installation issues Was: (no subject)

[Edward Croft]

On Fri, 2004-03-12 at 07:51, Pettersson wrote:
> I wonder if someone has got the following problem before and if
> someone has got a clue to what the problem is. Even qualified guesses
> are welcome as long as they are labeled as such.
> 
> I tried to install Fedora Core 1.0 from CD on the following system:
> (The self test of the CD:s pass and another person has installed from
> the same CD:s earlier)
> 
> Motherboard:       Shuttle MK40VN KM400 (Sound and VGA included)
> CPU:                  Athlon XP2200+
> RAM:                 Selectra DDR SDRAM 512 Mb 400Mhz/ 16-ship 
> 
> The system is not and has not been overclocked. The memtest86 program
> included in the distribution finds no errors.
> 
> Each installation process ends in one of the following ways:
> 
> 1.If memtest86 has not been run and graphic install is choosen the
> program fails with either Kernal Panic or pointer error early in the
> install process. It happens at some different points when choosing
> install language, mouse keyboard and languages.
> 
> 2. If memtest86 has been run, (just startet and stopped workes) or if
> textbased install is choosen, the program runs until the packages are
> installed. The installation then stops at a random point with a fatal
> error and claims that there are either a media error, hardware error
> or insufficient space on the harddrive. The last is obviously false
> since root partition "/" is 8Gb and /usr/local partition 8Gb.

I have had problems with installs also. What I found was that if you do
the CD test on just the first CD, the rest goes through without a hitch.
If you skip testing the first disk, then something doesn't get set up
correctly and the install fails everytime. So, I have just been testing
the first disk on every install. A nuisance when you know the disks are
fine, but anything that works. 

Also a side note, I have been installing on refurb Dell Dimension 4600.
The onboard Intel video was only allowing 640x480, no matter what I
tried. I had scrounged some old video cards to get the earlier ones
going. However, yesterday, I found that these machines were defaulting
to 1mb video rather than the 8mb video in the bios. I made the change in
the bios and now get better video. Kind of dumb that it defaulted to
1mb, but hey, now that I know. If I had time, I would find out why the
onboard sound doesn't work, but I have a slew of old SB and Turtle Beach
cards, so I just slap one of those in. 


-- 
Edward M. Croft
Sr. Systems Engineer
Open Ratings, Inc.
200 West Street
Waltham, MA 02451-1121