On Thu, Aug 23, 2007 at 11:01:09PM -0400, Walter Dnes wrote
> I got a shiny new Dell Inspiron from the "PC fairy". Windows Vista
> works OK (at least good enough for Windows). It does not want to be
> formatted<g>. I insert the latest minimal install CD, and things start
> off OK at the beginning of the boot process. *THE USB KEYBOARD WORKS OK
> AT THE BEGINNING* I can type in "gentoo" or "gentoo-nofb". A bunch of
> modules load, and eventually we get to the "default keymap" stage, at
> which point, things fall apart.
>
> 1) The keyboard (USB) now types each character twice. If I attempt to
> type "41", it comes out as "4411", and the install program complains
> about an invalid keymap number.
>
> 2) Even though the CD managed to boot initially, it now complains
> about not being able to find any bootable medium.
Finally getting somewhere. Checked dell.com's support knowledgebase.
Only the most recent kernels support SATA drives in IDE mode, and it
looks like the Gentoo 2007.0-r1 kernel isn't recent enough. After
screwing around a bit, I finally found a way to boot the CD. I don't
know if the following will boot the hard drive when I finish, but at
least...
1) It fixes the keyboard without passing extra parameters
2) It does recognize my CD/DVD drives as /dev/sro and /dev/sr1 and the
hard drive as /dev/sda. I was able to mount the hard drive and found
command.com and a whole bunch of .exe and .bat files. This is the pre-
installed Vista. The following instructions apply to my Dell Inspiron
530. YMMV for other models.
***WARNING***
You will *NOT* be able to boot Windows in the following setup
(One... Two... Three... awwwwwwwwwwwwww)
- reboot and go into BIOS setup (usually {F2} key)
- go to "integrated peripherals"
- change sata mode from IDE to RAID
- save and reboot (usually {F10} key)
- go into BIOS setup (usually {F2} key). Yes again.
- comment; if you watch carefully during the boot, you may notice the
"AHCI BIOS installed" message.
- go into "boot device configuration". It will behave slightly differently
thanks to "AHCI BIOS" being installed.
- set boot device priority. Note; if you have more than 1 CD/DVD, you need
to specify them separately, if you want to be able to boot off both of
them. There are only 3 available slots, so I sacrificed the floppy. This
left me with the 2 CD/DVD drives and the hard drive as the boot order
- save and reboot (usually {F10} key)
I'll report back later if the install works. The knowledgebase
article recommeded a bare install, a file dump of the install CD, and
then rebuild and burn the install CD, with the latest kernel. If I can
avoid that, I'll leave the drive in RAID mode. Just call me lazy.
--
Walter Dnes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> In linux /sbin/init is Job #1
Q. Mr. Ghandi, what do you think of Microsoft security?
A. I think it would be a good idea.
--
[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
