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Turining 20 pcs into dual boot linux with seperate distros and unable to run live cds

Hi everyone long time no speaky.
LUG is going well, growing with every meeting and to support it further I am intending to (trying trying trying) install Linux on my 20 pc's to make them dual bootable howver, I seem to be running into a small problem where they don't like to run from Live CD's so this is making it very hard for me to start this project.

Problem - they seem to freeze on booting from Live CD (Ubuntu, Elive, Knoppix - only DSL and Kiosk CD works) with an error message along the lines of kernel panic? (will write it down and place it here)

The general plan is to install 5 popular distros on to 4 computers (totaling 20) to allow for, well, pretty much anything from letting the LUG replicate other peoples problems, provide "development servers" for the web designers meetings, basic introductions to Linux of different varieties to new Linux members, show off gaming on Linux etc etc

if anyone is able to help it would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Justin

The PC's are...

Code:

------------------

System Information

------------------

Time of this report: 7/7/2007, 13:14:34

      Machine name: CONTROL

  Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)

          Language: English (Regional Setting: English)

System Manufacturer: INTELR

      System Model: AWRDACPI

              BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG

          Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)

            Memory: 1024MB RAM

          Page File: 434MB used, 2025MB available

        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS

    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

DX Setup Parameters: Not found

    DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

The only real information you provide on the PCs is "Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)" and "1024MB RAM", no info on hard drive size or other devices such as video, sound and etc.

Troubleshooting one "error message along the lines of kernel panic" will probably prove more useful to you than seeing it multiple times.

EDIT:Showing what something like the Belarc Advisor says about the PC could be helpful.

Quote:

Troubleshooting one "error message along the lines of kernel panic" will probably prove more useful to you than seeing it multiple times.

I'm actually unable to provide any more info on the exact error message until one of my clients leave and i have a free pc to try again on, I should have known better and stated "(will write it down and place it here the second I get a chance)"

anyway - here's the info from Belarc advisor, thanks for the link it is already proving useful.

Code:

Operating System                  System Model

Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600)                  Enclosure Type: Desktop

Processor a                  Main Circuit Board b

3.00 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4

16 kilobyte primary memory cache

2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache                  Board: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD MS-7131 REV:1.0

Bus Clock: 200 megahertz

BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 02/18/2005

Drives                  Memory Modules c,d

79.99 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity

40.27 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space



HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8164B [CD-ROM drive]

3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]



WDC WD800JD-75MSA1 [Hard drive] (80.00 GB) -- drive 0                  1024 Megabytes Installed Memory



Slot 'A0' has 512 MB

Slot 'A1' is Empty

Slot 'A2' has 512 MB

Slot 'A3' is Empty

          Local Drive Volumes

          

                

c: (NTFS on drive 0)        79.99 GB        40.27 GB free

          Network Drives

          None detected

Users (mouse over user name for details)                  Printers

local user accounts        last logon

 Admin        7/7/2007 10:33:31 AM        (admin)

 Staff        11/3/2006 5:36:46 PM        

local system accounts

 Administrator        never        (admin)

 ASPNET        never        

 Guest        7/7/2007 12:36:29 PM        

 HelpAssistant        never        

 SUPPORT_388945a0        never        



DISABLED Marks a disabled account;  LOCKED OUT Marks a locked account

                  

Amyuni PDF Converter 2.07        on LPT1:

Brother MFC-7420 USB Printer        on USB001

Brother MFC-7420 USB Printer        on \\design\Brother MFC-7420 USB Printer

Brother PC-FAX        on USB001

Controllers                  Display

Standard floppy disk controller

Intel(R) 82801FB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2651

Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 266F

Primary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)

Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)                  NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 [Display adapter]

CMO CMC 19 [Monitor] (19.1"vis, July 2005)

Bus Adapters                  Multimedia

Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 2658

Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 2659

Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 265A

Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 265B

Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 265C                  Realtek AC'97 Audio

Communications                  Other Devices

                

Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC

 primary          IP Address:        10.1.1.2 / 8

        Gateway:        10.1.1.1

        Physical Address:        00:13:D3:A7:41:DC

Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC - Virtual Machine Network Services Driver

 

Networking Dns Servers:        192.231.203.132

192.231.203.3

                  USB Human Interface Device

Brother MFC-7420 USB

Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard

PS/2 Compatible Mouse

USB Composite Device

USB Printing Support

USB Root Hub (5x)

Virus Protection [Back to Top]          

AVG 7.5.476 Version 7.5.476

    Realtime File Scanning On

        

Missing Microsoft Security Hotfixes [Back to Top]



All required security hotfixes (using the 06/12/2007 Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary) have been installed.

The hardware looks good to me.
I have had to use "noapic" and "nodma" options with Knoppix on some PCs, maybe "acpi=off".
Do I understand correctly you have 20 PCs with the same specs, or 4?
Also you say DSL and Kiosk work. They boot completely? But not Knoppix or Ubuntu?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2damncommon

Yes 20 pc's is correct. all the same stats (some grafics cards are different but have saame problems in the end)

DSL and Kiosk work yes - not Knoppix, Ubuntu, Elive, Flight Gear Live, Pyrobot, GISKnoppix (well, knoppix), looking glass. I don't believe the boot disks for Fedora Core work either.

Someone mentioned it could be a BIOS setting?

Take a look at knoppix.com, then click the Knoppix-info icon, then the Knoppix Cheatcodes link. There are a lot of options to try when booting Knoppix.

The first version of Knoppix I tried worked great but I was discouraged when other "newer" versions did not work. I found the "noapic" option worked great on my home PC. The "nodma" option worked on another PC I used.

Straight from the Knoppix Cheatcodes and Hints:
In case of a failing hardware autodetection, try booting with any of
the "no-" options as shown in the table above, like in
knoppix noagp noaudio noapm noapic acpi=off nodma nopcmcia noscsi nousb
to skip some critical parts of the autodetection system.

ah ok, thanks very much for that - buy you a beer sometime:Pengy:
will try it out and hopefully get some results to post back here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheGeneralsLounge

ah ok, thanks very much for that - buy you a beer sometime

All the more to look forward to for a down under trip. So far I only had watching the toilets drain opposite I was used to. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2damncommon

All the more to look forward to for a down under trip. So far I only had watching the toilets drain opposite I was used to. ;)

LOL what about the kangaroos, hoopsnakes and drop bears?

Thanks to 2damncommon for attempts at helping in here and thanks to the members of the Adelaide Linux Meet-up group for solving this. It turned out to be a problem with the BIOS settings, the "Advanced Chipset Settings" "onboard chipset" was enabled, we disabled this and selected the pci graphics card and now linux works, in fact, when playing pc games the pcs themselves are blazingly fast and haven't crashed since *notices windows poking its head around the corner with a conniving grin on its head*.

Next question coming right up in a new topic (if forum search is unsuccessful)