After several successful installs on a box running at 333Mhz
I am having problems putting 9.1 onto a box running at 1.4Ghz.
The X system doesn't load and I get the following error msgs.
"ldm_validate_partion_table ()isk read failed." The same
shows up for "fmldm and iedldm". On logout the log shows
"xinetd failure". Since I cant get the GUI to work, all is on a
command line basis which I'm weak in. Any one with any
suggestions would be greatly received.

Thanks.

Perhaps you need a driver for your video card?

# Configuring X
Linux Hardware Compatibility HOWTO - video cards
The Linux XFree86 HOWTO
Common X configuring tools:
Debian - dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86
Mandrake - XFdrake
Redhat 7.3 down - the setup utility leads to several config tools
Redhat 7.3 up - redhat-config-xfree86
You may have these tools:
XF86Setup
XFree86 -configure
Xconfigurator
xf86cfg
xf86config
xconf
ATI Linux drivers
If you need the nVidia driver page. most likely, you want the Linux IA32 driver

# Mandrake links
Mandrake home page
Mandrake Users website
Easy urpmi config for Mandrake
urpmi mini-HOWTO
Easy software management: Red Carpet
Maximum RPM
rpmfind
You didn't install the developmental packages? As root, command:
urpmi gcc
Install Midnight Commander by commanding:
urpmi mc

Thanks for the quick reply. About the time I had my reply to yours
my ISP went down. The xinetd problem was due to not having a
disk in my zip250. The summary box shows proper detection of
my video card and monitor and is shown at /etc/X11/X86Conf. I
loaded mandrake 9.0 on this box and had no problems with the
x system, so there must be some thing in 9.1 that has changed.
Thanks for your inputs. Cheers

A few possibilities for you to check out:

In the installation, did you test the video-monitor configuration? If you did, you can have reasonable confidence that the video card and monitor setup is not the problem.

In the installation, did you partition your drive, format your partitions and did you use expert or normal mode? I used expert mode and formatted the partitions as I created them. After selecting 'Done', I was presented with a window showing some of the partitions being selected for formatting. I found that if I didn't select them all, then the installation would proceed OK but fail at the first attempt to boot the new system.

Did you select 'install' or choose to 'upgrade' 9.0? If the latter, maybe there's some leftover parts of 9.0 interfering with your system. On many forums I have seen very consistent advice to avoid the 'upgrade' method.

Hope this helps,
Geoff.

Thanks Geoff, I did the partitioning myself, first go around, then
did the auto partition next install, both times formatting all. I did
the test on the video/monitor and hung up the install. I would
get the small box asking "is this correct-yes or no" and a time-out
which would keep cycling regardless of the choosen answer.
I'm going thru the /var/log/messages presently looking for a
clue. Strange that 9.0 (new install) has no problem. Thanks Geoff.
cheers.

The problem can't be in the x system as I swapped monitors with
the 333Mhz box. Same problem..... This is a message displayed
at the end of the x start effort. "Mandrake Linux release 9.1
(Bamboo) for i586. Kernel 2.4.21-0.13 on an i686 /tty1." Does
anyone know if a distribution is sensitive to the type of box it
is installed on? If so is there a patch available? Thanks. Cheers

After more thought, I installed requesting Gnome x start up
rather than KDE, and had no problems. Many of the config
functions hung up and Gnome in general is the lesser of the
2 GUIs in my opinion. Now the question is, why Gnome will
load and KDE will not? Again thanks for any and all inputs
to resolve this glitch. Cheers

From your post yesterday describing how you hung up the install by doing the video-monitor test, I would suspect that the video driver selected during the installation is not right for your video card. If it was OK, the test would complete and you could continue with the install. I would go with fancypiper's suggestion of searching for a compatible driver for your video card. That seems to be the common factor in all your problems. Changing the monitor doesn't rule out the X system as the problem, because the video card is still there, and could still be causing the problem with the different monitor. Although what you have shown is that the problem's unlikely to be with the monitor.

Some valuable installation tips from Mandrake Linux Tips 4 Free here:

http://www.mandrake.tips.4.free.fr/install.html

particularly those concerning configuring the BIOS before the install. The Plug N Play OS and Shadow Video BIOS settings could be contributing to the problems you're having.

I agree the problem is the video card (SiS305) but what gets me is I just installed ML 9.0 on this box and it runs perfectly. what is
the change between 9.0 and 9.1 that doesn't accept this card. 9.0 used XFree86 4.2.1 where as 9.1 uses XFree 4.3 could be it. I
don't know if 9.1 gives one a choice of x systems. Any idea where
I might find a Linux driver for SiS305. I checked the BIOS settings as you suggested Geoff, ok there. Thanks again, we'll
keep digging. Cheers

Hi,

Did you get any advances related to this problem? I seem to be in the same situation, and I would appreciate if you could relate any news on the subject.

Thanks in advance

Regards,