I am trying to install Mandrake 9.0 and I can't get very far. I can
boot from the CD-ROM and get the graphical screen telling me to press F1
or Return. I press Return to start the graphical installation, and as
Linux is booting, the system hangs.
My system's configuration:
Asus A7V motherboard, 900 MHz Athlon, 256M of RAM
Two hard drives on primary IDE (not Promise controller)
One CD-ROM drive on secondary IDE (again, not Promise controller)
Adaptec AHA-2930 controller with HP T20 tape backup unit
Here are the messages I see prior to Linux hanging (I'm retyping these
from the screen, excuse any minor typos):
----- ----- -----
PDC20265: chipset version 2
PDC20265: not 100% native mode, will probe iqrs later
----- ----- -----
The system hangs at that point. Rarely, I see it add three more
messages before it hangs:
----- ----- -----
PDC20265: (U)DMA burst bit DISABLED Primary PCI Mode Secondary PCI Mode
ide2: BM-DMA at 0x8000-0x8007, BIOS settings hde:pio, hdf:pio
ide3: BM-DMA at 0x800e-0x800F, BIOS settings hdg:pio, hdh:DMA
----- ----- -----
The problem appears to be with the Promise controller on the
motherboard. I have *nothing* connected to it (and I don't intend to
use it at all). I have flashed the motherboard with the latest BIOS,
and I have disabled the Promise controller-- well, at disabled it as far
as the BIOS goes. There doesn't seem to be any way to truly disable it.
The kernel version of Linux that is shown on the screen as it boots is:
Linux 2.4.19-16mdkBOOT
I have also tried creating a boot floppy using the two alternate images
provided for CD-ROM installation, and both also fail in the same way.
I could probably install Mandrake Linux 9.0 without problems if I could
somehow tell Linux to ignore the Promise controller entirely. Are there
any command-line flags that I could provide the kernel that would make
it ignore this device?
Any help or suggestions people can provide will be much appreciated.
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