Installation problems

cranefly · 08-25-2001, 09:00 AM

Hello All,

I am trying to install RedHat Linux 7 on my PC. I boot up from the CD rom and get the familiar RedHat Linux Welcom screen with the various installation options. However, when I try to install, the installation stops after a minute or so at the following line -

"running/sbin/loader"

- and goes no further. Does anyone have a suggestions?

Thanks

Michael

mcleodnine · 08-25-2001, 10:00 AM

I'm not sure but I think that you can get some clues from the <alt>+<Fn> keys. SuSE installs have it and I _think_ RH does as well. THis will get you to other terminals which usually give some background information on what's going on. <ALT>+<F9> (or <F10>???) should get you a logging window.

Try this and see if you can get more info on the cause of the machine hanging.

A listing of your hardware would help out, too.

linuxcool · 08-25-2001, 11:32 PM

Try here.

Beano · 08-29-2001, 04:43 AM

I want to thank you for that last link. I just got Mandrake 8 this morning and was having that trouble installing. That got me past my first hurdle, I was worried I was going to have to upgrade my HDD. (I'm going to anyway, but I didn't want to have to wait for that before I install)

Thanks again.

linuxcool · 08-29-2001, 05:58 PM

You're welcome Beano.

Beano · 08-30-2001, 05:56 PM

I have another problem now, I edited the file as suggested on that site. Thing is linux still crashes on startup unless I go and manually type "linux ide=nodma" every time because of the hard drive. I put the line in at the start - is that the problem? If not, I don't know what else to do without replacing the HDD.

linuxcool · 08-30-2001, 10:06 PM

According to that site, you're supposed to put a line like /sbin/hdparm -d0 /dev/hdX in your /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file. Replace the X with the correct letter for the drive you're trying to disable the dma for. If it's your hard drive and it's connected as primary master, then X would be a. So, the line would look like this: /sbin/hdparm -d0 /dev/hda

Beano · 09-04-2001, 06:20 AM

Yeah that's what I put in, but it didn't work.

linuxcool · 09-05-2001, 01:33 AM

OK Beano, I think I see the problem, but I don't know if it can be fixed. The problem is is that you need to have the dma turned off when you boot up. The commands that I said you are supposed to use don't get executed until the kernel is up and running. It's too late then.

You can try this, but I have to tell you I've never seen it used before. Try adding this line to your lilo.conf file append="ide=nodma". Then run /sbin/lilo and reboot and hope it works.

One other thing, do you get any error message when you boot up?

Beano · 09-05-2001, 07:12 AM

Thanks for your help. I'll go try that now and post back here when I'm done. I don't think there was an error message, but I'll check it out.

UPDATE - No error message is given. Nothing appears after the mandrake startup menu disappears.

Do you know if I should add that line at the top, bottom or somewhere else?

Beano · 09-05-2001, 07:36 AM

It worked... I added append=" ide=nodma" to each of the 'images' listed in lilo.conf and it now loads up no problem.

Thank you very much you've been a great help.

Now if I can only figure out why my grfx card (4 MB) won't let me display anything more than 640x468 I'm flying LOL. (I think it's the drivers, I'm gunna get a new gfx card anyway)

linuxcool · 09-06-2001, 01:24 AM

You're welcome.

Putting the append in with each kernel image is a good thing to do. That way you know that each image will get that parameter passed to it. It might work if you put it into the global part of lilo.conf, but I'm not certain if it would be applied to all the images.

There is one down side to this and that is you've turned off dma for all your drives. But you probably don't notice any difference.

Good luck on your video.

Beano · 09-06-2001, 04:47 AM

Thanks. I don't have a problem with the lack of DMA for all drives because at the minute I only have one.