Trouble installing Mandrake w/ Windows XP

#1 Jody

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Posted 11 March 2004 - 01:49 PM

Ok, I am completely new to Linux. I thought I'd give it a try. I downloaded the ISO files for Mandrake and burnt them to discs. When I try to reboot my machine w/ the discs in I get nothing. It autimatically goes straight to my Windows log on screen. Am I doing something wrong? I am currently running Windows XP Home Edition. Is this the problem? Please help. I really wanna try Linux and get away from M$. Thanks.

#2 healingbear

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Posted 11 March 2004 - 02:30 PM

Jody did you burn the disks as an " iso image " ? if so then check your BIOS to see if your CD is set to boot on start up...

#3 Jody

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Posted 11 March 2004 - 02:53 PM

Yes, they were burnt as ISO's. Sorry, I am completely computer illiterate when it comes to technical things. How do I check my bios to see if the cd is set to boot? Am I too stupid for Linux? lol thanks.

#4 healingbear

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Posted 11 March 2004 - 03:07 PM

Checking your BIOS, depending on your machine, some you would hit the delete key on start up, I have a Sony and it is my F2 key... Look in your computer manual, it should give you the instructions... All you want to do is to set your CD to be able to boot ... It is usually a sequence such as CD, your hard drive, floppy...

#5 Maillion

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Posted 12 March 2004 - 03:41 AM

Quote:

When your machine boots up, the first screen you see will have a line, usually at the bottom that says something like: "press del to enter setup" (the del may be replaced by f1, f2, or whatever. Press the key indicated, and then find in the bios program where the boot sequence is. The location will vary from bios to bios, so I can't help you find it. Another poster describes it well enogh that you can recognise it. I hope this helps. 8)

#6 Maillion

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Posted 12 March 2004 - 03:44 AM

I just noticed that I somehow posted the same article twice. Is there some way to delete an extra message than just deleting the contents, which I just did? (I hate making mistakes like that, almost as much as I hate seeing that I misspelled a word!)

#7 muscat

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Posted 12 March 2004 - 09:50 AM

you need to insert DISK2 to boot.
and after DISK1 to install
caution : Mandrake can prompt you to erase all partitions in your master HD. MAKE A BACKUP OF ALL YOUR DATA.

#8 Jody

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Posted 13 March 2004 - 09:08 PM

Ok,
thanks everyone for their help so far. I got the cd to boot and to begin installation, however - after analyzing the usb devices (the first part of install) I get an error message saying I might have hardware issues, or there may be a bug in the kernel. I re-downloaded install disk 1 hoping there was nothing wrong w/ my hardware, but I keep getting the message. I also get another message that looks like this after the initial message:

[/quote]error in exec of stage 2 :-(
trying to execute '/user/bin/runinstall2' from the installation volume
the following fatal error occured
FATAL ERROR IN STAGE 1: I/O error
I can't recover from this.
You may reboot your system

Quote:

What gives? I really wanna try Linux. Should I give up on Mandrake and try another distribution? If so, what do y'all recommend? Thanks.

#9 Maillion

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Posted 14 March 2004 - 12:49 AM

Quote:

By the way, hang out here for a while, and you will become technically litterate, believe me! And you are not stupid, after all, you are trying Linux, are you not? That sounds pretty smart to me. 8)

#10 JBuffalo

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Posted 25 May 2004 - 12:23 AM

Hey Jody!

I have the exact same problem and the same error message!
Did you figure it out?

#11 Dapper Dan

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Posted 25 May 2004 - 01:41 AM

It could be a corrupted disk which can be caused by many factors, but usually from the writing speed being set to fast. I download and burn a lot of Linux ISOs, and you should never burn an ISO image any faster than x8. What speed did you burn it? Is the surface clean and scratch free?

#12 Mel

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Posted 28 May 2004 - 01:09 AM

It does sound like you have a bad disk.
However, you can try this in case it's a hardware detection
error.
Boot up with disk 2.
At the prompt type " linux noauto "
Hit ENTER and see what happens.
.
Some hardware just doesn't like linux autodetection.

#13 Dapper Dan

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Posted 28 May 2004 - 02:14 AM

Hi Mel! Good to see you again!

#14 Mel

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Posted 28 May 2004 - 11:08 PM

'/user/bin/runinstall2 (key word "runinstall2 = install files from disk#2.
If you were prompted to install disk2,and did so,that's a bad disk #2 .
If that's the case, the installation file on disk#2 is corrupt.I know you booted with disk2 but the boot file has it's own little partition and has nothing to do with the installation files other than to boot the machine.
If you were not prompted to insert disk2 then the installation
program which is loaded into memory,on startup,from disk 2 is corrupt.
BTW,I found that running the install CDs in a DVD drive causes
the same problem.
Disk 1 is also bootable and has the installation program.Try booting from disk1.Disk 1 and disk 2 have different problems
with different hardware.