[SOVLED]Installation Hangs on "Configuring Hardware"

[kagedin]

Hello,

For most of the last week I've been trying configure my system to dual boot both Vista 64-bit and Julia 64-bit, however I've run into issues installing Julia on my system. I can boot the live version perfectly fine, when I choose install Linux mint, the usual happens, I go through the installation process everything's fine no problems, and then it gets to configuring hardware and the installation hangs. The last message in the log is "mint ubiquity: update-initramfs: generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22 -generic."

Now at first I thought it was the way my partitions were setup. I had 3 primary partitions 1 recovery, 1 for Vista, and 1 for data. I created an extended partition and placed three logical partitions 1 for root 10GB, 1 for /home 10GB, and one for swap 5GB. So I deleted my recovery partition (after burning Acer Recovery DVDs) I then created a primary partition for root and an extended partition for /home and swap. Tried that, installation still hung up at the same message. So I deleted my partition added it to the windows partition and tried to do the automated "install along other OS" option. It still hung up at the same message.

Now, I've tried this with Julia 64-bit, Julia 32-bit, Ubuntu 10.10 64-bit, and Ubuntu 10.10 32-bit, all of the installations hung up on the same message. (For Ubuntu the message was slightly different "ubuntu ubiquity: initramfs: generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-27 -generic pae)

Currently I removed the partition from the failed installation and added it back to the vista partition leaving me with only 2 partitions. At this point I'm not quite sure what to try next besides removing Vista, installing Linux, then reinstalling Vista. Can anyone please help me?

Some info about my PC:

fdisk -l output:
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x08e9e878

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda2 * 2048 409110527 204554240 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 409110528 976773167 283831320 7 HPFS/NTFS


lshw output:

