Another Install BBQ/Party

[longgone]

Bruno,,,,,This version of Mandrake is 9.0 ,,,, and this machine has 1024mb ram at the moment with the capability of adding another 1024mb which I will do later on. Now on to other things ,,,,, good news and bad news ... good news first .. it did boot into Mepis ONCE .... bad news the command rm -rf /dev modem was rejected ... response was that I could not remove it the second command ln -s /dev/ttys4 /dev/modem seemed to go all right ... and I tried to connect just to see what would happen but the response is unable to open modem (same as earlier). I went back to the consol to make another attempt at the sym link but the consol froze on me , could not get anything out of it ... did a reboot or tried to .... got to the part of the boot sequence where I get this warning: unable to open an initial consolthat required a reset on the machine to get back here to Mandrake to make this post .... ?????

[Bruno]

Hi Dale

the command rm -rf /dev modem was rejected

tha is not the copmmand I did give you . . the command was:

rm -rf /dev/modem

( As root )But seen that the system frooze after trying the modem is not a real good sign . . .And next time if I give 2 commands and the first one fails you should not go on with the next one . . . there is a specific order to do things . . if the first fails it is useless or even dangerous to do the second one.Now the BIG question: what did you do when the system froze . . . how did you reboot ? Did you do the "Skinny Elephants" ? Did you go to a text console to type reboot ? Or did you just press the "reset" button ?Also how is hdb5 formatted ?? Linux native or Ext3 ?? Bruno

[longgone]

Okay ... my mistake on that about two commands .... when it froze up all I did was click on the K(start) in the lower left and then click on logout and then restart .... but after it got to the warning: unable I had to click on the reset button since nothing else worked ... and if all went as I selected hdb5 should be ext3 ....

[Bruno]

Dale . . the "reset" button is the worst thing you could do . . . . because it looks like it did not recover the journal from Ext3 ( probably was not there ) . . . . the only thing you can do now is try to boot once again ( little chance ) and if it fails again ( big chance ): re-install ! :(There are 2 ultra important tips about how to act when a system freezes: Run away processes AND If all else fails please read those attentively !Now because a re-install is the most likely thing that comes next: Use the mandrake partition tool that you find in the MCC --> "Mount Points" . . . and delete all partitions on hdb . . and create new ones large enough for Mepis and the next distro . . . here is your chance to do it right . . . .IMPORTANT: if at the end the partition tool asks where you want to mount those partitions you leave that blank . . ( there is an option for that ! )Feel sorry for you Dale . . . Bruno

[longgone]

Bruno,,,,,You are so right, need to do a reinstall, went to MCC mount points and cleaned hdb out. However when attempting to create partitions I do not have the partitions listed that I want to use. I would like to have root, usr, and home and none of those are listed on the menu. Is there a means by which I can manually put them in????

[Bruno]

Hi DaleGood question ! . . . What is really important here is that while you are in the MCC you do NOT give the partitions any name yet . . . and like I said in earlier post you do not give them a mount point either !! . . . .Just leave it blank . . no names no mount points . . only empty partitions . . . preformatted Ext3 . . . Only at the point that you are in the install process of Mepis . . with the Mepis CD in the CD-Rom . . . only at that point you decide where /home and /user and / are located. . . . . ***I hope I did manage to explain this clearly to you, because you risk messing up your Mandrake 9.0 if you do give names or mountpoints in the MCC . . . . . ( so please ask again if you are not sure about what I wrote above ) Bruno*** An additional remark: If you use multiple distros I would advice you to limit the numbers of partitions you choose for the 2nd, 3rd, 4rth etc. distros . . . . choose only a partition for / and /home . . and not a seperate for /usr or /boot. . . . because it will make the setup simpler to maintain.I only have my main distro ( Mandrake ) set up with multiple partitions . . the others have only 2, or even only 1 partitions.

