Mandrake Install Locks Up

[Paleo Pete]

OK, I give up...I've tried to install Mandrake 8.1 four times, it just locked up during the installation for the fourth time. No particular point in the installation, I can't think of any reason, so I thought I'd go fishing for some ideas.

The machine is a P-233MMX, VA 502 motherboard (FIC), 2.8GB hda, 1.2GB hdb, 128MB PC 100 RAM, S3 Trio 64 PCI video, Sound Blaster 16, network card (not installed until this last attempt), 33.6 Gateway2000 Telepath II modem.

I'm trying to set this thing up as as a server, I think I have the partitions right, Win98 installed great last time on the exact same system, and never had any problems with it. All hardware is known good components, memory could be going flaky but I'm not sure yet.

I set the root partition small, around 250MB, that should be more than enough, from what I've read. /usr is the rest of the 2.8 GB drive. I'll have to restart the installation to ge tthe rest of the sizes, it's too late to think and I want to let it sit there for a while and see if it breaks out of it, though I doubt it.

Any more info that might be needed I'll try to supply it, just ask. I'm stumped, it should have plenty hard drive space, 875MB or so of over 2GB was needed, everything else seems ok...any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Gallaeglagh]

Wow Pete I don't think I ever seen you ask a question here. The software you're using was it downloaded or store purchased. If it was a downloaded version sometimes they're incomplete. I know the download sites I've seen in the past make a big deal of the md5? files that check for completeness.

[john5211]

Hi Pete,

Could you post some details about where the crashes occurred (and of course, were there any messages or did things just stop)? How far did the installer always get (i.e. were you always able to set up the partitions, etc.).

The two things I could think of off the top of my head:

1) Could have something to do with the Mandrake partitioning tool. I have seen anecdotal evidence that the Mandrake partitioning tool can cause problems (see threads here and elsewhere re Mandrake and Partition Magic). If this really is a problem, then using a boot floppy (or booting from the Linux CD into rescue mode) to start things and then doing the partitions manually with fdisk could solve it.

2) CD-Rom problems. Assuming that the installation media is ok, there might be a problem with the IDE CD-Rom. Is it the master on it's own channel? (If not I would probably change things so that it installs like that, you can always change it back later). I once had a problem with a Linux installation where it would just randomly freeze during CD-Rom reads. It resolved itself after I made sure the CD-Rom was on it's own IDE channel (although it might just have been the cables being jiggled around...).

Good Luck,

John

[Paleo Pete]

Thanks for the effort so far, but no cigar...

In answer to John's questions:

CD ROM is IDE and Master on secondary channel, no other drive on that channel. CD ROM seems to be working fine, although I might try another one.

Lockups occur at random times during the install, after partitioning, that part goes ok. It locks up while installing applications. The lockup while I posted my question was while it tried to install Mozilla. Other times it was during installation of different apps.

No error messages, it just stops. No mouse, no keyboard, hard drive and CD ROM LEDs both lit nonstop. [Ctrl] [Alt] [Del] does nothing, have to shut power off to do anything. It's a store bought installation CD. (I have a burned copy, but with access to the retail version I decided to use it instead). It boots from the CD ROM fine, sets up everything and starts installing applications, then at some point locks up with no error messages and for no apparent reason.

Gallaeglagh Yeah, I've posted a question or three from time to time, but not often, I can usually dig up a solution somewhere or other...but now and then I stumble upon something that stumps me, and if I weren't willing to admit that I wouldn't be a decent technician...

I'll try a different CD ROM and different memory, see if either makes any difference, meanwhile any other ideas or suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks guys...

Oh, I also tried twice after posting this, it froze both times while looking for applications to install. I re-started the install and removed partitions, then shut down, and will start over fresh later today.

[john5211]

Hi Pete,

To me, it sounds like random CD-Rom read errors. Other than trying alternate drives and media, you might want to try to install from your second hard disk. To do this, create a partition (prefferably ext2) on the second hard drive large enough to hold the contents of the first two CD-Roms in the distribution. Then, copy all the files from the first two CD-Roms to the hard drive. Next, burn a boot floppy and use it to start the installation (just so the CD-Rom never has to be involved, you will be able to tell the installer where to look for the files).

After the installation is complete you can delete the files on the second hard drive and rearrainge your partitions to include that space.

Good Luck,

John

[Paleo Pete]

It LIVES!!

Well, after about 8 tries, I finally got it to finish the install. I'm not sure why it was locking up, could have been CD ROM but I really don't have a clue. I did try another CD ROM, it locked up just the same. I cleaned it, still locked up at random points during the installation. The last two times it locked up trying to install Star Office, so I pared it down to the minimum applications I thought might work and figured maybe I could install others later. It finally worked.

I rebooted into Mandrake yesterday about 2PM, it's been up and running ever since, rebooted once about an hour later.

