Issues with 0710 RC

[johanr]

Hi!

new here and linux is pretty new for me as well so I choose to go for a safe route and buy hw that is recommended or tested. So, I went for the newbie core/hybrid pack with slight modifications since I could not find all the hw listed (dvd and CPU)(from the shops I usually buy from)
Plan is to learn more about this to be able to do some more sidesteps in the future and maybe also be able to help in the developement of this (from what I have read) absolutely wonderful piece of software.(yes I fell in love directly when looking at the video and the specs)

So here's the setup:
Case:ANTEC NSK2480-EC HTPC-CHASSI M-ATX
MB:MSI K9N2GM-FIH
RAM:Corsair TWIN2X 6400C5DHX DDR2, 4096MB Kit w/two CL5 2GB Dimm's, E.P.P and DHX
CPU:AMD ATHLON X2 4850E 2.5 GHZ 2x512KB 1000MHZ BOXED S-AM2
Cooling:Scythe Mini Ninja Heatpipe Fanless Heatsink AM2
sound:Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
DVD:PIONEER DVD±R/RW DL 20X DVR-215 SATA

Now to the problem..
Burned a dvd with the amd 64 rc2 dvd (not DL) from another computer.With Windows on it and the wiki recommended burner(dvdburner? not sure..)

Tried booting with it and I saw a quick complaint(I guess) about the acpi timer at the same "page" where the kernel is listed in the bottom during the install before computer seemed to go into hibernate(or Hang dunno but only restart helped)
 So I tried all the recommendations I could find.
 Booting(f6) with noacpi, pci=noapci etc etc..
Off course I turned off the acpi totally in the bios and the computer got into a boot-loop. (boot to biospage then boot again)

Became somewhat sad since the hw I bought I (Thought) was tested before recommending(?)
Anyways, I dont give up easily but since this acpi thingy is over my head and patching the kernel I will not(read a page about doing that) I burned a disc with the Kubuntu 8.04.
And.. guess what.. the install went fine and the hw above is now running fine on that. However I am so sold on this LinuxMce so I tried installing (Linux MCE CD version) on top(just had to try) but that would off course not work.

I dont want to sit and "wait" for the Linux MCE 8.04(?) so I ordered a new MB now, this time the ABIT AN-M2HD.. hope this will work better.
But, what can be the issue with this setup?
What are the ways to get this to work?
Can I help in some way in case the MB really does not work with 7.10?

Br and thanks again for taking your time to put this sw together!
Johan

[Hagen]

LMCE 0710 does not work on top of Ubuntu 0804, it works on top of Kubuntu 0710.
I would think that is your biggest problem.

[colinjones]

Sounds like you may have jumped in at the advanced troubleshooting a bit early!

If it came up with the message down the bottom that the kernel is alive (and you should see a login prompt at the top, briefly) before the screen goes black, then it is just that the av wizard is starting and not outputting in a way that your display can handle. You should have seen the Kubuntu splash screen and progress bar before this as well, but maybe not if your video is not set up properly.

If you see what I described, then start by searching the wiki for troubleshooting tips for the av wizard. Particularly pressing keys 1-0 to choose the correct output (ie, vga, dvi, etc) and a resolution that your display can handle. Give it at least 15 seconds to settle down after pressing any of the number keys.

If you are not even seeing the progress screen before this, and you have more than one video chipset (eg one on board and another on a card) then you must disable or at least set as secondary the one you are not using in your BIOS. If you cannot actually disable then you will need further instructions...

[Hagen]

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Installation_Guide

[johanr]

Sounds like you may have jumped in at the advanced troubleshooting a bit early!

If it came up with the message down the bottom that the kernel is alive (and you should see a login prompt at the top, briefly) before the screen goes black, then it is just that the av wizard is starting and not outputting in a way that your display can handle. You should have seen the Kubuntu splash screen and progress bar before this as well, but maybe not if your video is not set up properly.

If you see what I described, then start by searching the wiki for troubleshooting tips for the av wizard. Particularly pressing keys 1-0 to choose the correct output (ie, vga, dvi, etc) and a resolution that your display can handle. Give it at least 15 seconds to settle down after pressing any of the number keys.

If you are not even seeing the progress screen before this, and you have more than one video chipset (eg one on board and another on a card) then you must disable or at least set as secondary the one you are not using in your BIOS. If you cannot actually disable then you will need further instructions...

8.04 yes I assumed it would not work as well but had to give it a try. 
I'll have alook in the manual once again(although I actually followed it strictly)

advanced, to fast? =) ok..
Well thank you very very many this was very good input.
 I do not get the splash screen. Right after choosing install mce, I get the Kernel alive and in the top of the screen it's written or shown(very fast) something about a acpi timer and I think an error as well, hence the acpi troubleshooting. So that's nothing that should be bothered about?
Can I somehow monitor everything that is being done after selecting this Install Mce? That would really help, to see where it stops. Tried to take away the "quiet" option(to see whats happening). Am I on the right track then?

