Hi, Do I need to reinstall SuSE Linux after I've changed my CPU and motherboard? What's the easyest way to do this? - tk
No you don't have to reinstall. If you go from say an Intel to AMD CPU then I would use the k_athlon kernel pkg vs k_deflt but that's about it. * Tom Kostiainen (tom.kostiainen@pp.inet.fi) [030104 13:24]: -> ->Hi, -> ->Do I need to reinstall SuSE Linux after I've changed ->my CPU and motherboard? What's the easyest way ->to do this? -- Ben Rosenberg ---===---===---===--- mailto:ben@whack.org Tell me what you believe.. I'll tell you what you should see.
No you don't have to reinstall. If you go from say an Intel to AMD CPU then I would use the k_athlon kernel pkg vs k_deflt but that's about it.
* Tom Kostiainen (tom.kostiainen@pp.inet.fi) [030104 13:24]: -> ->Hi, -> ->Do I need to reinstall SuSE Linux after I've changed ->my CPU and motherboard? What's the easyest way ->to do this?
Ben's right. It's about that simple. Try that with XP. ;) It should work out just fine, but you didn't tell us if *all* you changed was the CPU and motherboard. Is it a new motherboard with a bunch of onboard sound/video/LAN and stuff? That might be another issue entirely. Generally I disable that stuff anyway and stick to PCI cards. ;) -Jonathan
Well I will probably update to a new AMD cpu (now using a
AMD Thunderbird), so would that mean I don't have to do
anything to my kernel?
I'm quite a newbie with Linux so if something doesn't work and
the SuSE install can't do what I need it to do it will probably be
easyer for me to just reinstall the hole thing =) ...or is updating
the kernel so difficult as I've understood?
The video card might be a problem. I'm planing on keeping
my old one but what if I update? What can I do if X won't start
because of the video driver?
My networkcard is a PCI, and so is my soundcard, so
motherboard integrated cards aren't a problem.
- tk
----- Original Message -----
From: Jonathan Nichols
No you don't have to reinstall. If you go from say an Intel to AMD CPU then I would use the k_athlon kernel pkg vs k_deflt but that's about it.
* Tom Kostiainen (tom.kostiainen@pp.inet.fi) [030104 13:24]: -> ->Hi, -> ->Do I need to reinstall SuSE Linux after I've changed ->my CPU and motherboard? What's the easyest way ->to do this?
Ben's right. It's about that simple. Try that with XP. ;)
It should work out just fine, but you didn't tell us if *all* you changed was the CPU and motherboard. Is it a new motherboard with a bunch of onboard sound/video/LAN and stuff? That might be another issue entirely.
Generally I disable that stuff anyway and stick to PCI cards. ;)
-Jonathan
-- Check the headers for your unsubscription address For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@suse.com
Tom Kostiainen wrote:
Well I will probably update to a new AMD cpu (now using a AMD Thunderbird), so would that mean I don't have to do anything to my kernel?
I'm quite a newbie with Linux so if something doesn't work and the SuSE install can't do what I need it to do it will probably be easyer for me to just reinstall the hole thing =) ...or is updating the kernel so difficult as I've understood?
The video card might be a problem. I'm planing on keeping my old one but what if I update? What can I do if X won't start because of the video driver?
My networkcard is a PCI, and so is my soundcard, so motherboard integrated cards aren't a problem.
- tk
----- Original Message ----- From: Jonathan Nichols
To: SuSE Linux List Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 5:31 PM Subject: Re: [SLE] Reinstalling? No you don't have to reinstall. If you go from say an Intel to AMD CPU then I would use the k_athlon kernel pkg vs k_deflt but that's about it.
* Tom Kostiainen (tom.kostiainen@pp.inet.fi) [030104 13:24]: -> ->Hi, -> ->Do I need to reinstall SuSE Linux after I've changed ->my CPU and motherboard? What's the easyest way ->to do this?
