This is a copy of a post i made in the fedoraforum.org
Hoping to get help here.



Install problems.

I've always used Windows and thought I should try out Fedora Linux but the Install stalls while booting up the FC6 installcd. (The same happens with FC5).
(md5sum match)

HW_specs:
Motherboard: ASUS A7V8X ViaKT400 DDR 400 Chipset
Harddrives: 2 Harddrives 80Gb & 120GB
CPU: AMD Athlon XP2700+ 2,1Ghz
RAM: 2x twinMOS 512 ddr-dimm pc2700 333mhz
GPU: ATI Radeon X1600PRO 256MB DDR2 AGP 8.x
Soundcard: Soundblaster Live! 5.1
Network card: 10/100 inbuilt
Powersupply: 360W

I just installed a new graphic-card and formated both harddrives. Now I'm trying to install FC6 but while loading linux core and starting up the install the installer freezes.

Here are some info from the install screen.


[install dialouge][Alt-F1]

loading vmlinuz.........
loading initrd.img..............
.................................................. ...

---------------------------
------------and so on----
--------------------------
Greetings.
anaconda installer init version 11.1.1.13 starting
mounting /proc filesystem...done
creating /dev filesystem...done
mounting /dev/pts (unix 98pty) filesystem...done
mounting /sys filesystem...done
trying to remount root filesystem read write...done
mounting /tmp as ramfs...done
running install.-..
running /sbin/loader

<here it stalls>



[install logg][Alt-F3]

Info:---------------------------
Info:------------and so on----
Info:---------------------------
Info: Inserted /tmp/loop.ko
Warning: failed to insert module (19) (my floppydrive is not working, but that can't
Error: failed to insert tmp/floppy.ko be the main problem)
Info: inserted /tmp/edd.ko
Info:---------------------------
Info:------------and so on----
Info:---------------------------
Info: loaded cdrom from /modules/modules.cgz
Info: loaded ide-cd from /modules/modules.cgz
Info: inserted /tmp/cdrom.ko

<here it stalls>


[System Logg][Alt-F4]

<6>lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
<6>IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling driver
<6>ide-cd: cmd 0x5a timed out
<4>hdc: lost interrupt
<6>ide-cd:imd 0x5a timed out
<4>hdc: lost interrupt
<6>ATAPI 48X CD-ROM CD-R/RW drive 1984kB Cache UDMA(33)
<6>Uniform CD-Rom driver Revision: 3.20
<4>hdc: lost interrupt
<6>ide-cd: cmd 0x3 timed out
-------------------------------------------
---------and so on----------------------
-------------------------------------------
<6> ide-cd: cmd 0x5a timed out.
-------------------------------------------
---------and so on----------------------
-------------------------------------------
<6>hdd: Atapi 24xDVD-Rom drive 512kB Cache, DMA
<4>hdd: Lost interrupt

<same errors looping>


(same happens when running in text mode)

It looks like the installer looses contact with the cd-rom...

Anyone know what to do?

Try typing the following when the menu screen is displayed; linux noapic ide=nodma

Thanks to you Lenard my install is up and running!
linux noapic ide=nodma solved the problem

Your welcome, glad to help.

Well now I got another problem...

Installing FC6 with : linux noapic ide=nodma

Trying to start up Fedora but the screen resolution is outside my screens maximum.
My machine is working but I get an error on the screen saying
"Out of range: H: 90.1KHz, V: 60.6KHz, Max: 1280 x 1024"

Is there a command that forces linux to start up in lowresolution or something?

Know what to do?

From the start (booting into Linux) or after the GUI Log on manager starts??
What does your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file look like??

From the start (booting into linux)

Since I'm totaly new to Linux, I dont know how to view my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.
How can I access the distribution from boot?
Could you describe this in detail?

You said from the start, does the grub splash screen display correctly?? This is the very first screen shown after the system BIOS screens. The one that says something like Loading Linux in so many seconds (a countdown).

You view the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file just like you do in Windows if you have a working GUI interface, if not then you can use the command; cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | less (gives you one screens worth of information at a time).

Try the following;

When the Grub splash screen is displayed press any key
Select the Linux boot choice and press the 'e' key.
Select the line that beings with kernel and remove the rhgb an the space just after
At the ned of the line add a space followed by the number three (3).
When done press the 'Enter' key followed by the 'b' key

Examples first with the rhgb in the kernel line;

kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18.1 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet

with rhgb removed and the number 3 added;

kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18.1 ro root=LABEL=/ quiet 3


You should see a bunch of messages scrolling the screen, and a response with a green [OK] on many of them. If yes, then you can fix this very quickly to do this everything the system boots into Linux.

Browsed around on different wiki. FAQ and Forums for some hours and found out about the level 3 boot.
(after installing FC6 once more, switching RAMM's and so forth).

"kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18.1 noapic ide=nodma 3" (or something)

Anyway, now I am able to logg in to Root and edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

This page was very usefull:
(http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=83973)

But I really don't know what to change...

Searched some forums, faq's, and wiki's, and found out about the 3lvl boot and figured out how to
edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file with
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

It looks like the file is missing alot of information about the video/monitor specs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#Xorg configuration created by pyxf86config

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
Input Device "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

-----blablalba----
---don't remember---
---blabla----
EndSection


Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "Vesa"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubsection
EndSection

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I see the driver is set to Vesa... is this good or not?

The vesa driver is OK to use, it is a fallback video driver used when the graphics interface cannot be determined. Since your graphics card is an ATI Radeon X1600PRO may I suggest;

http://ati.amd.com/products/catalyst/linux.html
http://zod.freshrpms.net/rpm.html?id=666

And you are correct a lot of information is missing from the xorg.conf file, mainly because FC6 does not support for your ATI Radeon graphics card. Try the drivers from the freshrpms site above first.

How do I run the install from the cd?

http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/sho...ighlight=range

Read this guide, but:

su -
rpm -Uhv http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-6.rpm (<-- this was how far I got..)
yum install kmod-fglrx xorg-x11-drv-fglrx
yum update kmod-fglrx xorg-x11-drv-fglrx
service ati-fglrx restart
ati-fglrx-config-display enable

I will assume that you could not install the rpm and had to download and copy the rpm file to CD. Your CD drive should be listed in /etc/fstab file to check where type the command; cat /etc/fstab

Sample results(just for the CD device);

So as root mount the device; mount /media/cdrecorder
Then install the rpm file, maybe something like;

rpm -Uvh /media/cdrecorder/livna-release-6.rpm

Then go on to the next step.

Ok, will try to install the ATI drivers tomorrow evening!
Will post how it went then!

I cant find my cd players listed in /etc/fstab.

Maybe noapic ide=nodma has something to do with it?