After installing, unable to log in using suse 10.2
 

I installed suse 10.2 on a new box using cd media that passed the checksum test. The install stopped about midway through while installing with disk no. 2, the computer rebooted with a boot menue and I chose the update to finish. I installed disk 3 and it skipped setting the root password. It did not like any option I chose to install the boot loader, but could use the install cd boot loader to boot to the root partition. I might be able to fix grub, however, I am asked to log in with user id and password. Is there a generic password? Also, when I use the rescue option, I don't know the rescue root password. If grub is not present, would super grub disk create a grub loader for me? I burned 2 sets of disks thinking I had a bad download or bad disk burn with the same result. During the install, sometimes it stops and says it could not unpack an rpm file. Sometimes if I repeat hitting the try again button it will install, other times it will not and I skip it. The second install cd disk set passed the checksum test when I used k3b to do the burn. I am using a new maxtor hard drive. I let the install software format the hard drive. Is my download bad or the hardware?

I have had problems with Suse 10.2 and Grub, so a few questions to see if we can identify where your problem is.

1. Do you have just one hard drive?
2. Did you use the Suse install partitioner to set up your drive?

Some suggestions.

1. I think the password for the Suse rescue option is "root" or "rescue".
2. I always use a GParted Live Cd to do any fixes if the system won't boot properly.
3. I had a similar problem the last time I did an install using the Internet method, and just re-ran the install and it worked OK.
4. Double check where it puts the Grub bootloader. Make sure it is (for example) /dev/hda or (hd0) and not /dev/hda1 or (hd0,0)

I had trouble every time I used the Suse partitioner to set up partitions, so now I use my GParted disk to make the partitions first, and just use the install partitioner to format and mount them.

Yes, I have one hard drive, a 160 gig maxtor.
Yes, I have let the suse partitioner determine and size the partitions and format them. I have a self booting floppy disk that can wipe out all partitions but have not used it because the hard drive is new and felt it was not needed.

I was able to to log in as root in rescue mode and I tried to figure out how to set the root password. If I let the install cd boot the system, I am asked for the login and password which was never set. I have tied the update option and it always aborts while it is writing the config file and a message appears that an there was an error during installation. Is there a way to run yast in rescue mode? I tried the following commands in rescue mode that I found in a blog:
mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/newroot
mount -bind /dev /mnt/newroot/dev
chroot /mnt/newroot /bin/bash
then run yast with:
/usr/lib/yast2/startup/yast2.second-stage
If the above is correct, it did not work for me.

I tried the following:
1. Using the rescue option
2. Using super grub disk to write grub or try to boot it
3. Using the mini iso to do a web install. (The new install option hung up, but I was able to do an update. It crashed while trying to write the config file and write the boot loader just before the first boot up. This also happened using the cd installation.)
4. Bobnuke the disk and do the intall again and again.
5. Try suse 10.0 with the exact same result.

At his point I am throwing up my hands in surrender. The only other thing I can think of is maybe the ram is bad. Would memtest86 be reliable enough to test it? I am open to other suggestions. I was thinking of using bobnuke to fdisk and format the drive to see if there are any bad sectors on it. I did not try the safe mode install.