Newbie installation problem.

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hello all. I decided to try a different OS than the MS ones for the first time. I was thinking about a Linux distribution, so a friend of mine suggested to try OpenSUSE 11.
I am going install the OpenSUSE on my old AMD Athlon XP 64 (2GHz), with 512MB of Ram. This machine got its old Windows XP corrupted this summer because of a trojan virus. So, today, I formatted and installed again a clean copy of Windows XP. Once I installed all the drivers for windows I thought to install OpenSUSE I previously downloaded the ISO and burned, as an ISO, on a DVD. I downloaded the 64bit version, since my AMD, even if old, is a 64bit processor. So I inserted this DVD in the DVD drive and rebooted the machine. It appeared as I was expecting the welcome page and the boot options page. I read carefully the Newbie thread of this forum, but too bad I didn’t find anything near to the problem I met. Also I think I shouldn’t have a fragmented HD problem since I just formatted it.

As a first attemp I tried to leave all the default option, in particular looking at Kernel: Default and Driver: no. But after that the Kernel was loaded I just saw a black screen appearing and staying still for some minutes. So I shut down. I contacted my friend and he said that maybe I should try to insert “edd=off” in the boot options, Kernel = safe settings and driver= yes. But it gave me the same problem. I also tried other combos, inserting in language=italian (which is my mother language), screen options = 800x600 (which is a thing I like anyway more than the others) and keeping the suggestions my friend did. But still the same black screen appeared.

I hope that there is someone who maybe can try an help. I would be very grateful.

As additional infos the machine I am installing OpenSUSE 11 has 2 Hard drives. The first one, C, is the one where I installed WinXP and where I would like to have OpenSUSE as well. The second one, D, if possible I would keep it as a data store HD without formatting it with OpenSUSE installation.

Thanks in advance for any answer and I apologize for my English.

Luigi

#2

is the Opensuse dvd booting and if so what do you see on the monitor while this is happening?

#3

Which graphic card do you use ?
Can you try to boot in the verbose mode ?
Hope fully it come up with some error messages .
To get in the verbose mode as soon as the boot process started
press several times the Wsc key
dobby9

#4

Hello again shadowmeph and dobby9.

Well, I am trying to install OpenSUSE 11 with a DVD boot. When I insert this DVD I see the usual Welcome page and then the various boot/installation options. When I press enter after I have set up the preferences of installations I just see a totally black screen and nothing happens.

I have a crappy old ATI video card on that machine, just 32MB of shared memory. Maybe that can be the problem?

What is a “verbose” mode? I don’t understand well the “wsc keys”, I have not keys with “wsc” written on them on my keyboard.

Thanks a lot again, I am very grateful for your answers.

Luigi

#5

Just a typo, he meant the “Esc” key. See how “W” is near “E” in the keyboard?

Pressing “Esc” during boot will change you from the colorful, pretty but uninformative graphics screen to text mode, where you can see all messages being generated during the boot process.