Horrible problems trying to run Linux on my hardware

xyzzy_at_hotpop.com
Date: 02/03/04

  • Next message: Mitch Wiedemann: "Re: 403 forbidden" 
    To: fedora list <fedora-list@redhat.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 16:44:46 +0200

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
    Hash: RIPEMD160

    Greetings,

    Hardware:
    ASUS motherboard with 82801EB Intel chipset (865G video, 82562EZ LAN),
    Hyperthread support, Enhanced P-ATA/S-ATA, USB 2.0.
    1 GB ram
    Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz
    3 harddisks, first one is the boot disk using Windows XP Pro (with dual boot
    off of the third disk for Linux using XP boot manager) UDMA 2, the other two
    are UDMA 5, the last disk being for Linux with /, /boot, /var and swap
    partitions).
    LG DVD/CD-RW combo
    Adaptec SCSI 2930 PCI card

    This machine runs XP Pro just fine, absolutely no problems and at very
    acceptable speeds.

    I can't even boot, most of the time, off of the Redhat 9 CDs that I burned
    from ISO (and have been used to install on other machines, so the medium is
    fine), unless I cancel the Enhanced IDE and use Compatible mode in the BIOS.
    Also, with Redhat 9, I must keep this configuration in order to boot Linux at
    all, it hangs on the IDE enumeration. I managed to get an entire Redhat 9
    system installed and up and running but SLOOOOOW, running X and trying to
    paste a very long command line into a terminal prompt using the center button
    took up to a minute to complete pasting, not to mention not being to use the
    cursor keys to navigate the line.

    Figuring that Fedora with the 2.4.22 kernel would be better with more support
    for S-ATA, enhanced IDE, and hyperthread, I upgraded my system with the
    Fedora Core 1 CDs burned from ISO. These booted just fine using the Enhanced
    IDE configuration but still very slow.

    I managed to upgrade the system using the Internet until everything was at "0
    updates needed". It was still VERY slow and I had a few times where the
    system froze completely, necessitating a press of the reset button.

    So, I downloaded the Intel graphics and network drivers from the Intel site,
    figuring that the stock drivers were somehow bogging down because of my newer
    hardware.

    The network driver compiled and installed fine. When I installed the graphics
    driver according to Intel's instructions (changing the Device "Driver" field
    form i810 to i830), trying to restart the X server failed with a segmentation
    fault and a notice that the agpport module could not allocate memory; a
    patently ridiculous since I had over 924MB free according to /proc/meminfo.

    Trying restore the old settings fails and the X server refuses to start.

    Any help would be appreciated on what to do next to get X back up. I am about
    to give up on Linux on this box unless I can figure out why it is so slow,
    that is, assuming I can get around this frustrating X failure. Is it time
    for a complete OS re-install? I can still run text mode. What a drag.

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

    iD8DBQFAH7PnrT0x/nxLkjwRA0JXAJ4/jLhLmsnZRmyq6zoshjcvd0lO5QCfaAuU
    QDVEI6GI3UdT56bMrfVKvcI=
    =oANa
    -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- 

    -- 
fedora-list mailing list
fedora-list@redhat.com
To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
  • Next message: Mitch Wiedemann: "Re: 403 forbidden"