Hey ya'll

THis is my first go w/ slackware. I've been running ubuntu on my TP600e. I posted a few days ago about how to save my /home partition... but I can't even get that far!!

Here's the deal, I boot w/ disk 1 slackware iso. I get to the step about logging in as root, and setting up partitions. The 600e currently has dev/hda1 (/), /dev/hda3 (/home), and /dev/hda5 (swap). When I enter fdisk /dev/hda I get an error "Segmentation fault". I;m sure it's something stupid, but where am I going wrong?

It's bad to get hung on step 3!!

rob

on edit.... looks like it may be memory related (from what i've read). Only odd thing is it still boots into xubuntu fine......

Slackware loads the CDROM OS into memory when it loads up. How much memory is on the TP?

If your memory is kind of small, then after you log in as root, type "swapon" since it appears that you already have /dev/hda5 set to swap. This should allow Slackware to add the swap space to your memory space.

NB: That would also explain why you can run xubuntu. The OS doesn't need that much memory when it already has swap.

It shows 130496 on boot check. Surely 128 is enough to install. isn't it? I'll try it tho,

Thanks, and I'll post back
rob

BTW it's a 300mhz (I think 300 is right) PII 6gb Thinkpad 600e

I tried the "swapon"

I get

#fdisk /dev/hda
attempt to access beyond end of device
01:00: rw=0, want =1073825997, limit=6464
attempt to access beyond end of device
01:00: rw=0, want =1073825921, limit=6464
attempt to access beyond end of device
01:00: rw=0, want =0, limit=6464
attempt to access beyond end of device
01:00: rw=0, want =1073827465, limit=6464
Segmentation fault


Does that mean somethings wrong (supposedly) with my ram? It's all good when running xubuntu....

Any thoughts?

rob

Bumpity Bump bump...

Maybe this will help deflect some attention away from that [I]other[I] post!

Any one have any thoughts on my predicament?

Thanks!!

Rob


on edit: BTW ran memtest86 and all shows good.....

Could the install CD be bad? I've had problems when I've burned my own CDs. Apparently buring at slow speed can help.

You know it's sad, but I didn;t think of that. I vefified the checksums, and burnt at the slowest (4x i think), so it never crossed my mind!

I'll re-download and try it again.

Thanks!!!

Here's another couple of ideas...

In another thread, we've been helping a guy start Slack installs and everybody recommends both performing an "fdisk -l" (small L) and also using cfdisk instead of fdisk to actually view your partitions. fdisk is buggy and not user friendly (except when getting a nice "list" out of it).

It's entirely possible that Slackware gave /dev/hda to something else. (I'm not sure what is all on a Thinkpad.) Maybe your HDD is /dev/hdb. ("fdisk -l" will verify.)

--vonSt

I tried another disk, and the same thing happened. I also tried cfdisk, and it tells me something to the effect of "cannot open cfdisk.bin", which is odd, I'm logged in as root.

The only other thing that was pointed out to me is my fstab file doesn't show a swap partition... should it at this point?

I'll give fdisk -l a shot and post back

thanks!!
rob

I haven't heard of this "cfdisk.bin" that you speak of. So, I googled it. It pointed me to another LQ thread.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=463427

It looks like your problem might be in a BIOS shortcoming with ThinkPads...
--vonSt
PS: Perhaps a broader LQ search of ThinkPads might prove enlightening...

Still no luck... I'm beginning to agree it's a bios issue. As a side note, vector linux failed to install (slack based), slax hangs on boot, and slackware is a no-go. Just to see if ubuntu was the ONLY distro that would run, I installed FreeBSD last night. It didn't recognize the cardbus and wireless card, but other than that went off without a hitch.

Thanks to all for the help. I guess slackware will just have to wait until I can get a newer (or different) laptop.

Rob

I have a thinkpad 600 that wouldn't run fdisk (segmentation fault) untill I upgraded to the latest BIOS. Mine isn't the 600e but the latest BIOS might fix yours too.