I think I posted this once before, but...
 

I'm not sure if I asked this question here or somewhere else, but anyway, I am trying to install red hat linux 7.3 or mandrake 8.2. Both freeze before the installer starts on the partition check. I have tried putting my hard drive into other computers but it didn't work either. The media is good, I also used it to install on another computer. Any help is appreciated.
-Chris

Whats the specs of the computer?

300 mhz Celeron
19 gb fujitsu hard drive
256 mb sdram
GeForce2 MX200
Sound Blaster 16 PCI
Conexant 56k modem
LG 32x CDROM

The specs shouldn't matter much, I've tried it in other computers.
-Chris

Is it a computer made by one of those big companys (ibm, compaq, hp, dell, etc...)? Those ones sometimes don't like Linux

If you have nothing on the HD then you could go ahead and blank it with Fdisk or partition it to your likings, and then try the install, maybe it's running into problems with the current partitioning scheme, or possible errors on it.

Just an idea

I have tried fdisking it and deleting all partitions, but it didn't help. The computer was built by me out of parts I bought or had lying around. Thanks for all the responses so far.
-Chris

the usual stumbling block (where the big companys come in to it) is that the drives are often set up with cable select enabled, or something equally daft.

Hi
You have tried the 19 Gb drive in other computers
as well, does that mean you actually did an install
on these computers and they flunked as well?
So your problem seems to travel with your drive.
How do you partition, redhats diskdruid sometimes
messes up and for mandrake; choose the expert
install and choose your own partitioning scheme.
Like for inst.
/boot (small 10 or 20 MB will do)
/swap (256MB with your amount of ram is enough)
/
/home
/usr
/var
i use this layout most, it prevents flooding the / with
large log files for inst. and your /home wouldn't be
affected whilst slapping on a new distro and more
advantages.
Good luck

No, it didn't work on the other computer I tried it on either. I can't run the install in expert mode, I can't even get the installer to start. The process before the install when it detects the hardware and stuff is when it does the partition check, and that's where it freezes. The drive currently has no partition on it, it should still load the installer, I figured I'd partition with the built in utility. I have also tried setting them up myself, but it didn't change.
-Chris

Hi
You also did the jumper thingy provided by acid_kewpie ?

Otherwise it's probably a bios /disk geometry case.
First go into your bios see what the autodetecting harddisk
gives you, make note of sector,head cyls.
Check the label on your disk to see if it's written there also.
See if you can boot using a sinlge floppy, like tomsrtbt for
instance. www.toms.net
If you can,then use the fdisk on that and print the partition table and check sector,head,cyls. But i guess you wont
(if it boots;toms uses an older kernel so it's worth trying)
try bypassing the hardrive parameters at boot time, try this
on tomsrtbt first, to get there; right after Lilo hit esc and then
tab
zImage shows up
type after boot; zImage hda=cylinders,heads,sectors
(mine for an old 3,2 Gb hda=782,128,63)
enter and see if it boots, if it does you can do the same
when installing the other distro's. And put that stuff
after append=" " in your lilo.conf (rerun lilo when done)
Another nasty trick just to confirm it's really a disk thing
enter hda=noprobe at boot prompt, it skips checking the
disk entirely, but it's no good for repairing or solving this case. (i use it cause i boot from a promise controller so i
dont have hda or hdb, it saves boottime)
Some other things; in bios try switching of autodetect
for drive and use; user and the above cyl head sector.
at bootime it's also possible to bypass faulty chipsets
for your ide check;
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html
it is full of parameters, might give you an idea

Good luck

better to make any fat32 partition on some space and then
try .

I just went through this with a 10 gig Maxtor 66 drive while installing Mandrake Linux 8.2. Found that it installed perfectly on my old 2.5 gig at 33. So, I changed the cable on my 10 gig to the old 40 pin type instead of the 80 pin. That forced it to run at 33 and the install went perfectly after that.

Of course, after I figured it out, I found that tip on a message board from someone else. Haven't tried running HDparm yet to change settings to fix it and get my speed back. Just too happy to finally get it installed.