Ben Rosenberg wrote:

On 8/16/05, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

I'd try installing 9.3 but getting it is an expense I cannot afford if it installs the same way as 9.2.

I had issues with 9.2 that I didn't have with 9.1 or now with 9.3 .. I'd suggest doing 9.3 and it won't be expensive at all .. unless you have metered internet access. You can download all 5 .iso images from..

http://opensuse.org/index.php/Download

On dialup? :-) Good to hear from you again, Ben. Only last night I was looking at your e-mail sent September 2003 about Fontsize in Thunderbird (solution: the gnome-settings-daemon.desktop) and wondered if you were still around. Now I have the answer. Thanks for your input. Sounds like 9.2 is a bummer - much worse than 9.1 that I had problems with (even though I could/can install it). Cheers. -- The first myth of management is that it exists.

Ben Rosenberg wrote:

On 8/17/05, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

On dialup? :-)

Oh my. Yeah. That could be a problem.

...

Good to hear from you again, Ben. Only last night I was looking at your e-mail sent September 2003 about Fontsize in Thunderbird (solution: the gnome-settings-daemon.desktop) and wondered if you were still around. Now I have the answer.

Thanks! Yeah. I lurk a lot now. :)

...

Thanks for your input. Sounds like 9.2 is a bummer - much worse than 9.1 that I had problems with (even though I could/can install it).

Yeah. I had lots of weird issues with 9.2... so much so that I even contemplated moving to another Linux distro for our servers. But 9.3 fixed all the issues and it's been fast and stable. I'd recommend 9.3 to anyone. :)

Cheers!

-ben

yup, that's like 9.2. Pete Nikolic had to partially install XP (killed it part way through) before 9.2 would install on a brand new HD. He wiped the disk and started again, 9.2 would not install, so he partially installed XP, installed 9.2 then wiped the XP partition. All my problems were with upgrades, the clean installs worked fine. I'd recommend installing 9.3, the ftp version if no 9.3 media are to hand. Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce ... Hamradio License G3VBV, Keen licensed Private Pilot Retired IBM/Amdahl Mainframes and Sun/Fujitsu Servers Tech Support Specialist Microsoft Windows Free Zone - Linux used for all Computing Tasks

Per Jessen wrote:

Basil Chupin wrote:

...

Now I cannot install v9.2. The install stops at the point where the partitions are either being formatted or at the point where this has been done and the software is about to be installed - I am not quite sure at which of these stages all activity stops. However, the computer is not locked-up because the mouse still works and the lill clock is still going round and round, ad finitum.

Which fileystems are you using? Do you see any messages if you switch to tty4 (with Alt-F4)?

Tried both- reiser and ext3.

...

I can re-install the 120GB HDs in the Main computer and 9.2 will install.

So it appears to be hardware - somehow.

So it seems, but where?

...

I can install the 250GB HDs in the second (Testing) computer and 9.2 installs there without a hitch.

Same hardware?

No. It's the computer I was using ~6 months ago and, of course, 9.2 installed/installs on that with little trouble. Interestingly, 9.2 also will not install on my wife's computer (which is different to either of my 2) but all other versions of SuSE (starting from 8.1) will install.

...

I can install 9.2 on the second computer with the 120Gb HDs then transfer these to the main computer and with a small "fiddle" 9.2 will run on the main computer.

Then install 9.2 on the 250Gb drives (RAID1?) using your 2nd computer, and then move the drives into your target computer. That'll achieve the objective, although not explain the problem.

Ah but you underestimate the intelligence of the new Novell SuSE. It is well aware of such cunning plans (which I already tried several days ago) by stopping dead as soon as the computer tries to boot into 9.2 .

...

I'd try installing 9.3 but getting it is an expense I cannot afford if it installs the same way as 9.2.

The only problem I've had with 9.3 (FTP version) was the lack of JFS support during installation and at boot-up.

/Per Jessen, Zürich

Cheers. -- The first myth of management is that it exists.

Jerry Feldman wrote:

On Wednesday 17 August 2005 1:05 am, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

Now I cannot install v9.2. The install stops at the point where the partitions are either being formatted or at the point where this has been done and the software is about to be installed - I am not quite sure at which of these stages all activity stops. However, the computer is not locked-up because the mouse still works and the lill clock is still going round and round, ad finitum.

First, are you installing from DVD or CD? I had a similar problem installing on a DELL system. The problem was with the DVD driver in the installer kernel. The problem was documented somewhere on the SuSE web site. Work arounds: 1. Install from CD 2. Copy the DVD to hard drive, and install from the hard drive. (You could use any available Linux partition that has 8GB of free space).

Installing from either has the same result and I did see the "fix" in the Support Portal. Haven't tried the install from the HD yet- thanks for the suggestion. Cheers. -- The first myth of management is that it exists.

