Linux won't run!

Linbox

prowla wrote: »

Since we appear to be in pontificating mode, could I advise you to spell "advice" correctly.;)

Who made you the pedantic grammar police, (should that have been grandma) if you have problems with my spelling please take it up with firefoxe's spell checker.;)

HooCanTellMee

I thank all of you,
I am even more frustrated now, Fedora 14 will load from a live DVD sometimes, sometimes not! When it does all works fine, can use firefox, menus work and I think MAGIC! Then I go through the install to hard drive and all goes well, right up to the reboot, then it refuses to load from the hard drive.
I could get another graphics card I guess, but it has the old AGP socket. It was more to see if I could use the PC in a moneysaver way! I can't justify a new machine, we have too many already. It is also something to occupy me and an excuse to avoid the ironing.
Seriously I am working my way through all suggestions, but it means switching off this machine and swapping the connections over.
I will give Ubuntu another go, love the look of Fedora but if it won't run it won't run.
Puppy seems fine but I would like something on a par with XP if I can, if not it may be the end of the machine for linux and a return to XP.
Thanks again for all the suggestions I really am working my way through them, and learning a lot on the way!
Can anyone give me a reason why the live DVD will work, but not an install?
Never heard of kernel codes before, but I have now!

esuhl

I've just remembered a problem I had a few years back where I couldn't get a newly installed Linux to boot. It turned out to be a hard drive problem - the MBR was corrupted or something...

That might explain why a live DVD would work, but a hard drive installation wouldn't... but it doesn't explain the intermittent problems you've also had with the live discs.

Are you able to use the live GParted image to delete the existing partitions/MBR and create new ones (this will obviously erase all data on the drive!)?

I have a feeling I'm barking up the wrong tree here (and it sounds like others here know more about Linux than I do), but I thought I'd mention it just in case.

HooCanTellMee

esulh,
I haven't tried the live GParted image, but when I tried the install I used custom partition and deleted all existing partitions and started again. Would this do the same as the GParted image? I appreciate your help, my husband knows more about linux, but he hasn't been able to help. If it gets too technical I get lost anyway, and sometimes it is easy to overlook the obvious. I keep thinking it must be something simple, or maybe it is just a step too far for the PC. I am going to try what you suggested and then try a different hard drive, we have one new drive and a couple of old ones I can try, at least I will be able to rule the drive out then.

Linbox

esuhl wrote: »

It turned out to be a hard drive problem -
Are you able to use ... GParted ... to delete the existing partitions/MBR and create new ones (this will obviously erase all data on the drive!)?

Now were getting some where It'll usually boot from live cd but fails on install.

Before asbokid says kernel again, ( is there an icon for straight faced)

Make sure the had drive is unmounted, right click on the dirve -selected via the dropdown box on the upper right; check then Edit then Apply.

It should fix any faults it finds (not really fix but hide the bad bits). Might take a little time dependant on the size of the hard disk.

Next delete all partitions see my post for the appropriate bits you require. Leave hard drive as unallocated space.

From the live cd grub screen run a memory check for a couple of mins. (prob will be ok but checking wont hurt.)

Not sure about a video card stressing program perhaps someone else can help with that.

If you are using a Ubuntu reboot with live cd and install using the GUIDED option this should install to the unallocated space.

Once finished, upon bootup you should see the grub menu witch may now boot.

There's no need to unplug anything, just make sure you backup any thing on the hard drive you are working on - Docs ect before deleting anything.

Let us know how it went.

Linbox

HooCanTellMee wrote: »

esulh,
I haven't tried the live GParted imageI am going to try what you suggested and then try a different hard drive, we have one new drive and a couple of old ones I can try, at least I will be able to rule the drive out then.

Oh, you posted just as I was typing. Gparted is usually part of the livecd I dont know Fedora, but I suspect it has it or something that does the same thing. Let the install setup the hard drive if possible including partitions. But it may not check for faults so you may need to use my above post.

Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives are the most popular at the moment so there may be some differences between the programs and names and uses to fedora.

HooCanTellMee

Hi Linbox,
I have tried deleting all partitions for Fedora and letting it set up its own partitions, with the same result as a custom partition. It goes as far as the loading screen, gets most of the way then freezes. Have tested the memory, seems to be fine.
"Make sure the had drive is unmounted, right click on the dirve -selected via the dropdown box on the upper right; check then Edit then Apply." Please don't hold your head in your hands, will do this, but what am I doing? Unmount suggests some sort of non hardware disconnection? I know my knowing what it does won't effect the install but it might help me to learn!
This is a hard drive with nothing on it at all, if it had I have deleted, partitioned, and deleted again so if it hasn't wrecked any data I will be very surprised.
As I say, I will have to shut this down to borrow the monitor etc, so I am going to have a cup of coffee, see if you have any more advice then close down for a while.
Thanks for sticking with me, daren't go to technical forums elsewhere, they would probably laugh! Either tell me to buy something more up to date, or go back to the kitchen sink!
If I can get the AMD working am planning to switch it with my current(this) PC, which is showing signs of failing, and is in a large server case in the living room. Other AMD is in a smaller and more convenient midi case.
Once again, thank you.

Pikeyp

HooCanTellMee wrote: »

.. Fedora 14 will load from a live DVD sometimes, sometimes not! ..

I'm no expert with Linux installs by any means , but that tells me that there might be a communication problem between your DVD drive and the motherboard .. loose/old cable possibly?

Perhaps a better route would be trying to install with a USB memory stick if you have one ..

Linbox

HooCanTellMee wrote: »

"Make sure the had drive is unmounted, right click on the dirve -selected via the dropdown box on the upper right; check then Edit then Apply." Please don't hold your head in your hands, will do this, but what am I doing? Unmount suggests some sort of non hardware disconnection? I know my knowing what it does won't effect the install but it might help me to learn!

Mount instructs the operating system that a file system is ready to use, and associates it with a particular point in the system's file system hierarchy (its mount point). The counterpart umount instructs the operating system that the file system should be disassociated from its mount point, making it no longer accessible

If your hard disk has bad sectors on it - that is areas that the hard disk cant write to - gparted will mark and "hide"those bits from the harddisk so it wont write to them.

Imagine the word "important" written on a piece of paper
if the pen fails to write on some bits of the paper, some of the letters; you could get "m o tant" so if we hide those faulty bits you get the full word " i m po r tan t" it still has the spaces but the whole word is there.

Personally I'd use Hirens boot disk its a brill bit of kit for playing with computers and has the manufactures utility for harddrives .
along with lots of other good stuff linux and windows.

clinteestwood

fwor wrote: »

Lots of very good advice, but one comment on the above: they introduced a completely new Hardware Abstraction Layer in Ubuntu (and hence probably also in anything else Debian-based) a while back - IIRC from Ubuntu 10.04 onward - and my personal experience is that this does seem to make it harder to get running on some older hardware. .

Very true and well spotted! get an older version (pre 10.04) and see if that works. If not, do what another member said and when loading into ubuntu (lets just use this as an example) when it provides you with your boot list choose the load into safemode and then choose to run the OS in the graphic safe mode and then from there (if you can get that far) go to system > admin > additional drivers.