Hi, I am attempting to install suse on a Compaq Presario 1245 laptop without an internal CD. This laptop has been running suse before (when it did have a working internal cd), so I can guarantee that there are no hardware issues. Here's what I've tried so far: Ethernet: I have a pcmcia ethernet card (surecom ep-427x), that although it isn't officially supported by linux came with the source for a pcnet_cs module that should work. I compiled the driver and put it on the modules disk. The card was recognized, the hardware address identified and it was assigned a (guaranteed) free irq and io port. However anytime I attempt to use the card I get kernel messages about lost interrupts. Using the rescue disk I can see the card is working, but I'm getting 1000+ ms ping times on my local network. The same behaviour is seen on all install disks from 6.1 - 7.0. The cardbus is a TI, using the i82365 chipset. CD: I have a parallel port cd burner (microsolutions backpack) that works beautifully on my desktop 6.4 system. Again it's not oficially supported but it comes with a binary driver. I built a new bootdisk that uses the same kernel, modules, and modules.conf file as my desktop system (2.2.17). The cdrom is recognized, but I keep getting told it can't identify the filesystem. This happens both on the laptop and on the desktop where the cd is known to work. The behaviour is demonstrated on install disks from 6.1 - 7.0 PLIP: I used to have a working plip connection between the laptop and desktop, and this method is even mentioned in the suse manual so I figured this was a sure bet. However, using the install disks for 6.1 or 6.3, the modules load fine but when I try to configure the network I get an error saying no network device is present, and kernel messages saying there is no eth0. If I try it with a 7.0 install disk, the plip module doesn't load because it can't find the parport module (the plip module is on the modules2 disk in this case). After a week I am now at the end of my rope. Can anyone tell me how I can get suse on this laptop without having to resort to using 70+ floppies (I did that once a long time ago for a slackware install and don't car to repeat it). At this point I don't care what version of suse I get on the laptop or how. I will do a local install with any of my cds, or I have a cable modem so I will do an internet install if I have to. Thanks, Chris. __________________________________________________________ Get your FREE personalized e-mail at http://www.canada.com -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/support/faq