partedmagic
description: Desktop Computer
product: Aspire M5201
vendor: Acer
version: 1.0
serial: PTSAZ0X014829090B82701
width: 32 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.5 dmi-2.5 smp-1.4 smp
configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop cpus=3 uuid=001FE201-2E0C-2008-0717-045215000000
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: RS780HVF
vendor: Acer
physical id: 0
slot: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
physical id: 0
version: R01-B1 (05/07/2008)
size: 128KiB
capacity: 960KiB
capabilities: isa pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification
*-cpu:0
description: CPU
product: AMD Phenom(tm) 8400 Triple-Core Processor
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 4
bus info: cpu@0
version: 15.2.2
serial: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
slot: AM2
size: 2100MHz
capacity: 2800MHz
width: 64 bits
clock: 200MHz
capabilities: boot fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp x86-64 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc nonstop_tsc extd_apicid pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs npt lbrv svm_lock
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 5
slot: L1-Cache
size: 128KiB
capacity: 384KiB
capabilities: pipeline-burst internal varies data
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: 6
slot: L2-Cache
size: 512KiB
capacity: 1536KiB
capabilities: pipeline-burst internal varies unified
*-cache:2
description: L3 cache
physical id: 7
slot: L3-Cache
size: 2MiB
capacity: 2MiB
capabilities: pipeline-burst internal varies unified
*-memory
description: System Memory
physical id: 11
slot: System board or motherboard
size: 4GiB
*-bank:0
description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 400 MHz (2.5 ns)
product: ModulePartNumber00
vendor: Manufacturer00
physical id: 0
serial: SerNum00
slot: DIMM0
size: 1GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 400MHz (2.5ns)
*-bank:1
description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 400 MHz (2.5 ns)
product: ModulePartNumber01
vendor: Manufacturer01
physical id: 1
serial: SerNum01
slot: DIMM1
size: 1GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 400MHz (2.5ns)
*-bank:2
description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 400 MHz (2.5 ns)
product: ModulePartNumber02
vendor: Manufacturer02
physical id: 2
serial: SerNum02
slot: DIMM2
size: 1GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 400MHz (2.5ns)
*-bank:3
description: DIMM DDR2 Synchronous 400 MHz (2.5 ns)
product: ModulePartNumber03
vendor: Manufacturer03
physical id: 3
serial: SerNum03
slot: DIMM3
size: 1GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 400MHz (2.5ns)
*-cpu:1
physical id: 1
bus info: cpu@1
version: 15.2.2
size: 2100MHz
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 0
size: 128KiB
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: 1
size: 512KiB
*-cpu:2
physical id: 2
bus info: cpu@2
version: 15.2.2
size: 2100MHz
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 0
size: 128KiB
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: 1
size: 512KiB
*-pci:0
description: Host bridge
product: RS780 Host Bridge
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
*-pci:0
description: PCI bridge
product: RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (int gfx)
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pci ht normal_decode bus_master cap_list
resources: ioport:b000(size=4096) memory:fe700000-fe8fffff ioport:c0000000(size=268435456)
*-display UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 5
bus info: pci@0000:01:05.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:c0000000-cfffffff ioport:b000(size=256) memory:fe8f0000-fe8fffff memory:fe700000-fe7fffff
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: RS780 Azalia controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 5.1
bus info: pci@0000:01:05.1
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0
resources: irq:10 memory:fe8e8000-fe8ebfff
*-pci:1
description: PCI bridge
product: RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (ext gfx port 0)
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pm pciexpress msi ht normal_decode bus_master cap_list
resources: ioport:c000(size=4096) memory:fe900000-fe9fffff ioport:d0000000(size=268435456)
*-display UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Juniper [Radeon HD 5750 Series]
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
version: 00
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:d0000000-dfffffff memory:fe9e0000-fe9fffff ioport:c000(size=256) memory:fe9c0000-fe9dffff
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: Juniper HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5700 Series]
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 0.1
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.1
version: 00
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm pciexpress msi bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0
resources: irq:42 memory:fe9bc000-fe9bffff
*-pci:2
description: PCI bridge
product: RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 1)
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 5
bus info: pci@0000:00:05.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pm pciexpress msi ht normal_decode bus_master cap_list
resources: ioport:d000(size=4096) memory:fea00000-feafffff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: 88E8071 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller
vendor: Marvell Technology Group Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 16
serial: 00:1f:e2:01:2e:0c
capacity: 1GB/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=sky2 driverversion=1.28 firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
resources: irq:41 memory:feafc000-feafffff ioport:d800(size=256) memory:feac0000-feadffff
*-pci:3
description: PCI bridge
product: RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 2)
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 6
bus info: pci@0000:00:06.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pm pciexpress msi ht normal_decode bus_master cap_list
resources: memory:feb00000-febfffff
*-firewire
description: FireWire (IEEE 1394)
product: IEEE 1394 Host Controller
vendor: JMicron Technology Corp.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm pciexpress msi ohci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=firewire_ohci latency=0
resources: irq:10 memory:febff800-febfffff memory:febff400-febff47f memory:febff000-febff07f memory:febfec00-febfec7f
*-storage
description: SATA controller
product: SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [IDE mode]
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 11
bus info: pci@0000:00:11.0
logical name: scsi2
logical name: scsi3
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: storage pm msi ahci_1.0 bus_master cap_list emulated
configuration: driver=ahci latency=64
resources: irq:40 ioport:a000(size=8) ioport:9000(size=4) ioport:8000(size=8) ioport:7000(size=4) ioport:6000(size=16) memory:fe6ff800-fe6ffbff
*-disk
description: ATA Disk
product: WDC WD5000AAJS-2
vendor: Western Digital
physical id: 0
bus info: scsi@2:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sda
version: 01.0
serial: WD-WCASY1378618
size: 465GiB (500GB)
capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=08e9e878
*-volume:0
description: Windows NTFS volume
physical id: 2
bus info: scsi@2:0.0.0,2
logical name: /dev/sda2
version: 3.1
serial: ce454e28-009f-774c-9a71-779666d77dfe
size: 195GiB
capacity: 195GiB
capabilities: primary bootable ntfs initialized
configuration: clustersize=4096 created=2008-05-06 12:31:09 filesystem=ntfs label=ACER modified_by_chkdsk=true mounted_on_nt4=true resize_log_file=true state=dirty upgrade_on_mount=true
*-volume:1
description: Windows NTFS volume
physical id: 3
bus info: scsi@2:0.0.0,3
logical name: /dev/sda3
version: 3.1
serial: cedfab46-ef8b-524d-bb66-9b8f03807ebe
size: 270GiB
capacity: 270GiB
capabilities: primary ntfs initialized
configuration: clustersize=4096 created=2008-09-10 18:45:43 filesystem=ntfs label=DATA state=clean
*-cdrom
description: DVD-RAM writer
product: DVDRAM GH15F
vendor: HL-DT-ST
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@3:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/scd0
logical name: /dev/sr0
logical name: /media/sr0
version: EG00
capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
configuration: ansiversion=5 mount.fstype=iso9660 mount.options=ro,relatime state=mounted status=ready
*-medium
physical id: 0
logical name: /dev/scd0
logical name: /media/sr0
configuration: mount.fstype=iso9660 mount.options=ro,relatime signature=1f65fe3f state=mounted
*-usb:0
description: USB Controller
product: SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 12
bus info: pci@0000:00:12.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=64
resources: irq:11 memory:fe6fe000-fe6fefff
*-usb:1
description: USB Controller
product: SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 12.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:12.1
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=64
resources: irq:11 memory:fe6fd000-fe6fdfff
*-usb:2
description: USB Controller
product: SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 12.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:12.2
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=64
resources: irq:11 memory:fe6ff000-fe6ff0ff
*-usb:3
description: USB Controller
product: SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 13
bus info: pci@0000:00:13.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=64
resources: irq:10 memory:fe6fc000-fe6fcfff
*-usb:4
description: USB Controller
product: SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 13.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:13.1
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=64
resources: irq:10 memory:fe6fb000-fe6fbfff
*-usb:5
description: USB Controller
product: SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 13.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:13.2
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=64
resources: irq:10 memory:fe6fa800-fe6fa8ff
*-serial
description: SMBus
product: SBx00 SMBus Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 14
bus info: pci@0000:00:14.0
version: 3a
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ht cap_list
configuration: driver=piix4_smbus latency=0
resources: irq:0
*-ide
description: IDE interface
product: SB700/SB800 IDE Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 14.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:14.1
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ide msi bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pata_atiixp latency=64
resources: irq:11 ioport:1f0(size=8) ioport:3f6 ioport:170(size=8) ioport:376 ioport:ff00(size=16)
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 14.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:14.2
version: 00
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=64
resources: irq:11 memory:fe6f4000-fe6f7fff
*-isa
description: ISA bridge
product: SB700/SB800 LPC host controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 14.3
bus info: pci@0000:00:14.3
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: isa bus_master
configuration: latency=0
*-pci:4
description: PCI bridge
product: SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 14.4
bus info: pci@0000:00:14.4
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pci subtractive_decode bus_master
resources: ioport:e000(size=4096)
*-communication UNCLAIMED
description: Communication controller
product: Lucent V.92 Data/Fax Modem
vendor: Agere Systems
physical id: 6
bus info: pci@0000:05:06.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=64
resources: ioport:e800(size=256)
*-usb:6
description: USB Controller
product: SB700/SB800 USB OHCI2 Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 14.5
bus info: pci@0000:00:14.5
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=64
resources: irq:10 memory:fe6f9000-fe6f9fff
*-pci:1
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 101
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:2
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor Address Map
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 102
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.1
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:3
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 103
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.2
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:4
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 104
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.3
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:5
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor Link Control
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 105
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.4
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-scsi
physical id: 3
bus info: usb@1:2
logical name: scsi8
capabilities: emulated scsi-host
configuration: driver=usb-storage
*-disk:0
description: SCSI Disk
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@8:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sdb
*-disk:1
description: SCSI Disk
physical id: 0.0.1
bus info: scsi@8:0.0.1
logical name: /dev/sdc
*-disk:2
description: SCSI Disk
physical id: 0.0.2
bus info: scsi@8:0.0.2
logical name: /dev/sdd
*-disk:3
description: SCSI Disk
physical id: 0.0.3
bus info: scsi@8:0.0.3
logical name: /dev/sde
*-network
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 1
bus info: usb@1:3
logical name: wlan0
serial: 00:d0:41:be:71:cc
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt73usb driverversion=2.6.37-pmagic firmware=1.7 ip=192.168.1.75 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg

[wayne128]

Read these bugs
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/706413

http://www.mail-archive.com/ubuntu-bugs ... 12723.html

try follow what some did to see what was hanging the making initramfs.

As your works has been on 64-bit, I suggest you try it on 32-bit iso to see you can get through the installation process without hanging at initramfs making.

[kagedin]

Thanks for the links, I gave those a read through but couldn't find anything that would help me out. I don't think I mentioned this, but I'm a noob when it comes to Linux, so if I missed something in those discussions it wouldn't surprise me. Also I tried both 64-bit and 32-bit installations of Linux Mint and Ubuntu, and they all hung up on that same message.

[mastablasta]

ok i am not sure, what that means. your computer doesnt' seem to be anything special that would cause the system to halt.

One more thing to do is to try to use the Ubuntu's alternate install disk. it will be a text like install i think. and it's actually ment for low specs computer, but osmetimes it does the trick on newer ones as well.
perhaps the computer can't figure out exactly which graphics card is using or cartain other peice fo hardware. though this is a bit strange sicne you live CD work well. but then again it couldn't find my sound card upon install, eventhough it worked well on live session.

I remember that some peeople had to disable something in bios to make certian computers installable. but i am not sure what exactly. i think it had something dto do wiht he way devices are managed.

[kagedin]

Alright! So finally some good news! Thanks to mastablasta's advice, I tried the Ubuntu alternate installer and I was able to get Ubuntu up and running! I'm still not sure what the issue was, but using the alternate installer, I was able to bypass whatever was hanging it up.

I'm going to stick with Ubuntu for now. Thanks for all the help!