Sorry for the length here, but here goes...

Let me preface this question with a disclaimer that I am relatively new to Linux and Mandrake, but I have been able to get the 9.2 distribution installed and running on three of my computers here at home without too much trouble. One is my "test case" machine (an old 400MHz Celeron-based system); the other two are the systems we use on a daily basis. All of these systems dual-boot with Windows XP (or Windows ME, in the case of the older system).

I see this morning that Mandrake announced the availability of a new version of the kernel (this is my first post, so I guess I can't include the URL).

This past weekend, I spent some time trying to get all of the various updates/patches to the original 9.2 installed and had only mixed success, particularly when it came to updating the kernel. I followed the instructions from the Mandrake site on futzing with lilo.conf so that I could fall back to the -10mdk kernel from the original distribution. On my test case system, the update went fine and it seems to work OK (although I lost the ability to talk to my WinModem on that system, but I am not too worried about that -- should just be a matter of finding the updated package for it again, much as I had to following the original install).

The second machine was a different story. I had all of the updates installed (except the kernel installed) -- everything OK so far. After installing the new version of the kernel (-26mdk), it no longer booted with the blue screen telling me to hit 'Esc' to see verbose mode -- just a plain black screen with white text. That by itself, while disconcerting, wasn't a big deal (although my "test case" system still boots with the blue screen even under the -26mdk kernel oddly). I noticed throughout the boot process, though, that something was throwing errors reading:

ldm_validate_partition_table(): Disk read failed

(or something like that). 8 to 10 of those kept showing up everytime I booted, at various places in the boot process. I have searched and seen several mentions of both of these items (the black screen boot mode and the ldm_ errors), but no real indication of what might cause them and how to resolve them. I also ran into the problem that the nVidia drivers package doesn't have pre-compiled support for that version of the kernel. Rebooting under my old kernel worked OK, but then when I went into X, something had clobbered several items on the KDE menu and the font settings were goofed up (Konquerer had a wierd comic book style bold italics font all of a sudden).

Given all of those things, I decided I would start over. I dropped the Linux partitions, and re-installed from scratch, installed the nVidia drivers, installed and configured GuardDog, etc. (I have done this so many times, that I can do all of that in under 20 minutes start-to-finish, which I can't imagine with any version of Windows!).

With that as background, is there anyone who can shed some light on the ldm_ and black screen boot issues I ran into, and whether I am likely to encounter those if I try to install the latest kernel? I haven't had to take the step yet of letting nVidia compile the drivers for a new version of the kernel yet, but if this new version of the kernel doesn't seem to have problems on boot, I guess I could figure that out too (from what I have read, it doesn't sound too painful).

Any light some of you could shed on this experience would be great, and much appreciated!

--
Ron Stewart

Hey, I cant help with the black boot screen. But as far as upgrading kernels, after a fresh install, I usually install whichever kernel Im going to use, either the updated mandrake kernel, or the mulitmedia kernel from contrib. The mulitmedia may not have all the security patches of the others, but it has the low latency patch, a pre-emptive patch, ect that are supposedly useful for gaming and sound apps.

Only after installing the kernel, Im going to use, do i then, install the Nvidia drivers and my winmodem driver (older free conexant driver). The Nvidia installer will tell me that no precompiled modules are available for the kernel and ask if I wanna go to nvidia and look for one. I say no (no net connection yet), and it will compile one and install it. I do this at runlevel 3 without x running.

Im not worried about seeing all the boot stuff scrolling by. And as for the ldm thing errors, it shouldnt affect your system any. I think its a bug or something in some kernels.

Hope this helps a bit.

BTW, although it always keeps the old kernel, I never use it and always set the mulitmedia kernel or whichever new kernel as default in lilo. You can easily do this in the mandrake control center or kde control center. Be sure to boot to whichever kernel you will be using as your main kernel when you install the drivers.

Im sure there are ways to have two kernels with separate modules, but I dont know how to do it. The above method always works for me..