Ben's right. It's about that simple. Try that with XP. ;)
It should work out just fine, but you didn't tell us if *all* you changed was the CPU and motherboard. Is it a new motherboard with a bunch of onboard sound/video/LAN and stuff? That might be another issue entirely.
Generally I disable that stuff anyway and stick to PCI cards. ;)
-Jonathan
-- Check the headers for your unsubscription address For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@suse.com
Reinstalling won't help you in the long run. It's not what Linux is all about - that M$' turf. In Linux you can fix things on the fly. Also you need to be comfortable in the console/text mode and learn to do things there - it seems intimidating but after you get used to it you'll wonder why you waited.... Why? Becuase unlike M$ with a "master" registry file, that if corrupt, can take the "whole" system down with it, Linux is about layers. Your Xserver is the 2nd most top layer - the gui is the top layer and last to load. You need to learn and understand that in order to config the xserver/gui usually it entails installing drivers and configuring the XF86Config file. If the module for the vidcard is loaded and working then it's just about the xf86config (usually - other things may need to be looked at). Agian, there is no master reg file in Linux - each component has its own file for configuration and this is in plain text - just open a text editor and change it to meet your needs. If you have any question the list is here to specifically answer them. If your post isn't answered (usually with in 1 hour to a day) then repost and change the tittle of the message. This is a very knowledgable list and the users are very good about walking people through things. You need to know about getting message from you system to add to your post (another nice feature of Linux - it essentially talks to you in the sense of giving you messages about whats right or wrong with something). This is he most useful and friendly Linux list I've found and I've tried many. Cheers, Curtis.
On 01/06/2003 12:41 PM, Tom Kostiainen wrote:
Well I will probably update to a new AMD cpu (now using a AMD Thunderbird), so would that mean I don't have to do anything to my kernel?
Could be. I once had a motherboard go bad, replaced it (and the CPU because it took a socket A instead of a slot A and the case because it wouldn't fit), booted and ran for weeks with no changes. This was back with 6.4. You could do that now as well. What others were suggesting was to use an optimized kernel for your processor. If you presently use an Athlon optimized kernel, you are all set, NO CHANGE NEEDED.
I'm quite a newbie with Linux so if something doesn't work and the SuSE install can't do what I need it to do it will probably be easyer for me to just reinstall the hole thing =) ...or is updating the kernel so difficult as I've understood?
If you use an rpm package, it is quite easy (and much faster than reinstalling). If you need to update your kernel (which it sounds like you may not), just ask for detailed instructions at that time. It could be 1 step, 2 steps, or 3 steps, depending on your system (version, which rpm package, etc.)
The video card might be a problem. I'm planing on keeping my old one but what if I update? What can I do if X won't start because of the video driver?
Boot in init 3 (console mode), then login, su to root, and run sax2. ;-) Its not so bad.
My networkcard is a PCI, and so is my soundcard, so motherboard integrated cards aren't a problem.
Your all set then. :-)
-- Joe & Sesil Morris New Tribes Mission Email Address: Joe_Morris@ntm.org Web Address: http://www.mydestiny.net/~joe_morris Registered Linux user 231871 God said, I AM that I AM. I say, by the grace of God, I am what I am.
(CC'd to you and list, sorry for the duplicate)
Well I will probably update to a new AMD cpu (now using a AMD Thunderbird), so would that mean I don't have to do anything to my kernel?
Chances are you have the k_deflt kernel. Easy to tell by doing "rpm -q k_deflt" and if it responds, you have it. :)
I'm quite a newbie with Linux so if something doesn't work and the SuSE install can't do what I need it to do it will probably be easyer for me to just reinstall the hole thing =) ...or is updating the kernel so difficult as I've understood?
