I tried to install Debian 3 at my pc, and while it worked, it only installed the basic system.
When it goes trying to install the "everyday-use" packages it cames with this message:
When I do it try again, followed by messages complaining that NPTL needs kernel 2.6, that I should
upgrade before updatting glic, how use apt to do it tec. And then goes back to:
"Some error ocurred etc"



The second problem is that my largest partition /dev/hda5,
which is working with xfs was not detected, there is nothing in fstab. And this is my biggest problem,
because I have vital data there and I ain't able to acess it no matter what,
as I describe more detailed in final part of my message.



The third prolem is that, despite what the debian installer tells me,
are sympton of a much more deeper and serious issue.
This Debian installation is my fourth and only slightly well suceed installation of a distro.
It al begain when I was rebooting my ubuntu installation to change some video setings,
when it corrupted the xfs file-ssytem and forced me install it again.
Since I don't have the Ubuntu cd into my hands, I tried other distributions:

Mandrake 9: It installed but comes with [quote] Error 28: Selected item cannot fir into memory[/quote
when I try to boot it up

Slax: Hangs up at the line Kubuntu: All the lines appears when I try to boot up from the cd
The last line is the only that shows up when I try to install Kubuntu.


Anyone has any idea abot what can be going on? I need to urgently find a way to acess the partition not detected.

Thnaks for the help

Welcome to the forums!

The first thing I would do in your situation is to rescue your "vital data." Do not proceed any further until you have a safe backup copy of this data on an external hard drive, network storage, CD-ROM, etc. You said Ubuntu runs well on your hardware and can access the XFS partition, correct? If so, you can burn an Ubuntu Live CD and use it to copy the data from your hard drive to an external drive. (An alternate strategy is to physically move your hard drive to a spare drive bay in a different computer.)

Once your data is safely backed up, we can try to figure out why so many Linux distros fail to install on your hardware. Please post as many details as possible about your hardware configuration: CPU, RAM, video card, etc.

Also, Debian is an excellent distro, but the 3.0 release is very outdated. All support ended years ago, and it is unlikely you will have a satisfactory experience. You can obtain the latest Debian release from debian.org.

Download newer versions all of the ones you tried are very old.

Debian:
http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/...86-netinst.iso
Appendix*A.*Installation Howto http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apa

Kubuntu:
http://releases.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/l...sktop-i386.iso
GraphicalInstall/Kubuntu - Community Ubuntu Documentation
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gr...nstall/Kubuntu

Mandriva:
http://www2.mandriva.com/downloads/d...pring-dual.iso
Installing Mandriva Linux - Mandriva Community Wiki
http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Docs/Ins...Mandriva_Linux

No, Kubuntu doesn't boot up or install.

Is an Athlon XP on Asus an266vn using the integrated geforce2 on an ide hard-drive with 512mb of ram.

I don't have a cd recorder to use newer distros like you both said imediatelly. That is why I would prefer using these that I already have. Anyway, I can get new distros using a cd-recorder from pcs of my colleage, I will try tomorrow two different distros, but keep in mind that The Kubuntu that I tested is the latest version

Edited: I just find out that xfs was not supported in debian woody. I will see if there is way to upgrade the current capped installation so that I don not have to grab another distro

Woody? You have to be joking that came out in 2002 and Sarge was released in 2005.

If you are trying to install anything before Lenny you are going to have issues, plus they are no longer supported.

I know Etch has security issues, Sarge and Woody probably have giant holes in them by now.

If you can't burn a new CD, you can try a live USB thumb drive:

http://pendrivelinux.com
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net

Or, you can order a Live CD from an online vendor, or buy a Linux magazine at your local news stand. You could even remove the hard drive and move it to a different computer with a spare IDE bay.

I repeat my earlier suggestion that recovering your data should be first priority. A few suggestions for Live recovery tools:

http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page
http://clonezilla.org/
http://www.knoppix.net/

Once your data is recovered, you can distro-shop without fear.