Can't install FC4 on a ABS Mayhem F-15 A40 (Turion 64 MT-32) laptop

[Lamont R. Peterson]

On Friday 28 October 2005 10:58pm, Vladimir G. Ivanovic wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I can't get either FC4-i386 or FC4-x86_64 to install on my ABS Mayhem
> F-15 A40 Turion 64 (MT-32) laptop. I get
>
>    VFS: Cannot open root device "NULL"or unknown block(3,2)
>    Please append a correct "root=" boot option.
>
> not far into the boot process.
>
> Usually this kind of error occurs when the correct disk controller
> driver (IDE, SCSI, etc.) for the boot device is not installed. Here
> the boot device would be the CDROM drive which is an IDE device.
>
> I know that the CDROM is found because I get a bunch of boot messages
> listing what devices are found, and hdc is there (and the boot
> sequence does at least start and continue for a little bit, so stuff
> is coming off the CDROM).
>
> Neither the FC4-i386 nor the FC4-X86_64 rescue disks work. They
> exhibit the same behavior as above. The FC3-i386 rescue disk and
> CentOS 4.2 (x86-64) both boot a bit more than the FC4 installs, but
> then pretty quickly the screen goes black and nothing happens.
>
> Gnoppix 0.8 (i386) and Knoppix 3.8 (i386) both boot and run fine.
>
> FreeBSD 6.0-RC1 (amd64) boots and goes into the install process.
>
> And of course, the Windoze XP Home Edition that came with the laptop
> works just fine.
>
> Is there some boot command line voodoo I can use to get the FC4-x86_64
> (or even the FC4-i386) version to boot properly? Is there anything
> else I should do or not do to get the x86_64 install to work?

You're description makes me think that perhaps although the BIOS can read from 
the CD/DVD drive, the kernel on the install media can not.  I have a new SATA 
DVD burner at home that does not yet work under Linux (getting close, 
though).  I was able to use that drive to perform network installations just 
fine.

Try this:  place the CD/DVD iso files in a directory on any web/ftp/nfs server 
you have available.  Then either burn a boot.iso, "dd" the diskboot.img file 
onto a UBS keychain drive, or set up a PXE boot.  Do the network install, it 
should work for you.

Also, I know this is a kinda "duh" suggestion, but did you run sha1sum on your 
CD/DVD image(s)?
-- 
Lamont R. Peterson <lamont at gurulabs.com>
Senior Instructor
Guru Labs, L.C. [ http://www.GuruLabs.com/ ]
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