Sometimes reinstalling everything from scratch is a good learning tool. In the case of SuSE, installing a new/different kernel from SuSE isn't that hard at all. Building your own is a different story, but I usually just stick to the SuSE kernels. All you really need to do is rpm -Uvh k_athlon.bla.bla.rpm and reboot the machine (after downloading the new kernel, of course)
The video card might be a problem. I'm planing on keeping my old one but what if I update? What can I do if X won't start because of the video driver?
Not entirely sure. I never install any of the desktop environments..
My networkcard is a PCI, and so is my soundcard, so motherboard integrated cards aren't a problem.
- tk
----- Original Message ----- From: Jonathan Nichols
To: SuSE Linux List Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 5:31 PM Subject: Re: [SLE] Reinstalling? No you don't have to reinstall. If you go from say an Intel to AMD CPU then I would use the k_athlon kernel pkg vs k_deflt but that's about it.
* Tom Kostiainen (tom.kostiainen@pp.inet.fi) [030104 13:24]: -> ->Hi, -> ->Do I need to reinstall SuSE Linux after I've changed ->my CPU and motherboard? What's the easyest way ->to do this?
Ben's right. It's about that simple. Try that with XP. ;)
It should work out just fine, but you didn't tell us if *all* you changed was the CPU and motherboard. Is it a new motherboard with a bunch of onboard sound/video/LAN and stuff? That might be another issue entirely.
Generally I disable that stuff anyway and stick to PCI cards. ;)
-Jonathan
-- Check the headers for your unsubscription address For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@suse.com
On Monday 06 January 2003 12:28 pm, Jonathan Nichols wrote:
All you really need to do is rpm -Uvh k_athlon.bla.bla.rpm and reboot the machine (after downloading the new kernel, of course)
Don't you need to run mkinitrd, after upgrading / installing the kernel?
I thought that without it you'd get a kernel panic upon rebooting.
I'm just checking my newbie knowledge, but i thought i had learned this key
point through others mistakes.
Maybe it's because i upgreded the kernel through apt-get.
--
Franklin Maurer
Yes, if you are using LILO, No if you are using GRUB On Mon, 2003-01-06 at 12:51, Franklin Maurer wrote:
On Monday 06 January 2003 12:28 pm, Jonathan Nichols wrote:
All you really need to do is rpm -Uvh k_athlon.bla.bla.rpm and reboot the machine (after downloading the new kernel, of course)
Don't you need to run mkinitrd, after upgrading / installing the kernel? I thought that without it you'd get a kernel panic upon rebooting. I'm just checking my newbie knowledge, but i thought i had learned this key point through others mistakes.
Maybe it's because i upgreded the kernel through apt-get.
-- Franklin Maurer
Using SuSE 8.1. -- Harry Wert Wert Enterprises
On Monday 06 January 2003 13:12 pm, Harry Wert wrote:
Yes, if you are using LILO, No if you are using GRUB
On Mon, 2003-01-06 at 12:51, Franklin Maurer wrote:
On Monday 06 January 2003 12:28 pm, Jonathan Nichols wrote:
All you really need to do is rpm -Uvh k_athlon.bla.bla.rpm and reboot the machine (after downloading the new kernel, of course)
Don't you need to run mkinitrd, after upgrading / installing the kernel? I thought that without it you'd get a kernel panic upon rebooting. I'm just checking my newbie knowledge, but i thought i had learned this key point through others mistakes.
Maybe it's because i upgreded the kernel through apt-get.