[longgone]

Bruno,Morning, more or less, I gave up on the reinstall of Mepis, at least until I got that question answered. I spent several hours trying to get it the way I wanted but to no avail. The swap partition was not a concern since there is a swap on hda in the Mandrake install even though after two installs and two boots getting to the same place (warning: unable to open an initial consol) and going back into MCC to clear the hdb drive, I noticed that both times there was a partition alloted for swap. Is that normal or did I miss something? Anyhow, I did manage to get XP back on this machine ( ), at least I got that done. Now it remains to get in on the selection menu and load all the software back in it.What I did notice with Mepis was when I got to the place where I selected to use their QTpart partition setup tool every time I did it the end result was that the only choices I had for /home were (hdb now) 1 or 5 and for /root it was 5 or 6. I could not get root onto hdb1 at all nor could I get /usr on hdb5 or /home on hdb6. In fact usr was not even listed on the setup menu only had choices for home, swap, and root. But after the info you just gave me I might be better at it. EXCEPT how can I create an extended partition in MCC if I so choose to attempt that again? Just out of curiousity you understand......

[Bruno]

Hi DaleIf I remember correctly you can skip the QTpart bit during the install because the partitions are already created before you started the install . . . the next step is indeed assigning /home and / ( root ) . . . Then , the MCC and "extended" partitions . . . . The fun is that the MCC does that without you knowing or having influence on it . . . you make an ( unlimited ) number of partitions and Mandrake sets them up as primary and logicals . . . see that tool is made for people that know zlitz about primary, extended and logical partitions, it just does the job the way it thinks it is best. And I have to say: I never had any complains about it . . . . once you reboot and the table is written do disk you can see what the hdb numbers are . . . Bruno

[longgone]

Bruno,,,,,Morning, or maybe afternoon, evening perhaps. How about we just wipe the slate slick and I will start over, seeings as I already have. Disregard what I said about XP it is gone too for the moment. I did have to reinstall Mandrake 9.0 since when I was trying to get Mepis set up using that QTpart I did put the screws to the var file in 9.0, it is now back for awhile so I could use the web.I did install (??? amazingly enough Mandrake 10.0) on hdb but I have serious doubts about it. First on the summary page where I can set up the network configurations it gives me a lot of choices for the modem all the way from COM1 to COM8 (in 9.0 the modem is at ttys4/com5 .. works fine, was same in Slack 9.1) in 10.0 none of the connect to the web at all (I tried them all). I passed that section by and figured I would try again after the install was done ( ), fat chance, I did a reboot and all appeared fine it came up to what I can only say must have been the GUI log in window ... two choices ... reboot ... halt ... reboot is over and over and over ..... halt is shutdown and off ... and really fast. I went through the 10.0 official install tips and I see nothing that covers those two areas at all, of course I might be the only one that has them.Next, since Mandrake 9.0 is on my hda and I did not partition it in any way at all, it thinks this 100gb hard drive is all for it. I tried to click on resize in the MCC in the mount points and resize it from there. Well it won't let me in, I am under the impression that as long as I am using that OS it will not do anything to the drive, I need to be in the other drive or another OS to make those changes.lAnd last, swap partition, I have one on hda (9.0) and one one hdb (10.0) is that normal.I installed 10.0 first on the hdb, then did 9.0 on hda.Ahhh... it's a great day to be alive

[Bruno]

Hi DaleBeginning at the end of your post: 1). I have 2 systems . . each of them has 2 HDs . . and only a swap on hda . . . . 2). With Drake 10 . . are you sure you pressed the button "accept user" after giving the user name and password . . and not "next"3). Once 10 boots normal we can see after your netconnection in the MCC . . . . . 4). No you can not unmount and resize a partition you are using at the same time . . . . . but do know that if you do it from another distro ( like 10.0 on hdb ) you will corrupt the 9.0 install and will have to do that one again

Ahhh... it's a great day to be alive

Yep the weather is lousy . . . . so I am glad the computer is giving off some hot air ) Bruno

[longgone]

Bruno,,,,I clicked on next, was under impression that it would automagically take that entry as was. Guess I will do a re-install on hdb (10.0) ... FWIW a new DVD Rom is on the way , this might could cure a lot of grief for both of us , since after all was said and done I wiped both hda and hdb slick to start again and what do you think, now I am getting the original XP error back ... error insalling operating system ... .. not sure why, since 9.0 seems to really like it.

