I had dual-boot - WindowsXP and Slackware 12 on one hdd.

Some time ago i decided to re-install Slackware (dont ask why,long story). I thought it would be easy,but not.

So, first of all, i deleted all linux partitions, then in windows recovery console made fixmbr/fixboot...
Restarted with Salckware setup disk, tryed to make needed partitions - swap,/,/home. All that was done. Then i have chosen multimedia source-hdd (because slackware cannot understand my dvd drive during installation,not looking on that i booted from it) , there appeared- "base system " or smth like that. Ok... installed that.

But! "installation" was too fast... so there actually was no installation.. and when i try to choose another source- second disk, the same problem- it doesnt want to install,but says that has installed. Also I cannot continue lilo installation and all other things...

I tryed fixmbr, merging partitions, formatting partition, creating partition - all this actions in all possible combinations and several times... i just dont know what to do ... i tryed everything in BIOS (ahci and blah blah)... tryed to switch jumper on my dvd-drive...

I dont know what has happened after deleting Slackware... i dont know why slackware setup doesnt see my dvd drive...dont know why it says to me that everything has installed ,but nothing actually is not... dont know why it doesn want to install lilo...

PS: i have Dual-core, P965 (yes,that with "bad" JMIcron...), have SATA hdd... I tryed to put slackware cd's to it native ext3,but driver is bogus and doesnt want to write data there (but some time before did), so i put 2 cd's of slackware to fat32. Slackware should understand it and mount it.(to remind- slackware setup doesnt see dvd-drive during install)

Now i see only one way how to solve problem - just to format all 250 GB of hdd... and to start everything again.. but there are too much data. have nowhere to save it... so.. i am waiting for your suggestions.. Thank you in advance...

Welcome to LQ!

It sounds like your Slackware setup disk is corrupt.

Are you trying to install with a CD/DVD?

How did you burn them?

How did you check to make sure the disc you burned it good?

Thank you for answer,
really, my distro on fat32 hdd was broken... so now everything should be ok.
During trying to solve such problems like fixing mbr and etc I just could not imagine that the problem could be so miserable like broken files =)

The problem is back here... Nothing has changed actually...

Now i tryed to install from ext3 partition (writing to ext3 by ext2fsd 0.37), tryed to write distro on new CD(without any errors, i checked),tryed to install again from fat32, but nothing helps.

When i choose multimedia source (/dev/sda*) and path to distro all a time it shows only "basic kernel system", it shows the same when i choose second disc also...
But when i try to scan dvd-drive it fails with error that cant find it, and then setup suggests to choose packages (libs, kde,gnome and etc). And then it again says that everything has finished but not...
Installation doesnt want to continue. Looks like it stops after some moment, because how i could see, setup writes some directories, but then it breaks and says that everything is done. Also it says that system is configured not looking on that i havent done any configuration like lilo setup and etc.

So what suggestions now? I just cant imagine what the reason could be. In previous installation times everything was fine (well, except not seeing dvd-drive by setup,but i used to).
Well.. i am kernel panic now =(

Have you verified that your CD/DVD media is valid, as post #2 suggests? Also, had you used this media prior for a successful install? It appears strange to me that the Slackware installation does not "see" your dvd drive during installation. Even though you mentioned that you checked your BIOS, this would indicate a setup related issue within the BIOS to me. However, if you have successfully booted into the Slackware setup off of the same dvd drive that Slackware later claims that is not available, then it most likely is an issue with your media, and not the dvd drive or a BIOS setting. Also, I don't believe that formatting the entire 250 GB drive would solve the problem, as it appears to be an issue with not correctly reading the media from your dvd drive. If the Slackware 12 isos were downloaded, ensure that you check these images with the respective checksum before burning. This way, you can ensure that your discs will be error-free.

You can always create a small partition and copy the files and directories to that and use it as the installation source.

When installing before setup, try ctrl+f2 and then mount /dev/your_dvd_drive, then ctrl+f1 and run setup again.

Well, i have checked md5 for both cd's that i have downloaded, they are ok.
I have burned distros by Nero, used data verification after burning, also ok.
I dont think that my source (distro's on hdd - fat32/ext3) could be broken...
i had copyed several times in different places slackware cd's (previously extracting from iso by rar).
DVD drive cant be malfunctioning because i use it all a time, and there were no bugs how i could watch, but ok, i will try to use another one...

Hi,

You could check the burnt cd/dvd md5sum to the original iso by using the 'CdromMd5sumsAfterBurning'' link. Your burn could be bad! Slow the the burn rate down for Nero. Just because you compare using Nero doesn't mean that the cd/dvd is ok.

If you have checked the downloaded iso md5sums and they are OK then the problem can be the burner or even the media you are using. If the compare of the iso and burnt cd are OK then you do probably have a hardware issue.

I had this same thing occur to me ( Fast install with no real installation ) This occurred because I did not properly setup my source in the installer . Make sure that if you copy the contents of the DVD/CD's to a directory that you can access. Make sure its mounted before you begin and you can see the data in there and last make sure you are pointing it to the slackware directory.

If you copy all of the files and directories from the dvd to /disk then you would need to use

/disk/slackware when it askes you for your sources.


I hope this helps.

This is a comment I'd go with. Also you really really do need to get a backup unit for that 250G. Especially since your monkeying around with it as much. Multi-volume RAR the data and burn to DVD if you have to.

Unfortunately, nothing helps and i have no idea what the problem is... very strange.
I have checked md5 sums of distro's on cd's -they are fine, i tried to mount dvd drive manually, also with no effect.

Hi,

If you can't mount the cd then you most likely do have a hardware issue.

You could use the 'lmo-installer-0.2.iso' to do a ftp install of slackware 12. It takes about 2 hrs on a 3.6 M DSL line.

Someone else suggested that you mount the copied iso(s).

Slackware®12_Janux_NET_NoBurn_Install is a good technique.

You will still need to find out what the hardware problem is.

Which boot kernel are you using?

You should read the CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT, RELEASE_NOTES and UPGRADE.TXT to get some helpful information. As PV states, you should try to use the smp kernel if possible.

Looks hopeless...

I have dial-up and speed about 20 kb/s - so install via network is excluded.
About second.. i don't have any pendrive and i am afraid to loose my data on HDD (i have nowhere to put it ,~ 100 GB of data).
I am using default hugesmp.s (i have Intel Core Duo,SATA HDD) and i have read everything i could open ...

Very tired of it, never have been such strange problems (before posting into forum i googled and tryed myself to fix a problem for about 2 weeks...) .

I think the problem could be in partitions/mbr. If the source was corrupt lilo should appear, but i havent seen it in setup menu (to remind, configuring says everything is finished).

My drive is partitioned this way :
1.- ntfs (windows xp),
2. - ntfs (just a lot of files),
3. - ntfs (empty),
4. -fat32 (slackware distro's),
5. - ext3 (empty),
6. - swap (but now ext2fsd driver shows it is ntfs !?)
7.- ext3

I forgotten to say that i have two hard drives, one main is sata, and secod is ide. dvd-drive is also ide.Tried installation with changing masters/slaves, without ide hdd and etc.

Maybe this could bring some light...

(Yesterday upgraded BIOS in hope that fixes could help,but nothing. (today updated my pioneer dvd-rw drive too ))

I wonder why Slackware does not "see" your drive even though it uses it to boot. Have you seen any error messages?

I remember some computers I had trouble using the slackware install cds on. They would boot the kernel and I could start the setup process, but then the source cd could not be found. To fix this I had to turn dma off on the cd drive temporarily.

for example. After doing this I could load the cd media to install Slackware.