Can't install SuSe 9.2

[mubs]

I decided to follow thru on Merc's recommendation re. Suse. Downloaded it, burned a DVD, but install won't go thru.

System boots DVD, shows the following install choices (among others):

Installation
Installation - ACPI Disabled
Installation - Safe Settings
Manual Installation

Each of these options produces the same result. The screen scrolls by quickly, then at one point, everything stops/hangs. DVD drive spins down, no HDD activity. I waited 10-15 minutes once! The last few lines on the screen always read:

RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
VFS: Mounted root (minix filesystem)
Moving into tempfs... done
ramdisk /dev/ram0 freed
Created /dev tree (14471 inodes)
>>> SUSE Linux installation program v1.7.17 (c) 1996-2004 SUSE LINUX AG <<<

And that's where it always hangs.

System is a Tyan Tiger 100 (BX chipset); 2 x P3-750MHz; 896 MB RAM; a single 20 GB IDE HDD; a PCI video card, IIRC a Matrox Millenium.

I was able to install Mandrake 10.1 on the same system. Mandrake booted into console mode after installation, and recognized that there were 2 CPUs.

Solaris 10 appears to be installing as I write this.

(I've been zeroing the HDD between different OS installs)

But I reely, reely want to play with SuSe!

Thanks.

 

[time]

It sounds like your source files are corrupt. There's nothing remotely exotic in your hardware - proved by the fact you can install Solaris.

You could check it by downloading the Suse demo CD image (single CD, boots and runs solely off CD).

Suse 9.2 is currently being offered as an Oz magazine cover DVD - something of a bargain, I thought. Anything similar in your part of the world?

 

[mubs]

Thanks for the reply, time.

After downloading, I did check the MD5 hashes, matched perfectly. EZ DVD Cremator 7, which is what I have right now for burning, does not seem to have a way to verify that a disc was burned correctly. I did burn two copies (just to be sure), and both copies behave identically.

Are you referring to the SuSe "Mini-Install"? Yes, I tried that too, same results.

Solaris 10 did not install. It detects hardware, keeps seeking the floppy drive for something like 10 odd minutes (clicking noise, light on), then repeatedly displays a message that some directory or file system was not found. It scrools by so fast I can't read it, and can't stop it.

I ran memtest all night long. Four passes, no errors.

Some more scratching of the head is in order, I guess.

 

[i]

Have you tried telling the installer not to use DMA? I don't know about Suse, but with a Debian install all you would have to do is issue a "boot nodma" command at the boot prompt.

As for stuff scrolling too fast to see it, try the "Pause" key. Under Linux that key actually works on occasion. Failing that, even after a crash, Shift+PgUp will sometimes still allow you to scroll back to see what recent messages have whizzed by.

 

[i]

Oh, sorry mubs. I missed the "Installation - Safe Settings" option that you mentioned you'd tried. I would hope that option turned off DMA. Still, if there's some way to be sure...

 

[mubs]

Well, what do you know.

As soon as I would make a selection of the installation type, the display would switch from graphic install to console mode.

I replaced the video card (I lied, by the way. It was an old Trident PCI) with a first-gen ATI Radeon AGP 32MB. I also made sure the BIOs was set up identical to my main system, which is almost the same hardware except for faster processors.

SuSe never switched to console mode, still in graphical, installing as I write!

Maybe the PCI viceo card didn't have enough RAM. Don't know. I used to save PCI cards for playing with systems, now it looks like I had better save my old AGP cards for the same purpose.

Thanks time and i !

 

[i]

Interesting ... thanks for letting us know. I wouldn't have guessed that one.

 

[sechs]

I've had problems in the past with the SuSe installer. I dunno if this is something peculiar in my hardware or in YAST.

 

[mubs]

Well, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. It's installed now, but the display sucks big time. I've got the rez. etc. done, but the display quality is horrid. Sorta like a CGA screen. I can see big gaps between each pixel that makes up a letter. Don't know what the prob is; nosed around, couldn't figure it out. And can't connect to the 'net either.

 

[mubs]

I wiped out SuSe and installed Mandrake 10.1. I'm really, really impressed.

It detected everything on the first try. Sees to processors (yea!). Configured the NIC automatically (on the internet in no time at all). Display is perfect. I opted for both Gnome and KDE during install, and am messing around with Gnome. Very intuitive, with even a noob like me finding things where I think they would be. Will log out and try KDE in a while. I didn't like KDE on SuSe at all - very obscure. I don't think SuSe has the option of using Gnome.

Mandrake has done an outstanding job with the installation routine and with the interface.

 

[time]

Bad Mubs! The video card was an obvious suspect, but your saying Matrox pushed it well down the list.

It's interesting that Mandrake handled your two obscure cards much better. What's your network card chipset? I have Suse 9.0 running on a BX machine right next to me. It has nVidia TNT2 graphics (which renders everything perfectly) and two network cards - one Linksys LNE100TX and one Davicom (no longer on the supported list, but it's recognised okay and works fine).

Frankly, I would have bet on Mandrake having the best hardware support of current distros. However, I made a conscious decision some time ago to abandon it because I don't see how it can possibly have a future.

BTW, I'm pretty sure Suse comes with Gnome - it's an installation option.

 

[mubs]

I'm really sorry, time ! I know this is not a valid excuse, but the system is in a hard to reach place, and I didn't want to mess with it unless I had to. I could have sworn it was the Matrox, and I was dead wrong. I hardly think the ATI Radeon is an obscure card?

The NIC is an SMC Etherpower 10/100 PCI card.

Mandy worked flawlessly the first time, so I'm having difficulty trying to understand why SuSe is so screwed up. Strangely enough, Solaris 10 still won't install; says something about "not hsfs", then "not UFS", then continuously scrolls the screen saying "read the Readme" in a particular directory (which I haven't done). I think it's looking for disk controller drivers on floppy. But I thought the BX was universally loved and adored.

I had tried Mandrake circa 1998, and it was barely usable. They really have made enormous strides. If they're going to disappear, I hope Novell at least buys them and incorporates their strengths in SuSe.

Thanks again for the kind hand-holding!