BandiPat wrote:

On Wednesday 17 August 2005 01:05 am, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

I am stumped and need help. I cannot install SuSE9.2 (32-bit).

Last weekend I bought 2x 250GB/16MB cache Maxtor HDs to replace 2x Maxtor 120GB/8Mb cache HDs which now reside in my second (Testing) computer.

Now I cannot install v9.2. The install stops at the point where the partitions are either being formatted or at the point where this has been done and the software is about to be installed - I am not quite sure at which of these stages all activity stops. However, the computer is not locked-up because the mouse still works and the lill clock is still going round and round, ad finitum.

[...]

...

Cheers.

[...] **************

Basil, Have you checked to see if there is a new version for the BIOS on the motherboard?

Lee

I check for new BIOS updates at least once a month and I do have the latest installed. Thanks for the response. Cheers. -- The first myth of management is that it exists.

At 09:48 AM 8/17/05, Frank Bax wrote:

At 01:05 AM 8/17/05, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

I am stumped and need help. I cannot install SuSE9.2 (32-bit).

Last weekend I bought 2x 250GB/16MB cache Maxtor HDs to replace 2x Maxtor 120GB/8Mb cache HDs which now reside in my second (Testing) computer.

Wasn't 137G a limit on some bios?

Historically, there were bios/boot limits at 504M, 2G, 8G, 32G, 128G (as counted by OS). Hard disk manufacturers count 128G as 137G. Although many current systems can access drives over 128/137G, some can only boot from below this threshold. Where is your boot partition? If pattern continues, expect similar problems at 512/550G and 2048/2199G in the future. http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/Large-Disk-HOWTO.html#ss4.2

Frank Bax wrote:

At 01:05 AM 8/17/05, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

I am stumped and need help. I cannot install SuSE9.2 (32-bit).

Last weekend I bought 2x 250GB/16MB cache Maxtor HDs to replace 2x Maxtor 120GB/8Mb cache HDs which now reside in my second (Testing) computer.

Wasn't 137G a limit on some bios?

Windows XP, even with SP1 installed, has this problem of 137GB limit, and the old BIOSes also but I do not have this hassle. Cheers. -- The first myth of management is that it exists.

Basil Chupin wrote:

Basil Chupin wrote:

...

I am stumped and need help. I cannot install SuSE9.2 (32-bit).

I didn't follow the thread since the beginning, so forgive me if what I say was already said. * you may experience a disk failure. I have an old (still used) suse 9.0. The disk 1 is now unusable (the original one, from the box). may be yours are. This is my prefered solution as you installed the ftp version (disks should be exchanged by the vendor) * dma problem? solved by using the "failsafe" install - I beleive you already tried this * udma cable problem on cd drive or hd? * incompatibility between disks drives. I had this problem onece, two drives where incompatible one with the other. Windows was booting but often crashing, linux was booting but could not stop (impossible to umount) but probably the three last things you have already verifyed. the new opensuse/10.0 has an utility to verify the cd before installing. Veru handy, cd are not very good. jdd -- pour m'écrire, aller sur: http://www.dodin.net http://valerie.dodin.net http://arvamip.free.fr

Basil Chupin wrote:

The fact that 9.2 installs using them on another computer suggests that there is nothing wrong with them. I had 9.2 installed in the past (on computer #2 which I was using as my 'main' computer until ~6 months ago).

computers are a very special kind of life :-( jdd -- pour m'écrire, aller sur: http://www.dodin.net http://valerie.dodin.net http://arvamip.free.fr

On 23/08/05, Basil Chupin wrote:

jdd sur free wrote:

...

Basil Chupin wrote:

...

The fact that 9.2 installs using them on another computer suggests that there is nothing wrong with them. I had 9.2 installed in the past (on computer #2 which I was using as my 'main' computer until ~6 months ago).

computers are a very special kind of life :-(

Ah, I see that you are prone to making understatements :-)

Cheers.

-- The first myth of management is that it exists.

It does seem that 9.2 got more than its fair share of problems cropping up with a lot of people. Myself included. 9.3 or 9.1 are far better distros. But..... many people also did not have one single problem with 9.2 It's all very odd. -- Take care. Kevan Farmer 34 Hill Street Cheslyn Hay Staffordshire WS6 7HR

On Tuesday 23 August 2005 07:22, Basil Chupin wrote:

Basil Chupin wrote:

...

I am stumped and need help. I cannot install SuSE9.2 (32-bit).

Last weekend I bought 2x 250GB/16MB cache Maxtor HDs to replace 2x Maxtor 120GB/8Mb cache HDs which now reside in my second (Testing) computer.

Now I cannot install v9.2. The install stops at the point where the partitions are either being formatted or at the point where this has been done and the software is about to be installed - I am not quite sure at which of these stages all activity stops. However, the computer is not locked-up because the mouse still works and the lill clock is still going round and round, ad finitum.

