I've been trying to install Debian etch from CD-rom and the installation goes smoothly until the "Installing the base system" screen which freezes the status bar at 75% at "Storing language..."

I tried rebooting to see if that would help, but I still get stuck at the same point. I have 4 GB of ram and a 160 GB hard drive that I'm installing Debian on (it will be the only OS on that drive.) How do I fix this? Is there a workaround that I can do by pressing alt+f4 in the shell?

That is odd. Did you check your md5 checksum prior to burning your CD? I try to turn down my burn rate when I burn my CDs. Have you checked your computer to ensure that it is Debian compliant? I know these are pedestrian questions.

Hi gol,

I notice that you posted another thread where your Lenny CD failed to load. So I see a few possibilities.

1. Hardware issue.
2. Bad burn on your CDs.

Yes, the md5sum of the iso image matches and I burned the cd at a slow speed and verified the data on the cd, and everything was good.

My relevant hardware configuration:
-hard drive #3: Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA
-motherboard: Biostar TP35D2-A7 (yes, the BIOS is updated)
-CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40 GHz, 8mb L2 Cache, 1066 MHz FSB
-4 GB RAM

Not sure how to see if my computer hardware is Debian compliant. I tried looking on the Debian website and the documentation is not specific. One page said "just be conservative".

You could try to have a look at the LQ Hardware Compatibility List and see if your gear is compliant.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/

Here's a Debian link:

http://wiki.debian.org/Hardware

You could also try a live cd and see how your unit boots up, that may help you to diagnose problems.
Good luck.

My hardware seems to be compliant, and I am able to successfully boot from a Knoppix live CD-rom. During booting, Knoppix detects my hardware successfully.

I am not alone in this problem, but I can still find no satisfactory resolution:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=483180

I wonder if this will help - I just pushed alt+f4 and it goes on

(m)