[Bruno]

Dale,Since you will reinstall 9.0 again too . . . switch to expert mode for the partitions an set up hda in a good few partitions . . . . 100GB for Mandrake is just too much :DB) Bruno

[longgone]

Bruno,,,,,Okay I can do that, am getting fairly respectable at doing installs/reinstalls, to bad though, that Penguin really did like all that free range to roam around on but he/she will get over it .....

[Bruno]

She will have to learn how to share the 100GB . . . . . . . . with another lovely looking Penguin . . . . Bruno

[longgone]

Bruno,,,,Well got hda all straight, more or less, that Penguin has about 16.5-16.8gb to play in, hopefully I can get XP back on it too. Maybe not today but within a week or two, I did it last night but that has passed now. It did tell me during the install process that XP would have to be listed as inactive since there was already an active partition on hda (9.0).Now on to the 10.0 reinstall, did it, no change at all in either the network configuration nor being able to get into the GUI, get to the log in screen and now I only have one choice, reboot, at least the halt went away. I also do not get it on the selection menu but then that might be because there are two Mandrakes on here now. Computer might be confused, I know I am.

[Bruno]

I also do not get it on the selection menu

. . What selection Menu are we talking about Dale ??? The Lilo bootloader ??Anyway your 10.0 problem is pretty strange . . . did you do the "individual packages" trick ?? . . . Was the Graphic Card correctly configured in the "Summary" page ?? Bruno

[longgone]

Bruno...It might be the Lilo bootloader, not sure, I know it is the window that comes up while the system is booting and you make your selection what you want , linux, linux-enterprise, floppy, linux nonfb, etc etc etc, that is the what I call the selection menu.No I did not do individual packages, I just checked off everything in the left column and the bottom 3 in the right column. By the graphic card configuration I assume you mean the resolution, I do not use the default numbers I change that to 1024x768 (I think that is it). Are you by chance suggesting I do 10.0 again an select individual packages ?????

[Bruno]

Hi DaleYep that is the lilo boot menu . . . and it will only include Windows automatically, every other distro you have to add there the way we did with Mepis . . . . ( There is no GUI tool that works for the edit either )Now the install of 10.0 . . . . yep selecting all on the left and KDE and Gnome on the right is the first step at package selection . . but checking the box "individual packages" is something I do recommend to sort out a small "bug" . . . . For the packages you have to additionally select after that see the NOTE in red at the "9th screen" in the first post of thread: http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.ph...=ST&f=14&t=6632Also the 15th screen in the same post is important . . . . . "Summary" . . there just to be sure, press the "configure button" of "Graphical Interface" and go for the defaults it presents you . . at the end it will ask you if you want to test the ( graphic ) configuration . . . that is an excellent way to be sure you will have X after you boot up . . . . Actually it is advisable to follow ALL directions in that post !! ( except if you have the 9.0 bootloader and you do not want to replace it with the 10 . . then at the "14th screen" put lilo on a floppy ) BrunoPS: LOL . . Am I glad I made a backup of this post . . the server timed out . . . ;

[longgone]

Bruno....All right, I got that I'll read up on that link and then reinstall it .... well get back with you when it is done, but is that might possibly going to clear up why I cannot get the modem configured or will that be another situation altogether...

[Bruno]

That is very well possible Dale . . . but I can not give a guarantee that you won't need the MCC to set up the modem after the install . . . Keep us posted Bruno

[longgone]

Bruno,,,Well I have 10.0 installed on hdb (I think), can't get to it so not sure. I installed all that you had listed on that page EXCEPT xpdf, I spent 2 hours going through each and every listing and could not find that one at all. Three of the listed packages also were not quite as posted,,,,, kdvi .. was kdegraphics-kdvi (so I used that one) and .... kget ... was kdenetwork-kget as well as kedit .. was kdeutils-kedit, other than those I found it all. The only thing I did different was I installed Lilo on the root portion of hdb1 as I did not have a floppy on hand at the time (time to go to store). I also did not install a swap partition on hdb since I figured that it would use the swap on hda for Mandrake 9.0 like Slack did. I still did not achieve a web connection but .... I guess that can be worked out ... BTW I had to use all 4 disks on this if anyone is interested...

