Mandrake won't install.

[q_bot_w11]

Hi,

I have previously installed mandrake on an old system and everything went fine (it still works in this old machine). I tried to install it on my newer PC yesterday and after booting from the CD before it went into the installer it said something like, "This CD doesn't appear to be a mandrake installation CD". Any ideas? It's the download edition not the box one.

Thanks.

[Speed]

First of all, make sure that you have good install CDs. Since you're downloading, do a CRC to make sure that what you have is what Mandrake created. You can do this by running the following command:

md5sum -b your_ISO_image_filename

Check the output against Mandrake's download page. If that checks out, burn the CD following the README file's instructions. Basically you want to do disc-at-once, no multisession, and mode 1. Some Windows programs have caused me problems in the past, so I hope you're making these on your Linux box!

When you're done burning the CD, verify it. X-CD-Roast has a verify button, for example. Only after you have done this will you be certain of the integrity of the install CDs.

Now that you're sure you have good install media, begin your install. If you're overwriting the entire HD, you might want to remove all partitions before installing. Some operating systems don't go away fully, so I do a quick "fdisk /mbr" from a Win95 diskette, just to make sure.

If you have your CD-ROM drive connected to an oddball SCSI or IDE controller, hit F1 and do the expert install from the beginning. Make sure you load the appropriate driver for your adapter. If it doesn't show up by default you'll need to get the driver separately, and put it on a floppy. If you still can't get into the 2nd stage install, try a different CD-ROM drive.

If none of that works, come on back. I'm sure we can think of some more stuff to try.


_________________
Stick a fork() in it!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Speed on 2002-03-20 02:44 ]</font>

[Despite]

you could always do an ftp install from the already installed machine

[q_bot_w11]

Hi,

Wouldn't it not work when installing to the other computer if it was the CD?

I can't re-burn the CD because someone else burnt it for me (I don't have the ISO on my HD and am on a 56k connection).

How do I do an ftp install?

Thanks!

Dave.

[Despite]

not necessarily; I've got a CD drive at home that refuses to read any of the disks I burn myself, yet they all work fine in my other various drives.

I don't know for certain that Mandrake does since I've never installed it, but I'll bet they support ftp installs. They probably have disk images on the install CD that you can use to boot and then start the ftp install. Use your working install to dd up a boot floppy and give it a shot.

[q_bot_w11]

Ok thanks, I'll have a look. It's not the CD drive though because I'm using the same CD drive in both too (I only have one at the moment as one broke).

I'll have a look for that FTP thing.

[SirEverlast_from_Ars]

Let me know if Mandrake works out for you, I've had nothing but problems with it...

[q_bot_w11]

Hi, I did get it to work in the end - it appears that it is just when I couple that CD drive with my newer computer. When using that CD drive in my old one it works. With a different CD drive in my newer one it works. Wierd. I cant get OpenGL to work now though. I'll post a different topic.