Linux installation problems

[hnugz]

At first I tried installing Madrake's Linux and I got an error much like the one if not the exact same as I am getting right now when trying to install Red Hat. When it boots from the CD, I press enter, it runs through some stuff and then says <0> Kernel Panic: Attempted to kill init! Anyone know what this means or how I can fix it?

[Heru]

Could you give us some hardware details?
How much ram do you have?  Processor speed, and class?  Any odd hardware in there?

I don't know if any of that info will actually help, but you never know.

[hnugz]

Well I built the computer myself so I'm not really sure of the motherboard.  I have a 1.0 gig amd thunderbird i think it is, rivatnt2, 2 20 gig HD, 256 sdram.

[Master of Reality]

what do the couple lines before the kernel panic say?

[voidmain]

Have you tried creating an installation floppy and starting the install from floppy?  I recall that a certain version of Mandrake has a hard time installing from certain types of CD-ROM drives but I've never heard of that on RedHat. Just might be something to try....

[ June 06, 2002: Message edited by: VoidMain ]

[hnugz]

Theres just a bunch of machine code or whatever, i mean the 0459F94c kinda stuff along with what looks like a bunch of registers.  One other thing, if i just hit enter to begin the install my screen just goes black and i have to reboot.  If i start with "lowres"  thats then i get this error message.  This couldn't be because of my video card though could it?  I have used to different ones in there, a voodoo3 and rivatnt2, both which give the same message.

[Master of Reality]

to find out if it is your video card try intalling in text mode.

[voidmain]

Also, are you sure the CD-ROM jumpered correctly? Try setting it up as the Master device on the secondary IDE channel. I've heard people would have problems if it wasn't jumpered correctly (it may appear to read the disk just fine, just not install properly). Also, try using an install floppy (you should find install floppy images on the CD and instructions). Should only need one floppy to boot the kernel and then it will do the rest of the install from CD.

[hnugz]

Great, thanks for all the info.  I'll try that stuff out.

[Calum]

quote:Originally posted by X11 / BOB:
May the source be with you.

genius! i will be using that in my signature on the linuxquestions.org board from now on!  

[hoojchoons]

I don't know if that will help, but I had a similar problem until I found out that I hadn't installed my DVD-ROM and my CD-RW correctly. By that, I mean that instead of setting my DVD-ROM as a slave in the first IDE controller, I set it as master in the second IDE controller and then I set my CD-RW as slave in the second controller. If you've done that as well, keep in mind that it will create a "gap" which the Linux kernel won't recognize. That's why it most propably hangs during installation with a kernel panic signal. By default your hard disk is master on the first IDE controller. Try setting your CD-ROM or whatever as slave on the first IDE controller (make also sure that you jumper it correctly), then your third device as master on the second controller, your fourth device as slave on the second controller and so forth.

In case all of the above don't apply in your situation, then I suggest booting from a floppy disk instead. Good luck  

[hnugz]

OK I'm going to check that out when I get off work.  I don't remember exactly how my CD-rom was set but I think it is master on the second IDE.  My cables were too short or somethin to reach the CD-rom from one of the hard drives so I put both hard drives on IDE-1 and the CD-rom on IDE-2.  So I assume the CD-rom should be set to master?

[voidmain]

If it is on the same IDE channel with a hard drive, the hard drive should be master and the CD should be slave.  If it is the only device on an IDE channel then it should be Master (or CS depending on the computer, try both). Also, make sure your other IDE devices are jumpered properly, it matters.

[ June 07, 2002: Message edited by: VoidMain ]