Clean Linux install problems
So far it's not going too well. I've tried a couple of distros and variants. Here is what I've been doing so far... Fedora 8 installed but froze severely on the post boot load (I saw grub). CentOS installed didn't like my existing user drive. Then I tried four types of Ubuntu (the current Gutsy). The regular Ubuntu and Kubuntu froze while trying to run /etc/rc.local. I spent the entire afternoon and evening trying the Ubuntu alternate. It installed but when it was time for the reboot (default option) it froze at the same location as the live CDs. I was able to get into recovery mode without any problems. After disabling a whole bunch of power management, bluetooth, and laptop stuff (even so it was still convinced my mini-tower is drawing power from a battery) I was able to get to a user account text prompt. Now I'll admit I prefer text mode but some of the things I do require a GUI. Since I have a working Mac I was not in much of a panic. From Google I found there may be a little trouble with the Radeon 7000 video card (go figure...). I saved the old xorg.conf and replaced it with one which was working with the Gutsy Beta. It then complained about no device. I fiddled around with it a little more and got to the point where it complained about no screens. After merging the two files it ended up at the point where it said it found screens but none were usable. By this time the Kubuntu alternate was down and burned. I installed it and it looks like it's going to be more of the same. I figure I have a reasonable number of options at this point. - Ask the group here for advice (I may ask again on Tuesday). - Go back to the Gutsy Beta. Possibly update from there. - Go back to Feisty. - Go back to FC 2 (I dislike anything newer in this distro). - Install Free BSD. Has anybody had this problem and fixed it? Is there anything I have missed? I gather there are problems with the update from previous installs as well. Here is some info on the setup. Plenty of hard drive and RAM. An Athlon 1800XP+ processor. An OEM ATI Radeon 7000 video card. All this stuff was working with older installs. This is mostly a workstation dual booting into Windows ME on the same drive (only for games). The sole user account is on a separate (larger) hard drive so I'm not really worried about things messing up too badly. Obviously I wouldn't want a solution which would take over the entire system. I'd better stop now otherwise I'd end up writing a whole lot more. ;-) Later Mike
Just to be on the safe side I'd run some diagnostics on it starting with memtest. If I was having those kinds of problems the first thing I would suspect is faulty hardware. The only thing that makes me doubt it is that you have been running other OSs on this system with no problems. John
On Dec 7, 2007 9:10 AM, John Lange <john.lange@open-it.ca> wrote:
Just to be on the safe side I'd run some diagnostics on it starting with memtest.
Worth a try... It runs as long as I let it. Is 10 minutes enough?
If I was having those kinds of problems the first thing I would suspect is faulty hardware. The only thing that makes me doubt it is that you have been running other OSs on this system with no problems.
Windows runs fine as long as it's not allowed to connect to the net. Yesterday morning I was running the Gutsy beta. Oddly enough Edgy was a problem too but Feisty wasn't.
John
Later Mike
On 2007-12-07 11:09, Mike Pfaiffer wrote:
On Dec 7, 2007 9:10 AM, John Lange <john.lange@open-it.ca> wrote:
Just to be on the safe side I'd run some diagnostics on it starting with memtest.
Worth a try... It runs as long as I let it. Is 10 minutes enough?
I'd let it run overnight. A 10-minute run is not long enough if you've got an intermittent error that only shows up sometimes. -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil@cs.umanitoba.ca> Dept. of Computer Science Web: http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~gedetil/ University of Manitoba Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R3T 2N2 Fax: (204)474-7609
On Dec 7, 2007 12:25 PM, Gilbert E. Detillieux <gedetil@cs.umanitoba.ca> wrote:
On 2007-12-07 11:09, Mike Pfaiffer wrote:
On Dec 7, 2007 9:10 AM, John Lange <john.lange@open-it.ca> wrote:
Just to be on the safe side I'd run some diagnostics on it starting with memtest.
Worth a try... It runs as long as I let it. Is 10 minutes enough?
I'd let it run overnight. A 10-minute run is not long enough if you've got an intermittent error that only shows up sometimes.
Again, worth a try. In the meantime I'm reinstalling the Gutsy beta. It seems to be going in from the live CD fine. I'll try updating from there.
-- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil@cs.umanitoba.ca> Dept. of Computer Science Web: http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~gedetil/ University of Manitoba Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R3T 2N2 Fax: (204)474-7609
Later Mike
Gilbert E. Detillieux wrote:
On 2007-12-07 11:09, Mike Pfaiffer wrote:
On Dec 7, 2007 9:10 AM, John Lange <john.lange@open-it.ca> wrote:
Just to be on the safe side I'd run some diagnostics on it starting with memtest.
Worth a try... It runs as long as I let it. Is 10 minutes enough?
I'd let it run overnight. A 10-minute run is not long enough if you've got an intermittent error that only shows up sometimes.
Two full cycles and part of a third. No errors. I reinstalled the Gutsy beta. The updates break some of the old applets but for the most part I'm back where I was. The upgrade process to the full Gutsy produces the same results as before. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend Tuesdays meeting. It's one I really wanted to see too. Yet another death in the family. It's been a rough year. Please express my regrets. I anticipate attending in January. Later Mike
On Fri, 2007-12-07 at 11:09 -0600, Mike Pfaiffer wrote:
On Dec 7, 2007 9:10 AM, John Lange <john.lange@open-it.ca> wrote:
Just to be on the safe side I'd run some diagnostics on it starting with memtest.
Worth a try... It runs as long as I let it. Is 10 minutes enough?
Let it go for at least a full pass which will be way longer than 10 minutes. If you are having sporadic crashing in all OSes then it's a hardware problem for sure. John
On Dec 7, 2007 3:22 PM, John Lange <john.lange@open-it.ca> wrote:
On Fri, 2007-12-07 at 11:09 -0600, Mike Pfaiffer wrote:
On Dec 7, 2007 9:10 AM, John Lange <john.lange@open-it.ca> wrote:
Just to be on the safe side I'd run some diagnostics on it starting with memtest.
Worth a try... It runs as long as I let it. Is 10 minutes enough?
Let it go for at least a full pass which will be way longer than 10 minutes.
I can do that tonight.
If you are having sporadic crashing in all OSes then it's a hardware problem for sure.
Just in the new installs of Ubuntu and Fedora. I reinstalled Kubuntu Gutsy beta and things were working again until I tried to do an apt-get dist-upgrade. Then it was the same problem all over again. Freezes on /etc/rc.local. Even redoing the power management, bluetooth, etc. didn't work this time. Maybe I should stick with the beta until Hardy comes out.
John
Later Mike
OK, I'm trying to locate something along the line of what Yahoo Groups uses, where members can choose to access the group be either email or Web. Web posting get emailed to those that have requested it in their profile, and their responses get posted to the forums for those that choose not to use email. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful. I've had no luck finding anything as of yet. Of course, preference would be something that's as simple to set up as phpbb, php-fusion, etc.... Thanks.....
participants (4)
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Gilbert E. Detillieux -
John Lange -
Mike Pfaiffer -
Raymond J. Henry