Hi, I'm very new to linux, just trying to install for the first time actually. I'm following what the manual says. I get to the boot screen, and select Installation. The manual says:

"A few seconds after starting the installation, SUSE LINUX loads a minimal Linux system to run the installation procedure. If you enabled ‘Native’ or ‘Verbose’, messages and copyright notices scroll by and, at the end of the loading process, the YaST installation program starts. After a few more seconds, the screen should display the graphical interface."

However, this doesnt happen. A great deal of time passes and the YaST installtion program never comes up. It just stays on the screen that says Initializing Hardware. It says to hit escape for more info, and when I do, i see a command line looking screen that seems to have stopped in its process for some reason. The manual doesnt suggest any reasons for this problem. Can anyone tell me what to do?

Welcome to LQ! Are you installing from the official Suse boxed set, a disc you burned yourself, or via FTP? Can you provide more details about your machine, the media you're using, and what specific messages are being displayed? -- J.W.

its a copy i burned myself, i want to familiarize myself with it before deciding if i want to "officially" switch to it instead of windows. its the 5 cd version of suse linux 9.2. my system is:
amd sempron 2400+
512mb DDR333 Ram
asus A7V8X-MX motherboard
onboard video and sound
40gb and 20gb hard drives (master and slave respectively)
i partitioned both hard drives and formatted them in a linux format instead of NTFS using
partition magic, because i thought maybe thats why installation wasnt working, but it made no difference.
the only other device is a dialup modem that i put in partly for faxing, and partly because i didnt have another PCI slot cover and didnt want a gaping hole in the case.
in the installation process, when i hit ESC to see the details, the following messages look like errors:

dma timeout error
ide: failed opcode was: unknown

both of these errors appear a few times. none of the other message really jump out as error messages.
then the last message is:
>>> SUSE Linux Installation Program v1.7.17 (c) 1996-2004 SUSE LINUX AG <<<
the hard drive activity light is still solid, which at first lead me to think it was doing something. but i waited, and waited, and nothing happened.
any thoughts?

i'd assume that your installing from the boxed set since you have a printed manual. where exactly is it stopping in the command prompt, and how long are you letting it run? sometimes if it's trying to set up a network , and youre not plugged into one, it can take a realllllllly long time to load up. give some more specifics on your hardware, installation media, etc.

edit: sorry, i started typing this before you replied so i guess i assumed wrong

did you check the md5sums? could be a bad burn as well. might wanna try burning slowly onto a cd-rw

Was the source for these CD's an official Suse mirror, or somewhere else? -- J.W.

The source of the CDs was a friend who has it, there's problems with my ISP lately and its much too slow to download myself. I dont really think its a bad burn or something though, and I'd rather not just dismiss it as such without trying to investigate other reasons first. Perhaps I could try burning new copies, just to double check that that's not the issue. In the meantime, any other thoughts?

Also... How do I check the md5sums, as you suggest, Schanker? And, the manual isnt printed, its the PDF downloadable from the SUSE website. But, you might be right about the network issue, i dont have it plugged into a network, so perhaps that is the issue. I only let it run about 15-20 minutes. As I mentioned, the hard drive activity light was solid, so perhaps it WAS trying to do something after all. I just assumed that since the manual said the installation program would start up after "a few seconds" that something was amiss when nothing happened after 20 minutes. I think maybe ill start it going again now and then wait a while longer.

Well, just waiting longer seems to have done the trick haha i guess I'm an impatient fool.
Thanks for the help!
I'll pester you with the next snag I hit (which shouldnt be too long from now haha)