Okay, so to keep it all nice and simple, I download the k_athlon rpm, click on it in konqueror and kpackage pops up and I install it. Once it's installed, bring up a konsole, do mkinitrd *and* lilo, then reboot. Is this right? One more question about this...will I still have all my same old files and all that stuff? Settings, etc., in kde? Can I then on the first bootup after the install of the new kernel, log in as root and open Control Center->System->Kernel configurator and do any tweaking there? And if I 'can', do I need to do mkinitrd and lilo again before rebooting? Thanks for all this info and help, John
On Mon, 2003-01-06 at 17:04, John wrote:
On Monday 06 January 2003 13:12 pm, Harry Wert wrote:
Yes, if you are using LILO, No if you are using GRUB
On Mon, 2003-01-06 at 12:51, Franklin Maurer wrote:
On Monday 06 January 2003 12:28 pm, Jonathan Nichols wrote:
All you really need to do is rpm -Uvh k_athlon.bla.bla.rpm and reboot the machine (after downloading the new kernel, of course)
Don't you need to run mkinitrd, after upgrading / installing the kernel? I thought that without it you'd get a kernel panic upon rebooting. I'm just checking my newbie knowledge, but i thought i had learned this key point through others mistakes.
Maybe it's because i upgreded the kernel through apt-get.
Okay, so to keep it all nice and simple, I download the k_athlon rpm, click on it in konqueror and kpackage pops up and I install it. Once it's installed, bring up a konsole, do mkinitrd *and* lilo, then reboot. Is this right? Correct - just remember you need to be ROOT or SU when you execute mkinitrd and then lilo
One more question about this...will I still have all my same old files and all that stuff? Settings, etc., in kde? Can I then on the first bootup after the install of the new kernel, log in as root and open Control Center->System->Kernel configurator and do any tweaking there? And if I 'can', do I need to do mkinitrd and lilo again before rebooting?
Yes, all your old files, settings, etc., in kde will be intact. When you reboot after you have executed mkinitrd and lilo you are FINISHED with the kernel unless you are an expert. Stay out of the kernel configurator or much grief may head your way! Seriously, there is no need to use the kernel configurator unless you have the need to add specialized kernel boot information. Unlikely, or you would probably have experienced a kernel panic or failure to boot at all. This of course assumes you had an operating system PRIOR to your kernel upgrade. And Yes, if you make any kernel modifications or additions it is necessary to do another mkinitrd and lilo operation. Regards, Harry
Thanks for all this info and help,
John -- Harry Wert
Wert Enterprises
On Monday 06 January 2003 16:28 pm, Harry Wert wrote: <snip>
Okay, so to keep it all nice and simple, I download the k_athlon rpm, click on it in konqueror and kpackage pops up and I install it. Once it's installed, bring up a konsole, do mkinitrd *and* lilo, then reboot. Is this right?
Correct - just remember you need to be ROOT or SU when you execute mkinitrd and then lilo
One more question about this...will I still have all my same old files and all that stuff? Settings, etc., in kde? Can I then on the first bootup after the install of the new kernel, log in as root and open Control Center->System->Kernel configurator and do any tweaking there? And if I 'can', do I need to do mkinitrd and lilo again before rebooting?
Yes, all your old files, settings, etc., in kde will be intact. When you reboot after you have executed mkinitrd and lilo you are FINISHED with the kernel unless you are an expert. Stay out of the kernel configurator or much grief may head your way! Seriously, there is no need to use the kernel configurator unless you have the need to add specialized kernel boot information. Unlikely, or you would probably have experienced a kernel panic or failure to boot at all. This of course assumes you had an operating system PRIOR to your kernel upgrade. And Yes, if you make any kernel modifications or additions it is necessary to do another mkinitrd and lilo operation.
Regards, Harry
Perfect! You kept it nice and simple, for simple minds like mine! Thanks Harry, and all the others who were answering on this thread also, you're all good people. John
* On Monday 06 January 2003 05:04 pm, John wrote:
Okay, so to keep it all nice and simple, I download the k_athlon rpm, click on it in konqueror and kpackage pops up and I install it. Once it's installed, bring up a konsole, do mkinitrd *and* lilo, then reboot. Is this right? One more question about this...will I still have all my same old files and all that stuff? Settings, etc., in kde? Can I then on the first bootup after the install of the new kernel, log in as root and open Control Center->System->Kernel configurator and do any tweaking there? And if I 'can', do I need to do mkinitrd and lilo again before rebooting?
