Problems Performing A FC2 "Entire Install"

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Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 02:36:37 GMT

I've been trying to figure out what's happening with a FC2 installation
that I'm performing.

Here's the scenario:

My computer is a relatively new Dell 2400 P4 2.4G with a 40GB drive and
128MB RAM. Windows 2000 Server and FC1 were installed on the PC.
Dual-booting was done through GRUB. All was working fine with both OSs.

I downloaded the four FC2 ISOs, checked the MD5 sums, and after
confirming that each image's sum was correct I burned ISOs to CDs.

So far, so good. Or so I thought.

I placed the first FC2 CD in the CD drive and booted to the CD. At the
GUI prompts I selected to remove existing Linux partitions. I had
expected that this would remove the FC1 and install FC2, leaving the
Windows 2000 intact.

I selected the "everything" installation. Not that I need all of the
software, but since I'm learning Linux I want everything available to me.

Anyway, the installation appeared to go okay until almost near the end.
I then received an error indicating an "alignment problem". The
installation process stopped and I had to reboot the PC.

I tried the installation again, same problem.

Thinking that there might be some problem with the dual-boot setup I
decided, on my third try to have the installer remove all the
partitions, essentially starting from scratch (I don't mind
deleting/re-installing the Windows 2000 software--this is a "test" PC).

Again, no luck. Still getting the alignment problem.

Now I used the Rescue mode to provide me with access to fdisk. I
manually deleted all of the partitions, and then rebooted to the FC2
disk one. I figured that if I "really" start from scratch the problem
might be resolved.

After doing that I started to get a different type of failure. Toward
the end of the installation the system would simply reboot and a "plain"
screen would appear with the GRUB> prompt.

I tried the install several more time, each ending the same way--with
the GRUB> prompt.

I was just about to go back to FC1, but before doing so I gave Google a
search to see if it listed anything like the problems I was seeing. I
found several hits with similar errors indicating "alignment" problems,
but all of these were related to a PCs that were dual-booting FC2 and
Windows. Since I no longer had Windows on the PC these didn't seem related.

Now, just before tossing in the towel I figured I would try an install
with only a few packages. Guess what, the installation went fine.

For the heck of it, I tried the full install again. I went back to the
error and a black screen with GRUB>. Again tried a less-than-full
install, and everything worked.

So, now I've got a FC2 box with a good portion of the packages installed
during the installation routine, and I'm installing the remaining
packages after the fact, using the Add/Remove Programs wizard.

My question, after all this, is: Why was I not able to do an entire
install with the installer? Could this be a result of having only 128MB
RAM? I did notice that the FC2 Release Notes state that 128MB is needed
for a text mode install and 256MB is needed for a graphical mode
install--I wasn't sure if these were "hard" limits, or just recommendations.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated.

Regards,

Richard Huelbig

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