Install CD boot problem
I have a new laptop (an ECS A900) on which I am trying to install
Debian 3.0. Unfortunately I have a problem where it hangs, just
after putting out the message about the Compac CISS driver.
I have (so far) tried the netinst boot and bootbf24 mini isos.
The boot iso hangs after finding that this device has no floppy
drive, the bf24 iso hangs after the Compac CISS message. I also
had to hand an old 2.2r3 CD set, and that hung at the same place
(after finding no floppy) as the boot iso.
This box is full of SIS chips, and I know that I will have to
get the latest SIS drivers when I get to that stage (I have other
laptops around which use the same SIS630 chip).
I am unclear exactly what should be happening after the Compac
driver is loaded. I found some dmesg logs on the web which suggest
that the next thing is the ethernet drivers, in this case it is
an RTL8139 chip. But as I have not configured this yet I am
unsure whether this is really the next stage.
Does anyone know how to get the boot process to be more verbose,
i.e. to tell me what drivers it is trying to load etc?
I asked on the debian-laptop list, but the only reply I got was
from someone who had not had any problems installing, but could
not remember which boot image he had used.
The embarasing thing is that a SuSE 7.1 CD I had lying around
booted just fine, and although it got the screen all mucked up
by trying to define it as a SIS630, and therefore getting a
totally white screen, I can fix that. I would rather however
get Debian working.
Any help welcome,
David
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