Thanks for all this info and help,
John
--====================== John, Let me interject something at this point. When you install the k_athlon kernel, you are not overwriting the k_deflt kernel you already had installed. You may not have known that or the others helping failed to point that out. What happens then is that you end up with two kernels instead of one and it's quite possible you will still be using the k_deflt the next time you boot. It only overwrites, if it is the same name/type kernel. You must remove the old kernel first then install the new to keep down any possible conflicts. Use "rpm -e k_deflt" to remove the original. Patrick --- KMail v1.4.3 --- SuSE Linux Pro v8.1 --- Registered Linux User #225206
On Monday 06 January 2003 20:30 pm, PL O'Smith wrote:
* On Monday 06 January 2003 05:04 pm, John wrote:
Okay, so to keep it all nice and simple, I download the k_athlon rpm, click on it in konqueror and kpackage pops up and I install it. Once it's installed, bring up a konsole, do mkinitrd *and* lilo, then reboot. Is this right? One more question about this...will I still have all my same old files and all that stuff? Settings, etc., in kde? Can I then on the first bootup after the install of the new kernel, log in as root and open Control Center->System->Kernel configurator and do any tweaking there? And if I 'can', do I need to do mkinitrd and lilo again before rebooting?
Thanks for all this info and help,
John
--====================== John, Let me interject something at this point. When you install the k_athlon kernel, you are not overwriting the k_deflt kernel you already had installed. You may not have known that or the others helping failed to point that out. What happens then is that you end up with two kernels instead of one and it's quite possible you will still be using the k_deflt the next time you boot. It only overwrites, if it is the same name/type kernel. You must remove the old kernel first then install the new to keep down any possible conflicts. Use "rpm -e k_deflt" to remove the original.
Patrick
Ack! Glad you told me that. Now I'm a little worried, but what the heck...I'll save whatever I can to that 'other' OS on the other partition (it's all I use it for anymore, that, and the only 3D game I play anymore), and give it a shot. I'd tried the other ways of installing a new(er) kernel, but there's 500 different people telling 500 different ways to do it (all the steps), and the SuSE 8.0 books are *different* from all of *those*! LOL So I figure I'll try this one last way, with the rpm, and hope for the best. If anyone's curious why I want to do this, well, first, I want my system to ber optimized for my athlon naturally, also, I just plain want to learn how to do it, along with hopes that it'll fix the sound on my system using the SBLive 5.1 I have. The problem with that is, if I play a .wav sound or file, the sound/music plays nice and loud through all 5 speakers, but if I play a music CD, it's super weak in the two rear speakers, and normal in the two front and the woofer. I've played with alsa and emu10k1 til I'm blue in the face, and just want my music to sound *good*, like the .wav sounds do. Soooo...hence the try at a newer kernel. Heh...sorry for such a long post to a simple thing. John
On 01/07/2003 01:51 AM, Franklin Maurer wrote:
Don't you need to run mkinitrd, after upgrading / installing the kernel? I thought that without it you'd get a kernel panic upon rebooting. I'm just checking my newbie knowledge, but i thought i had learned this key point through others mistakes.
Maybe it's because i upgreded the kernel through apt-get.
It depends, which is why I would rather use a console to update my kernel with the rpm command than a GUI frontend that hides any feedback. Some of the last few Mantel kernels already run mkinitrd, and if you used GRUB, that would be enough. So, it depends on what the kernel rpm does. Another thing, the Mantel kernel only updates the one kernel image (/boot/vmlinuz) and not the one for failsafe (/boot/vmlinuz.suse), so when I see that when the rpm runs mkinitrd and fails to create the failsafe initrd, I know I need to copy vmlinuz to vmlinuz.suse. So, even though it is quite easy to upgrade, it is still not a no brainer, but since I usually get the latest kernel from Mantel (for testing and 'having fun' :-) ), I don't expect a no brainer, I expect to need to think. I actually prefer that, one of Linux's freedoms. YMMV -- Joe & Sesil Morris New Tribes Mission Email Address: Joe_Morris@ntm.org Web Address: http://www.mydestiny.net/~joe_morris Registered Linux user 231871 God said, I AM that I AM. I say, by the grace of God, I am what I am.
