I'm stuck on the starting line! This is my first ever attempt to install Linux, and it ain't working... :-)

1: I downloaded Mandrake 10.0 from a local mirror; 5 files named mandrake_10_i586_official_cd1.iso (and cd2, cd3 etc). There was no checksum file to go with these files. Download via cable with Opera, problemfree.

2. I burned ISO image CDs with "DeepBurner" at low speed (8x). (Also tried one with Nero). Burn was uneventful.

3. I re-booted with CD-1 in my CD-RW drive (ATAPI CD-RW 48x16)

4. Linux installer starts correctly, asking for "upgrade" or "install"; I chose "install".

5. Then I get the following message: "I can't access a Mandrake Linux Installation disc in your CD-Rom drive (CD-RW 48-16). Retry?" Retrying doesn't help, so I proceed with "no".

6 Next message: "Please insert Additional Drivers floppy". Since I don't have such a floppy, I press "ok".

7. Next message: "no floppy disk detected. Which driver should I try to gain SCSI access?" followed by a long list of filenames. On chosing any of these, I get asked "Please enter parameters to give to the kernel". Buggered if I know what that was all about... I don't have a SCSI drive anyway...

So this is as far as I got; I have tried booting with CD1, CD2 and CD 3 as I read somewhere on this forum that they are all boot CDs; however, I get the same problem with every disk.

I pressed Alt-F4 which gave me a Kernel log (whatever that is....); reading through this, it seems to have detected my hardware correctly (ATAPI CD-RW 48x16, Logitech mouse etc etc. )

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, RP

First you need to post a DETAILED list of your hardware.

Next see this thread.


http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=241586

I would try to use the checksums from the main site and check them to that. I downloaded Disk 1 three times before my checksum matched, after I spent a day getting the error you are getting.

If the checksums check out, then try booting from CD 2 then switch to CD1 when it tells you to.

This is a known bug and that is the cure I was told about 4 months ago.

Good luck!

mattmc

[QUOTE]Originally posted by opjose
[B]First you need to post a DETAILED list of your hardware.

Intel Celeron 2.0 GHz
Gigabyte GA-8ST667-L motherboard (socket 478)
512 MB 266 DDR RAM
20 GB HD ST320430A
Diamond Data ATAPI 48x48x16 CD-RW
NVIDIA Riva TNT (temp replacement as my GeForce MX 440SE just fried itself a couple of days ago...)
Realtek RTL8139/810x family network card
Logitech 4 button wheel mouse

PC set up for dual boot (Win2k and WinXP) with 3 partitions: 2 Gig for Win2k, 2 gig for WinXP, 16 Gig data; 6.8 gig free on data partition; I was intending to use 5 gig of that for Linux.


Re. Checksums: As I said in my original post, no checksum file was posted on the site from which I downloaded the 5 ISOs. However, I have now checked CDs 1-3 against the MD5sum from the Mandrake site's "Official" set, and, alas, they are totally different.... but I am not absolutely certain that these are the same files anyway (Mandrake site's official release has only 3 ISOs, while I got 5 from my mirror.)

But if downloading is so error-prone as has been suggested in the previous post (download cd1 three times???), then perhaps I'm better off just buying a boxed set?

I am sure that Mandrake would appreciate you buying the boxed set to help support the cause. I would recommend going to the Mandrake site and downloading it from one of their FTP mirrors so that you have valid checksums. I don't think that you need to go buy the boxed set unless you have a slow connection and do not want to wait for them to download. I would definitely get good checksums before I started to install. I skipped this step and it caused me 5 hours of frustration!

I still think that booting from CD 2 might fix your problem as well. I had one pc that worked with CD 1 and one that I had to use CD 2 on.

good luck!

mattmc

Download speed wouldn't be a problem (I'm on cable), but traffic volumes are; my ISP charges for international traffic in excess of 1 GB per month or local traffic in excess of 10 GB and the rates are pretty steep. Buying ready made CD's will be cheaper.

I did try to boot from CD2 (and also from CD3), but unfortunately that did not change anything. either all three CDs are duds, or Linux has is a problem with my CD drive.

If I remember correctly, I did end up switching out a couple of cd drives when I was installing mandrake 10. I thought the final resolution was the disk 2 fix but it may be a combination of disk 2 with a new cd rom drive.

Anyway, good luck with the install. I am happy with Mandrake 10. It seems to be pretty secure right out of install with little tweaking.

mattmc

I'm not quite sure, but I vaguely recall reading somewhere that the Diamond Data drives were indeed one of the drives the kernel developement team called "brain dead".

Can you temporarily beg or borrow someone else's CD drive to install Linux?

The problem has gone away. I wandered into a computerstore and picked up the 3 CD v10.0 Community Edition set for under $10 and they installed without a hitch, so the CD drive itself is fine. Evidently, every single ISO file I downloaded was defective, which makes me wonder whether there is any point at all in trying to download from a mirror and burn CDs, given the time and obvious failure risk involved.

I haven't had any time to play with Mandrake so far, and undoubtedly I will discover the odd "feature" (ie bug and hassle), but so far, I have to say that once I had properly functioning discs, that was THE most trouble free and quickest installation of any machine I have ever done (well, since running DOS on a single 360k floppy disk IBM XT running at 4.75 MHz, anyway ...) I've set things up as a dual boot with XP on HD 1 and linux on HD 2 (in various partitions); it boots and re-boots into either OS as per spec ... The only minor glitch so far is that Linux seems to have a problem detecting sound (I have a Gigabyte P4 Titan 667, GA-8st667 series motherboard with on-board sound, RealTek ALC650 CODEC), but I haven't spent any time yet investigating that problem.

So far so good; thanks for the comments!

It's sort of doubtful that this was a problem with the copy of Linux on the repository.

The MD5 sums let people compare the validity of the data even after the download and most people do fairly well.

I've only had a problem with a download once in the 20 times or so I've downloaded Mandrake.

It's far more likely that either:

1) You burned the disk on one machine, and took it to another to install it on.

The drives vary just enough in tracking and alignment that they have problems reading each others disks.

2) Same situation, but one drive has problems reading the "color" of the media used on the other drive.

This is VERY common, especially with older combination drives being unable to read disks burned on newer CD-R/W/DVD and CD-RW/DVD+-R/W drives.

3) The speed at which you burned it was too fast for the target machine.

Remember that the "silver" stamped media is made that way to be easy to read on all drives.

Anyway if you still have the downloads you can double check them with the MD5 sums.