Bug#267923: installation report
Package: installation-reports
INSTALL REPORT
Debian-installer-version: 18 Aug 2004,
http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/daily/i386/current/sarge-i386-netinst.iso
uname -a: Linux <hostname> 2.6.7-1-386 #1 Thu Jul 8 05:08:04 EDT 2004
i686 GNU/Linux
Date: 18 Aug 2004 13:50
Method:
How did you install?
partition -> boot CD -> partition some more -> install base -> reboot ->
base-config -> apt-get
What did you boot off?
CD burned from netinst image mentioned above
If network install, from where?
ftp://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/debian/
Proxied?
No
Machine: Desktop PC
Processor: Pentium 4
Memory: 1 GB PC133 RAM
Root Device: hda: 20 GB IDE HD, hdc: 10 GB HD, hdd: Liteon CD-RW
Root Size/partition table:
# fdisk -l /dev/hda /dev/hdc
Disk /dev/hda: 20.4 GB, 20496236544 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2491 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 729 5855661 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 730 2491 14153265 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 730 1458 5855661 83 Linux
/dev/hda6 1459 1580 979933+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda7 1581 2188 4883728+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda8 2189 2285 779121 83 Linux
/dev/hda9 2370 2491 979933+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda10 2286 2369 674698+ 83 Linux
Partition table entries are not in disk order
Disk /dev/hdc: 10.2 GB, 10242892800 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1245 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdc1 * 1 365 2931831 83 Linux
/dev/hdc2 366 1245 7068600 5 Extended
/dev/hdc5 366 1123 6088603+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdc6 1124 1245 979933+ 82 Linux swap
# df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda1 5763616 2809624 2661212 52% /
tmpfs 453780 0 453780 0% /dev/shm
/dev/hda5 5763616 1943336 3527500 36% /home
/dev/hda8 730120 464806 226358 68% /usr/local
/dev/hda10 632327 325223 273370 55% /opt
/dev/hdc1 2885780 32828 2823636 2% /bakup
/dev/hdc5 6087831 505153 5582678 9% /wienuser
/dev/hda7 4806904 3486876 1075844 77% /mnt/fedora
Note that on /dev/hda, all partitions except / were restored from
backups of old system (sargified woody), and partitions on /dev/hdc were
created after installation finished.
Output of lspci and lspci -n:
$ lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82845 845 (Brookdale) Chipset Host
Bridge (rev 03)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82845 845 (Brookdale) Chipset AGP
Bridge (rev 03)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 12)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 12)
0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801BA IDE U100 (rev 12)
0000:00:1f.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM USB (Hub #1) (rev 12)
0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM SMBus (rev 12)
0000:00:1f.4 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM USB (Hub #2) (rev 12)
0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM AC'97
Audio (rev 12)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV5M64 [RIVA
TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro] (rev 15)
0000:02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM/CA/CAM
Ethernet Controller (rev 03)
$ lspci -n
0000:00:00.0 0600: 8086:1a30 (rev 03)
0000:00:01.0 0604: 8086:1a31 (rev 03)
0000:00:1e.0 0604: 8086:244e (rev 12)
0000:00:1f.0 0601: 8086:2440 (rev 12)
0000:00:1f.1 0101: 8086:244b (rev 12)
0000:00:1f.2 0c03: 8086:2442 (rev 12)
0000:00:1f.3 0c05: 8086:2443 (rev 12)
0000:00:1f.4 0c03: 8086:2444 (rev 12)
0000:00:1f.5 0401: 8086:2445 (rev 12)
0000:01:00.0 0300: 10de:002d (rev 15)
0000:02:08.0 0200: 8086:2449 (rev 03)
Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
Initial boot worked: [O]
Configure network HW: [O]
Config network: [O]
Detect CD: [O]
Load installer modules: [O]
Detect hard drives: [O]
Partition hard drives: [0]
Create file systems: [O]
Mount partitions: [O]
Install base system: [O]
Install boot loader: [O]
Reboot: [O]
Comments/Problems:
Problem #1: HD booting installer failed
-----------
Booting off a hard disk partition as described in the installation guide
did not work.
I placed initrd.gz and vmlinuz from
ftp://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/20040801/images/hd-media/2.6/
in an otherwise empty ext2 partition and set up lilo as per instructions
at
ftp://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/debian/dists/testing/main/installer-i386/20040801/doc/manual/en/ch05s01.html#boot-initrd
Boot hung with this final message:
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on ram1
I tried increasing the size of the ramdisk in lilo, but it did not help.
In the end I gave up and burnt the netist CD image.
Problem #2: base-config insists on using security.debian.org
----------- + resulting mail setup stuff-ups
I am behind a proxy server, but I have direct access to selected sites,
including the Debian mirror at mirror.aarnet.edu.au. To access other
sites I need to supply a username and password and when I do so I get
charged $$ for downloads (even if I download from sites I could access
without going through the proxy server).
So, during base-config, I put the local mirrors in /etc/apt/sources.list
and said no to the proxy server questions. At first base-config doing an
apt-get update seemed to go fine, but then without even asking me off it
goes looking for stuff at security.debian.org, which the proxy server
will not allow.
After some minutes the failed wget's timed out and I was prompted about
mail messages to root being redirected to normal user. I hastily picked
the wrong thing I think. I wanted to send mail through an external smtp
server to my usual email address, but base-config installed an smtp
server on my PC instead.
Now when I rerun base-config, it exits with errors after the
security.debian.org business, so I can't check what happened with the
mail setup.
I would prefer if base-config respected my wishes and just go with what
I put in /etc/apt/sources.list. Then it could ask me if I want it to
fetch stuff from security.debian.org, or if I want to use a mirror,
i.e., ftp://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/debian-security.
Problem #3: missing 128 MB of RAM
-----------
Under debian I'm missing 128 MB of RAM! (I have 1 GB.) Under the
otherwise rather buggy Fedora Core 2 I have all my RAM.
Sifting through output of dmesg I found:
Warning only 896MB will be used.
Use a HIGHMEM enabled kernel.
896MB LOWMEM available.
... and then
$ grep MEM /boot/config-2.6.7-1-386
CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM=y
# CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G is not set
# CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G is not set
$ grep MEM /mnt/fedora/boot/config-2.6.5-1.358
# CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM is not set
CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G=y
# CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G is not set
CONFIG_HIGHMEM=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_UMEM=m
CONFIG_DEBUG_HIGHMEM=y
So I guess I'll have to recompile the kernel if I want the last 100 MB
of my RAM. This is not something one expects to have to do after a fresh
install.
Problem #4: hdparm version in database inconsistent with package
-----------
I guess this is really a post-post-install issue, but since having DMA
turned on for hard disks and CD-ROMs is so essential I'll include it
here. The version of hdparm on the database is inconsistent with the
packages available. I had to download and install hdparm_5.5-2_i386.deb
manually as apt-get will try to fetch the non-existent
hdparm_5.5-4_i386.deb. This problem has been around for quite some time now.
Comments:
---------
Need some better package selection tools, especially for new users.
tasksel has become even more lame than it was in woody. How about
options like development tools, tex, KDE, GNOME..., office?
The best thing about aptitude is the ascii minesweeper.
This doesn't worry me though. I'm happy to keep apt-getting what I want.
Last but not least, Thank You for a great OS!
--
Steven Homolya
School of Physics and Materials Engineering
Monash University, VIC 3800
Australia
Tel: +61 3 9905 3646
Fax: +61 3 9905 3637
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