On Monday 28 August 2006 00:18, Peter Van Lone wrote:
is there a relatively simple method for deciding what the troubled driver is, and then identifying the appropriate generic driver?
Boot the installation system and proceed as though you're going to reinstall. Let it probe the hardware and repeat your previous steps... *but* stop a step or two before the final confirmation dialog. At this point, the installation kernel has a rescue-like root shell running on tty2 or tty4 (ctl+alt+F2 or F4). You can mount devices, run diagnostics and explore the system by hand. The installer also sends kernel messages to tty10 (ctl+alt+f10) while the graphical installer is running, so check there for clues. I get the feeling I'm leaving out another valuable 'back door' into the installation system, so check the other ctl+alt+Fn combinations out while you're there. Another approach is to *abort back to* manual installation, which is text (ncurses) mode, and use it's menu-based kernel module load/unload/display capability. That might give you some insight into what the installation kernel is 'seeing'. BTW, 'aborting back to' the manual installation system is not the same as selecting it first from the initial menu. The graphical installer doesn't really probe the hardware until the installation is underway, meaning you want it to proceed with the graphical installer first and let it load whatever modules it wants... *then* fall back to check via the manual menu system. hth & regards, Carl