[lug] Severe difficulties in installing RedHat 7.1

[D. Stimits]

George Sexton wrote:
> 
> >> memtest86 is always a good bet during install failures, but most of the
> >> time I think bad memory will result in a CRC checksum failure during
> >> decompression of the kernel (it uses a lot of memory and requires it to
> 
> I can give two recent experiences:
> 
> 1) Loads kernel and starts setup, but fails decompressing driver for NCR
> SCSI Controller during install.

Ahh, decompression, all that yummy ram to eat alive!

> 
> 2) Runs through install but operation is flaky. Verifying RPMS reveals lots
> of failures.

I believe rpm's store internally compressed, but I'm no rpm expert.

> 
> I think it comes down to WHERE in memory the bad RAM is.

This is true. The reason I say the kernel is often the first failure is
because it is one of the largest items to decompress. The thing about
kernel decompress failure is that it will more likely tell you
specifically that it is a CRC checksum error. The nice thing about a
checksum error is it will give better ram location debugging info than a
general failure.

Another place that looks a lot like this is a bad disk cable, or poorly
seated cable. Or even bad sectors on the drive. With cable and drive
problems, the location of failure or time of failure during install will
probably change; in the case of bad sector, if the drive is reformatted
exactly the same each time before install, it'll probably die the same
way each time too though.

On the other hand...there are some places where RH 7.1 has its own
problems. Out of curiosity, do any of the KRUD people out there know if
anaconda or install bugs have been issued patches (which KRUD has
installed on their CD's)?

D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com

> 
> George Sexton
> MH Software, Inc.
> Voice: 303 438 9585
> http://www.mhsoftware.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-admin at lug.boulder.co.us [mailto:lug-admin at lug.boulder.co.us]On
> Behalf Of D. Stimits
> Sent: 03 July, 2001 1:44 PM
> To: lug at lug.boulder.co.us
> Subject: Re: [lug] Severe difficulties in installing RedHat 7.1
> 
> George Sexton wrote:
> >
> > Just to be on the safe side, you might want to check your RAM. Go to:
> >
> > http://www.memtest86.com/
> >
> > and download Memtest and run it on the machine. It's easy to do and it
> will
> > eliminate one possible cause.
> 
> memtest86 is always a good bet during install failures, but most of the
> time I think bad memory will result in a CRC checksum failure during
> decompression of the kernel (it uses a lot of memory and requires it to
> be perfect). The script driven items (like anaconda, running on python)
> don't seem to have as much of a problem. The nice thing about memtest86
> is that you can run it without any operating system and check memory
> without worry of other things getting in the way.
> 
> Looking at some of the newer email on the subject, both the ATA 100
> controller and USB raise red flags. There has been a lot of kernel devel
> activity lately related to both USB and (just a short time ago) ATA 100.
> RH has released some 2.4.3 heavily-patched kernels, I don't know how
> easy/difficult it would to try one of those kernels since it is during
> install. I think if I had to do this, I would go into the bios and
> disable all USB and pretend the comp did not even have USB, at least not
> until after install was working. And if a non-ATA 100 controller is
> available, I would disable the ATA 100 and use only the other one during
> install as well.
> 
> D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com
> 
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: lug-admin at lug.boulder.co.us [mailto:lug-admin at lug.boulder.co.us]On
> > Behalf Of Jack Swope
> > Sent: 02 July, 2001 8:56 PM
> > To: lug at lug.boulder.co.us
> > Subject: [lug] Severe difficulties in installing RedHat 7.1
> >
> > I am attempting to install RH 7.1 on a Gateway Select
> > Machine.  Let me give you a rundown of the hardware:
> >
> > CPU- AMD Athlon 950mhz
> > Harddrive- IBM Deskstar-DTLA-307045 ATA/IDE 46.1G,
> >     RPM 7200, attached to Promise Ultra ATA Controller
> >
> >     or to the primary IDE bus on motherboard
> > Memory- 128M
> > CDROM- Toshiba DVD-Rom Secondary IDE bus
> > Net Card- Intel Pro100+ PCI  adapter
> > Video Card- NVidiaRIVA TNT2 Model 64
> > Zip Drive- Iomega Zip 250
> > Monitor- Gateway EV910B
> > Sound Card- Creative SB Live!
> >
> > Here's the problem...System hangs while installing RH
> > 7.1.  No matter where the hard drive is connected (ATA
> > or MB) booting from floppy system reaches "running
> > anaconda" and MD recovery thread is activated and
> > system unmounts all filesystems mounted and then tells
> > me it can be safely rebooted.  I have tried graphic
> > install, text install, expert install, and linux dd.
> > All hang in approxiamately the same place.  I had
> > Caldera Open Linux installed at one time but no
> > longer.
> >
> > Jack Swope