Newbie – Mandriva installation
 

Hi,

I'm newbie in Linux and in open-source operating systems.
After years of hearing about this great OS I have decided to install it on my computer side by side with Windows.

I have downloaded the "Mandriva-Linux-Free-2006-DVD.i586.iso" and I have checked it using the MD5, nothing wrong.

After burning it on a DVD, I have rebooted the computer, and then a Mandriva welcome screen appears to me, I pressed the "Enter" key. After that every thing disappears.

Black screen with no activity in the DVD reader or the hard disk and even nothing written on the screen.

Any way, I have a - SATA I - hard disk from western digital, and Intel dual processor.

I believe that the "Mandriva-Linux-Free-2006-DVD.i586.iso" Kernel updated to recognize SATA hard disk.
Pleas if you can help me then tell me.

I don't know but mandriva has a forum too, you should probably ask your question there too.

http://forum.mandrivaclub.com/index.php?op=En

If your DVD checks out you may have a hardware issue. You could always try booting your install DVD on another computer then you'll rule out problems with your boot media. I would go to the Mandriva website and check to see if all of your computer hardware is Mandriva compliant.

Thank you guys, ill check Mandriva website and forum.
hitest, my DVD media are working fine, I don't think its the reason of hanging the installation process.

After rethinking maybe I should go back to my old OS Win.
Linux is a very complex OS and all of the above of it just complex GUI interfaces.

It was pretty daunting when I first fired it up sat looking at a black screen with a flashing dash wondering what to do now.

Didn't know anything but I gradually worked out from books magazines etc how to get my email working and how to access the web . Then I could investigate what I needed to do .

I reinstalled Linux over and over as I stuffed it up but I refused to give up and let that bloody write home to mum ,rule your life Windows win.

About 4 years along and of course I could never go back. Can't even remember how to get into the Windows system any more. Everything on Linux is free and I have done probably 30 full installs on my own machine over the time and little worries me now.

But I can understand how you might be frightened off. Remember most of the hardware problems in Linux are created by Microsoft manipulating the manufacturers to produce hardware that only runs on Windows.

After all that's what Microsoft want you to do.

tytower is so right....

And if you give us a chance on the other side of the world to view your post and consider any options we can think of you may get an answer that fixes your problem and you can be joining us spreading the real "word", Linux.

Now i'm not too sure what has happend to your set-up and install, but I'd hazard a chance that it's probably something to do with your motherboard. One of the most complex peices of electronics around!

Try turning off the acpi and apm module for the kernel(, not in BIOS).

I think it's "noacpi" with out the quotes.

By the way have you tried a live cd distro? If so what kernel parameters were in use for that?

Don't give up yet.

And if you remember the first time you used windows, or a computer for that matter, you'll remember how weird it was.

Don't give up man! When I started with Linux I had a lot of difficulty. I agree with the previous gentlemen, try a live CD. You can also do a net install of Mandriva 2006, I've done it, the CD is free of course:-) At the Mandriva website in the free directories there should be a boot iso about 26 MB in size in the image directory I think. Burn that to CD and boot from that. You'll do a net install which will take several hours.
It took me many attempts to get Slackware right, I still have not mastered it yet. I learn the most about Linux when I fail. I would also try the Ubuntu live CD it has excellent hardware detection.

Look when I first installed Linux I was completely lost and didn't understand much, I still dont understand like 95% but I can do many many things that windows simple can't do. Plus I have the peace of mind that no virus is behind my back nothing is hidden and microsoft is watching me, no security updates cause what I paid for is market rush crap.... Linux is many times superior to Windows, but you need to give it some time and break the frame windows draw in your mind. So what I did I have both, linux to learn and windows to cover my ass while I learn the other one. Try to don't give up, you will understand what I mean with time. Look my apache server it's been up 90 days!! can you say something like that in a windows unit? not me.

feel for ya, but don't bother with mandriva club forums
 

I put a post up as a member a couple of days ago, and not one answer yet, of any kind. I'm trying to install the mandriva club version, and I'm getting nowhere...I did get one install working from the free version, but then it collapsed...right now I'm trying to learn how to copy and bust the iso from my dvd to recompile it to add the missing checksum

I would go to mandriva's forum, there you can probably find more guys that know about mandriva.

I have tried to install Red Hat 9 many times and then I figured that it's old to support the SATA Hard disk.
Any way, I have searched the internet looking for Linux OS that support SATA, and I found Mandriva. After downloading the DVD all I have is black screen.

