Mandrake 8.1 & 8.2 BOOT

[DrWhOz]

Hi! Sorry for my english! I have installed (4 times!!!) Mandrake 8.1 and 8.2 on my pc (Pentium II 350MHz, 128Mb ram 10Gb HD). It works really ok, but I have a problem at the boot and I'm not able to solve it! I really ask help for this, I'm very stressed!! At the boot it start regularly, until "Finding module dependencies" that give an OK. Then the blinking cursor goes to the next line (still void) and ALL is stopped for about 5 minutes (NO hd activity!). Then the boot continues normally with "Checking filesystems..." and normally arrives to the end. Linux works correctly! The automatic installation gived three partition of the disk: hda1 (Linux native, 3.4 Gb, as "/"); hda5 (Linux swap, 234Mb); hda6 (Linux native, 5.8Gb, as "/home). All formatted. I have also a lan card, but I disabled it and it's the some!I REALLY don't know what does not goes!! It's impossible to wait something like 10 minutes just for the boot!! PLEASE, HELP ME!! I thank you a lot for your support.DrWhOz drwhozzz@hotmail.com

[Spot]

I have also a lan card, but I disabled it

Disabled it how?
I would suspect that this might be part of your problem, because unless it is "disabled" properly, it might be causing the system to hang for a bit while the system tries to activate it.

Another thing that might cause a long boot is the services you are starting up, and the following information from you would be helpful:

Do you boot into the graphical login manager or are you taken just to a command line(text) prompt?
If you boot into graphical mode, please login and type the following into a terminal(konsole) window:
ls /etc/rc.d/rc5.d
and post the output of that command.
If you boot into console(text) mode, please login and type the following command:
ls /etc/rc.d/rc3.d
and post the output of that command.

This will tell us what services are starting up when your machine boots. I suspect this might also be part of the problem, because you used the automatic installation, and you are probably starting up services that aren't yet configured properly(or needed at all), and that can cause a long bootup.

[DrWhOz]

First thanks a lot!
The boot is the same with or without the lan card installed on the PCI bus!
I start in the graphical mode and the command ls /etc/rc.d/rc5.d
gave these results:

S01 usb
S05 harddrake
S05 kudzu
S10 network
S11 portmap
S12 syslog
S20 random
S25 netfs
S26 apmd
S40 atd
S56 rawdevices
S56 xinetol
S60 cups
S70 alsa
S71 sound
S75 keytable
S80 pastman
S85 gpm
S85 numlock
S89 internet
S90 crond
S90 xfs
S95 anacron
S95 kheader
S99 devfsd
S99 linuxconf
S99 local
S99 medusa

Hooping this will help you I'll wait for a possible solution!! I'm really depressed! I love Mandrake and I would like a lot to learn to use it and Unix, but I have this problem before!
Thanks again!
DrWhOz.

[Spot]

OK...once you get the machine booted up, log in and fire up the Manrake Control Center.
Proceed to the "Services" section.

S01 usb if you aren't using any USB devices, you can disable this
S05 harddrake if you aren't putting any new hardware in(or prefer to config it manually), disable it
S05 kudzu same as harddrake
S10 network leave it alone
S11 portmap unless you're using unix shares or rcp from another machine, disable
S12 syslog leave it
S20 random leave it
S25 netfs unless you're using unix shares from another machine, disable
S26 apmd disable
S40 atd disable
S56 rawdevices you can safely disable this
S56 xinetol disable
S60 cups unless you have a printer set up, disable it
S70 alsa leave it
S71 sound leave it
S75 keytable leave it
S80 pastman don't know wtf this is, but it's most likely safe to disable
S85 gpm unless you need mouse access at the console, disable
S85 numlock leave it
S89 internet leave it
S90 crond leave it
S90 xfs leave it
S95 anacron disable
S95 kheader leave it
S99 devfsd leave it
S99 linuxconf leave it
S99 local leave it
S99 medusa disable

Disabling those *should* speed up your boot by about 80%

[DrWhOz]

OK, thanks a lot! I'll try to do that, then I'll tell you the results! ;-)
Do you think that it may be possible that the 5min delay can be caused by a searching to obtain an internet (not lan) DNS? I already had a similar problem with windows. But I'm sure to have already put the check on "DNS by provider", so it should not search for it without a real internet connection!
Anyway I'll try your solution. Thanks again!
DrWhOz.

