Re: Fresh 7.10 netinstall problems...
On Sat, Oct 27, 2007 at 07:40:27PM -0400, Douglas A. Tutty wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 27, 2007 at 05:30:49PM +0100, Digby Tarvin wrote:
> > I hope there are some experts out there that can offer some suggestions
> > regarding a problem I am having installing Debian Etch (40r1-386-netinst
> > downloaded on 23/10/07) on a Dell Precision 410 MT...
> >
> > Everything goes fine through the initial install, up to the point
> > where I have to reboot using the freshly installed kernel on the
> > hard drive.
> >
> > I can log in after the reboot, and everything looks ok, but when I
> > then proceed to try and complete the install by adding other packages
> > like 'xorg', things start going wrong...
> >
> > Either the package transfer fails after a few minutes with messages like
> > E: Method http has died unexpectedly!
> > segmentation fault
> > or dpkg falls over during the installation of the package, eg
> > /bin/sh: line 1: 2284 Segmentation fault /usr/bin/dpkg_preconfigure...
> >
> > I tried doing an 'apt-get update; apt-get upgrade' but the system did
> > not survive long enough to get the updated kernel installed.
> >
> > It seems that the kernel used during the initial install was stable,
> > but the kernel it installed on the hard disk is not.
> >
> > I tried adding 'nosmp' to the command line in case there were problems
> > with that, but it made no difference.
> >
> > For anyone who has read this far - here are some more details about
> > the target hardware:
> > Model: Dell Precision Workstation 410 MT
> > BIOS revision A08
> > CPU: 2xPIII 450MHz
> > Video card: 3DLabs Oxygen GVX1
> > Ram: 1024MB
> > Adaptec AIC-7890 BIOS DELL-V2.01.05
> > SCSI ID 0 COMPAQ DDRS-34560W ULTRA2-SE
> > SCSI ID 1 SEAGATE ST173404LW ULTRA2-SE
> > Adaptec AIC-7880 BIOS DELL-V2.01.05
> > SCSI ID 1 MATSHITA DVD-RAM LF-200
> > Primary IDE1 ZIP drive
>
> What kernel was installed?
>
> As soon as you login, type
> $ uname -a
>
> If the system is still up, send us:
>
> cat /etc/apt/sources.list
>
> You could use the install CD as a rescue system, choose "run a command
> on the rootfs" (or whatever it says); it runs your command chrooted to
> the system. Try aptitude there (thus with the installer's kernel). If
> that works, do a uname -a there and notice any difference.
>
> Needless to say, what you're experiencing shouldn't happen under any
> circumstances with Etch (stable).
>
> Doug.
Hi Doug,
Thanks for responding. Here are some more details I forgot to mention
in my initial post:
The initial install seems to require the 'aic7xxx.aic7xxx=no_probe' to
complete properly. If I omit that then I get no error but the install
completes much sooner and I assume was truncated by an unreported error,
as much less software ends up being installed.
After rebooting the system comes up with initd.rc aborting at some
random place with a 'segmentation fault'. But I usually end up with
a login prompt and can log in and execute commands. Errors are sporadic
and unpredictable, and usually involve a command failing with a
segmentation fault. But eventually I get a system lockup that requires
a hard reset to recover from (CTL-ALT-DEL ignored, no key echo etc).
Uname -a returns:
Linux precision 2.6.18-5-686 #1 SMP Fri Jun 1 00:47:00 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux
and /etc/apt/sources.list contains:
#
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r1 _Etch_ - Official i386 NETINST Binary-1 20070820-20:21]/ etch contrib main
deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r1 _Etch_ - Official i386 NETINST Binary-1 20070820-20:21]/ etch contrib main
deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ etch main
deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ etch main
deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
I have also tried adding the aic7xxx.aic7xxx=no_probe kernel option
to /boot/grub/menu.lst as follows:
title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-5-686
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-5-686 root=/dev/sdb1 ro aic7xxx.aic7xxx=no_probe
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-5-686
savedefault
But that produced no appreciable change. Is there anything wrong with the
way I am doing it?
I should also add that the Windows 2000 which was already installed when I
got he system seems to run reliably, as does the obsolete Ubuntu 5.04.
Newer versions of Ubuntu wont install - some giving me a blank screen
after trying to boot the install media, others (including the latest 7.10
release) freeze if the adaptec AIC-7890 is not disabled in the BIOS (which
prevents the install getting very far.
Regards,
DigbyT
p.s. ignore the reference to "7.10" in the subject line. I meant "Etch".
I was getting confused with the most recent Ubuntu which I had also
tried.
--
Digby R. S. Tarvin digbyt(at)digbyt.com
http://www.digbyt.com
Reply to: