Mandrake 9.2: problem when starting
 

Hello everyone,

I've installed mandrake 9.2 successfully or at least it said I did.
When I rebooted the system and launched linux, the progress bar freezes and when in text mode (that black screen written in white) it says exactly this:
/dec/hdc2 was not clearly unmounted, check forced.
modprobe: modprobe: insmod acm failed
modprobe: modprobe: insmod acm failed
modprobe: modprobe: insmod pwc failed

As you may have understood not only I don't understand a lot about linux (I'm novice) but I don't understand this problem either.

Please, you who have the knowledge, let me benefit from it.

Thanks a lot and cheers.

Hi!

Welcome to the community and sorry that you're having problems.

I'm not a Mandrake user and I can only offer limited help here, but for what it's worth, here I go:

The acm errors refer to usb devices. This is probably not a critical error.

The /dev/hdc error is a bit more interesting. What drive did you install Mandrake on? The "normal" is /dev/hda, though on the computer I'm using now, I have Linux installs on hdc nad hdd and hda and hdb are optical drives. Is this a dual boot machine?

Can you start the Mandrake GUI with the command "startx" without the quotes, of course?

This may be a simple job of editing your /etc/grub.conf file or something more, but I would need a bit more info to really help you. The most likely situation is that during the install process, you gave the installer (remember I'm not a Mandrake user) incorrect information about the bootloader location or the partition information of the OS's if this is a dual boot machine.

With more info, I may be able to give you more help.

HTH,

Jim Dishaw

Hi dishawjp!

Wow! You're asking me great stuff considering I'm totally new to linux...
Actually, I divided my hdd in two parts so I installed Mandrake linux on hdc2 and hdc1 is where Win.... is.
I don't know if that's the "normal" stuff but still it was the default configuration and as I said, I don't understand that much in linux yet.
Thanks for your help. Hope you'll help me more to get linux starting!

Cheers.

Hi Alargeau,

When you installed Mandrake, it should have created three new partitions:

/boot
/
and swap

You have to assure that grub, your bootloader, it pointing to your /boot partition to have it load Linux. This is done by editing your /etc/grub.conf file which is actually a symlink to your /boot/grub.conf file. To do this, you should be able to boot your computer from your first Mandrake disk. Choose "rescue mode."

Once you're booted, use the command:

mount /dev/hdc2 /mnt

then:

cd /mnt/hdc2

then type:

mount

That should list your Linux partitions and show you which is which. Anyway, then type:

cd etc/grub

then:

more grub.conf

Look to see that grub.conf is pointing correctly to your /boot directory. If not, then you will have to edit it (after backing it up with the command "cp grub.conf grub.conf.old) using the command:

vi grub.conf

If you're not familiar with the Linux/UNIX vi editor, do some reading up on it first. It's very powerful and fast, but not very intuitive.

Alternatively, do a reinstall telling it to overwrite all existing Linux installations and partitions and pay very close attention to any questions the installer asks about boot partitions. Also, the installer may give you the option of checking your installation CD's. If you have *any* doubt at all of their integrity, take that option.

Wish I had a better answer for you.

HTH,

Jim Dishaw

Thanks a lot for your answer!
Anyway, I didn't manage to get Mandrake linux work even with your solution. So I installed Aurox linux and it seems to work fine. And I've to say that I didn't change the settings from Mandrake so...
I would' have liked Mandrake because it's a bit easier to use for someone like me, who is totally novice to linux.
I thank you for eveything, maybe some day I'll manage to try Mandrake again. Hope it'll work that time.
Cheers.