ok this is NOT funny whats up?
 

Right today I bought and installed a new DVD drive and a new HDD. Guess what?

I put in the first Fedora Core 3 DVD from Linux Format mag and it failed the test CD media, I then tried the Fedora Core 3 from Linux user and developer mag and again it failed the test. I then tried to install without testing and got all the way through the setup screens then the dam thing fell over AGAIN! what 2 f is the problem with Linux when I used it several years ago it always woprked on low spec machines no problem the only real problem then was getting X to work but installing the base was easy NOT NOW (se my other posts to follow this saga). It is looking more and more like MS is wining hands down. Come on folks restore my faith.

Sounds as if you may have a hardware prob, maybe the controller, power supply or cable is faulty. I've used the same Fedora core 3 from Linux Format as your self and all works fine on my acer 290 laptop. It dual boots with win XP fine. I've also got a p3 800 with Xp and SuSE and SuSE runs much nicer that XP although I have some install dir setting probs at the mo with SuSE and being a noob its not a quick fix.

I'll have to agree that at the mo Windows is winning in the 'just works out of the box' stakes but then alomost all hardware vendors target windows.

I had a while ago a HD that started to fail on my desktop system. I got a new one and that started to do the same, I change the cable as it still went funny. I got the supplier to change it thinking the new HD I brought was bad no joy, turned out the ageing power supply was faulty. Just an idea.

OK I have a new hard drive fitted, this worked 100% with windows XP pro i deleted it and installed it in the Linux (joke) machine. If I try and partition the drive I can no problem, reboot and the partitions are there BUT

when I again try and activate and inital the partition it gets to inode table 55 and stops dead, this has done this now on 3 different drives all different makes sizes it STOPS at 55 inodes and hangs.

Has anyone any ideas at all please. this has screwed up my holiday plans for sure.

Well if it failed the media test, don't you think it will fail to install? Sometimes the cd's and dvd's that come with magazines turn out to be bad. Have you tried another distro that you know has good media?
So we blame linux because you might have 2 bad dvd's? I don't get it.:scratch:

No have a look at my other postings NOT 2 but 9 BAD distros and several from mags and one from a computer store all failed at some point the problems are LINUX related in as much as they refuse to work with any hardware I have even the machine that has in the past run Red Hat 6 wont work with any of the current software.

OK can someone answer this.

Why when using any of difedistros of Linux when trying to format 4 different hard drives of different make and size do they ALL stop when creating the inode tables at 55 every time. I have used two different BIOS versions in two different machines.

Partition magic says it has created and formated the partitions but Linux wont use them. WHY?

That don't sound good, sorry no idea. I've always let the installers set up the partitions and format the drives i've never tried to do it my self. For instance my laptop had two partitions on the one and only drive. The first fat32 for XP and the second fat32 and unused. I deleted the second partition in windows so it became unused space. Then when the Fedora core 3 installer ran up I told it to use the free unpartitioned space on the drive and set it up they way it wants to. Your get an option to do it your self but I was not that brave. Maybe there is something about the partitioning that needs to be done. Need an expert to answer.

if every user got 9 straight distros that failed to even install, it seems that either this site wouldn't exist, or that it and the mailing lists and other forums would be flooded with posts on how to get the install to run.

as neither are true, it seems logical that the problem is a hardware one at your end, in the source of the distros you're using, or in some procedure you are performing.

IT IS A HARDWARE problem feck I know that what I want to know is

1. why with every distro and three machines 4 hard drives ande two bios I get the formating stop STOP at 55 inod blocks on each combination.

NONE of the ISO I burn to CDs with different cd isos and all with 100% MD5 checksums do I get a crroupt file in around the same area of the disto look at my other postings in the past two days and you will see what I am up against.

If it is ONLY hardware then WHY WHY WHY does Dos install and run and windows 95 and XP Pro all install and run with NO problem. Can Linux be that far behind its driver base? This is a common standard machine and two others are running beside me for the past 3 years all running Windows without fault with the same hardware spec. I thought the idea behind Linux was to have somthing that ran on less powerful memory hungry systems that MS hoged.

help us help you by posting the hardware you have: maybe someone will recognise something that won't work and be buggy.
One to throw up there for sure is your graphics card. (everything key to running:
motherboard, harddrive, cd rom, monitor, CPU, memory etc)
Also the version of Linux you are trying to install. With my Mandrake 10 install I had to put the CD in the second CD drive so that it would pick up... then install progressed normaly.

Hope this helps.

titanium_geek

Don't know if it would help but if it were me I would download the drive manufacturer's hd util and llf (write zero's to) the drive. I have seen some strange behavior over the years when using a linux partioning prog to clean up after an ms partition prog and vice versa. XP has a protected boot partition doesn't it? (Never used xp, only 9x) Could be the partitioning has gotten into a non standard state. That it fails when trying to access what is probably the same sector on the drive each time makes me think partioning. That or a hardware failure. Maybe ide chipset driver, but not likely.