booting stopped Live Slackware v15 on old pc

xiongnu · 06-11-2022, 11:35 PM

hi, i'm trying to boot Slackware 15 Live on usb thumbdrive for an old pc with AMD64 processor and nvidia 6800gt card.

Code:

erdos@16big:~$ 
erdos@16big:~$ lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation NV43 [GeForce 6600 GT] (rev a2)
erdos@16big:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor	: 0
vendor_id	: AuthenticAMD
cpu family	: 15
model		: 12
model name	: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3000+
stepping	: 0
microcode	: 0x3a
cpu MHz		: 2009.735
cache size	: 512 KB
fdiv_bug	: no
hlt_bug		: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 1
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 syscall nx mmxext lm 3dnowext 3dnow up vmmcall
bogomips	: 4019.47
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts fid vid ttp

The boot process repeatedly freezes at
....
snd_intel8x0 0000:00:06:0: intel8x0_measure_ac97_clock: measured 51435 usecs(2528 samples)
snd_intel18x0 0000:00:06:0: clocking to 46877
...

not sure what it means and how to get pass it? any advice?

henca · 06-12-2022, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xiongnu

hi, i'm trying to boot Slackware 15 Live on usb thumbdrive for an old pc with AMD64 processor and nvidia 6800gt card.

The boot process repeatedly freezes at
....
snd_intel8x0 0000:00:06:0: intel8x0_measure_ac97_clock: measured 51435 usecs(2528 samples)
snd_intel18x0 0000:00:06:0: clocking to 46877
...

not sure what it means and how to get pass it? any advice?

Those last messages are about your sound card, but maybe the boot passed your soundcard and instead hangs on the next step.

If you are lucky, the system will boot better if you remove or disable the sound card. However, my first guess when trying to boot a live system on an old PC is that the old PC does not have enough RAM.

regards Henrik

hazel · 06-12-2022, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by henca

However, my first guess when trying to boot a live system on an old PC is that the old PC does not have enough RAM.

You may well be right. The next step after registering the sound card is adding the swap partition.

tauon · 06-13-2022, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by henca

Those last messages are about your sound card, but maybe the boot passed your soundcard and instead hangs on the next step.

If you are lucky, the system will boot better if you remove or disable the sound card. However, my first guess when trying to boot a live system on an old PC is that the old PC does not have enough RAM.

regards Henrik

Without X Slackware 15 should run just fine on 512M, maybe on even less RAM (I didn't it try though). On that old machines though swap is almost obligatory.

Anyway, for such age PCs maxing RAM isn't a problem.

henca · 06-13-2022, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tauon

Without X Slackware 15 should run just fine on 512M, maybe on even less RAM (I didn't it try though). On that old machines though swap is almost obligatory.

Yes, it is possible to run a real Slackware installation with low RAM. However, on a live system you do not have any swap and usually also need a lot of RAM as some of the OS lives in a RAM disk.

regards Henrik