After that I found this forum talking about Mandriva and about Linux.
I found some one that is talking about writing "linux noacpi" command after pressing F1. Even I don’t know what it means, I have tried it and nothing new else than the black screen.

I have tried to change the BIOS hard disk configuration to legacy. And nothing happened.


After all of that I have decided to start a new thread trying to solve my problem.

About the "Mandriva live CD" it’s a new concept to have a live OS running from a CD. I think it's better for a newbie like me to begin with a soled OS on the hard disk and start to learn.

I appreciate Linux over Windows, because I know how much it's powerful and more secure.

About "isuck@linux "
This thread belongs to
Linux Questions > Forums > Linux > Linux - Distributions > Mandriva
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And i think there is some one here is good at Mandriva.

try your post at: http://mandrivausers.org/

Firstly, you are in the right place, And time is required for ppl to find your post.

Secondly, change you bios back to the way it worked before. (and get a live cd, for diagnostics.)slax is a good one but be careful because you can do damage with this distro. Meaning it is not a Nice and Safe distro like Knoppix, and mandriva one, which will not write to the HD with out some serious effort from you.

The thing with a live distro is that you can try things out, without risking your pc operation.

When you need a fully working pc, just boot without the cdrom. This way you will see how things work with out risk.

When the cd boots, it will give you a very good indication of what works and what does not, on your pc hardware.

Then we could ask you more specific questions and you will be able to answer them.

Linux is not a miracle os, that just works, although most of the time it does, on every new piece of hardware available.

Now, You haven't told us much about what happends before you get to the prompt.

Can we start there, please?

Some times you need to wait for the cd to continue the boot process. I haven't used the dvd version, but I don't think it would be too different a process, just not having to swap cd's.

How long have you let it sit, and waited for it?

I have a feeling it is trying to find your harddrive.

You say the dvd works on other computers, did it (the iso) pass the md5 check summ before you burned it to dvd?

This will check that the iso is complete before you burn. the check sum is usually available from where you got the iso from. Check that out if you haven't done so yet.

Important! start with Core Updates CD
 

I can't believe this: I just found out that you have to burn the core updates cd first, start installing with that, and then it hands the installation over to the DVD.

Najito, I've been trying to do the same thing as you, with one small diff: i'm using the x86-64 instead of the i586, but according to the official docs I just found, this is what we have to do b4 anything else.

I'm going to try it tomorrow morning, but I'm doubtful. And I'm displeased with Mandriva for making such an important piece of info so hidden. Sorry, but logical people would assume 'core updates' means that you install the body of the installation stuff first, and then update -- especially if you're coming from the windows world, and that's precisely the market Mandriva is trying to woo.

This also means that my burned dvd that I spent hours and hours trying to fix, and then replace, might have been just fine, and all I needed was the core updates 'cause of my hardware. I even got access to their ftp servers, but wasn't happy with the file sizes of the dvd iso's I found there -- or the results on my hard drive after the download was apparently finished (sometimes the dvd ended up smaller than advertised, ~1/2 the size of a normal cd).

I swear; these pps at mandriva need to get their act together; even their website works better in M$ IE than it does on a Mandriva-freecd installation.

I may very well end up with knoppmyth...I just ordered another big IDE drive and a 2nd tuner.

I did notice when I tried a Knoppix live DVD recently I was sitting in front of a black screen with nothing seemingly happening for a full 5 to 10 minutes . It just seemed unusual.

I waited though and eventually a screen came back .
Maybe it was setting up the ramdisk in ram and not writing to screen or hard disk during this time.

I've said it before get the DVD with Linux Magazine if you can , any live disk will do and as said before use it to check your hardware . When I changed my monitor to a flat screen lcd I had to give the computer more shared memory for the display from 8M to 12M . Maybe its a display memory problem

now im feeling that im at the right place, thanks to GlennsPref .

Ill try to download and run Mandriva one CD. After your advise because I don’t wanna risk with my old files in the hard disk.

About:
Now, You haven't told us much about what happends before you get to the prompt.

Can we start there, please?

Answer:
Ok, I started the PC with the Mandriva bootable DVD. The computer is booting from the DVD and after that the prompt screen appears to me saying
"Welcome to Mandriva .... .... if you wanna install press Enter , for advanced press F1 ... etc"

Will I pressed Enter and a progress bar starting in the prompt, after the progress bar finishes the black screen appears and that's the entire story.

Will I waited for approximately 15 minutes then I restarted the PC manually.
I have checked the DVD iso by the md5 before I burn it and its ok.

Do you advise me to wait more than 15 minutes??

