Installation hangs near end-Mint 10 XFCE

[vandamme]

6 year old Toshiba Satellite laptop with 256M memory. I multi-boot XP and a couple Mint distros. 7 and 8 XFCE work slower than molasses, so I thought I'd try the "new improved" XFCE Debian. After a year of installing and using Linux on several machines I figure I'm not a total n00b, but this has befuddled me: after running the live DVD just fine (yes, I checked the checksum), I try to install on what was once a Mint 7 partition, and it goes fine until the end (after the first time, that bombed when I had the screensaver enabled), when it starts removing the live desktop. The icons disappear, ..............everything hangs. Vigor mortis. After a few brief words for the deceased, I reboot but the old grub menu comes up, so I guess it didn't install the new grub list. (?) I can't boot into the partition I just installed XFCE into. When I run the live disk again, the partition editor tells me that the new XFCE is installed in the partition.

Any idea what's going on here?

[aljoriz]

First off Linux Mint Debian xfce is NOT "mint 10 xfce" so do not confuse them as debian xfce (based on debian wheezy/sid) is made by Clem and Mint xfce (based on ubuntu 9.4)is to Merlwiz79.

The minimal ram requirement for Debian is 128mb but it is recommended that the system has 256mb ram or more. Now, Judging that Debian xfce has native gnome apps it would be safe to say that the minimum ram requirement would be 512MB ram.

This is only my opinion and I may be wrong but I hope that I have enlightened on certain matters. Thank you!

I suggest you give peppermint ice OS a try, and see how it can revive that system.

[vandamme]

"Linux Mint Debian xfce is NOT mint 10 xfce"...true. Maybe they should call it LMDX? Anyway, the "LM 10" on the wallpaper is what confused me.

Interesting theory about memory requirements. It's really hard to get a straight answer about memory requirements for different distro's. I was running Mint 8 XFCE, and was tempted by Clem bragging about the lower requirements in Mint Debian XFCE. So how come I could install and run 8 but not the "lighter" Debian? Also, it runs just fine off the DVD, but hangs when install is just about done and it's cleaning up?

Well, I'll give Peppermint a try, although they're kind of vague about its requirements. I tried Puppy, and it was blazing fast, no HD churning, and the fan hardly came on. But, I couldn't get the wifi to work!

[Hezy]

I don't think that your issue is related to lack of memory. Sounds like a problem with GRUB. I think you have a better chance to get a good answer in the LMDE section of the forum, or maybe even in the Debian forums.

[vandamme]

Thanks. I think I need to find how Grub works.

UPDATE: I think it was a memory problem, as airscorp suggests. The simple solution was to get a new laptop. HP G62 with 3 GB, $380 from Staples. I have 3 distros on there now, PLUS the original Windows 7. Ten times the memory did wonders.

In case anybody is interested: Mint XFCE wouldn't connect to my networked machines, wouldn't mount my Window7 partition, no sound, no camera, no Compiz, wierd menus, etc. I tried Bodhi to be different, and it's a little too different, but it is speedy and pretty (might appeal to Apple lovers). Good ole Ubuntu works just like always. If I break a leg I'll go back to trying to get Mint XFCE to work, but right now I don't need any more aggravation. I hope you get it cleaned up so that the next time I go to Staples for a computer, they will have LM on them.

[airscorp]

Actually that just happened to me while installing on an old 256MB system.
To the OP: Since GRUB is the last thing to be installed, you were left with just an empty MBA. Still, the system could be salvageable (but I haven't got any clues on how).

Some specifics which might help the installer team with troubleshooting:
The desktop icons dissapear / freeze happened at the point of "Removing live system (Packages)", and because that step was already running for a while, I'm guessing that it was the next step after that that caused the freeze.
Maybe someone can tell us what comes after the "Removing live system (Packages)" step?

My guess on this is that it's because of a memory spike in the installer. My limited foo reminded me of a simple kernel fact: When the system runs out of memory, the kernel just kills a running process, which could start explaining the hang.

What I'm doing now is reinstalling while swapping on disk to have some more memory
( Since you've already created a swap partition on the failed install, on the new one go to "Edit Partitions"-->Right click on the swap partition-->"SwapOn" )

Will let you know how that goes in about half an hour.

Nick

[SimonTS]

First, can we please try and clear up the confusion. Exactly what version of Mint 10 are you trying to install? If it helps, tell us the name of the ISO image file that you downloaded - it would be helpful to be certain what we're dealing with here.

[lmintnewb]

This might help it's about how to update grub after installing another distro.


http://www.brighthub.com/computing/linu ... 36648.aspx

Also random note, ya know you could just download meta xfce and xfce goodies from the package manager or software manager and just go ahead and install xfce as one of your desktops. I did, have an old puter with limited RAM ( 512mb ), installed those two packages on Mint 10. Went to control center > Log-in screen and set it to boot into xfce from now on.

Big increase in speed, using a lot less RAM and CPU. Much better overall. Also went ahead and put fluxbox on here too. Don't even have to reboot to switch between them. Just log out, pick the desktop I want on the bottom of the log-in screen and log back in. Just saying, don't see why you couldn't just use xfce as your new desktop instead of gnome.


Good luck with it however it turns out. (edit) Sighs, if ya gonna try to be helpful. May as well be thorough about it. Also got ahold of a couple maintenance utilities you may already know about. Bleachbit and a startup manager called bum. Bum made for some good improvements in speed, startup and shutdown times. etc.

Though people say be careful using them. I only disabled processes I know I'm not going to use on this desktop with bum. And havent bothered with bleachbit yet. But folks do warn you can mess up your system if you aren't careful using them.

[karo]

Hi!

Thank you for the tip with "swapon" - it worked like a charm for me. I had the same problem with the "removing live session (package)" freeze.

Used the newest XFCE Debian 201104 Release with a Travelmate 290 with 256 mb RAM.

Greetings,
Karolina

[mmmh]

Hi,

swapon also allowed me to complete the installation (from linuxmint-xfce-201104-dvd-32bit.iso) on my 240 MB RAM laptop, which hung twice before. Thanks for the hint.

Why does the installer not use the swap partition automatically? In any case, I hint for users of systems with little memory would prevent a lot of frustration I think.

Even after installation, the system does not use the swap partition unless I tell it to. Did I "use as swap" switch somewhere during installation?

Thanks,

mmmh

[vandamme]

I was just fooling with another machine that I've tortured with multiple OS's, and while diddling the start-up manager in Mint Debian it asked me something to the effect of, " Say, I couldn't help noticing that you have a lot of different partitions on here. Would you like to write the same grub config to all of them, so you don't get screwed up?" And so I took her advice, merci beaucoups.