Re: squeeze fails to install
on 20:34 Thu 17 Feb, Neal Hogan (nealhogan@gmail.com) wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 8:07 PM, Dr. Ed Morbius <dredmorbius@gmail.com> wrote:
> > on 19:30 Thu 17 Feb, Neal Hogan (nealhogan@gmail.com) wrote:
> >> On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 6:40 PM, Dr. Ed Morbius <dredmorbius@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > I'll generally constrain my followup to the earlier thread rather than
> >> > propogating two separate ones.
> >> >
> >> > on 18:11 Thu 17 Feb, Neal Hogan (nealhogan@gmail.com) wrote:
> >> >> On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 12:39 PM, Dr. Ed Morbius <dredmorbius@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> >> > on 21:01 Wed 16 Feb, Neal Hogan (nealhogan@gmail.com) wrote:
> >> >> >> Background: I've had Lenny on this particualr machine
> >> >> >> installing/running just fine. I was able to upgrade from Lenny to
> >> >> >> Squeeze with no problem. The fresh install is the problem. My machine
> >> >> >> is an early 2000's HP pavilion (ze4400). Why doesn't the install
> >> >> >> script partition my hard drive?
> >> Yes, yes . . . clearly unexpected. The error forces me back to the
> >> partition stage. I suppose I can choose the next step of the
> >> installation, but I didn't feel it was appropriate given the lake of
> >> partitions.
> >
> > It's not that you don't have partitions, but that you haven't changed
> > the state of the partition(s) which previously existed.
> >
> > Sometimes staggering on is the better part of valour.
> >
>
> This is not a quest for the holy grail ;-)
The Debian installation process is highly modular, very regular, follows
a number of steps, and is something I've gone through many times (though
not, I'll admit, with the most recent netinst, so I may be missing
specifics). There are some steps which, if they fail, aren't
particularly deleterious. If you can't create new partitions but have a
serviceable partitioning schema on the system, it's perfectly acceptable
to just roll with that and proceed to the next step.
And, again, I've gone through enough installations over the years that I
more-or-less roll with the punches. So long as I end up with something
on disk which can access Debian archives over available networking, I
can sculpt up the system from there. The long-term benefits of Debian
management and administration are almost always worth any front-loaded
pain (and that front-loaded pain is pretty minimal these days).
We're also talking about 10 year old hardware here, with a market value
of approximately nil.
No holy grails were harmed in the installation of any Debian systems on
my watch.
> >> >> > Have you tried shelling out (alt-F2 generally) to partition and create
> >> >> > filesystems yourself?
> >> >>
> >> >> yes, fdisk/cfdisk is not an available comand.
> >> >
> >> > Hrm.... I thought it was. May be some other utility. Check the usual
> >> > places (/bin, /sbin, /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, busybox) for available
> >> > utilities.
> >> >
> >>
> >> I checked and couldn't find them. I was surprised.
> >
> > I'd have to poke around in the installer (and you'd have to indicate
> > which installer you're using) and/or install package to verify this
> > myself. Color me surprised though.
> >
>
> whichever installer is in the (x86) net-install, disk-one, mini.iso .
> . . both linux and BSD kernels . . . from the default debian.org links
> (i.e., the ones that you get from following the links on debian.org)
Again: specificity is key to resolving technical issues. The URL you
obtained that from would be a most appropriate inclusion to your post
(and/or forthcoming bug report).
Perhaps?
http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/6.0.0/i386/iso-cd/debian-6.0.0-i386-netinst.iso
Again: color me surprised at the lack of partitioning tools. I'll try
looking at it later today.
> >> >> > Are you using the graphical or console installer?
> >> >>
> >> >> There was no option. It appeared graphical.
> >> >
> >> > You should have the option of selecting at boot time.
> >>
> >> I agree
> >
> > Agree or not, the option should be presented. You might, say, rather
> > than being all agreeable and stuff, actually verify this on your
> > installation media by, say, booting it and checking.
> >
>
> I did . . that is why I said that there was no option and agree that
> there should be one. I've indicated my install media in response to
> others and above.
That wasn't clear from your response.
And when I said "should", it was in the sense of "the documentation
explicitly refers to it". If that option isn't presented, it's clearly
a bug. I suspect user error.
> Dr Ed,
Please, my friends call me "Dred"....
> I sincerely appreciate your effort. Honestly, I feel that I've given
> enough info, given that i had a working system a week ago with Lenny
> and squeeze (via upgrade) and the fact that I've been able to install
> other OS's (oBSD, fedora, gentoo) without a problem.
Sure, your call. I'm following on as I'm curious as to the specifics of
the problem. That said: the debian-installer team works very hard to
make the process as foolproof as possible, it really /should/ Just Work,
and your target platform, while old, should present no hardware
surprises.
I'd suggest that if you do want to resolve this:
1: repeat the installation with a notebook handy in which you document
all steps. Save the logged installation output (should be in /var/log
of the installer system, /not/ the installed target system) as well if
possible. Hopping onto IRC (#debian at irc.debian.org or
irc.freenode.net) may also be useful during the installation.
2: try the install from another installation medium (e.g.: full CD set,
of which the first CD should be sufficient).
--
Dr. Ed Morbius, Chief Scientist / |
Robot Wrangler / Staff Psychologist | When you seek unlimited power
Krell Power Systems Unlimited | Go to Krell!
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