I can install SuSE v9.1, can install Xandros Deluxe 3.01, can install Fedora Core 4, and even Ubuntu 5.04 but not SuSE 9.2.

I can re-install the 120GB HDs in the Main computer and 9.2 will install.

I can install the 250GB HDs in the second (Testing) computer and 9.2 installs there without a hitch.

I can install 9.2 on the second computer with the 120Gb HDs then transfer these to the main computer and with a small "fiddle" 9.2 will run on the main computer.

[Rest Pruned]

Thanks ro all who tried to help me with this problem. I still have the problem and am most annoyed for having spent a lot of money on SuSE 9.2 only to find that it won't install on 2 of my computers while all other distros install without a single hiccup (include now Mandrale 10.1 in the list I gave above).

A friend of mine took pity on me and gave me a copy of the ftp version of 9.3 and this installs quite happily.

When v10.0 is released I am going to inquire if the vendor will take it back and refund me my money in accordance with the consumer laws in this country if the damn thing won't do what it is supposed to do and not install on my computer(s). Once bitten twice shy.

Cheers.

-- Hi ..

I did have a couple of problems installing 9.2 but found a strange way round the problem . I found that if i started an windBlows install then just pulled the power on it then put the 9.2 cd or dvd in the drive it would install perfectly as to the reason i don't have the faintest idea but it worked and is still running now perfectly well may be worth a try if you have a blows dics around .. Cheers Pete . -- If Bill Gates had gotten LAID at High School do YOU think there would be a Microsoft ? Of course NOT ! You gotta spend a lot of time at your school Locker stuffing underware up your ass to think , I am going to take on the worlds Computer Industry -------:heard on Cyber Radio.:------- AFFA

Basil Chupin wrote:

be wary of any future releases of SuSE and to try them out thoroughly before outlaying their hard earned cash.

could you test the new suse10.0 (opensuse.org), to see if the same problem occurs. there is a strong bug hunt there... jdd -- pour m'écrire, aller sur: http://www.dodin.net http://valerie.dodin.net http://arvamip.free.fr

Basil Chupin wrote:

insists on installing it on the SECOND hard drive - in my case, hdc- the MBR of hdc.

as long as I know, there is only _one_ MBR, that of the first disk seen by the bios (I don't know if swapping the disk _in the bios_ changes this). this could explain the problem (?) anyway, I always advocate installing on a first step the bootloader _on the first sector of the linux partition_ (for example /dev/hda8 in place of /dev/hda, the MBR). this allow, for example, to have any linux or windows take precedence on the MBR and redirecting to the /dev/hda8 - very simple, even in XP (edit "boot.ini") it's also possible to edit the "bootable" bit of the given partition and it may - but not always - boot on it. jdd -- pour m'écrire, aller sur: http://www.dodin.net http://valerie.dodin.net http://arvamip.free.fr

On 24/08/05, Basil Chupin wrote:

jdd sur free wrote:

...

Basil Chupin wrote:

...

be wary of any future releases of SuSE and to try them out thoroughly before outlaying their hard earned cash.

could you test the new suse10.0 (opensuse.org), to see if the same problem occurs. there is a strong bug hunt there...

I would be delighted to do such a test but I don't have broadband so someone would need to send me a copy of 10.0.

And speaking about "bug hunt[ing]", here is one 'gotcha' for young players.

Since last Saturday I have upgraded my 9.1 and 9.2 installations to 9.3 - and everything went (reasonably) smoothly. Yesterday I decided to do a clean install - and the wheels fell off. I couldn't figure out why the system would not boot after the initial installation process; the system would freeze solid at the GRUB message after the BIOS did its check and the boot of the system was about to occur (ie, where the grub menu comes up on the screen).

To prove what I found yesterday, today I did a fresh install on my main computer (the one with the new 250GB drives) - and exaclty the same thing happened. What was the causing this problem? Well, it's this-

I have been using SuSE since v7.0 and every version, including all other Linux distros I have tried, always install the bootstrap in the MBR on the FIRST hard drive - ie, hda. But not SuSE 9.3. Oh no, SuSE 9.3 insists on installing it on the SECOND hard drive - in my case, hdc- the MBR of hdc. In fact it also reverses the order of the HDs in the bootloader and makes the order hdc, hda instead of leaving it correctly as hda, hdc as it always happened in the past.

Once I used the installation DVD to boot into an existing system and altered the order of the HDs in bootloader thru YAST and wrote this new info back into the MBR everything worked perfectly.