I decided to forego the dual boot situation and just installed Mandrake, and added a hard drive to the setup. It now has a 2.8GB primary master, 4.3GB primary slave, and 6.4GB secondary slave with CD ROM as secondary master. (I can't translate all the Linux drive assignments yet, still learning...)

This machine is intended to be a server for the network here at the shop, and provide the Internet connection for all machines. (About 5 or 6 to start with, have a 16 port switch.)

Now...My next issue is drivers for a Boca Research M56IV Tidalwave 56K (hardware) modem. I haven't installed it yet, I have a Gateway 2000 Telepath II 33.6 modem in it now, which Mandrake sems to think is busy. It wasn't intedned to be the modem the machine will use, but I wanted one to tinker with until I pull the Boca out of this machine.

Also...I've been mentioning "the shop" now and then...I have moved to Leesville, La. to set up a computer repair shop, we'll be officially opening this coming Monday. I'm working with another forums user, andyswork. So far it's looking pretty good, we think we have a chance at building up a successful shop before long. Still getting the building fixed up, and computers built for business use, and network set up. An Internet cafe is planned for the near future too.

So...that's the current situation, the installation problem has been resolved...or at least worked around...now I have to figure out how to use the thing and find out if the Boca will work under Linux...

Oh...I also set it up so only I have access to the root account, and so far am the only user account set up. I suppose Andy will have a user account available later, but I stay Admin. Part of the 6.4GB drive is set up with FAT32, hopefully to use as file storage for Windows based machines on the network. I'm not sure how that will work, but figured it was worth a try...

Anyone have any ideas on drivers for the Boca modem, or whether it will work? Also how to install drivers, I'm clueless. According to this Linux Compatibility List (http://www.lanpol.waw.pl/sprzet/modem.-8.spis.o2.html) the Boca M56IV is listed, but the Boca Research link is dead, Zoom has purchased Boca and so far I'm not sure if they still post drivers for it.

I checked the Zoom site last night, but due to a very sore neck that HURTS after a while, (had a crick in my neck a couple days ago) I had to give it up...will check again later.

Expect more questions...I'm a complete noob to this...:P...and I have to get this thing set up as a server... :eek:

[YODA74]

http://www.bocaresearch.com/support/drivers.html

[Paleo Pete]

Yoda: Thanks, nice try but no cigar...that's the page I finally located a while back to get my current Windows driver for this modem, but no Linux drivers are listed, so it's back to searching...all the drivers on that page are for Windows systems.

[YODA74]

never mind ........

Is this serial.Or PNP....Internal external?

I will find these drivers If it kills me

http://www.modem-help.co.uk/chips/conacf10.html#linux

Boca listed part the way down ??

Gotta be a way to make the drivers work even if you click on linux drivers it takes you to where the windows driver are so they must work.

Never mind takes you back to the same place we've been

[john5211]

Hi Pete,

Congratulations on the move to LA and the new shop.

What is the chipset of the modem? Have you actually installed it into the machine yet? Mandrake (and most current flavors of Linux) has a feature to automatically detect new hardware, so it *might* configure itself after the first boot. However, hardware detection in Linux is substantially worse than in Windows, so there is a good chance that it might not work. Even if it doesn't, though, you will probably have a 'configure modem' program somewhere in your configuration menues; it is probably prefferable to try this before you try manual installation options.

In almost all cases, if it is a hardware modem, then you don't need a driver (they are, after all, controlerless from a software standpoint) and it is a matter of getting things configured. You might want to read the Modem HOWTO (http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Modem-HOWTO.html) for more configuration advice.

Good Luck,

John

PS - I was a little unclear, did you say that you were always logged on as root? This is kind of a bad idea. What people usually try to do is log on as a user, and then from a console window within X, use the 'su' command to switch to the superuser (just a little safer)

[Paleo Pete]

Can't get the page to open, I'll have to try later. Thanks a lot for the effort Yoda, it is definitely appreciated. I'll find it sooner or later, just haven't had a lot of time the past couple of days, been really busy.

The modem has not been installed yet, as usual I'm trying to be on the safe side and find out all I can before jumping into it. I don't have the chipset number written down right now, and it's in this machine. I thought I had the ATI6 response written down, but don't, I'll have to try and remember it tomorrow before I log onto the net. It is a hardware modem. So far I've been searching by using the model number, Boca Research M56IV. I'll try the chipset soon as I get the ATI6 response or open the case and look. Might just bite the bullet...pop it in, drop back 20 and punt, but I'd rather be fairly sure it will work first...

No, I'm not always logged on as root, I log on as paleopete, (user) root requires a different password, I'm the only person who has that password. This is intended to be a server, security will be tight...which is why I opted to set it up with separate user and admin accounts. Any time I try to access options that require root level access, I have to enter the appropriate password, so I'm assuming it's set up the way I want it. Users can set their own desktops, etc, but cannot open the Mandrake Control Panel and so forth.

