I have almost dead CD/DVD drive (it can barely read CDs and only manufactured DVDs, but not those that were burned) and therefore I consider installation of SuseLinux from HDD starting from XP (by the way, I did succeeded to install OpenSuse 11.0 from HDD, but nothing can do with 11.1). Help me please!!!
So, I extracted DVD content to FAT32 partition root directory and launched openSUSE11_1_LOCAL.exe. As far as I understand installer modified boot sector and then asked me to reboot. After reboot text portion of installation took place: language, keyboard and, what is more interesting, source of installation. I specified HDD. It scanned my partitions and asked which one. I specified the correct one (in my case it was sda5 – I remember that Linux was always referring to my partitions as hdaX, now it is sdaX - strange). After that it asked me the directory – I specified “/” (installation was in the root directory of sda5; I saw somewhere in Internet that /suse works here, but not for me – I have tried it). I noticed that it managed to pas 2 dialog windows with message like looking into package 1(6), 2(6) and then paused. As far as I understand 1(6) and 2(6) are kind of packages that installer managed to find. After that it warned me that /var/…. SHA1 sum is failed, do you trust the installation and we can proceed unsecured? I answered yes because I checked MD5SUM of DVD image I downloaded from opensuse.org. Finally installer gave me an error – can’t find repository. It is frustrating because it was smoothly done with 11.0 version. Why it is a problem now?
One may suggest to install via LiveCD – problem again. I tried to use Gnome-LiveCD. Booting was without any problem, though very long – I have computer 4 years old but with 1G RAM. The installation process halted somewhere in the middle of files coping (it finished coping files to root directory but informed about error in some library modules after that). Keep in mind that in this case I worked with another source than during above mentioned installation.
Does it mean that I have no chance to install 11.1?
Any help is appreciated.
It sounds like your downloaded install media is not so good. But surely, considering the price of a dvd drive for a PC today! Just go and buy one for heavens sake.
Installs from windows are not the ideal and certainly don’t get my vote of confidence.
You said
I remember that Linux was always referring to my partitions as hdaX, now it is sdaX - strange
Not strange… Just correct.
If you can boot the gnome live cd - run the media check on it. But given that your drive is trashed - who knows what will be the result.
Thanks for the reply!
“But surely, considering the price of a dvd drive for a PC today! Just go and buy one for heavens sake.”
You are right, I have to. The only trouble is that computer I have is a laptop and not all types of CD/DVD drives work for me. Also, I read trough forums that installation from DVD is not straight forward too (at some point during installation I have to let installer know about drivers for that device if it is too new).
By the way, I love Linux and was always admired about its philosophy. However, frankly speaking, this OS was never friendly to a user, don’t you think?
I haven’t installed otherwise (from HDD) for years, usually there’s no problem. When I did have this problem, it was fixed after replacement of the faulty DVD-drive in my laptop…
If the MD5 is alright, the download is alright. So, that’s not the point. I can only write what I do:
- I create a folder ‘11.1’ on the root of a partition, let’s say sda1
- I boot the installer, change the source to HDD, /dev/sda1 for the disk, /11.1/ for the folder.
- I install
I’ve noticed that this does not work, if I insert an SD card, or connect a USB-disk drive. That’s when the installer cannot build the repositories.
Hope this helps you
Thanks Knurpht, your answer gave me more confidence that what I’m doing is not out of real life and not a worthless thing.
I just figured it out. Looking closely to installer output I’ve noticed that the problem of not finding repository occurs immediately after warning message about file boot/i386/branding failed to SHA check. After I choose to ignore this error and continue installation it says “unknown fs type”, “intsys mount failed”, “disk: mount ok but test failed”, “url mount: hd:/11.1/?device=sda5 failed” and finally “repository: not found” . I checked this file branding and I found that it is 0 bytes in ISO file! Also it was another 0 size file in this directory (I checked other directories and found some too).
Now I decided to redownload iso image again. What is bothering me is that md5sum of the file I downloaded a few weeks ago matches MD5 file taken from opensuse.org and I believe the new one I’m downloading now will be exactly the same. May be I’m extracting iso image incorrectly and some weird 0 sized files are produced (I’m using 7zip to extract).
Can anybody take a look at the iso file http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.1/iso/openSUSE-11.1-DVD-i586.iso and tell me what size of boot/i386/branding is?
Thank you for your help and support. I’ll keep you updated about results.
well, now I know that the file branding (and some others) are supposed to be nil sized (see here ftp://ftp.df.lth.se/pub/opensuse/factory/repo/oss/boot/i386/ - it is not 11.1, but future 11.2 or so) - and I’m confused again. How can I explain to installer that nil sized files are good? Or force the installer go ahead? Any ideas (I’ll look around CD/DVD, but that might not the problem to disappear)?
Cheers.
I am totally disappointed – downloading dvd iso file 3 times just to double check that all 3 downloaded files are correct! Installer keep saying that nil sized file /boot/i386/branding has SHA1 sum different than that specified in file /content. Md5sum under Windows yielded completely different results (I know, it is all about this terrible OS, never trust it 
). And, finally I was suggested to buy CD/DVD drive. How much should I love Linux to come all the way through this and still want to be tied to it? I give up because even if I manage to install it from HD or DVD I’ll be tortured by this soft for every single day. Sorry guys, I give up.
P.S. I still wondering how my IDE hard drive according to SUSELinux 11.1 installer became SCSI?
> I give up.
i wonder how much of these you read and followed:
http://tinyurl.com/6jwtg9
http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Local
http://en.opensuse.org/INSTALL_Internet
–
Conficter