Basic FC5 Install Problem - Invalid keyword
 

Basic FC5 install problem

I got all the FC5 cd's and dvd, and when I boot them the logo comes up scrambled and the menu works, but I get this message

Unknown keyword in the config file

and

Could not find kernal image: linux

The same disks work fine on my old Sony laptop (not the dvd), but on the new Acer Centrino 290 (new-ish), there is no-joy.

What "menu" are you referring to? The Grub (or Lilo) boot menu, where you can select the OS you want to boot?

Judging from the error messages you gave, it sounds like Linux can't boot properly, because your boot loader config contains some unknown keyword.

What I suggest is that you boot, then go to the grub command prompt and try to boot from there or edit the config file.

Search Google or this forum for tips on how to do that. I know it's possible, I just can't tell you how, because I never tried it myself.

Maybe the Fedora LQ forum can help you too.

Thanks for the reply.

The menu is the boot menu from the cd/dvd that gives you F1-F5 for install, recover, etc. But whatever I select it says that could not find linux image stuff. So there is nothing on the harddisk (no grub). The CD's all verify properly and work on a much older computer.

I found an old FC3 dvd disk, which did install fine, so now I am looking for a way to launch a full fc3 -> fc5 upgrade without having to boot from the fc5 dvd install disk (which does not work).

Since FC5 has 5 disks (if you're using CD's), its possible you may have inserted the wrong disk. If you're beginning the install,
then make absolutely sure you're starting with disk one.

That sounds like a stupid reply, but I did that once and I was beating my head against the wall for an hour and a half! All to find out I didn't have disk number one in the drive!

Good luck.

It boots fine until this image

hXXp://fedora.redhat.com/docs/fedora-install-guide-en/fc5/ch-beginninginstallation.html

(just the boot screen image from the documentation -- apparently I am not allowed to post links)

and the text at the bottom is fine, but any entry gives the Could not find kernal image message.

I also tried burning a simple boot.iso disk, which also has the same problem.

I thought I might not have the x86 version, but it does work on the old Sony Pentium 2 laptop, so that's not it.

If it was just the scrambled picture, I would guess a graphics problem, and if it was just the "Could not find ...", I would guess a disk problem, but something in the DVD drive or bios ??? It is a fairly generic centrino laptop, Acer Travelmate 290, I can't understand how it is a "strange" system.

And the solution is ...
 

And the solution is ... (for future searches of the database)

It would produce the error message, and then give a boot: prompt and the function keys would do nothing.

And so after much staring at the thing, I opened up all the readable files, and typed out the command

vmlinuz append initrd=initrd.img

and the process launched as normal.

The problem must have been some bios?, keyboard? thing

Interesting twist on the problem:
After seeing some odd behavior, on the fc3->fc5 version, I tried a fresh fc5 install.
This worked, but during the "firstboot" segment of the installation, the setup program disappeared in a second, and the "set up your montitor", "set up a user", etc did not run.

When I tried to repeat these separately, it ran into the Kudzu problem, which is apparently a program removed in fc5, but other programs in fc5 require it to run, and will not run. So I installed kudzu, and those programs are now running, but I think there are still loose-ends, and might point to the strange issue where this particular cpu/bios/etc does not seem to be fc5-friendly even thought it is very generic centrino laptop.

(Explanation for the database, not really looking for a reply, although if there is a wise-man out there who can explain the profound situation, I would be interested.)