Wierd Linux Install Problem
 

Ok I got to the mandriva free install screen where it said Hit Enter to install or upgrade and F1 to see more options the minuute I hit Enter to install My computer Reboots and this happens everytime with every linux distrobution,I did a google search and couldnt find anything

describe your computer's hardware and what existing software is installed and disk partitions & filesystems in these partitions... what other OS is installed...

details will help...

Well ok Ive Got a Compaq With An Hewlett Packard Bios and Window is installed but in the calss I took about linux at the communtiy college all they told us to do before installation was go and change boot device priority and change cd rom to 1st and I did then when I get to The Mandriva Setup screen and hit enter boom machine restarts
and like I said this is with all linux distros I have ever tried to use

does this computer have Windows 2000 or Windows XP? with a NTFS filesystem?, you may need to use a disk partitioning tool to re-size the disk partition and create a swap and native Linux disk partitions before booting up the Linux CDs and starting the instalation...

just an educated guess, although it could be an OEM problem with that particular brand and model of computer being it is a Compaq with an HP BIOS upgrade...

being you are going to college i suggest you look in to the computer science class for some help locally...

Thats The Thing ,Its not an Old Computer 512 MB of Ram And Windows XP,Maybe I did Something Wrong In the Bios But I doubt it because it
starts the screen and I am Able to select weather I would like to install and once I hit Enter Boom Reboot,and this happens with every kind of bootable linux I have tried(except live CDs),and the funny thing is its not like my computer has a Boot CD problem Because it Boots the Windows XP Pro CD Like A Charm.....

It can't be a boot cd problem if it gets up to the screen asking if you want to install. Press whatever key it requests to check out the advanced options. Try a "failsafe", "vga", "text only" or some other such option. Also, please post make/model of the specific laptop please.

Yah Id did and in mandrake there is an alternative but it seems whereever I go from there the cd reboots and again this is with all linux cd ive tried

Yes it is Windows XP with an NTSF

same prob
 

this is my third post within 5 minutes addressing this same problem in the two other seperate postings. It seems this is a big problem if everyone keeps getting it. I am using a compaq presario 900us notebook. I have a 40 gb internal hard drive, and burned the three iso images to the 3 cdrs as images and at the speed of once 4x and the second time at 8x. however when i put cd2 in first then restart the computer it allows you to then put in cd1 as the correct disks and will start the installation process. so try that. but thats as far as i can get. I also tried using the bootable linlux floppy made with the cdrom.iso image via rawwritewin.exe in the dos utils directory

What About if I only have one disk say ubuntu???I also have a compaq presario SR1010V
not notebook

so let me get this straightin order for me to boot on a sytem that has amazingly standard specifications,im gonna need to get some floppy ,go into some uknown mode,completily kill gui,and do all this other stuff,maybe I should just quit and go back to VMWARE

Okay, I can understand the frustration. Please bear with us, because this is not _that_ common of a concern. I've successfully installed linux on several different brand/make/model laptops from cutting edge to barely cutting it. The fact that it boots up enought to ask if you want to install seems to be the crux of the problem. If you currently have windows installed can you check to see if perhaps the bios has any sort of an update/upgrade. Otherwise, maybe there's something that's unusual about the hardware that works because the hardware vendor supports microsoft but is otherwise undocumented. Can you boot into a live cd (Knoppix/DSL/Ubuntu/Slackware/Etc) and check out/post what 'dmesg' returns?

One other idea is to check out mandriva's website - they've always got a really good compatibility guide per piece of hardware, or barring that, which specific model is it and we can search together?

Again, thanks for your patience, and we'll do our darndest to help you out.

sorry for frustration ,my whole company is switching to linux,and I wanted to be able to use it on my computer....
where exactly would I find this bios update feature

Its not usually a feature on your computer, but a download on the manufacturer's homepage. Since HP purchased Compaq, I'd check out HP.COM and go to support/downloads and select your model. Check to see if there's a download for "bios update". Its usually a small program that is ran from either windows/dos. Check that out and let me know.

yep... same here
 

I had the same problem. the only update for OUR (i have a compaq as well) BIOS is some PHLASH program there, and that didnt correct the problem. After all the trouble i went thru, the downloading time, the burning time, and the waste of CDRs I gave up on Manshitta 2006 and installed Ubuntu 5.10. Lets just say, UBUNTU - 1 iso, 1 cdr, 1 installation, 1 success after another. No probs with it.. well except for actually using it. Since im new to linux, I'm like a 2 yr old on it. have no idea of whats what. but if i were you... give up on mandriva. Something about it that doesnt like Compaq/HP. Probabably because COMPAQ and HP are p.o.s. I cant wait to get a new laptop.

on the other hand if you get mandriva working please let me know. I would love to know what was wrong.