[thejeremy]

Hey forum,

I recently acquired a Dell computer from a friend who didnt need it anymore. Windows was messed up on it, so I figured I'd install Linux on it and use it for server/development needs.

I'm currently running a dual boot with FC 5, so I guess I'm used to the graphical install interface as opposed to a command line setup. I downloaded Gentoo and Slackware 10.2, and I basically didn't have the patience. But it was kind of confusing cuz the drive is an SATA hard drive. I finally came across SUSE 10.1 and that's what I'm attempting to install now.

I start the install process, and tell it I want to use the whole disk for Linux, so it sets up the partitions properly. The installation begins, but partway through the computer FREEZES (everytime so far). Sometimes I will get an error that there was a package installation failure (e.g. one time it said "/suse/i586/xorg-x11-libs-6.9.0-48.i586.rpm" failed). Sometimes it gets farther than others, and once the PC suddenly rebooted. Has anyone seen this issue before? Is this because of the SATA drive?

Here are the system specs, not much to this pc:
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.80 GHz
1 GB of RAM
SATA HDD, Drive ID = WDC WD800JD-75JNC0, 80GB

In the BIOS I can set it to "Normal" or "Combination" mode. I don't know if this makes a difference or not.

I just wanna get Linux on this machine!

[thejeremy]

Here's some more info.

When the process crashes, the installation GUI crashes to the SUSE 10.1 blue welcome screen and apparently freezes. I pressed Escape here and saw the text interface behind everything, and it seems like the culprit is a seg. fault. Here is what I saw:


Segmentation fault at Slideshow.ycp:1274
/usr/lib/YaST/startup /YaST.call: line 306: 2653 Segmentation fault
(core dumped) $OPT_FBITERM y2Base "$Y2_MODULE_NAME" $Y2_MODE_FLAGS $Y2_MODULE_ARGS $Y2_MODE $Y2_UI_ARGS


I don't know if that helps or not. I checked all 5 installation discs at the beginning and it said they were all OK, so is this a hardware issue?

Any feedback is appreciated.

[macdude425]

Did you use the MD5SUMS to check the CDs or did you let the installer do it? You should really use the MD5SUMS if you didn't.

[thejeremy]

I let the installer's built in method do it. Actually, I don't think that's the problem...

When you boot from the first disc there's an option to test the memory, it runs Memtest-86 v3.2. Since this wasn't my computer I figured I'd check things out. I started it up and went to the movies . I came back and there were 37000+ errors! I'm gonna take the 2 sticks out and put in one of my sticks that I know works.

That would explain the seg fault.

I'll post back later after I mess with the RAM.

[thejeremy]

Apparently it was a bad stick of memory...it was Samsung RAM.

SUSE is up and running now and it looks great

[hillbillybob]

Ya, it does look good. What were some of the other specs on that RAM so we know which not to buy.