SOLVED: Install fails (or, A Pat on the Back for the openSUSE Team)

[BIll_K]

Greetings, Forum dwellers:

Short Story: if you get weird errors during install, check your memory!

Long Story:

I purchased a new PC after limping along on the one that I got when Linux Mint 13 was still fresh and minty. I had planned to install LM16 on my new machine but the installer kept crashing. In frustration and increasing desperation, I tried a bunch of distributions but every single one would fail. My trusty LM13 distro, however, would install flawlessly every time.

I checked the checksums.
I crafted the partition tables by hand.
I had someone create the DVD ISOs on their PC in case my writer was the culprit.
I tried tried booting from USB.
I tried the openSUSE 13.1 install and was immediately impressed by the highly polished installer, but unfortunately, it failed too. I'd get 15% through the package installs and I'd get a checksum error.

One morning I woke up at 04:30 and it occurred to me that the fundamental difference between the LM13 distro and all the others was, it was 32-bit (the others were 64). So, remembering that the openSUSE distro had a memory checker, I got out of bed and ran the test: pages and pages of red lines. Yippee!

It took me all of about 10 minutes to isolate the bad RAM, which I exchanged for a new one that afternoon.

openSUSE 13.1 installed flawlessly after that. I was so impressed with the appearance and functionality of the installer that I dumped Mint and went to open SUSE.

Well done, you guys (and girls). You've made a convert out of me.

Yours in gratitude,

Bill

[nrickert]

Short Story: if you get weird errors during install, check your memory!

Good advice. I'd change to "if you get weird errors, check your memory."

I've had a perfectly good computer with good memory start to get weird errors. Reseating the memory modules fixed the problem.

For those unfamiliar with "reseating" -- it's mostly just remove the memory module, then put it back in. Wiggle it a bit as you put it back in. The wiggling helps to get good electrical contact.