Hello

I am trying to install mandrake 9.0 on spare computer to explore and learn about linux (in protest of Microsoft products and customer service). When booting from the cd, after clicking on the install button after a screen of monochrome type, the screen states it is accessing the CD
then the following message appears

install exited abnormally:-( -- received signal 11
sending termination signals ... done
sending kill signals ... done
unmounting filesystems
/proc
/tmp/image
you may safely reboot your system

Hunting around the internet I have read that this was a hardware error?
But am at a loss as to what to do to fix this.

(In the meantime I have re-installed Window 98 which installed ok with no hardware error messages)

Computer Specs:

Pentium 233 MHZ, 128MB ram, S3-Virge video card, Nero Cd Burner, seagate hard drive.

Anyone who can spare the time to help it would be greatly appreciated

Kind regards

brizboy

Signal 11 is a 'SIGSEGV' or "Segmantation Violation" or sometimes "Segmentation Fault". This means that the install process tried to access memory that had not been allocated from the heap, and was not part of the stack. In short, either the install program contains a coding error, or I suppose it may be possible that there is some odd hardware issue... I have no idea how to fix this in a practial way for you though.

Linux can be a lot more fussy regarding memory than windows, and any little fault that might slip past windows will be picked up by linux.

A good case in point, I bought some memory for my Intel boards, not realising that Intel use Gold plated contacts and the sticks I bought are tin plated. Now Tin and Gold dont like living together and about six months later I was having unusual problems with Linux but not Windows. Apparently the Tin and Gold react after about six months and form high resistance points - not good for memory

Now this may NOT be your problem but you really do have to check your hardware compatibility. These are the sorts of problems that drive newbies nuts with Linux so they go back to Win, blaming Linux where the real problem was hardware.

Dust can be another source of funny error messages - moral of the story keep the insides of your gear clean, especially as I notice you are using old gear. Dont be afraid to lift the lid and go beserk with a vacuum cleaner with those little attachments for getting into small / tight places.

And if I can give some advice here, re dust, if you have unused PCI / ISA slots or any other slots then cover them carefully with sticky ( not too sticky ) tape so that dust doesnt settle in them. I'll say again " carefully" and "not too sticky" - you dont want to create more problems than you solve - unsure ? then get someone who knows what they're doing to do it.

When you've eliminated these culprits then you can go looking for software problems. Good Luck !

live long and prosper
floppy

edit : correction
not all intel boards use gold, some use tin
here cut and pasted from Intels own Q's and A's

# Will gold plated SIMMs work with my Intel motherboard?

Most Intel motherboards use tin-lead SIMM sockets and Intel recommends NOT mixing dissimilar metals in your memory solution. Studies show that fretting occurs when tin comes in pressure contact with gold or any other metal. Tin debris will transfer to the gold surface and oxidize. Continued transfer will build up an oxide film layer. Tin surfaces always have a natural oxide. Despite this, electrical contact is easily made between two tin surfaces. Oxides on both soft surfaces will bend and break, ensuring contact. The resistance of the oxidation layer builds up over time when one surface is hard. Increasing the contact resistance will ultimately result in memory failures.

live long and prosper
floppy