[DrWhOz]

Hi! I'm sorry... :'( I have disabled all the options you told me, but the boot stops anyway for 5 min in the some point!!
Also because the stop (at least I think...) is BEFORE that the system starts to load those services! It stops between 10 and 11 "OK" from the boot start.
Can it be a problem about partitions?? (They were done in auto mode).
I'm thinking to try with another Linux system (SuSe for ex.)...
But it makes me really angry to be not able to solve this problem! >
Anyway thank you very much for your help!! Of course, if you'll have any other idea to obtain the result... I'll try it immediately!!
Have a nice day!
DrWhOz.

[Spot]

Do you think that it may be possible that the 5min delay can be caused by a searching to obtain an internet (not lan) DNS? I already had a similar problem with windows.

You hadn't mentioned that part before. Yes, that will cause a delay like you're experiencing. And once again, you've said you "disabled" the network card, but you haven't said how.

But I'm sure to have already put the check on "DNS by provider", so it should not search for it without a real internet connection!

That's not true at all. By setting it that way, you're forcing the network deamons to search and search and search for your ISP's DHCP server so it can obtain an IP. It's not finding one, but it keeps searching because you told it to do so. Either set the network card to have a static IP (you can alter this after the machine boots if you want your connection later) or do the following:

Open your favorite text editor as root or su, and edit the following file:
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
(your file may be ifcfg-eth1 or some other number, but if you only have one card, it should be ifcfg-eth0)
look for a line similar to this:
ONBOOT='yes'
Change it to read:
ONBOOT='no'
Save and exit the file

This can also be set using the Mandrake Control Center, but I forget exactly how.

This will stop the machine from trying to obtain an IP, and *should* stop the delay you've been experiencing. You can start the network card manually as necessary after that via command line or the Mandrake Control Center.

[DrWhOz]

********************
ONBOOT='yes'
Change it to read:
ONBOOT='no'
Save and exit the file

This can also be set using the Mandrake Control Center, but I forget exactly how.
*********************
YES! That is what I have done! This is what I mean when I tell you that I've "disabled" the LAN card! I did not used the line control but Mandrake Control Center. It is exactly a disable on boot! But I have done this just for the lan card (that for the moment I use only with Win), NOT for the MODEM (or for internet connection if you prefere). Should I do that?? Mmmhhh... I can try also this... if it will be possible!
My english is bad, excuse me! But of course what I mean talking about DNS it was that I already forced it as static, not dynamic...
Thanks again.
DrWhOz.

[Spot]

But I have done this just for the lan card (that for the moment I use only with Win), NOT for the MODEM (or for internet connection if you prefere). Should I do that?? Mmmhhh... I can try also this... if it will be possible!
My english is bad, excuse me! But of course what I mean talking about DNS it was that I already forced it as static, not dynamic...
Thanks again.
DrWhOz.

If disabling the modem/internet connection on boot is an option(I can't say, I don't use an analog modem anymore), then yes, try that.

I was discussing this with some others and another point was brought up. If your machine's hostname is a single word with a dial-up, that can also cause delays similar to what you're experiencing, as it might be trying to resolve the hostname(with no connection to a network to do so)
Please paste the out put of the following commands:
cat /etc/hosts
cat /etc/sysconfig/network
cat /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/network
So we can see exactly what that's set to.

[DrWhOz]

Hi! You are really very kind to help me!I want to thank you and your friends!
So, first the modem: enabled or disabled it is the same!
I list the results you requested me. (I attributed the name "server" to this pc, also if it is not really and I forced the DNS to 192.168.0.1).

cat /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.0.1 server

cat /etc/sysconfig/network

NETWORKING=yes
FORWARD_IPV4=false
HOSTNAME=server
DOMAINNAME=localdomain

cat /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/network

NO SUCH FILE OR DIRECTORY

I've typed more times the command line, but the result was this. If I stop after .../default it say that it is a directory, but both with /network or /networking at the end it says "no such file or directory".

Hooping this will help you I want to thank you again.
Greetings.
DrWhOz.