[Bruno]

Great Dale . . . . so I guess we will have to see if we can get it booting . . . Suppose you are in Drake 9.0 now ??

$ su< password ># mkdir  /mnt/drake# mount  /dev/hdb1  /mount/drake# ls  /mnt/drake/boot

Please post me what you see in the console . . . . ( I want to know for sure Mandrake is on hdb1 ) Bruno

[longgone]

Bruno,,,,,Ahhhh ..... a certified genius you are .. yes I am in Mandrake 9.0 (have not tried yet to put XP back on here again). That is after I get the new DVD rom and it is installed.

[Bruno]

LOL . . . so do the commands and let me see that Drake 10 really is on hdb1 . . . . ( do not unmount or reboot after the commands . . I have the next ones ready ) Bruno

[longgone]

Bruno,,,,This is what it says and I am pretty sure this is not what you want to see either ......[root@localhost dale]# mkdir /mnt/drake[root@localhost dale]# mount /dev/hdb1 /mount/drakemount: mount point /mount/drake does not exist

[Bruno]

My Mistake Dale

# mount  /dev/hdb1  /mnt/drake# ls  /mnt/drake/boot

BrunoPS: You can stay in the thread . . the answer is normally up a few seconds after you put your reply in . . . . that speeds things up

[longgone]

Bruno ,,,,This is much better , I guess ?????[root@localhost dale]# mkdir /mnt/drake[root@localhost dale]# mount /dev/hdb1 /mount/drakemount: mount point /mount/drake does not exist[root@localhost dale]# mount /dev/hdb1 /mnt/drake/[root@localhost dale]# ls /mnt/drake/bootboot.0341 kernel.h-2.6.3-7mdkBOOTconfig-2.6.3-7mdk mapconfig-2.6.3-7mdk-i686-up-4GB message@diag1.img message-graphicdiag2.img message-textgrub/ System.map-2.6.3-7mdkinitrd-2.6.3-7mdk-i686-up-4GB.img System.map-2.6.3-7mdk-i686-up-4GBinitrd-2.6.3-7mdk.img us.kltinitrd-i686-up-4GB.img@ vmlinuz@initrd.img@ vmlinuz-2.6.3-7mdkkernel.h@ vmlinuz-2.6.3-7mdk-i686-up-4GBkernel.h-2.6.0 vmlinuz-i686-up-4GB@[root@localhost dale]#

[Bruno]

Brilliant !!Now:

# cp -r  /mnt/drake/boot  /boot/drake# ls  /boot/drake

Bruno

[longgone]

Here it is ......[root@localhost dale]# ls /boot/drakeboot.0341 kernel.h-2.6.3-7mdkBOOTconfig-2.6.3-7mdk mapconfig-2.6.3-7mdk-i686-up-4GB message@diag1.img message-graphicdiag2.img message-textgrub/ System.map-2.6.3-7mdkinitrd-2.6.3-7mdk-i686-up-4GB.img System.map-2.6.3-7mdk-i686-up-4GBinitrd-2.6.3-7mdk.img us.kltinitrd-i686-up-4GB.img@ vmlinuz@initrd.img@ vmlinuz-2.6.3-7mdkkernel.h@ vmlinuz-2.6.3-7mdk-i686-up-4GBkernel.h-2.6.0 vmlinuz-i686-up-4GB@[root@localhost dale]#

[Bruno]

Brilliant again !!! . . . We are making good progress !Now:

# umount /mnt/drake

And open /etc/lilo.conf with your favorite editor and add:

image=/boot/drake/vmlinuz-2.6.3-7mdk-i686-up-4GB        label="Mandrake-10"        root=/dev/hdb1        initrd=/boot/drake/initrd-2.6.3-7mdk-i686-up-4GB.img        append="devfs=mount acpi=ht splash=silent"        vga=788        read-only

After that let me see the full:

# cat /etc/lilo.conf

Bruno