(Just to make sure that the picture is clear under which circumstances this is happening, I always have 2 HDs installed and I also dual boot with XP; I have hda=1st HD, hdb=DVDROM, hdc=2nd HD, and hdd=DVDRW; I have Linux (of any flavour) always installed on hda (normally into hda10 with hda11 as swap) and also have a ~5GB Linux partition on the 2nd HD (formatted with ext3 or reiserfs and identified as /data). This is how it has been from SuSE 7.0 on.)

Cheers.

-- The first myth of management is that it exists.

Now that is odd because I have two HD's in my Linux tin. It installed (clean install by the way) properly onto hda.... Odd, very odd.... but it's what keeps us on our toes :-) -- Take care. Kevan Farmer 34 Hill Street Cheslyn Hay Staffordshire WS6 7HR

On 24/08/05, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

Now that is odd because I have two HD's in my Linux tin. It installed (clean install by the way) properly onto hda....

Are you sure? Are you dual-booting or is Linux the only OS? (If you had provided this info already earlier than I have forgotten what you stated.) Is the second HD formatted as Extended partition with Logical Drive(s) inside or is it all a Primary Partition? What did you use to format the HDs?

...

Odd, very odd.... but it's what keeps us on our toes :-)

My toes are getting VERY sore! :-)

Bloody computers.

Cheers.

Ah, now I cannot answer that with conviction.... I have since wiped that particular disk. However, I can certainly tey replicating your set up. I have a couple of 80gb Maxtors that are now destined for my Linux tin so exactly what did you try? I'll try the same and see if I get the same happening. I've got copies of 9.3 and Win OS's so I should be able to replicate the set up...hopefully. -- Take care. Kevan Farmer 34 Hill Street Cheslyn Hay Staffordshire WS6 7HR

Basil Chupin wrote:

Kevanf1 wrote:

...

On 24/08/05, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

...

Now that is odd because I have two HD's in my Linux tin. It installed (clean install by the way) properly onto hda....

Are you sure? Are you dual-booting or is Linux the only OS? (If you had provided this info already earlier than I have forgotten what you stated.) Is the second HD formatted as Extended partition with Logical Drive(s) inside or is it all a Primary Partition? What did you use to format the HDs?

...

Odd, very odd.... but it's what keeps us on our toes :-)

My toes are getting VERY sore! :-)

Bloody computers.

Cheers.

Ah, now I cannot answer that with conviction.... I have since wiped that particular disk. However, I can certainly tey replicating your set up. I have a couple of 80gb Maxtors that are now destined for my Linux tin so exactly what did you try? I'll try the same and see if I get the same happening. I've got copies of 9.3 and Win OS's so I should be able to replicate the set up...hopefully.

OK, the setup is this:

HD0 (hda) partitioned-

hda1 C FAT16 PRIMARY PARTITION Active hda2 EXTENDED PARTITION hda5 D NTFS hda6 E NTFS hda7 F NTFS hda8 G NTFS hda9 H NTFS hda10 reiserfs / hda11 Swap

hdb DVDROM

hdc1 EXTENDED PARTITION hdc5 I NTFS hdc6 J NTFS hdc7 K NTFS hdc8 L NTFS hdc9 M NTFS hdc10 N NTFS hdc11 reiserfs /data

hdd DVDRW

XP installed in D (hda5) with its NTloader in C (hda1) with SuSE (as you can see) in hda10.

The above setup is on my main computer (with the 250GB Maxtors) and on the second (test) computer with the 120GB Maxtors. In both cases, SuSE9.3 as a new insall REVERSED the order of the HDs to hdc, hda and installed (?or troed to install) the bootloader in the MBR of hdc.

Most curious to hear what results you get.

BUGGER! Please read hda9 (H) and hdc10 (N) above as formatted in FAT32 and not NTFS. I am watching/listening to the cricket (OZ vs UK) and lost concentration when typing the above. Cheers. -- The first myth of management is that it exists.

Kevanf1 wrote:

On 25/08/05, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

I am watching/listening to the cricket (OZ vs UK) and lost concentration when typing the above.

He, he, I'm not surprised :-) I used to like playing knock around cricket, just me and a few mates. I always hated watching cricket but suddenly I have found an interest. Our problem over here is that kids are simply not encouraged when they are good at sports and there is very little in the way of sports fields for them anyway. One thing I did notice when I was in Oz a few years ago was the encouragement kids got. More people seem to get really involved in all areas of sports. It seems to come more naturally.

Anyway, back to Linux. Just as a matter of interest what is the make of your motherboard? Could it perhaps be a Gigabyte? I have had the swapped around drive lettering/numbering using SuSE with my other PC which has a Gigabyte board.

Only one mobo is a Gigabyte but the phenomenon shows up on both. They also have different brands of chipsets just in case someone asks :-). I am going to install 9.3 on my wife's computer tomorrow (yet another brand of mobo) so I'll keep in mind your observation. Cheers. -- Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.