Hi - I've decided to go with slackware 9.1 for my laptop. I keep getting a fatal error - these are the steps i ran:

reboot
boot from disc 1
enter at boot
enter at keyboard map request (1 for english)
slackware login: enter
root@slackware:/# i type setup, enter
at the linux setup screen, i select package selection, get 'em all (i do need international language support for russian), set target,
ok
surce media - cd/dvd, auto cd detect
/dev/hda
full mode

before i'd get fatal errors, saying several files could not be read... i reburnt the cdrw 3 times... redownloaded slack disc 1 iso... reburnt... now it says (and this is on the disc 1!) "system config and install complete. you may exit setup and reboot with ctrl-alt-delete"

now it reboots but my old OS (mandrake) is still booting. what's the problem? i have XP on my parents' machine and i downloaded md5sum and ran md5sum slackware(filename).iso and it would just freeze and not output anything. help!

thanks for your help

- Jesse

Which partition did you choose to install to? You would normally choose to install to /, which on my system is /dev/hda3 (hda2 is my swap).

i ran cfdisk so it'd take care of the partitioning... there is an automatic partitioner correct? because with my previous linux installs it's always been auto partition, full disk, no dual boot. should i do it manually?

there also is a problem with the fatal errors installing the file, like i said, from the disc... either the source media, the ISO file, or something else prevents the installer from reading the package files.

Shame, it must have been a corrupted iso the first time :~[

It seems you did not choose "mbr" (main boot record) before installing lilo. You will need to boot into Slack from your cdrom by typing:

boot: bare.i root=/dev/hda1 noinitrd ro #this is from disk1 boot message!

replace /dev/hda1 with your root partition, then run "liloconfig" as root and setup lilo again, this time do it in the advanced mode and add mandrake and xp to your lilo configuration. Also make sure to install lilo into the "mbr" this time.

If you had waited for the md5sum to complete you should have found it parsed! :~#

gotcha, thanks. md5sum took a while, but it finally parsed - perfect download. so it ain't the cdrw and the new cdr thats the problem...

did the bare.i command, i believe my hd was hda1, so i ran it as is - outputted some infu, everything looked fine...

'til the end - it says
VFS: Cannot open root devide "hda1" or 03:01
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:01

I'm guessing i need to boot back into mandrake and find out which partition the root disk is at? I'll try to find it out, but if you could - tell me where so i know i'm not lookin in the wrong place.

thanks!

- Jesse

hmm, found out my hd is hdc1... did swap format, full setup, etc. and i still get this message:

"There was a fatal error attempting to install /var/log/mount/slackware/a/cxxlibs-5.1.0-i486-1/tgz. The package may be corrupt, the installation media may be bad, or something else has caused the package to be unstable to be read without error. You may hit enter to continue if you wish, but if this is an important required package then your installation may not work as is."

i'd hit enter, and get the same message over and over for different files. i know it's not the iso file that was corrupt - it's fine according to md5sum. this is my 2nd cd to burn iso 1, so it has to be something else??

ok, got my boot partition, swap, and usr partition set up.

set for full install, right?

slackware installs... prompts for cd2... installs... i do some configurations... asks to reboot (i downloaded 4 ISO's) and it reboots... right into mandrake's lilo. kernel panic, won't boot the OS.

i have a 30 gig hd... i'm thinking, i'll want a partition for /, swap, home, and usr... i want your help - it asks for location of cyclinder, in fdisk, i'd type in n for new, p for primary partition, cylinders 1 as start point, then +1000M for /, +2000M for swap, and the rest of my 30 gig hd for usr. how would you recommend i configure my partition tables, and include /home? i was working purely from educational guesswork... step by step instructions for paritioning to my hd would be great. before i did work on my partition, i checked my old os - mandrake 10 - and i had / = hdc1, 5.8 gb, /swap = hdc5, 494 mb, and /home = hdc6 21 gigs. some say i need a /usr partition?

hmm, strange setup - it looks like your cd is on the "primary master" ide port and your 30gb hard disk is on the "secondary master" ide port.
Try swapping these two around. OR, if I am wrong, tell me in this format where your disk drives are:

ide pri master =
ide pri slave =
ide sec master =
ide sec slave =

partitions =
hdc1 = /
hdc2 = /home
etc.....

(all examples above of course!)

edit: ps.
hda = ide pri master
hdb = ide pri slave
hdc = ide sec master
hdd = ide sec slave

edit 2:
if you swap the disks around you will need to reinstall slack. REMEMBER: lilo -> MBR!

edit 3:
dont worry about dividing up your partitions until you understand what is held in all those partitions. Having said that I do like to at least make a seperate /home partition so that all of my user prefs. are safe

how would i get that info right now? i do not have an OS on my laptop anymore, the mandrake OS is gone. I'm on my parents' desktop in XP right now.

As far as i know, hda has always been my cd drive, and hdc my hard drive.

to my understanding, /usr is where all the files are installed and / is the boot/root partition, with swap as my swap space (which helps run things, like a second RAM in a manner of speaking, correct?)

how would i switch hda/hdc around?

Can you post what your partition table looks like?

I still use fdisk so the steps would be something like.

fdisk /dev/hdc

The prompt say select m for help.

lets do a "p" for print.
>p

please post (retype) the partition layout.

to exit select "q" for quit

>q

Thanks,

markpmc

Did you tried LinFreak!'s suggestion? Did u install into MBR?

Double post

uranologist, I had the same error messages until I turned off dma. When it asks you for special kernal options, try ide=nodma and you may have to disable dma mode in your bios.

most system software is installed to

/bin (binaries)
/lib (libraries files)
/sbin (special? binaries)

all other software goes in

/usr/bin
/usr/lib
/usr/sbin
/usr/share

or

/usr/local/bin
/usr/local/lib
/usr/local/sbin
/usr/local/share

or, with kde and some others

/opt

/boot = kernel
/dev = devices
/etc = 99% of system setup files
/home = all user files and prefs
/mnt = mount-points for devices
/proc = processes (realtime)
/root = roots' home folder
/tmp = temp files
/var = logs and other variable files

swap = hard disk based memory - yup

Quote:

how would i switch hda/hdc around?

Ah, er, i forgot it was a laptop! never tried to swap stuff in a laptop....
It would involve swapping the ide cables connected to your cdrom and hard disk. If you decide to try that then.... good luck!

edit: you're probably better off trying Turbotitans' idea, swapping the cables may have no effect on things anyway

ok - here goes.

turbotitan - will do that if i have problems again after retrying once more.

markpmc - i'm gonna try to reinstall one more time (after you post your comment about what i should do for my partition... when i used partition magic (lost the dics) it was easier for me to set up, but with fdisk i have to type +sizeM or whatever...that confuses me.) before turning off dma like turbotital suggests. right now - "welcome to slackware version 9.1"

boot: enter
loading info...
hda IS cdrom, hdc is hard drive for sure.
enter - select keyboard map
slackware login: typing fdisk...
root@slackware:/# fdisk /dev/hdc
p for print...
Device boot start end blocks id system
/dev/hdc1 1 123 987966 83 linux
/dev/hdc2 124 489 2939895 82 linux swap
/dev/hdc3 490 3648 25374667+ 83 linux