Install hangs during package loading

English Install/Boot/Login
1

I’m having problems with the install of 11.2 hanging during the package load step. I’ve read various threads on here about problems with installing 11.2, but they all seem to be about problems after package loading has completed.

I’m trying to install onto a new machine. The machine already has Windows XP installed and running OK. The DVD I’m trying to install from was burned on this machine under the Windows install using Nero.

I can get through the steps up to and including formatting the drives and then loading the patterns, but when it comes to loading packages it always hangs - this includes the ‘busy’ cursor not going around, so I’m pretty sure it’s actually hung the box.

There doesn’t seem to be any real pattern to which package causes the hang, although I have to confess I’ve tried different package configs, including the default of leaving the desktop set to KDE and not changing any packages. I’ve not tried it with ‘Auto configuration’ left on, but I doubt that would make any difference as it’s not getting as far as the configuration step.

Anyone got any ideas what I can try? If I can’t get this sorted I’m going to try loading the copy of 11.0 that I used to build my current machine (the one that this new machine is supposed to be replacing), see if that loads OK or not.

In case it makes a difference, the spec for this machine is as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i7-870
Memory: 8GB
Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D PRO.
Hard Disk: 2TB SATA
Graphics Card: Nvidia GEFORCE 8400GS PCI Express (512Mb)

2

Did you check the checksums on the ISO. Burn the disk at lowest speed? Run the disk and memory checks form the disk?

This sounds like a corrupted disk from a bad burn or ISO download.

3

I ran the disk and memory checks from the DVD and they came back fine. I’ve not verified the checksums though - I’ll give that a go next.

4

If the DVD check says it is ok then the checksums should be ok also.

Sorry but I don’t know what would cause the hang at that point. Maybe it is not connection to the Internet. Do you have a weird Internet connection? Try installing without the Ethernet cable connected. It should install without a connection but if it gets part of a connect I guess it could hang.

5

I have had that problem on an Asus motherboard from year 2005.

Major tinkering with hardware, BIOS setings, and disabling of one of processor cores was required. Later, I enabled the second core.

6

Checked the md5sum matched and verified the ISO had been written correctly.

I was afraid it might be something like that. I don’t suppose you’ve got a document anywhere relating what you had to do? Meanwhile I’ll have a dig around and see if I can find anything on t’internet relating to ASUS m/bs.

Obviously if I can get it working I’ll try and report it back here

7

No, I don’t remember all the steps.

Write down the current BIOS settings - there are around 100 of them. Then reset the motherboard. Then load defaults. Then try different settings.

8

Well, I got my install working.

First I tried setting the number of active cores per CPU to 1 in the BIOS, but that still caused a problem.

After checking on Google I found a comment that suggested setting ‘noacpi nolapic’ on the boot options for the installation. I ran a test install accepting all the defaults and it all worked fine, except that it appeared to hang once package installation was done and the ‘System will reboot’ dialog box had come up - I got the shutdown screen with the progress bar, but the bar didn’t move and the machine didn’t shut down. So I hit the reset button and then chose the ‘Boot from hard disk’ option after the system came back up. This then proceeded to take me through the rest of the install with no problems.

Given that the ‘noacpi’ function is related to power management I decided to try an install with just ‘nolapic’ boot option, but this performed exactly the same as above - I had to reboot the machine manually when it should have happened automatically.

However, with that one caveat, I’ve now managed to get my 11.2 system installed and working. Next job is to set the CPU cores back to ‘ALL’ and see if it still works :slight_smile:

9

This happens sometimes. It is not a predictor of failed future operation.

10

Just an addendum to this thread, in case anyone looking into similar install problems spots it.

I found that my default ‘Desktop’ boot line in menu.lst had the ‘nolapic’ option added to it, presumably by the installer as a result of me using that option when I did the install. Because of this I was only getting one of my CPU cores recognised when doing a default boot. Using the Failsafe boot showed all 8 cores running. So I removed the ‘nolapic’ option from the default kernel line in menu.lst and the system boots up fine now with all 8 cores showing.

11

Another addendum, as I’ve now found out exactly what was wrong.

Turns out it was a hardware problem all along. I kept experiencing lockups even after the install completed, and also got them in Windows. Eventually my PC supplier agreed to take the machine back and check it out, and there were two problems they detected:

  1. The HD had some faults on it, so they replaced it.

  2. The mobo couldn’t support the full DDR3-1600Mhz memory I’d bought in dual channel mode, only single channel. Apparently they only got notified of this by Asus earlier this year (i.e. long after the machine had been supplied). They gave me the option of dropping down to 4Gb of 1600Mhz memory, or sticking with 8Gb but dropping the speed to 1333Mhz. I opted for the latter.

I’ve just done a full install of OpenSUSE 11.2 without having to set nolapic and it’s all gone fine.