Depending on the method of installation you use, there may be several reasons for this. If you are installing from a CDROM drive, check whether you can boot directly from this drive, if not, use a floppy disk. In any case, be sure that your computer is going to boot on the specified device: this can be controlled by the BIOS set up of your computer (press ``del'' key when booting, or in some case ``F1''). You should also check that your CDROM drive is not damaged.
If you can't start the installation procedure with the installation floppy disk, it too may be damaged. Try to make another one, using the disk image on the CDROM (boot.img file from the images/ directory). If you have serious doubts about the integrity of the disk, concerning either the floppy or the CDROM disk, contact us in order to obtain a new disk free of charge (valid for Linux-Mandrake PowerPack version only).
In this case, you don't have much choice: you will most certainly have to use the CDROM installation. Nevertheless, be sure of the characteristics of your network card (base address and irq) if you are prompted for these features. For example, imagine that you have a NE2000 ISA compatible card set up with: base address=0x340 and irq=7, you won't complete the installation successfully if you are unsure of these values.
This won't happen with the Powerpack version of the CD-ROM. It may be the case that your CD, remote site (LAN or WAN) or Mandrake image is not expected by the installation procedure.
Check that the size of the partition you're using is bigger than the required size. It is not recommended to install Linux-Mandrake on a partition smaller than 300 Mo (unless you are not installing X-Window).
This is a common problem (becoming less and less common!). Don't panic, this will not (normally) prevent you Linux system from running. You will be able to set up the card configuration later, after the installation has been completed.
Don't panic, this will not prevent you Linux system from running. You will be able to set up the card configuration later, after the installation has been completed.
Do not panic, this won't help your linux box from running. You will be able to set up the card configuration later, after the installation has been completed.
This is an annoying problem which should not occur with current Linux-Mandrake distributions. Pick up a new floppy and try again. In case of repeated failures, contact installation support.
This is usually due to a detection problem with the hard disk structure. This should not happen with the latest BIOS releases. If it does, make a LILO boot floppy (as instructed) and use it to boot your linux system. Then edit the file /etc/lilo.conf and insert a lign ``linear'':
For example, if your linux partition is mounted on /dev/hda, you should have something like this:
(...)
boot=/dev/hda
linear
(...)
Finally, reinstall LILO with the ``/sbin/lilo'' command.
This is a bug which can happen sometimes with certain disk configurations (for example, if another operating system or even another Linuw system is already installed on the same hard disk as the Mandrake distribution). In this case, the modules associated with the linux kernel are not detected and this causes numerous problems. Luckily, the solution is simple. Log in as the superuser (root), change to the directory /lib/modules and type ``ls''. If you have a directory named ``2.0.36-2'', simply type in:
ln -s 2.0.36-2 2.0.36
(this is also valid for all other release numbers of the linux kernel terminated with such an extension, like ``-2''). Then enter:
/sbin/depmod -a
Thus, all the modules should be loaded.
This may occur if you didn't manage to installing LILO correctly. Try to reinstall LILO from a linux system (see relevant sections in this manual).
You probably have a hardware problem (cpu, cache memory, memory, ...) or overheating. Disactivate your cache memory, ventilate your machine, move your memory to another slot. Finally contact your retailer.