It's also not connected to a network yet, I want to be sure everything is working right before I turn it loose as server...might even set up a 2 machine test network for a day or two and check it out a bit further.

Thanks for the help so far, as I said before I'm a complete noob to Linux, but learning fast...it's kinda like learning to drive in a tandem trailer Kenworth and barely able to reach the pedals... :eek:

[Paleo Pete]

Yoda: Finally managed to get the site to open this morning, been there, done that...I've scoured that site a several times hoping I missed it the first couple of times...hehe...They list Linux drivers for Dynalink and Com One, I found another page on the same site that lists one for Askey or maybe it was Aopen...but no Boca...that's the other page I found that had win98 drivers for this modem, the link goes to the same page you posted above. Windows drivers there, but that's all. Thanks for all the effort, I searched for several days trying to find win98 drivers for this thing...the two pages you posted were the only ones that had it. I've gone through over 150 pages of Google results this morning, nothing for Linux yet.

ATI6 response: RCV56DPF L8570A Rev 47.12/47.12

ATI3: K56_V.2.060-K56_2M_DLP

It's a V.90 modem, Rockwell chipset, I think the ATI6 response is the same as the chipset number. RCV56DPF/SF I think is the whole number.

I'm going to keep looking, but I might have to just put the thing in and hope for the best...This modem drove me crazy trying to find Windows drivers, but once I found them it turned out to be the only modem I've tried that actually got decent 56K or close connections in Texas, the best any of the other 3 I used got was 28,800 on a good day and that was about once a month...including two 56K modems, a Jaton and an Aopen.

The Boca consistently got 44,000-46,000 connections and speed test pages said it was actually performing at around 38,000 or so. That's great when the typical 26,400 connections I got before were actually performing at about 19,200...That's why I'd like to ge this thing working in the Linux machine, I get better connections here too. Tried a 33.6 modem in another shop machine I just built, it gets 26,400 every time, same 33.6 modem I used in Lufkin just before getting this one. (Gateway Telepath II 33.6, USR hardware modem.) It performs here about the same, 19,200 or so.

Thanks again for all the help, this modem has always given me fits trying to locate drivers, but once I get it up and running it performs great, so I'd really like to get it working in the server...which by the way is up and running and still doing great.

I've been looking around a lot, made almost no changes except for setting desktop appearance, and played a couple of simple games, mostly learning my way around. Same as I did with Windows I've looked at a lot of configuration screens but made/saved no changes, just looking to find out what it will do and how to do it...It's been running since 2PM the day I posted that it was up and going, I've rebooted twice, once that day, once last night. Still solid as far as I can tell...A bit on the sluggish side, being a 233, but I expected that, seems a tad faster than win98 but I'm not certain, not much though...I'm happy with it so far...

[john5211]

Hi Pete,

Is the modem an ISA modem? If so, I think I found it on this (http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/20020815a.html) list (search for Tidalwave). But it doesn't matter (I didn't realize that it was an ISA modem). Once you know for sure that it is a hardware modem (which all ISA modem are AFAIK), stop looking for drivers, because you're not likely to find any.

Hardware modems are controlled by the chip on the modem, and don't need help from the CPU, so unless the modem does 'extra' stuff, it doesn't need drivers (at least not in Linux). That's the good news. The bad news is that ISA modems are sometimes difficult to get working with Linux (although this may have changed in the last couple of years).

Anyway, if you have a chance then review the Modem HOWTO (url above, at least look at section 5 for the general steps you will need to take). By the way, thanks for elaborating your system set up; the root priveleges are, of course, set up correctly.

John

[Paleo Pete]

Well, now that I've figured out a bit more about how to read the compatibility charts it looks like this modem is supported, so I might be in good shape. I've been hoping it would since it's gotten me the best connection speeds in two different locations.

It is a hardware based ISA modem, and thanks john but I already know the difference between hardware and software modems. (I won't touch winmodems) Being ISA might make things a bit more difficult under Linux, I guess I'll find out...

I'll be swapping it in the next day or two and hope for the best, maybe I'll get lucky and Mandrake will pick it up without any problems...

Which brings me to my next question, which probably should be a different thread, or this one will turn into a book... :D

Thanks for all the help folks, I really appreciate it. I never did figure out why it was locking up during the installation, but I finally got it to finish and it seems to be working fine so far.

I've noticed a time or two I try to type in a password and nothing happens, it doesn't show up and gives me a wrong password error, that's the only problem I've seen so far. Usually everything works fine except GL games, I don't think my video card supports OpenGL so that makes sense. No biggie...I'm not a big time gamer anyway, the simple stuff is fine with me...This is not a game machine anyway, it's a server and usually will sit there untouched except when necessary.