SuSE 11.3 64bit install freezes after reboot during autoconfiguration - GeForce 9300 chipset (MCP7A)

Hey,

I just wanted to install openSUSE 11.3 64bit. Installation works fine until reboot request. It switches to console, saying that it tries to load without reboot, screen becomes black, i got a cursor with animated wait-symbol and then it freezes. Can’t move the mouse, no reaction on keyboard inputs, HDD-led not blinking.
If I reset my PC and boot the new installation, it says that an error occurred and asks me to complete the unfinished installation. It starts auto-configuration and freezes again at about 3%.
I tried again and some time it did not start the graphical yast but in textmode. The freeze came at the same position, but it posted many lines on console with error messages. I could not scroll, so I saw only parts of it, saying kernel panic and many addresses.

I guessed that it has to do with my chipset and graphics card, it is a nVidia GeForce 9300 chipset (MCP7A) with onboard graphics. It works fine with openSUSE 11.2 64bit by the way, but it was not supported in earlier versions than 11.2.

So I tried to install it with proprietary drivers. I started the installation again and added the nVidia repository and a Packman repo and selected the driver which works fine on 11.2. Error was same as above.

Next I tried an openSUSE 11.3 32bit Live CD that came with some PC magazine and lay around and it is booting and works fine!
This was confusing to me, so I wanted to try the 64bit version of the live CD. Which was again not booting. It freezes at some part, maybe when it tries to start X. But it also freezes booting with ‘nomodeset’ (found it somewhere here), in VESA mode and even in textmode! So i guess it’s not X what causes the freeze. But it is sometime at the end of booting up, as far as I can say.

I would like to use the 64bit version but I don’t know where to search for the problem.
I checked every checksum before burning, so a broken media should not be the reason (what should be strange anyway as i tried different CD’s and DVD’s…)

What else can I try?

  • rumpelzwo wrote, On 09/15/2010 12:06 PM:
    > I checked every checksum before burning, so a broken media should not
    > be the reason (what should be strange anyway as i tried different CD’s
    > and DVD’s…)

Check the written CD/DVD before installation anyway.

Uwe

I didn’t check it before installation, but after I got that freezes.
The DVD is OK. I just checked the Live CD, it’s also clean.

try entering nomodeset at the boot

I already tried booting the 64bit live CD with nomodeset, which had no effect. I assume it is the same with the installation DVD. The live CD does not even boot if I select textmode. As I said, this all concerns 64bit installation and live CD.

The 32bit live CD is booting and I could also install it.

How much memory do you have 64 bit is only of real value if you have loads of memory (+4gig). And even then you can run 32 bit in the pae mode to access the higher memory.

Yes, it is a simple solution to use the 32bit version. But that’s a dissatisfying solution for me.
I would like to take the advantages of a 64bit operating system - and that’s not just the support of “loads of memory” in my opinion.

So why is the 64bit version freezing while the 32bit version is working well?
It’s sort of weird, especially as the previous openSuSE release 11.2 x64 was running well on my system.

I know that this question is hard to answer, as I do not have any information at what point exactly the install freezes. Maybe there is only one package that causes the crash and I could disable or replace it. In graphical mode I do not see any error messages and in textmode they are so fast that I can not read anything. And - as it freezes - I can’t scroll back to read the messages or view any logfile.
I would like some help on searching for the command or package that causes the crash.

Did you try nomodeset with the installed system?

Did you try failsafe mode?

Once you get into the system you can install the nvidia driver which usually fixes this problem.

read
openSUSE Graphic Card Practical Theory Guide for Users

There’s no difference with nomodeset and/or failsafe mode, it’s always the same.
I just tried to install again and took a picture of what I see when it freezes (in text-mode):
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It’s still the point where all files are copied and yast asks me to restart. When I’m not in text-mode, yast shows that it is configuring something. It is the first thing it does after reboot. Except for asking me if I want to resume the unfinished installation.

I have no idea which command causes this or how I could read the complete message, maybe that could give me a hint.
I searched for log files. I still have my previous suse running, as I try to install the new version onto a new ssd-hdd. So I am able to mount the unfinished installation, but I don’t find any interesting log file. The log files in /var/log are empty or from very early boot time and do not contain that error message.

I claim that it is no hardware failure, as I was able to install and run the 32bit version on that drive. And I can mount and read and write it from my previously installed OS’s.

Well, I don’t get into the system. I can select ‘no’ if yast wants to resume the unfinished installation (selecting ‘yes’ is always followed by a freeze). I tried that and came to the login screen, but could not log in. I found in a log file that my user information could not be looked up. I think this is because of the unfinished installation… :sarcastic:

Instead I tried to include the proprietary drivers in the initial installation by adding the nVidia repository (and another repo to resolve all dependencies) at the beginning of the installation. With no effect.

Last I tried an ubuntu-live-CD, just to check whether it is a suse-specific problem. It is not. It freezes the same way, just in a different color…:shame:

Hey,

finally I made it! rotfl!

I ran the installer with “acpi=off nomodeset”. It did not freeze! But my monitor showed “out of sync” at the end. I switched to console and run yast to install the nvidia drivers. After reboot it ended up in console, so it did not start x. I logged in and tried to start it manually. It did not start, “the driver can not receive interrupts from the graphics card”. So I restarted the system and removed acpi=off and nomodeset from bootloader command line => it works!

The curious error message has to do with my wireless adapter. I figured that out when I tried to run yast - network and it froze again… Running yast network in textmode gave me the same error as in the picture. vt6656 is my wireless adapter so it will be the problem. I must have been too tired yesterday…

Still wondering why it is working in 32bit mode. I was even able to log into my wireless network. Maybe the driver is not ready for 64bit yet. In 11.2 the adapter was not supported at all.