What the ????? on installation

[pete515]

I'm a disillusioned Windows XP user who wants to move over to Mint. My MD5 is correct and I can boot to the Linux O/S from the DVD. I then run the Installation program to get Linux installed to hard disk.

After pressing "Forward" from the "Keyboard Layout" screen I see the "Starting up the Partioner" message box which seems to complete OK. Then a few seconds later I get the attached Message Box.[img]file:///G:/question.jpg[/img]. After OKing this box nothing else happens. If I press forward again the system just waits.

I thought message boxes like this were confined to Microsoft products!!!!!

Sorry - I'm having problems showing the image. Basically it is a "No Entry" icon with all the text being ?????? (question marks). I can post the JPEG if anyone is interested.

[Mapleblack]

What speed did you burn the ISO at? Be sure to set it low like 4x.

[pete515]

I've tried 2 seperate DVDs - both burned at 2.4x (the slowest). It boots into the DVD OK just the installation to HD giving the error.

[900i]

Can you post system specs, we might get a clue from that, Thanks.

[pete515]

OK.

AMD Athlon 3700+ processor
1 GB Memory
2 x Samsung SP1614N hard drives (200GB each) - multiple partitions (around 5 each).
1 x Liteon DVDRW LDW8115
1 x Phillips 40X PCA403CD
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 (resolution seems fixed at 800 x 600 when booted from Linux DVD) - on motherboard
WinFast BIOS
USB hub.

Think that is about it. All this equipment works OK under Windows 2000.

Thanks.

[hippy]

I'm a disillusioned Windows XP user who wants to move over to Mint. My MD5 is correct and I can boot to the Linux O/S from the DVD. I then run the Installation program to get Linux installed to hard disk.

After pressing "Forward" from the "Keyboard Layout" screen I see the "Starting up the Partioner" message box which seems to complete OK. Then a few seconds later I get the attached Message Box.[img]file:///G:/question.jpg[/img]. After OKing this box nothing else happens. If I press forward again the system just waits.

I thought message boxes like this were confined to Microsoft products!!!!!

Sorry - I'm having problems showing the image. Basically it is a "No Entry" icon with all the text being ?????? (question marks). I can post the JPEG if anyone is interested.

pete515, I too have the NVIDIA GeForce 6150 like you and also a similar problem with trying to install Elyssa.

After a couple of attempts i re burnt the cd this time i used K3b to burn it and used the lowest speed it offered. Once done all went well and i am now running Elyssa with no problems. Nvidia installed a breeze. I would try burning the disc again at the lowest speed you can, best wishes

[pete515]

Thanks for this,

I am quite prepared to burn another DVD and try again (though I have tried this twice with 2.4 x burning already). I'll post how I get on.

However it is slightly dissappointing that the Message Box advising of a problem is so unhelpful. A message box full of "??? ???" is not a good introduction to Linux Mint methinks.

Regards.

[900i]

Are those Samsung drives SATA or ATA?

[pete515]

It doesn't explicitly say on the documentation I still have. However I believe they are SATA. They have a 40 pin interface cable if that is any help. The contents of the disks are listed correctly if I use the Linux equivalent of Windows Explorer to view them.

I've also remembered there is a Hauppage WinTV card installed too - it uses VFW drivers.
Also there is a Realtek sound card which is also built in to the motherboard.

Pete.

[900i]

They are ATA if the data cable is 40 pin, they should be ok. Has the motherboard got an integrated SATA controller by any chance?

[pete515]

I have looked into the BIOS. The following 2 settings are Enabled:-

Serial - ATA 1
Serial - ATA 2

I guess that means the motherboard does support SATA.

[900i]

This is only a thought but the SATA controller could be causing the partitioner part of the install to fail. You need to find out if there is an issue with your controller and Linux. Have you tried to install any other distro?

[pete515]

No, this is the only version of Linux I have ever tried. Just in case this is the problem I'll set the 2 options to Disabled before the install. I'll let you know if it has worked.

Thanks.

[pete515]

I'm afraid I got the same Message Box again (after setting the BIOS SATA setting to disabled for both disks). It appears about 20 seconds after the "Starting the Partitioner" box has disappeared. I'm still in Linux Mint (boot from CD) at the moment. Just for information:-

1. The "Computer - File Browser" shows the disks correctly.
2. As an experiment I ran the Partition Manager manually from the "Administration" start menu. It seemed to work fine. Both HDs were displayed correctly (shows 2 devices and each HD selectable via the combo box). The program is called "GPARTED".

Maybe I should just try another version and see what happens? It's a real shame the Message Box is so unhelpful!!

[Jadephyre]

just a suggestion: disconnect the second Harddrive and try again, leave only the primary disc connected.

[Lantesh]

You mentioned that you checked the MD5 sum, so we know the downloaded .iso file was good. However you didn't mention whether or not the burning software you used checked the disk post burn for errors. Most burn programs have an option you can check/enable, typically called something like "burn proof". Did you do this? That would tell us if your disk it good or not.

[MagnusB]

If you are using a DVD, you probably have the KDE edition, right? Have you tried the Main Edition from a CD? It might sound strange, but sometimes ME does not have issues KE has and vice versa..

[Husse]

Is this Elyssa? Remember that's a beta - there is a bug in the installer (of sorts) when the partition structure is complicated and 10 partitions could qualify as that

[pete515]

Thanks for everyone's input. Yesterday I downloaded Ubuntu (Version 8 I believe), successfully burnt the ISO to DVD and booted from the DVD to the operating system. When I tried installing permanently exactly the same thing happened - a message box with ??? ??? plastered as the caption and the text. (I note that the installation routine is identical to Linux Mint and the message box appeared at around the same stage - around 15 seconds after the partitioner had completed).

I'm afraid I don't really want to disable hard disks so will have to stick with Microshlok unless anyone can think of anything further.

Is anyone aware of anywhere else I can post to support staff/programmers who have access to the source code so that I can raise the issue of why the ??? ??? message box is appearing or at least provide some feedback/technical report to them?

Thanks again.

[pete515]

Oops - another question.

Does the Installer produce a text log? If it does it might indicate the point of failure more accurately.

Thanks.