I saw in the bios during troubleshooting that the graphic card for some reason preffered is PCIe but I use the motherboard graphic(VGA). Tried to disable and tested again but the scenario was still the same. (will however make another try later today)

Note that This is during the installation phase and the disk was clean.
Can the Soundcard in the PCIe slot have anything to do with this?

Br
Johan

[johanr]

Hi again!

Ok, The scenario now is abit different. since I went in to bios and disabled the floppy and disabled the (by default) graphic card preffered to be PCIe now it's "internal" instead.
Now after choosing install MCE I get a "popup" saying loading kernel and then black screen followed by kernel alive in the bottom and after a few seconds loading please wait appears in the top of the screen. Then the computer _seem_ to Hang. Harddisk led is always on but the system seem to be more or less still.

 I figure if my screen would not output what is sent out then the keyboard would be still working and I have tried hitting enter and other keys to see if it starts to do something, like proceed with the install or similar. Also tried waiting for a while(more than 5 min)

I tried the recommendation for disabling the acpi (boot vga=771 noapci ...) but the scenario is the same.
 Graphic (F4) set to VGA as I use and I have tried different resolutions but it seem not to help.

Same behaviour when trying to install plain Kubuntu 7.10 the same way

edit. Took away the quiet and splash from the boot and then I could see that it stops at
initram..

What have I missed?
What should I focus on next?

Br
Johan

[johanr]

to answer my self and share what I am suspecting now. I believe this is sw related.. Exactly the same scenario as these guys are experiencing. However may also be something else.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/153991

Please assist me how to verify that this is not sw related since I bought the hw with specs from the newbie guide and if that does not work then the newbie guide should be updated I think.
 Or if I can contribute somehow to make this board compatible?
(I just dont want to be a pain and want to help. Not load you guys with even more work)

Is this the right place(thread) for troubleshooting help on the installation of 7.10?

Will try this weekend to install 7.04 instead and see how that goes.
If that does not work I will install the other motherboard that I have seen other users having and it feels like it should work better, eventhough I know there are millions of setup differences that may affect the functionality.

Br
Johan

[colinjones]

I'm sorry Johan, I'm not in a position to help further for a few days as I am on holidays. yes, you need to start a new thread for troubleshooting to attract the attention you need. Summarise there what you have done and found and I will try to pick it up in a few days, and others may chime in to help too. There was some confusion about the install versus first start up sequence of events. I was assuming first start up, so this is different from what you were looking at. I will try to give more detail later. I really don't think it is something major, and you should definitely stick with 0710 LMCE. You need to confirm that you do not have any card based graphics as well as on board, as it seems strange that your BIOS presents PCIe as an option if you don't have a card installed...

[johanr]

  no worries!
 I don't expect to get 24/7 support so definitely do not feel obligated to login if you're on holiday.

I will however not make anymore try with that board since I got the Abit AN-M2HD (reported by users to work) today. But I will start a thread anyway and maybe swap between boards to troubleshoot (although it's a hassle it would be nice to get it sorted out for the sake of others)

It may be so that it reported PCIe because I had the soundcard there. But if I don't recall wrong I think it still suggested pcis after removing it =/ weird indeed..

Thanks for the help so far and do get some rest and relax. I 'm sure you've earned it. =)


Br
Johan

[johanr]

Just want to "close" what I have started. The MSI board went back into the box and in with the Abit. After some small adjustments in the bios(like enabling the internal Lan!). Everything is now running fine as far as I have been able to judge(haven't started to use it fully yet).

 Although.. I think there is a problem(feature,bug or the like) in the current kernel that is fixed in the newer one utilised by the Kubuntu 8.04.
 It's related to Sata and the IRQ (cant remember the exact topic, sorry).
 After some struggling trying to get it working with some of the tips from the web I decided to:
 Not use SATA DVD and SATA HDD
 but IDE DVD and SATA DVD..
 a bit sad but doesn't bother me that much yet(havent started ripping yet)
 That solved the biggest problem I had with the ABIT board(it hung almost the same way as the MSI did) I beleive this is also the problem with the MSI board but have not tried so I cannot say for sure.(I agree with Alx9 that all small details, like how things are connected(ide or sata) in a spec or recommendation is really valuable for a newbie)

Thanx for an excellent software!
 Now struggling with the ethx setup since it did not find all the interfaces at install(not just the internal Lan) but I think I'll manage to fix this somehow.
You guys Rules!!
 
Happy Regards
Johan