Hi everyone, happy to have found this site. I'm new to Linux and was hoping to install Mandrake 9.1 today (alongside Win XP). I downloaded the ISO's (md5's check out ok) and burned them to CDs. When I boot off CD #1 it doesn't get very far at all. After less than 1 minute there is an error message:

"error in exec of stage 2; trying to execute /usr/bin/runinstall2; no such file or directory."

My system setup is as follows:

60 Gb drive with 2 partitions
Windows XP on C:, Data on D: (tons of free space on both)
AMD 2200 with Gigabyte 7VAXP motherboard
no floppy drive

I'm pretty frustrated and am not getting a great first impression of Linux, so if anyone has any suggestions I'd greatly appreciate it! I tried to post in Mandrake's forums but they wouldn't allow a post without joining the MandrakeClub, which I'm not about to join unless I can get this thing installed!

Thanks!

Mark

Don't know if it matters, but I have a Lite-On 48X CDRW drive.

Well if you're 100% sure your md5sum are correct, try to burn another CD1 (you burned ISO and not copied the file, did you ?)

Maybe you can swap with another CDROM drive ? There's not that many google answers to your problem (can you read indy or russian, could not identify the language...). The only relevant answer either point to bad ISO (md5sum bad) or not supported cdrom...

Otherwise, give a try in the following week to Mandrake 9.2rc3 (could be final, available soon if the initial planning is respected).

Good luck

Mandrake 9.1 installation can be a bit buggy depending on your hardware setup. If you're running more than 1GB RAM for instance there are different ways to go about initiating installation without hitting snags (such as typing "linux vga=0" or "mem=786M" or "expert noauto").. etc..

Heh. can't say I blame you for being upset some about a failed installation, but keep at it - you'll be amazed at home much you learn by asking funny/strange/straight forward/awkward questions.. and searching stuff on your own.

Keep in mind a couple of things:
-- EACH linux installation is different! (I mean between different users).
-- YOUR linux installation will be tailor-made for YOUR machine!

... unlike Windows, for instance. Microsoft leaves so many options available without user input (assuming that's what the user would want) that this practice creates serious security holes in your OS and thus are more vulnerable to viruses, worms, hacks, crashes, unsightly blemishes, etc..


Ok, after all that - your installation problem. Could you give more details about your machine (include mouse type - USB,etc.. - ram amount, etc)? There are some quarky things about each distribution regarding installations. In some cases the problems are easy to identify straight from seeing what hardware it is that someone's running, other times it could be some strange bug. But still it's best practice to give as much detail as possible before trying to fix a problem - otherwise you may get so many different answers that you'll get even more frustrated..

Hey guys, thanks for the info. I burned another copy of the CD at 4x speed and it worked fine, so it must have been a bad CD. I need some suggestions for partitioning my drive for Linux, but I've posted another thread for this question!

Thanks,
Mark