Hi NoMoreReinstallMS ,
Finally I have seen some one like me having the same problem. Thanks god.
I think there is no difference between me and you, because I found in mandriva.com that they wrote "Linux 2006 ISO for x86-32 (i586)" at the installation page. Witch means
x86-32 == i586.

About the DVD Iso file size that I downloaded is = 2.03 Gbyte. Is it the same as you?
I recommend you to do the md5 check on the iso that you downloaded to see if it’s not corrupted download.

About the core cd. Is it the:
Mandriva-Linux-Free-2006-DVD.i586.idx
OR
Mandriva-Linux-Free-2006-DVD.i586.sha1.asc

Because that what I found with the DVD in the ftp server?????

Yes, we're very similar, and it's starting to actually install when I use the core updates cd *first* from a fresh install. The main diff between our iso's is that you have the .i586, and I the x86_64. Similar, but diff.

And no, my newest iso download is 4.7G, the way it should be.

Of course, I say "started to install"; I'm not home free yet.

I don't think you should have to wait more than 15 minutes, but I'm not sure. It seems like a long time. Have you tried going for a coffee with friends for a couple of hours? lol.

The only thing I can think of is the program is scanning your HD for free space and/or hardware profiling before it resumes the installation.

How big is the HD?

The live cd may give more insight, and it is more immediate, because for one thing it is not concerned with your harddrive, it will not write to it, so it doesn't matter.

That may be enough to show some info to enlighten us.

My sata drive is 120G and my two IDE (pata) are 40G and 20G, and I had to give it about 7 or 8 minutes.

That was with nothing on screen, no prompt, no progress bar. Just Black, but not sleep mode.

The check sum sounds good. So many ppl skip that and can't find the fault with the install program, not just mandriva, but RedHat and Fedora too.

I'm at a bit of a loss now.

Try the coffee break, You know what they say, "A watched pot never boils"

Sorry to jump in with my usual suggestion: try
noapic nolapic acpi=off video=vesa vga=ask
at the boot prompt (this may help with the dual core and acpi quirks)
I have no other suggestion for now, so keep going with
other contributors line of thought as well

To NoMoreReinstallMS ,

Could you tell me what is the name of the core cd?

To GlennsPref ,
I'm still downloading the live CD.
I'm gona to try the coffee break for a couple of hours :D
Because I have one hard disk type SATA with capacity of 200 GB.

Even if its gona be a silly thing to leave the computer with black screen and with no activity in CPU or Hard Disk, but ill try it. Thanks

:D Could you explain all of these words what is means??
My CPU is Intel Dual Core.

nolapic is a way to address the hardware, especially relevant to dual core I believe, noapic is for single core so thrown in for good figure
acpi is to do with suspend and energy savings etc
video=vesa make you use a simplified video mode

Take it as a recipe for now, just try
for more on the topic there are zillion of pages
http://club.mandriva.com/xwiki/bin/K...el?xpage=code&

PS:
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html

Sorry! for the delay
 

The file you should get is named Mandriva-Linux-CoreUpdates-2006-CD.i586.iso, and of course it has a md5sum file and an idx file in the same directory. Do you have a password for their ftp servers? If not, just go to the download page of the Mandriva club and click the link that they give for people not able to use torrent file downloading.

They'll send you a password and access in 15-30 minutes, but do warn you that the servers don't give as "pristine" copies as those from the torrents. And they were right: I gave up on my other dvd, and so did my system builder, but the cd's downloaded fine. I'm now giving it one last shot to download it through another file-sharing program (azureus is great, but a memory pig; thank goodness I'm memory-rich). A full 24 hours after the start of the download, I'm still only at 47%.

Quite frankly, if this doesn't work we'll be installing a completely different distro on Sunday when my builder is coming with his family, disks, and more hardware.

Cheers!

Quite frankly you are too patient spend $12 or so and get a magazine with a free distro DVD and save the hassle

Firstly, I would certainly not bother and try downloading any distribution by modem! Never ever! Its just much too slow, and if anything unfortunate happens you can repeat everything again and again. In the end you would be online for days and have no results but a big phone bill. So why the trouble?

Secondly, Mandriva 2007 is scheduled to be public in a few days or so. Therefore, I would wait a little while and get a magazine with a DVD of the latest Mandriva 2007. Then you can install your box, your friends box, and so on.

If that seems too much trouble, there is always the Mandiva Club. There you can get all you want, plus support.

