Need Help with Install

[rc2]

I am having problems installing Mandrake 8.2 on my PC (CD-Rom boot install). I have looked over the compatible hardware list and cant see anything wrong with my configuration. I am trying to install it on an IBM 300PL. It is a Pentium 500.
On install, I never get to language selection screen..instead I get different errors every time.
I have successfully installed both Win98 and Win NT on this PC repeatedly to see if something was wrong with it..no problems with these other OS's. The only thing that is different on this PC is there is a different CD-rom than what originally came with it.
Some of the erorrs I got were:
mounting /dev/ram3 on /tmp/stage2 as type ext2
mount failed: Invalid argument
Stage 1:disconnecting life support systems
-and-
error in exec of stage2 :-(
Fatal error in Stage 1 :I/O error
I cant recover from this
you may reboot your system
-and-
Install exited abnormally --received signal 4
unmounting filesystems
/proc, /tmp/image, reboot system
-and-
Signal 11
<4> vfs: cant find ext2 filesystem on dev ramdisk (1,3)
-and-
<4> ext2.fs warning: checktime reached, running e2fsck is recommended

Any suggestions on what to try?
Thanks

[JimH]

Are you using CD's you made? Did you check the md5sums of the ISO images before you burned the CD's?

Are you overclocking your cpu? Are you using "aggressive" memory timing in your system bios?

How much memory do you have? How large a partition are you trying to install Linux on?

Might try running memtest86.
http://www.teresaudio.com/memtest86

Yes I know you stated Win installs fine, but Linux is very sensitive to memory problems.

Jim H

[rc2]

Jim,
I tried using CD's I made (from ISO) with Mandrake 8.2 and when they didnt work I used factory made CD's that were download version of Mandrake 8.1
As for memory, the BIOS states that there is 128meg ram.
For the partition, I havent gotten that far into the install to set up partitions. The install routine errors out long before that. The hard drive is a 13 gig.
I will try running the memtest86.
Thank you for your suggestions!
Ryan

[rc2]

Jim,
I am running the Memtest86 program now. It has been running for 24 hours and done 66 passes, 0 errors. I dont see any errors so I am gonna stop the testing.
Can you think of anything else that might be preventing me from installing Mandrake on this PC?
(I do not have the processor overclocked or anything like that.)
Thanks
Ryan

[Spot]

Just for the hell of it, have you tried a text based installation instead of the gui? I'm thinking an odd/unsupported vid card might be causing some trouble, but you haven't mentioned any specific hardware you have... because it sounds very much like slightly flakey hardware. Have you installed Linux before on this system? Linux works the hardware harder than Windows so a system that is quite happily running Win95/98 may well die like this with Linux.

Also, since it's an OEM system (IBM), pop the case open and check the drive jumpers, they may be set to CS(cable select). If they are, set master/slave jumpers accordingly and make any appropriate changes in the BIOS. Also, be sure that if there's a "Plug & Play" setting in the BIOS, that it's switched off.

[rc2]

Spot,
I checked the hard drive jumpers--it was set to master. I also turned off plug and play support in Bios. When I did this, the install generated a new error in a pop up box--
"Could not uncompress second stage ram disk. This is probably an hardware error while reading the data (this may be caused ba a hardware failure or a linux kernel bug)"
I used factory created CD's for this install attempt-Mandrake 8.1. I know the CD's work because I got them at a free seminar and used these CD's to install Mandrake there on site.
Any other suggestions? I think I am gonna try a different PC.
Thanks
Ryan

[Spot]

Spot,
I checked the hard drive jumpers--it was set to master.

What about the cd drive? Other drives?

I also turned off plug and play support in Bios. When I did this, the install generated a new error in a pop up box--
"Could not uncompress second stage ram disk. This is probably an hardware error while reading the data (this may be caused ba a hardware failure or a linux kernel bug)"
I used factory created CD's for this install attempt-Mandrake 8.1. I know the CD's work because I got them at a free seminar and used these CD's to install Mandrake there on site.
Any other suggestions? I think I am gonna try a different PC.
Thanks
Ryan

Checking on another machine, if you have a spare, would only verify that the media is not damaged.
Another thing I'm thinking is, perhaps your cd drive is a bit hokey? Isn't there a cd boot floppy image there somewhere on the 1st CD? If so, you might give that a try too.

Once again, you haven't mentioned the hardware you're trying to use.

[JimH]

Besides trying the cd's on another computer you might also try a different version of Mandrake or another linux distribution to see if you get the same or a similar error. Maybe the Mandrake 8.1 kernel has a bug that shows up on your hardware configuration.

Jim H

[rc2]

Hi,
I found out something.
Toshiba CD-Rom XM_6302B is bad.
Samsung SC-148 is good.
I am up and installing.
Thanks for all your help!
Ryan

[Spot]

Hi,
I found out something.
Toshiba CD-Rom XM_6302B is bad.
Samsung SC-148 is good.
I am up and installing.
Thanks for all your help!
Ryan

Knew it had to be a hardware issue
Congrats!