Hello
Note sure if this belongs here or in opensuse-factory. Let me know.
I have been tested opensure 10.2 beta 1 and 2 against a new Intel P965 based system and having some interesting issues.
Test Environment:
Intel DP965LT motherboard Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 2.4 Ghz processor 4 GB main memory 2 x 320 GB sata disks
Originally equipped with an LG DVD writer, now equipped with a Plextor PX 760SA DVD writer (sata interface).
1. 10.2 beta 1 and 2 would not install with the PATA LD DVD installed. In researching the problem and finally firmware checking the hardware, this is the Marvell PATA 6101 chipset problem. This is already identified by the kernel developers with a fix.
System booted ok and you are able to choose to install but once suse starts the linux installer and look for the DVD drive it fails and falls out to linuxrc prompting you to load a CD. If you check the HD and CDROMS installed only the harddisks are visible.
This seems to a very common issue with P965 based motherboards. I have tried verious ideas found on the net but none of these have worked on the Intel MB.
Question: is this kernel fix likely to make it into the release version of 10.2?
2. Switched to using the Plextor SATA DVD writer. Downloaded the 10.2 beta 2 dvd iso and burnt a dvd and can now start the installer ok. I can partion a disk ok and start the package installation. During the package installation I get a various number of package installation failures, giving me the choice of abort, retry or ignore. Errors can vary:
error unpacking archive cpio: bad magic or MD5 sum mismatch or bad file descriptor
If I use the burnt DVD I get a large number of these errors. If use the iso image and install via nfs I get a lot fewer but still get them. The failures do not necessarily occur on the same packages each time.
If I push the install though by ignoring the errors I wind with a system that can sort of boot but does not get the YAST configuration screens for the network and display and user etc. Kernel does seem to work.
At this stage I am not sure what is causing the package install errors as even 10.1 Novell DVD (boxed set) will not install without errors. First thing is get the install to work then see if the rest of YAST will run correctly.
Any ideas appreciated.
Ubuntu 6.10 LiveCD will boot and run and can be installed and run from the disks using the plextor sata dvd.
Regards, Jim Hamilton
Jim,
On Friday 17 November 2006 02:35, Jim Hamilton wrote:
Hello
Note sure if this belongs here or in opensuse-factory. Let me know.
In fact, OpenSUSE-Factory would be the better choice for this.
I have been tested opensure 10.2 beta 1 and 2 against a new Intel P965 based system and having some interesting issues.
Test Environment:
Intel DP965LT motherboard Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 2.4 Ghz processor 4 GB main memory 2 x 320 GB sata disks
My configuration is close to this. I have one SCSI drive and one SATA drive. My system works fine and installation was smooth. I don't think the problem is in the Intel 965 chipset.
Originally equipped with an LG DVD writer, now equipped with a Plextor PX 760SA DVD writer (sata interface).
- 10.2 beta 1 and 2 would not install with the PATA LD DVD
installed. In researching the problem and finally firmware checking the hardware, this is the Marvell PATA 6101 chipset problem. This is already identified by the kernel developers with a fix.
System booted ok and you are able to choose to install but once suse starts the linux installer and look for the DVD drive it fails and falls out to linuxrc prompting you to load a CD. If you check the HD and CDROMS installed only the harddisks are visible.
I had similar problems that had to do with a bug present in the alpha5 kernel since fixed. By a stroke of blind good luck have both a SATA and a PATA DVD drives, and the SATA one worked out-of-the-box. I eventually worked out (by researching others' difficulties) that to get the PATA drive to work I had to put it in AHCI rather than Legacy mode in the BIOS.
This seems to a very common issue with P965 based motherboards. I have tried verious ideas found on the net but none of these have worked on the Intel MB.
My mainboard is an Asus P5B and I know others are using it successfully, too. There are some issues with this board (requisite BIOS settings and incorrect default driver assignments for one of its Ethernet NICs) that probably are not relevant for you (see above).
Question: is this kernel fix likely to make it into the release version of 10.2?
If you report the problem (and it really is hardware specific) and help the developers diagnose it, then perhaps.
- Switched to using the Plextor SATA DVD writer. Downloaded the 10.2
beta 2 dvd iso and burnt a dvd and can now start the installer ok. I can partion a disk ok and start the package installation. During the package installation I get a various number of package installation failures, giving me the choice of abort, retry or ignore. Errors can vary:
error unpacking archive cpio: bad magic or MD5 sum mismatch or bad file descriptor
A few possibilities seem likely:
1) Bad DVD drive 2) Bad medium or burn 3) Bad download
If I use the burnt DVD I get a large number of these errors. If use the iso image and install via nfs I get a lot fewer but still get them. The failures do not necessarily occur on the same packages each time.
