AC 3 install failures - AlphaStation 400 4/233 (Avanti); PWS500au

[Jay Estabrook]

On Sat, Mar 10, 2007 at 11:40:08PM -0500, Ken Raeburn wrote:
>
> AC3 came out just in time for me to be reinstalling a couple of the  
> test machines at work.
> 
> Unlike the Debian (3.1r2) install CD, which seems to stop at starting  
> the kernel (though I don't have a serial line connected), the AC3  
> install CD actually booted up on an old AlphaStation 400 and put  
> stuff on the screen.  However, it's not quite what I was hoping to  
> see... after booting up, loading drivers, and letting it check CD 1  
> and find it okay (or, in another attempt, skipping that step), I got:
> 
> Running anaconda, the Alpha Core system installer - please wait...
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "/usr/bin/anaconda", line 892, in ?
>     forceVesa=forcevesa)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rhpxl/xserver.py", line 79,  
> in probeHW
>     forceVesa=forceVesa)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rhpxl/videocard.py", line  
> 288, in __init__
>     xdrv_parts = string.split(card.xdriver, "#")
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.4/string.py", line 292, in split
>     return s.split(sep, maxsplit)
> AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'split'
> install exited abnormally
> sending termination signals...done
> [etc]
> 
> Without digging out the code, I'm guessing this means:
>  - The video card (labeled PBXGA, which I assume is whatever DEC  
> shipped with these things) isn't recognized for some reason.
>  - The script doesn't cope with not recognizing the video card.

PBXGA is original TGA; it is supported in console text mode under AC3
because the kernel TGA driver has been fixed. However, there's no
current TGA driver for X11, which I think is the cause of the failure.

> Booting up in text mode (aboot option 2 instead of 0) doesn't make  
> any difference.  I haven't tried using a serial console.

Yeah, stupid "snake" won't take "no graphics" for an answer... :-(

If possible, replace the TGA card with something like Matrox
Millennium or Permedia-2 based card (S3 Trio64 is not recommended,
though it'd prolly work to get it past the anaconda problem and stay
in text mode).

> On another machine (PWS500au, only 128M RAM) it started up okay, but  
> when it got to "Installation Starting" ("Starting install process.   
> This may take several minutes..."), it crunched for a while,  
> displayed "install exited abnormally", and went through the same  
> shutdown sequence.  No messages were displayed about why it exited,  
> and root/install.log is empty.

Dunno about this one - 128MB is pretty minimal these days, so it could
be running out of space; try more memory if you've got it...

Good luck.

 --Jay++

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Jay A Estabrook                            HPTC - XC I & B
Hewlett-Packard Company - ZKO1-3/D-B.8     (603) 884-0301
110 Spit Brook Road, Nashua NH 03062       Jay.Estabrook at hp.com
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