SUSE Installation problem

[horndude]

Have you partitioned your hard drive correctly?

That is one of the first steps Im sure.

You will need a main partition with type 83(linux partition)
you also need a linux swap partition which is type 82

you will need to run fdisk or cfdisk to do this.

Some linux distros will do this for you some wont, I have never used suse so im not sure what they do.If that error is from a bad cd burn you will need to do it again.

That error is looking like at boot its assuming linux is already setup and it cant find the kernel root for loading, but im not positive on this.

The way this works is the boot loader loads the kernel read only, then it loads and initializes and then the rest of the OS loads from your hard drive or CD if usuing a live distro.

 

[kostas]

i agree. there's something you haven't done right. after you burn the image on CD, reboot the computer and boot from CD. that will in turn load files in RAM to use for installation. the installation program will partition your drive for you. did you burn the CD with the option "Burn from image" or something similar? simply copying the iso file to a data CD won't work.

 

[kostas]

no need to precreate partitions. i'd rather let SuSE create them for you since you might mess something up using fdisk.

 

[GameGURU]

Leave it for a while, my SuSE takes forever to start up...if it doenst go then post back.

 

[horndude]

looks like you want the installation option

 

[horndude]

Ok, this prob means the default kernel wont work with your drives or its having probs reading your cdrom?

What kind of hardware you using?

Another option may be to try booting into dos from either a dos disk or windows install and then cd to cdrom and running setup from there.

 

[horndude]

I just checked that link above, the boot loader for suse 9.1 is messed up, either correct it by following that link or try another distro.

I recommend slackware 9.1 myself, ive setup numerous systems with it.

 

[horndude]

You should be able to install from a hard drive yes, but the boot loader config is wrong as is from the get go, see the link a few posts up that someone else posted ---> it says link underlined, follow that, it will take you to another linux forum where that specific probelm is addressed and the fix is posted, its a simple fix really.Silly that suse let something like that happen though really.

 

[horndude]

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21019


to create those partitions you need to use fdisk or cfdisk, just follow the menu when you run them.Only probelm is suse isnt letting you get far enough to do that and the windows boot disk if you have one doesnt have what you need to do it, fdisk version under windows isnt complete.

you would need a root partiton linux type 83, and a swap partition type 82

If you can get the cd copied to your hard drive and get booted into dos or something that will let you change directories and have disk access your still gonna have to change the default suse boot loader file to point to the right place.See link above.

This is a weird problem, you shouldnt even be having this problem, linux usually isnt this hard to install I swear.

Does the suse distro come with a live install that runs fromthe cd w/o using the hard drive? If so, you can run fdisk or cfdisk from that

example fdisk /dev/hda where hda is primary ide drive

 

[horndude]

I dont blame you, try slackware, I can walk you thru that if you have problems.Get version 9.1, dont try 10 yet, its still got problems.Slackware has an easy to follow text menu.Put the disk in, let it boot up, then enter root and return.The fdisk /dev/hda for your hard drive.Make 2 partitions, then write them, and exit.Then type setup and follow the menu.

Or try redhat.