My Slackware 9.1 setup doesn't actually install anything. Why?

iZvi · 03-13-2004, 11:10 AM

I tried to install Slackware from hard disk partition. I downloaded the packages and tried to make bootable floppy. Unfortunately it refused to boot sucsessfuly, so I had to start setup trough Loadlin. Everything seemed to be OK, but after selecting which programs to install it tells me that the setup is completed successfully and I must reboot . It doesn't ask me for kernel selection nor for boot loader . What's wrong ?

spurious · 03-13-2004, 10:24 PM

You probably failed to correctly identify your source media. It's one of the options from the setup main menu (the option is SOURCE as best I recall). setup looks for a 'slackware' directory on your source media, so if your 'slackware' directory is on hda1, then your source media is '/dev/hda1'.

If your 'slackware' directory is a sub-directory under, say, 'download', then enter '/dev/hda1/download'.

disclaimer: I'm working from memory here, and it's been a long time since I did a slack install from harddrive.

iZvi · 03-14-2004, 03:13 AM

The source media selection was correct, otherwise the installation program gives error messages.
It is correctly detecting my partitions and source media, but it exits before installing anything and even gives a message, saying that installation has been successful. I don't know what to do.

Pauli · 03-14-2004, 09:00 PM

Burn a cd and install with that?

gnashley · 03-15-2004, 02:49 AM

Let me get this straight, you used loadlin to boot what? I mean which setup files are you using, the ones from the install.1 and install.2 floppies? Or are you booting install.zip? The setup files seem to be corrupt or buggy sometimes, at least for some of the installation routines.
I have had good luck using the Slackware 8.1 install.zip setup scripts. install.tip has no kernel so you need to copy a kernel into the / directory. This can be a 9.1 kernel and then you just point setup to the installation package files for 9.1.
Install.zip is like ZipSlack, it's an UMSDOS-based linux that runs from a FAT partition. install.zip needs about 20-25MB in which to run.

Farmchild · 03-15-2004, 12:35 PM

I had this problem to start with, it took me a bit to figure out that when it asks what directory to install slackware from a mounted direcory, say you mounted the whole iso image to /mnt/cd1, instead of putting in the directory /mnt/cd1 as the source media - use /mnt/cd1/slackware

iZvi · 03-17-2004, 02:15 PM

OK thank you all. The problem was solved !