Helmut

Mandriva is scheduled to the 15th of September. But that date is not carved in stone and is not the public release date. The public release is usually 4-6 weeks after club release.
http://qa.mandriva.com/twiki/bin/vie...drivaLinux2007

Thanks Dexter11, I'll be keeping an eye out for it

Too late :-) I got it properly downloaded, checksum ok, burned, and everything seemed to install textbook-style on Thursday night. Hurrah for bitlord! (over azureous) as I was getting speeds of up to 90KB/s that I never ever approached through the other file-sharing program. There seem to be a few glitches that others have also experienced (kdebase-kcontrol-nsplugins = 1:3.4.2-55 & kdebase-progs = 1:3.4.2-55mdk) but I was able to get my sound redirected from the mike to the proper onboard sound (playing cd's and mp3's), the samba shares for my son's pc on my network are working, etc.

Now just to figure out how to get those missing pieces (installer has a few probs, too, as even after the 365 updates that downloaded fine, its not recognizing my dvd media properly anymore)...

Besides, the first thing I did was buy a $60 Linux Bible with tons of free/livecd's over 2 weeks ago, and more cd-rw's, and some hassle that resulted in a free mandrivaclub membership for a month, so I wasn't willing to spend any more $ on a mag that wouldn't have the proprietary nvidia and other commercial drivers like the club's does.

Success sure does smell sweeter...

Congrats
 

Hey, That's great. Persistance pays off!

I hope you enjoy the ride.

Cheers!

I read some of this, and not sure if you're still having trouble here with mandriva loading up.

I remember doing this myself, even my dad had this issue.

You are getting the right 32bit or 64 bit right? I know this was an issue with mandrake. I had a 64 bit processor, and it wouldn't load. It just had the num lock light and something else i think flashing, and it wouldn't get past the first screen.

sorry if this wasn't of any help.

Najito911,
I suspect the DVD disc was not burnt well.
I just had my MDK 10.2 burnt on 3 CD-RW, and installed with no problem. What I read on Internet is to burn the ISO to disc with slow speed.
What I am doing now is install MDK 10.2 on a removable 10GB HDD and 'play' with it before having important data in that system. Any thing wrong ? re-install ! I also have WindowsXP Pro
SP2 and Win98SE each on a separate HDD. All 3 removable and
independent.

My 2 cents : don't giave-up.

U instld OK yet? R U try Dual Boot w/ M$ O$ Win? Good Luck! I NO LIKE VISTA b2,5384
 

Naj, I haven't loaded ODIN (Mdv 07b2) yet on my DT, but for a time comparison Suse 10.1 just loaded completely; AMD FX60x2, Tyan S2865, w/ 2GB RAM on Seagate 160GB SATA, connected as 2nd SATA, 1st was MT, no IDE HDs, in ~30 min total, not counting my time to figure out what I changed. I say cause ODIN started very similar openSuse 10.1 on my LT (In sig-self built!)

ODIN DVD=Dual Architecture loads 32 or 64, depending on CPU, or user choice

DO you have partitions avail on the HD for install, along side your MS Win OS?
MS OS Win = XP pro or ?
Or is it an empty (MT) HD, or w/ an already NTFS formatted partition?
Others; Please C my thread in newbie about ODIN not allow new / root!

R the CoreUpdates reqd B 4 loading the ODIN Dual Architecture DVD
 

NoMor... TY 4 link, where did U find info about this requirement?
ALL:Attempting load on DT, no luck, NOW I get media errors, but during burn Suse performed media check.
Looked @ DVD contents, MD5Sum in i586 folder, NONE in x86_64 folder. Read all Install, release .txt files I could. DVD is 2007 beta 2, but all .txt files. either folder are titled Mdv 2006 (???)
Q? Would i586 checksum work on a Dual Architecture DVD?
Install on DT started fine, had a formatting error, now DVD no load. Must find notes on complete statement displayed

In their newsletter of all places. It really needs to be in a more prominent place -like the same location as the actual dvd - for Mandriva's market demographics (Linux newbies), cause who wants to read marketing-based-give-us-more-$ newsletters? Besides, let's say someone has bought a membership: the first thing they need to do is install, and this is a core piece of info they need to be able to do that.

I probably did a search for info about it to come across the tidbit in the newsletter; during my long search for answers as to why I couldn't install the bloody dvd by itself I saw the name, "Core Updates CD1' on their ftp server and was curious enough about something named like this to find out info about it. Whenever something is called 'core' it's logical to pay attention to it. I'd never have guess in a million years that it has to be installed first, though, it would also be logical to install the body of the OS first, then 'updates' immediately after.

hi, im gona to postpond this intalling linux issue until linux solve thier problems.
hope them best.

