionally, the script does not correctly detect when settings have been saved by the KDE Control Center module for lisa, so the settings (which could avoid this) do not take effect. (re: Bugzilla #5244)

Solution: If you do not wish to have network browsing, disable the lisa service using, as root, service lisa stop; chkconfig lisa off or save the updated initscript in /etc/rc.d/init.d and restart the lisa service.

 

Error scenario: Problems accessing Windows/Samba shares and printers after an upgrade to 9.2 from an earlier release

Why: To make provision for users who require samba3 to access Windows 2003 shares and printers, samba and samba3 use alternatives to install unversioned links (ie. /usr/bin/smbclient, /usr/lib/cups/backend/smb) to the versioned binaries (ie. /usr/bin/smbclient2, /usr/lib/cups/backend/smb2) using the alternatives system. However, on a package upgrade, the old unversioned vinaries still exist when the alternatives are updated, so after the removal of the old package the links do not exist. (re: Bugzilla #5889)

Solution: Run the command update-alternatives --auto smbclient as root.

 

Error scenario: After upgrading from a previous release, the LDAP server does not answer queries that used to work, or has problems accepting LDAP modifications from an LDAP master running an older version of OpenLDAP

Why: OpenLDAP 2.1 enforces schema checking by default, and will not answer queries with data that violates any schemas or any of the schema rules.

Solution: Temporarily disable schema checking until you have adjusted any entries in your LDAP database that violate the schema or schema rules. Common problems are the use of the deprecated "account" objectclass, LDAP entries with multiple structural objectclasses, or entries that lack a structural objectclass. Schema checking can be disabled by adding:

 

schemacheck off

 

to the /etc/openldap/slapd.conf configuration file and restarting the LDAP service.

 

Error scenario: [/bThe KDE desktop does not appear for users on desktops using network authentication systems (NIS and LDAP)

Why: KDE is unable to resolve the user id to the username with the time required, and is unable to start kdesktop. (re: Bugzilla #4882)

Solution: Install and start the nscd service (urpmi nscd; service nscd start) and make it start at boot (chkconfig nscd on).

 

Error scenario: When creating a boot floppy from drakfloppy, it fails with an error message from mkbootdisk indicating that there is not enough disk space on the floppy.

Why: The kernel is too big so it cannot fit with the initrd and the boot loader on a 1.44MB floppy disk.

Solution: Use either fdformat or superformat on the command line (you may need to install the fdutils package for the latter) to format your floppy to a bigger format such as 1.7MB.

 

Error scenario: When configuring your sound card, alsaconf does not start but instead prints an error message such as "Error, dialog or whiptail not found".

Why: The alsautils package should have required newt or cdialog, because alsaconf needs one of them, but it does not. These packages are only installed when one chooses gdm as the display manager instead of the default kdm. (re: Bugzilla #6039)

Solution: Install either cdialog (urpmi cdialog) or newt (urpmi newt).

 

Error scenario: When enabling ACPI in the kernel (by removing acpi=ht from the kernel boot options), the system freezes very early

Why: There seems to be a bad interaction with Local APIC, which is enabled by default in the kernel. This can be seen by adding vga=0 to try to see the last kernel message before it locks solid (a message like "Looking for DSDT in initrd... not found"). This seems to happen with certain HP laptops. Other reports also indicate that if you remove AC power from a laptop (ie. Dell latitude C640; possibly others) it will freeze requiring a power off. (re: Bugzilla #5821)

Solution: Add "nolapic" to the kernel boot options to resolve both issues.

 

Error scenario: When plugging in a USB webcam (some Philips models, maybe others) the system locks solid

Why: There is a kernel bug when auto-loading the snd-usb-audio module.

Solution: Upgrade to kernel 2.4.22-18mdk in updates (MDKA-2003:020)

[fuzzylizard 0]

High quality release!!! No, Mandrake didn't rush this release out the door, not at all.

 

Everyone in favour of a 6 month release cycle, please raise your hands and get ready to screw up your computers.

[Ixthusdan 3]

The humour is that, like the 8.1 release, the final is so disastorous compared to the release candidates! It's amazing! :lol:

[gabbman 0]

Wonder how many impatient bittorent user's that are NOT club members are quietly shopping for new hard drives. :lol:

[johnnyv 0]

The 6 month release is not so much the problem as the obvious lack of QA testing.

 

There should have been at least two more rc releases by the look of things.

[fuzzylizard 0]

please delete....nothing important said here.....move along, nothing to see here

[tyme 0]

yadda yadda

 

6 month release cycle is how they do it. they've done it well before, they just didn't this time. they are also in a bit of a financial pickle, and as such may have rushed it because they need the income.

 

things break. this is life. no release is perfect.

 

deal.

 

 

now, since this thread is here to help people read errata's and solve their problems, let's not get into an arguement about the release cycle or Mandrake SA's short-comings. if you want to do that, go find one of the other hundreds of threads about it...let's stick to the errata posted in here please.

[Guest anon]

now, since this thread is here to help people read errata's and solve their problems, let's not get into an arguement about the release cycle or Mandrake SA's short-comings.  if you want to do that, go find one of the other hundreds of threads about it...let's stick to the errata posted in here please.

 

Thanks Mr tyme. :)

[tyme 0]

Thanks Mr tyme. :)

My pleasure almighty admin anon ;-)

[ral 0]

Wonder how many impatient bittorent user's that are NOT club members are quietly shopping for new hard drives.

 

I dont udnerstand this one. Is there also a risk to your hard drive?

[gabbman 0]

Is there also a risk to your hard drive?

No, not mine, I didn't bittorent the 9.2 to find out, but lots of other's did :wink: And as we all know, the bittorent links were for the CLUB Members only. :lol:

 

The RC2 urpmi to 9.2 scared me (remembering the 8.1 horor).

[sud_crow 0]

Anyone knows if they are going to release an updated ISOs set for download??

 

 

<flame>

Crap, i already had this kinda of upsets with 9.1, this is a freakin deja vú!

 

I wont download 400mb in updates Mandrake.. are you hearing me?? i wont!

</flame>

[tyme 0]

*ahem*

now, since this thread is here to help people read errata's and solve their problems, let's not get into an arguement about the release cycle or Mandrake SA's short-comings.  if you want to do that, go find one of the other hundreds of threads about it...let's stick to the errata posted in here please.

[sud_crow 0]

just to notice:

 

im not really flaming, it was a humorous comment thats why i got it between the <>.

 

 

but i asked something involved with the thread i think, i asked if they are going to update the ISOs or we will have to download the updates after the 3cds set with all the bugs. isnt that a "legal question"??

[aRTee 0]

Well, I for one will happily download and install the new kernel to fix the webcam stuff.

 

I used a workaround until now: I added snd-audio-usb (or something, forgot exact word) to /etc/blacklist, so that the system would not hang with the webcam attached; it worked but: I got an artsd server error upon logon with kde, and (not sure yet if it is related) mplayer doesn't work anymore. (Xine does work fine, but for various reasons, I need mplayer.)

 

Other than that, for me 9.2 is fine, looks better just after install than any linux I ever tried.

I configged everything, except cd-burning (heard some have probs there, will find out tonight).

 

In some cases you can say: they have too short a release cycle, or didn't fix enough beta/rc bugs. I just think they are at least 20 people short in their tech workforce, and the same number in marketing.....

 

And to say that the rc's were ever better: not really, there very few people actually really use it, compared to the final.