This suggests that more than one of the aforementioned possibilities may be in play, as unlikely as that seems.
If I push the install though by ignoring the errors I wind with a system that can sort of boot but does not get the YAST configuration screens for the network and display and user etc. Kernel does seem to work.
At this stage I am not sure what is causing the package install errors as even 10.1 Novell DVD (boxed set) will not install without errors. First thing is get the install to work then see if the rest of YAST will run correctly.
Did you verify the checksums of the .iso files you retrieved? Did you do a disc verification?
Any ideas appreciated.
Ubuntu 6.10 LiveCD will boot and run and can be installed and run from the disks using the plextor sata dvd.
So the hardware is at least mostly OK. It could still be an optical drive problem that happens to manifest only on the particular media (the kind or the specific disc you burned).
Regards, Jim Hamilton
Randall Schulz
On Friday 17 November 2006 22:17, Randall R Schulz wrote:
Jim,
On Friday 17 November 2006 02:35, Jim Hamilton wrote:
Snip --
- Bad DVD drive
- Bad medium or burn
- Bad download
If I use the burnt DVD I get a large number of these errors. If use the iso image and install via nfs I get a lot fewer but still get them. The failures do not necessarily occur on the same packages each time.
This suggests that more than one of the aforementioned possibilities may be in play, as unlikely as that seems.
If I push the install though by ignoring the errors I wind with a system that can sort of boot but does not get the YAST configuration screens for the network and display and user etc. Kernel does seem to work.
At this stage I am not sure what is causing the package install errors as even 10.1 Novell DVD (boxed set) will not install without errors. First thing is get the install to work then see if the rest of YAST will run correctly.
Did you verify the checksums of the .iso files you retrieved? Did you do a disc verification?
Any ideas appreciated.
Ubuntu 6.10 LiveCD will boot and run and can be installed and run from the disks using the plextor sata dvd.
So the hardware is at least mostly OK. It could still be an optical drive problem that happens to manifest only on the particular media (the kind or the specific disc you burned).
Regards, Jim Hamilton
Randall Schulz
Hi Randall,
Sorry about not replying sooner. I have been traveling a lot over the last few weeks and simply had not had time to get back to this thread.
I had seen your travels on debugging the Asus MB. As it turns out the Intel MB does not have that much control over the use of AHCI. Either all devices run with AHCI or none. I cannot turn on AHCI specifically for the pata interface so this approach does not work. If I turn on AHCI I cannot boot the DVD at all.
I have checked the md5sum of the dvd and it is correct.
I am not sure if it is a bad dvd drive, medium or burn as I have since putting the message together built the box as a Win XP system as I need to get some productive use out of this box and I find I am having odd problems with windows s/w installations. I can download sw and install it sometimes but not all times. Problem mostly with the install. DVD/CD installs seem to be ok
I can get the same dvd to install in to a vmware virtual machine and have it run correctly.
I am beginning to suspect a power supply type of problem, may be under powered (currently 550W with scsi dds tape, 2 x 320GB disks, sata dvd, floppy, internal memory card reader).
More investigation needed.
Thanks for the feedback.
BR Jim
On Wednesday 29 November 2006 11:58, Jim Hamilton wrote:
On Friday 17 November 2006 22:17, Randall R Schulz wrote:
Jim,
On Friday 17 November 2006 02:35, Jim Hamilton wrote:
Snip --
- Bad DVD drive
- Bad medium or burn
- Bad download
I am beginning to suspect a power supply type of problem, may be under powered (currently 550W with scsi dds tape, 2 x 320GB disks, sata dvd, floppy, internal memory card reader).
More investigation needed.
Finally appear to have nutted this one out. Not all DDR2 800 memory is created equal. After a lot of testing and all sorts of odd results I swapped out the originally supplied DDR2800 and put Kingston DDR2800 memory and we now appear to be flying. Clue was that although the originally supplied memory was supposed to be DDr2800 the BIOS would only ever enable it as 667. Any attempt to try to change it BIOS rendered the system unbootable.
Testing in some different systems now seems to work fine.
I guess this is the price for being on the leading edge of hardware.
Thanks for those that provided feedback.
BR Jim
-
Jim Hamilton -
Randall R Schulz