Najito911
I would not quit if I were you,
maybe try 2007 beta 3 (aka Tyr)
should be close to the final release
http://www.mandriva.com/en/linux/200...alinux2007beta

Perserverance is good with linux, and if you have
new equipment it is always more difficult to install

Courage...

Perserverance has always been one of my strongest assets but after spending 2 weeks building Windows and Linux installs, a work mate looked up late one night and said we all should be in some kind of mental hospital, we keep doing the same thing over and over for hours making micro changes and expecting different results.
That really got me to thinking, what's the relationship between programming and autism ?

do not know.
There is allegedly a relationship with parents being engineers.
Read me correctly, it is not the work itself that lead to autism in kids,
it is the propention to choose that work in the first place that is related to more case of of autism in future kids.
Anyway autism specialist say there is not such a corelation.
Todays on the news they said there was a corellation with father's age.

Agree with that. Normality is way overated.
Where do you fit in the autism spectrum?
Joke apart, this is a serious medical condition.

Here goes the linux question...
Either you are doing something wrong or your are exploring/toying/hobbying or are a perfectionist, whatever. Feel free to post a linux related question,
because it seems you posted to the wrong thread ;-)

Good decision Najito; Mandriva suks
 

I've been trying different versions of Mandriva 64 now for over 5 weeks, and while another said I was "too patient" I'm finally agreeing with him. It's been almost nonstop effort, as I am retired and can therefore obses over my pc like no tomorrow. Yes, I even tried the newest beta 3 (tyr) and it wouldn't install at all, no matter how many options I tried. The others (freecd and the club version Powerpack) installed (I lost count how many times I did it) but kept on falling apart after I tried to fix the problems that the original install had.

Yes, I should change my nic to NoMoreReinstallMandriva. They do need to get their act together, or they're going to lose the very market they're going for: the newbies. And while everyone agrees that 64-bit is difficult, there's really no excuse for some of bone-head errors the folks at Mandriva have pulled that defy even the most basic rules of logic. Perhaps they should think about gettign some sort of QA department. I found Texas Instruments a fabulous QA Project Manager with incredible credentials.

I'm sticking with ubuntu 64 bit for now; later I'll try gentoo, what with my hardware being so new & high-end.

Unable to get Tyr, has DL been turned off? Tried BT 4.04 & new 4.2, fdm2.1
 

Have been unable to DownLoad Tyr, using Free Download Manager 2.1 (w FireFox) or w/ BitTorrent 4.04 (Or 4.2x) Has the new DL been turned OFF? I keep getting "Extended error", "550 Failed to open file", Pause 5 sec & repeats. Or a notice about password required. Have tried the USA sites FL, GA, PA, MI and the one in Canada.
Was able to DL Kubuntu 32 & 64 w/o any problems, FC5 32 & 64 are still I/P. Considering suse 10.2A4 {**} install from Inet just to see how it works!

Q Can Inet CD {**} be loaded from HD to start Inet install w/o actually burning a CD?
Tyr is still a b3 so maybe real newbies should avoid until a stable release of Mdv 2007, which should be soon. A & B release notes indicate these versions are more for developers. NMRM$ & I may have desire to experiment & try out stuff, but can run into many problems.

I have Odin DVD that appears to have media errors now (see #36 on 9-2 @ 15:24).The Dual Architecture DVD was burned on Ridata 8x DVD- in suse 10.1 and seemed to start installs OK until DrakX wizard would not work as I thought it should, unable to create new /. .
Q I looked @ .txt files on DVD using M$ Vista, Could that have screwed up (read only, NO write)?

QQ Never could find file link for the CoreUpdates CD 1 to burn, (not a mandriva club member) NMRM$, are U still using it for Tyr installs?
Similar here w/ ODIN DVD!

Why is 64 bit so difficult?? I have done numerous 64bit xp Pro & Vista OK, just need to locate specific drivers, but may be a delay at first!

Dear All Friends,
I am also a newbie and installed Mandriva free 2006 (3 CDs) today i.e. 16/10/06 but it didn't work as GUI and stuck on the CUI after starting but still I don't worry becaz I know that U my friends has a solution for everything and Im really very much interested in Linux, but some where or other it lacks some software support like Corel, Pagemaker etc. for people like me. I don't know still that there are any softwares which can fulfill tasks like these which are fulfilled by the softwares in windows. I also have Knoppix Live DVD 5.1 and I really enjoy in experimenting Linux.

Thank U all Friends (beacuse I read all the post in the thread and got Moral Support)