Hi,

I've just today installed Mandrake 10.1 (the Mini version) and already I've come across a problem that pretty much stops me dead in my tracks. I installed LILO onto the MBR and it gives me four options:
linux
linuxfb (or something similar)
failsafe
windows

Now, Windows loads perfectly fine, I get errors with the other three though. Loading Linux seems to work at the beginning but after the loading bar is finished, I get a black screen with lots of pixels up at the top (all different colours). Loading the other two is just a command-line interface but they both freeze on the line:
ACPI: IRQ SCI: Edge set to Level Trigger

I'm assuming, with the problem loading the first Linux, that it must be something graphical. If you need to know, I'm running an Acer 3201XCi laptop, Centrino 1.5GHz, Mobility Radeon 9700. If there's anything else you need to know, tell me and I'll post it here.
Any help with this would be appreciated, though.

Clazzy

These options are for:

linux --> You should use this to load mandrake unless somethings is very wrong in your system and you can´t use this
failsafe --> This is equivalent of the "Secure load" on windows

To start with you should not use the Mini Version. This version is very hard for someone new to Linux to install in case something goes wrong. You should go to Mandrake site and Download the 3 CD Images for Mandriva Limited Edition 2005 and burn them.

Yes, this is probably a monitor configuration problem. On the install screen you may need to try different monitor configurations. You mayl need to look at your notebook user manual to know at witch refresh rate it runs (usually 50-60Hz). Try setting your monitor for 800x600, the problem could be a too high resolution. Try using the same configuration you use on Windows, this works most of the time. On windows this info is under "Control Panel" -> "System" or something similar.

Felipe

Well thank you for such a quick reply. I'm downloading the full installation now. As for the possible graphics problem, I think I used the correct settings. By default, it gave me a flatscreen at 1024x768 but no refresh rate settings (which should be at 100Hz, I checked). Perhaps I picked the wrong settings. Once I've downloaded the full version and installed it, I'll post my results.

Clazzy

I finally got it working today! Thank you very much for all of your help, now if only it would let me upgrade to the latest version of Firefox in it...

I´ll tell you what every person that has never used Mandrake before should know.

1 -> To upgrade your software and / or install new packages you need to configure a program called urpmi. To configure this program you should type "Easy URPMI" on Google and follow the instructions on the easy urpmi site (http://urpmi.notix.net/ is one of the easy urpmi sites).

To configure urpmi you must be root, so enter the terminal and type:

su
--> your password

urpmi.removemedia cdrom1 cdrom2 cdrom3 (I use this to install stuff from the only from the internet, not from the cds, because the stuff on the internet is newer)

Now type the commands the easy urpmi website have you

2 -> To install your programs you should Click the Menu button (right botton part of the screen, similtar to "start" button) ---> Configurations ---> Software

There are some options here:

Review installed programs
Install new programs
Uninstall programs
and some other, may correspond to the correct text because my Mandrake is in portuguese

Using this menu you can install / uninstall software using a very easy graphical interface.

3 --> Remove the "update" button on the system tray. That button will ask you to pay mandriva some money to update your system, but you don´t need that, because you correctly configured urpmi

4 --> To answer your doubt, now that you configured urpmi you can go Menu --> Configure ---> Software ---> Install new software

And then look for the firefox or mozilla-firefox and install that. It should upgrade your firefox. You can use that screen to update many other programs.

Felipe

I seemed to do this without actually visiting the URPMI site. I was just browsing through the menus and found the 'Configure your computer' option, whereit allowed me to update everything. It was a big 486MB update, but at no point did I go to the URPMI site. Thank you anyway.

Its still worth your time, to go to the urpmi site, because you get the option to configure more repositories that include packages that were not shipped on the installation disks.

Clazzy

I have exactly the same problem on my Acer 3201XCi with Mandrake 10.1. You said you got it working, but how ?

I'd really appreciate it if you could post a few pointers.

thanks

F.