On Monday 06 January 2003 7:07 pm, Joe Morris (NTM) wrote:
It depends, which is why I would rather use a console to update my kernel with the rpm command than a GUI frontend that hides any feedback. Some of the last few Mantel kernels already run mkinitrd, and if you used GRUB, that would be enough. So, it depends on what the kernel rpm does. Another thing, the Mantel kernel only updates the one kernel image (/boot/vmlinuz) and not the one for failsafe (/boot/vmlinuz.suse), so when I see that when the rpm runs mkinitrd and fails to create the failsafe initrd, I know I need to copy vmlinuz to vmlinuz.suse. So, even though it is quite easy to upgrade, it is still not a no brainer, but since I usually get the latest kernel from Mantel (for testing and 'having fun' :-) ), I don't expect a no brainer, I expect to need to think. I actually prefer that, one of Linux's freedoms. YMMV
I'm not quite to the point where I can confidently do things from the command
line. Perhaps someday soon i'll be less gui dependent. One can only hope ...
--
Franklin Maurer
it's like Ben said, change the setup of the kernel to the k_athlon. Also, I have done the same thing. Went from an Celeron/IBM base machine to a AMD/via board. I did update the kernel and basically booted the install disk and had it do an "update" only installed packages. My reasoning was to re-init/config the system without having to reinstall so that any differences to such things as I/O settings, etc..., would be update for the board. I had not data lose and it booted up no problems, properly configured for the most part. I just had to do a little tweaking and fine tuning (e.g video drivers and 3D settings). This way all my settings, preferences and all were left intact and I was up and running on the new board in no time. The k_deflt kernel is optimize for pentium chips/boards and with an AMD cpu/board it should run but isn't optimized and could be a bit cludgy. HTH, Curtis. On Sunday 05 January 2003 01:25, Tom Kostiainen wrote:
Hi,
Do I need to reinstall SuSE Linux after I've changed my CPU and motherboard? What's the easyest way to do this?
- tk
-- Billboard Writer vs. Literature = Microsoft vs. Computing,
Curtis Rey wrote:
it's like Ben said, change the setup of the kernel to the k_athlon.
Please excuse my Linux ignorance, but how do you tell whether you are using k_athlon or k_deflt? If you are using k_deflt, what are the steps for changing to k_athlon? I am running SuSE8.0 on an AMD Athlon XP 2200+, w/ Asus A7V333 mb. Thanks, Darrell Cormier
Also, I have done the same thing. Went from an Celeron/IBM base machine to a AMD/via board. I did update the kernel and basically booted the install disk and had it do an "update" only installed packages. My reasoning was to re-init/config the system without having to reinstall so that any differences to such things as I/O settings, etc..., would be update for the board. I had not data lose and it booted up no problems, properly configured for the most part. I just had to do a little tweaking and fine tuning (e.g video drivers and 3D settings). This way all my settings, preferences and all were left intact and I was up and running on the new board in no time. The k_deflt kernel is optimize for pentium chips/boards and with an AMD cpu/board it should run but isn't optimized and could be a bit cludgy.
HTH, Curtis.
On Sunday 05 January 2003 01:25, Tom Kostiainen wrote:
Hi,
Do I need to reinstall SuSE Linux after I've changed my CPU and motherboard? What's the easyest way to do this?
- tk
participants (10)
-
Ben Rosenberg
-
Curtis Rey
-
Darrell Cormier
-
Franklin Maurer
-
Harry Wert
-
Joe Morris (NTM)
-
John
-
Jonathan Nichols
-
PL O'Smith
-
Tom Kostiainen