Re: Installer stops (freezes) when scanning hardware
Augustin wrote:
> This machine is a desktop computer (7VT600P-RZ(-C) mainboard with VIA
> KT600 chipset). I think I have only mainstream hardware (this is no
> laptop!), yet I always have had some problems with it with different
> versions of different distros.
memtest - to check for bad memory.
badblocks - to check for bad blocks on the hard drive.
I dont know how check faults in other hardware other than replacing it with
a different one testing them.
Pop in a Knoppix CD and see if it detects any of these or related problems
before proceeding with Debian.
>
> And right now, I can't install Debian (etch 4.0r1), although I have
> successfully installed Debian on my secondary (older) computer.
>
Which image are you using? Are you using the net install image or the CDs
from Debian website or CDs supplied by a third party vendor ...? I would
suggest to use the latest net install image (of either stable or testing)
and see if you can overcome this hurdle.
>
> Symptoms with Mandriva:
> -----------------------
>
> 1) I managed to install it, but I had to disable harddrake (hardware
> scanning) at bootup because the bootup sequence would freeze
> otherwise.
Never heard of it. Could be Mandriva specific.
>
> 2) I don't have problems with KDE applications, but with apps such as
> firefox, the gimp and the Mandriva Control Center (MCC) I always
> experience some problems that seem hardware related: MCC never works
> (maybe it scans hardware when we start it), and every morning, the
> *first* time I have to open the "save file as" dialog in firefox or
> gimp, the dialog and the whole app would freeze for a whole 10
> minutes! (when I need to save a file with gimp, I usually open the
> dialog box, go back to konqueror for browsing, then come back later
> when the app is unfrozen). But then, the second time works as it
> should.
> This seems to point to a problem with loading some IDE module /
> hardware access problem... I don't know.
Log files. Have you checked the appropriate log files for errors?
For X related problems, I would look into
~/.xsession-errors, /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Other log files of interest are /var/log/messages, /var/log/syslog etc.,
I don't know Mandriva follows the same convention in terms of file names,
but you get my drift...
>
> 3) Most of the time, the system does not shut down completely cleanly:
> at the end of the kernel shutdown sequence, there are some messages
> about being unable to unmount /usr and /home because the resources
> are busy, yet I have never found the stray application that causes
> this.
What is the kernel? output of uname -a would be nice.
>
> I am not completely sure that the above symptoms are relevant to the
> Debian install problem, but I include them in case they are...
To tell you the truth, I skipped your post initially since you were asking
problems related to Mandriva on a debian specific list. But looking at your
other post in different thread made me come back here and offer my 2 cents.
> I have tried several times, and the installer freezes for 5~10 minutes
> *several times* during the install sequence, when checking for the
> hardware. The F4 windown shows something either like:
> "hw-detect.hotplug: detected hotpluggable network interface eth0"
> or like:
> "missing modules ide-mod, id-probe-mod" etc. (I searched the web, but
> the conclusion seems to be that this is not actually tremendously
> relevant!)
>
>
> Then each time it asks me about entering some data related about
> pcmcia hardware (I enter nothing: as far as I could gather by
> searching the web, I don't need to).
Install the latest testing net install image. I remember seeing this kind of
errors with old installation images (not sure if it was sarge or etch).
Using the testing images overcame this problem.
First try to install it normally (that is just press enter at the prompt
instead of using the expert option) unless you really need the fine
control.
>
> Then at the stage of looking for the partitions, the installer freezes
> one more time, and this time for good (I gave up waiting after 1
> hour).
Are you using SATA by any chance? I remember seeing similar issue with SATA
hard drives but the problem went away once I used the latest images.
> What options can I try when starting the install?
> I usually type "install expertgui". What Do I type instead?
Just press enter and let the installer do its magic.
hth
raju
--
Kamaraju S Kusumanchi
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/kk288/
http://malayamaarutham.blogspot.com/
Reply to: