sarge netinst reinstall problem

I've installed Debian sarge using netinst.
Installation went well and finally I had dual-boot system with Debian next to WinXP.
But, the installer didn't configure my crt resolution appropriattly (couldn't be higher then 800x600 - on a 19 inch Samsung monitor), and the keyboard layout was also wrong.
After trying to correct the above problems without success, I've decided to try reinstalling (hey it was so easy the first time...).

Well, this was a bad decision :-(
Since than I've rebooted and installed about a hundred times, always to be stuck on the same stage.
The installation is going well and finally I'm asked to reboot and load Debian to continue installation proccess. After rebooting, setting up root and user password, and configuring apt, it's time to select what I want to download and install (e.g. desktop environment) - this is where it fails. After ftp source is selected and tested (with success), and I select packages, a message appears saying that due to unknown problems or lack of space (this is not the problem in my case) installation can't be proceeded. It never gets even to downloading.

Remember this is occurring only after trying to reinstall!

Any ideas?
Thanks.

Hi,

You're not alone...
I installed Sarge Test from the netinst iso at the weekend and everything worked fine..after a few days of tinkering I felt everything was stable enough to install on my second identical server (Both Sun Cobalt LX50). Get to the screen to choose my applications, select 'graphical desktops' and 'manual package selection' , screen goes blank, a few lines of text, the last line is something like 'preparing task descriptions ... Done' . Then some errors appear for about a tenth of a second, too quick to read and I get the unkown error screen..
So I foolishly tried the install on the server that correctly installed at the weekend and the same happened.

I can only assume that the packages that it's downloading as part of the install have changed over the last few days to introduce this problem??

Let me know if you find an answer Yotamk.

I'm not happy... things were going so well

cheers

Steve

The Sarge installer is still under quite heavy evolution and it might not function correctly. You coue ld hit Ctrl+Alt+F2 through F6 to get other screens (logging mostly) but also a real shell where you can check if the network is up and running and so on.

If you're considering Sarge I strongly suggest you take a close look at Ubuntu Linux. It is a Debian distribution geared towards a modern desktop. The current 4.10 release ships with kernel 2.6.8.1 and Gnome 2.8.1. It works really well for me, especially after having added some unofficial apt repositories to my sources.list (Christian Marillat's Mplayer and DVD apps, for instance).


Håkan

Thanks Håkan,

The network is working as I'm running the small 30mb iso which downloads most of the base system from debian or mirrors.
I understand what you're saying about sarge being a test system.. i like to be as up to date as possible although this time it's backfired

As for Ubuntu, I agree, its great. I'm completely new to this and Ubuntu was the only distro that correctly identified my wirless card. The only problem was it's lack of support for the PHP4-IMAP package. I need this as the server will evenutally be running eGroupWare which is a php based groupware app. I know I dont really need a desktop for a server but it's helping me to understand the layout of the filesystem, configuration, and I just feel more comfortable dropping into a terminal window to do my work.

Having dropped out of the installer I'm now faced with a login prompt....I'm currently gritting my teeth and preparing to set things up manually...I may be some time.

thanks

Steve.

Originally posted by z3steve Hi, You're not alone... I installed Sarge Test from the netinst iso at the weekend and everything worked fine..after a few days of tinkering I felt everything was stable enough to install on my second identical server (Both Sun Cobalt LX50). Get to the screen to choose my applications, select 'graphical desktops' and 'manual package selection' , screen goes blank, a few lines of text, the last line is something like 'preparing task descriptions ... Done' . Then some errors appear for about a tenth of a second, too quick to read and I get the unkown error screen.. Steve

This weekend it hapenned to me also, on a friend's installation. He chose to do a default installation, he just pressed Enter at the prompt, At the package selection item, we went down the list and chose to manually install the packages, hit Enter, and gave me an error, chose Dsktop Environment did it again, gave me the error but this time, it took me to the main menu, I skipped installing the packages, and did that later after the installation, with apt-get.

I speculate the devs are changing things and fixing bugs.

well I've tracked down the error from one of the log files:


"Unmet Dependencies:

libreadline-common: Conflicts: libreadline4 (<4.3-13) but 4.3-11 is to be installed"

Then basically says it's unable to resolve the broken packages and gives up
.

so I guess it's best to wait a while and try in a day or two...or manually setup your system

Steve

No no! Wait! There is still hope! Heh.

A friend and myself have installed sarge on two different machines in the last 36 hours, and we had the exact same problem. Here is what you can do to be up and running!

Go ahead and finish up installation without the packages - as long as your network was configured, you are good to go.

The installation will end, and you will be given a log-in prompt. Login with root, and do the following:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get install x-window-system
apt-get install kde (or your xserver of choice)
apt-get upgrade

Now then, after all of this you should be good to go. Just startx and you'll be up and running! It's worked for me twice - I hope it does the same for you.

Thanks guys, It's good to know I'm not alone...

Since posting I to have tried skipping package installation and began doing it with aptitude. aptitude lets you select common tasks like installing desktop environment, web server and other stuff. It began downloading right away. Didn't have time to complete the task (just wanted to know that it works), but I hope it will do the trick ;-)

Got this idea while reading posts on this forum. A good place for Linux education.