How to prepare HD for Linux install
 

I'm trying to install Linux on a legacy m/c donated to a notforprofit organization. The donor had the HD wiped - it was running XP OK prior to that. I've tried xubuntu - it failed to install. I tried DSL (only have 128MB RAM) but it came up with a stream of initread errors. What do I have to do to reset the drive so DSL will install.

What are the specs of the machine (besides the RAM)? What exactly failed about the install of xubuntu? Sorry, just need a bit more information to help you.

In general, this is what I do: format the drive using the GParted Live CD into four partitions: /boot, /swap, /, and /home. You can get by with just / and /swap though. I use ext3 right now, just out of preference. Then I just install...

Old and Slow-applying to the writer, not the machine.

Yes, what are the specifications? You would have a better chance if you could find more RAM.

I might suggest another light distro, Puppy, VectorLinux? Try a Puppy live-cd and see what happens.
You can as mentioned download a Parted Magic or GPartedLiveCD or SystemRescueCD live-cd and use one of them to partition the HDD, then open a terminal and run "fdisk -l" just to check that the disk partitions.

You have, I take it, installed linux before? You did burned the CD as an ISO image file, did change the boot order in the BIOS, have done all the obvious, basic things?
The giver didn't by chance remove the harddisk and reinstall it with a bad connection?

But, if it worked before, it should work after.

I'll second the Puppy live CD suggestion.

Thanks for the replies people.

Yes - I have successfully installed Linux before - xubuntu on my own legacy machine that I keep around for legacy s/w that will only run on Win98. I have Win98 on one hd and xubuntu on a second hd.

Yes - I do burn ISOs - at 2x.

Yes - boot order is OK floppy, CD, HD - booting from CD has not been an issue.

Yes - I tried SystemRescueCD - had trouble making heads or tails of what I was looking at.

System is HP Vectra P3 (SL35E) 500Mhz, 40GB, 128RAM, wired internet.

I re-tried xubuntu live from CD - v8.10 - it just hangs up with blank scree. I left it running while I was out for the evening - before I left it went to a blank screen after showing a progress bar for a while. Was still blank with ticking cursor top left after 6.5 hours.

I retried dsl - dsl-syslinux v4.4.10 - it puts out a few encouraging messages indicating progres is being made then gets into spewing ....

hda: read-int error = 0x04

and an alternating status message and a regularly occurring message about sectors - 0, 2, 4, 6, recurring. Hard to read completely they flash by too quickly - didn't find a mouse or keyboard operation that would pause it.

And I tried Puppy from the CD - it was much more successful - it did at least show me a usable desktop. I chose the default boot option, and all the default/recommended h/w options.

I tried the install icon. I chose Internal IDE or SATA HD. It found the HD - ATA ST340016A but size 37 (GB I assumed - 3GB missing then).

I carried on and was told there are no partitions and to run GParted - which I did and chose the default msdos Disklabel but it came back with "Error while setting new disklabel"

Hi,

I would pass the parameters 'noapic' and 'apci=off' to the kernel at boot time for any of the newer distributions you are attempting to use on the older hardware. You could always roll back to earlier versions of the desired distributions for the legacy hardware. If your system BIOS doesn't support 'acpi' then your could use 'apm'.

Be sure to check the md5sum. If you downloaded the cd/dvd iso then be sure to check the md5sum for the original iso. From the cli;

If the iso md5 is OK then you should try 'CdromMd5sumsAfterBurning''.

This way you will know if the burn was OK!

This link and others are available from 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

Curious and Clumsy

If the problem is the msdos disklabel.

I once played around with a live-cd partitioner, erased the msdos disklabel and had trouble restoring it. From memory I recall using Parted Magic and trying a few times, erasing the partition, rebooting the live-cd, and using the function for setting the disklabel before I succeeded. As I remember, the partitioning function seemed to work but didn't without a good disklabel.

You might use a live-cd of Parted Magic or GParted to check the ability of the harddisk to accept partitioning.

Setting a bootlabel must be possible in a terminal and someone else knows how.

This is completely normal. The usable space is always smaller than the advertised size. It think this has to do with losing some space to the formatting/file system and perhaps that whole 1k = 1000 or 1024 issue.

Between this and your other errors I suspect the HD is not it great shape. Do you have another one you can try?


This points to the HD as well.

Onebuck:

I hear they're looking for a new governor in Illinois, are you thinking of running?
I also hear the food is bad in the jails there. You might want to consider that before deciding to run.

Hi,

I really don't get into politics! :)

Our so called Gov is corrupt and finally can be ousted. The feds have been investigating his administration for a long time. He knew it but still communicated as if nothing was wrong. Talk about arrogant or just plain stupid? :rolleyes:

It's good to have a little laugh "off the topic" once in a while.
Your response appears to be more proactive than your state's governor's directives.