When loading the setup disc (pre-install phase), the system hangs. The last messages are something about IOAPIC. When i hit the power button to shut off the computer the boot continues.

Then I tried to partition the disk. I got the following errors:
(1) sector size is 2048 (not 512)
(2) drive does not contain a valid partition table
(3) invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4

am i using a really old kernel, on a really new system?
please let that be the problem.

my hardware (brand new)
Acer Aspire 4520

AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core processor
TK57 (1.9 GHz, 2 x 256KB L2 cache)
NVIDIA Geforce 7000M
3GB RAM (1GB orginal + 'Transcend DDR2-667 2GB JetRam')


This is all I know: Acronym for IOAPIC is 'I/O Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller'

You probably need to pass the noapic option at bootup, or if Slackware is already installed you can add it to the grub menu. Do a search in this forum.

should I format the hard drive?

I typed 'hugesmp.s noapic' same problem, hangs about the IOAPIC checks.

am i passing the parameter incorrectly?

Don't know what the boot problem is, but it sounds like you're
trying to partition the DVD drive.

Can you install Slackware-12.1 rather than 12.0? Many improvements
which you should get.

Where did those partition errors come from? Try "cfdisk /dev/sda"
and see if that's not your hard drive.

Did you md5sum the image, and the CD/DVD you're using?

error is in partitioning hda, primary HD.
yes I check the md5 check sum, I used these install CDs on my old laptop, they worked fine.

first help me with the IOAPIC problem.

Acer says that laptop has a Serial ATA HDD. Therefore, try "cfdisk /dev/sda"
as I stated before.

I have no idea about the IOAPIC problem. What did the Slackware CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT file say?

What did your Google searches turn up?

I tried a Red Hat Linux 8 CD from way back.

Kernel Panic: IO-APIC + timer doesn't work!

what should I do?

If you hit any key the boot process continues?
Also you can try

yeah you were right my hd is /dev/sda
sorry

RedHat 8.0 and slackware 12.0 don't work
dsl on pendrive boots just fine
I was able to install vector linux on sda1

ALSA dosn't work

I'm downloading
ubuntustudio-8.04.1-alternate-amd64.iso.torrent

what is APIC, is this just a kernel compatiblility problem, if I install ubuntustudio will it work, can I load a different kernel if I does not.

only the power button gets slackware to cont. odd?

i just want a fully working system, please help, I have a limited time.

Why on Earth would you try Red Hat 8.0 in the first place?!

I tried red hat 8.0 because I had the CD set.
if you were desperate for a working base and a slow internet connection, maybe you'd do the same. I'm a newbie, I was trying to partition an empty DVD drive. lol

It was suggested to me, that I should try ubuntu stdio, in the hope my hardware would be supported.

I just finished downloading ubuntu stdio. How to I burn a DVD? I'm going to look at the DSL (damn small linux) wiki.

should I post my IOAPIC problem in another thread? if so which one.
If you are a mod, please help me. I've posted many fragmented messages out of ignorance. I need help posting a message about IOAPIC.