Hi,
I've had success in:
(1) installing with a disk on the regular IDE port
(2) once fully installed, adding UDMA support (if not there) to the
kernel
(3) reboot, hold down left shift button, and specify the new root, for
example:
linux root=/dev/hde2
This is necessary because the root changed underneath Debian's feet
(4) Once in, then just go and change /etc/fstab to point to the correct
places
Having said this, I haven't encountered random hangs like this. I just
encountered the "vanilla" kernel not recognizing the disk at all, and so
I do this to get around it. Maybe the kernel image you're using has an
issue with UDMA?
Regards,
Warren
-----Original Message-----
From: Rich C [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 4:46 PM
To: GNHLUG
Subject: debian install tips?
Hi all,
I've just completed construction of a dual PIII system and I'm having
some
difficulties installing Debian 2.2 on it.
Hardware:
MSI 694D Pro AIR Dual Socket 370 MB with VIA 694DP chipset,
Promise FastTrack 100 Lite Raid Controller (PDC20265),
VIA VT82C686A chipset (APM, AC97 Audio, UDMA 33/66 IDE)
2 PIII/1000EB OEM chips
384 Megs PC133 SDRAM
2 IBM GXP60 60 Meg drives in a mirroring array on the ATA-100 interface.
I'm trying to install Debian 2.2r3. I downloaded the 3-disc set from one
of
the mirror sites (ISO-images, set the system to boot from CD, and fired
it
up.
First problem: the installation kernel wouldn't see my disk drives.
Research
on the Debian site pointed to CD#4 which would boot a kernel with the
UDMA-66 SCSI drivers in it. (Not exactly UDMA-100, but what the hell.)
Looked EVERYWHERE, could not find a CD image of this disk. DID find a
folder
with a kernel, a tar archive full of drivers, and some misc files. Fine,
I
could make a CD, right? Well, I downloaded the stuff, and tried to match
it
up to the format of the other 3 CDs. Couldn't make sense out of it, so I
tried plan B: there was another folder with floppy disk images in it. I
downloaded those, wrote them to a bunch of floppies, and voila: the
installation program could see my drives and I could get to the
partitioning
program.
Second Problem: The partitioning program, cfdisk, kept hanging while
trying
to initialize my 40 meg /usr partition (/dev/hde8) Tried making it
smaller,
that didn't work. Tried making another partiton after it; that DID work,
but
then I couldn't initialize the [new] last partition. Finally, I moved it
up
in the order, so that this arrangement got initialized and mounted:
/dev/hde1 1.2 megs swap
/dev/hde2 5 megs root
/dev/hde5 10 megs /home
/dev/hde6 40 megs /usr
/dev/hde7 2.5 megs /tmp
/dev/hde8 1.3 megs /var
Third problem: During install, the machine randomly hangs. It randomly
hung
during the partitioning process earlier too, but I figured that was due
to
cfdisk screwing up.
Now Debian's docs say that the UDMA-66 kernel is "patched" for the
Promise
SCSI drivers, and the lack of a 4th disk in the ISO install set
indicates to
me that UDMA-66 support is an afterthought.
Before I go and tear this thing apart and try the following:
Installing with only one processor;
Installing without the RAID array;
Installing with a disk on the standard IDE port;
Installing a copy of Red Hat or some other distribution
I thought I'd run my experiences by the group to try to determine if:
a) the SMP kernel supplied in 2.2r3 potato (sorry I don't know what
version
it is) has problems;
b) my hardware might have problems;
c) my hardware is not supported;
d) Debian's install program has known issues with "newer" hardware (why
isn't a UDMA-capable kernel part of the "vanilla" package?)
Any thoughts, warnings, tips, or comments would be greatly appreciated.
:o)
Rich Cloutier
President, C*O
SYSTEM SUPPORT SERVICES
www.sysupport.com
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