SUSE won't install

English Install/Boot/Login
1

So I was running 13.2 (upgraded from 13.1) in a dual boot configuration with Windows 7. 13.2 on SDB and 7 on SDA. I ended up swapping out my Win 7 drive for a bigger one with a fresh install. After that I was having issues getting Grub 2 to access Win 7. So I decided that I would just wipe out SUSE as it isn’t my primary OS and start over. But now I can’t seem to load SUSE at all on my computer. I have tried the 13.2 Full DVD, 13.2 KDE, 13.1 KDE, 13.1 GNOME. All but the Full DVD fail to get past the option selection screen when the optical drive reads the disc. It doesn’t matter if I choose try or install, the optical drive stops spinning and I get a signal disconnect message on my monitor. Even with a flash drive I get a signal disconnect. It doesn’t matter if I change the resolution size, text mode, etc. Nothing makes it past the initial option screen. The Full DVD makes the most progress and gets to the install portion but hangs up and provides this message “http://www.dropbox.com/s/b9wik06szmdqzi0/IMAG1949.jpg?dl=0”.

I have burned Elementary, Bodhi, Crunchbang (RIP), Fedora, Parted Magic, and Ubuntu all to discs and been successful on being able to try their DEs and fully install them if I wanted to. I don’t understand why not a single SUSE disc will work, but the other discs will. My getting SUSE on the computer the first time was also a fluke as I had issues then too with the optical drive and SUSE discs. I have checked all the MD5s and SHAs for all the distros. Does anyone have an idea on what might be causing SUSE to not respond on the install? USB or DVD input is appreciated.

Thank you.

2

no you started with 13.1 before. It is obvious the something is not liked by 13.2. This is most generally a video problem. But you say you don’t get to the firs menu??

Did you burn the image as an ISO image and not as a file to the DVD?? Did you compare the check sums to see if you got a good download?

3

The disc loads with the various greetings in all the languages, then I get the first menu of try SUSE, Install, Memory Test, Check Media, etc. Once on that first menu screen, no matter what option I choose, after it says “loading kernel” nothing happens. The optical drive will stop spinning, my screen goes blank saying there is no video signal. I burned all of the different distros as ISO images and not just a data files. Yes I compared the check sums. I just don’t understand what could be causing the hang up with SUSE since the other distros seem to work.

4

So 13.1 installed but 13.2 did not? Did you try any of the install boot options to deal with a less than cooperative install ? Safe settings? … etc?

5

probably a Video problem what video and did you try nomode set? Are you booting MBR or EFI?

6

I tried installing in safe mode and this is the “message of doom” that I received.

I have tried the lowest resolution, default resolution safe mode, none of them work. I am booting MBR. I am not quite sure how to get to nomode set from here:

I put an “e” under boot options like I have read, but it didn’t work. Most things say to access nomode set from the boot loader (grub/grub2), but I don’t know how to get to the boot loader if I can’t even install the OS.

7

This reads to me like bad installation media. Did the checksum comparison (of downloaded file vs that of web site) pass ?

Did you use high quality DVD (and not an RW DVD) burned to the slowest speed your burner would allow ?

8

Hi everybody!
I had another look at the 1st post of the OP again.

So 13.2 was successfully installed and running. Right?

A fresh install of Win 7, I guess. That usually erases previous installations of GRUB if you’re booting in legacy mode (using MBR, instead of EFI).

Of course!
But, on the other hand, not!
If you made another install of Win 7 that would have erased GRUB2, at least as long as you’re booting in legacy (MBR) mode.
So why in the world booting any longer using GRUB2 ??

This is a real puzzle!!

GRUB2 - not GRUB2-EFI ?

If you’re booting in MBR (or legacy) boot mode you will of course have a problem to boot anything using GRUB2 if you removed the wrong hard disk!

If you’re booting in UEFI mode and replaced one of your two hard disks you will have a problem as well - I never did that.

Don’t blame this on openSUSE !!
Some points of openSUSE may be special - but did you ever physically replace a HDD while another Linux was installed??

How did you “wipe”, i.e. using which tool (and which command)?

A bit strange.

One possibility: that you once used the installation media successfully means no guarantee that it will run this time as well.
So there is a chance that oldcpu is right:

Anyway, by replacing one of your HDDs (/dev/sda) you caused a big mess.

Did you try to use Win 7 or gparted to wipe /dev/sdb ?

Good luck
Mike

9

the MD5 did pass, but the SHA-1 doesn’t match. Could that be a problem?

I used a standard Memorex DVD-R, but I did NOT burn the image at the slowest speed possible. I have never considered that as I have not had any issues before with other ISOs at the fastest speed.

10

ratzi (Mike),

I’m not even going to try to reply to all all that with reply with quote option as that would be way too long. But I will do my best here to answer all your questions. Yes, 13.2 was successfully running after upgrading from 13.1 via zypper on SDB.

I am not a fan of UEFI, EFI, or anything else that manufactures do just because Microsoft dominates the OS market for the commercial consumer. That is a personal thing, regardless of the “benefits” of an EFI system.

I am NOT blaming anything on openSUSE. I really enjoyed openSUSE when I was using it, and think that if anything, my hardware is causing the issues here and not the OS.

I have never physically removed any hard drives, with an OS installed on it, while any Linux based OS was installed on another hard drive.

To “wipe” out openSUSE from SDB completely I used Acronis True Image. Which I obtained from the Western Digital website as I wanted to use their low level formatting tool on their drive. Within True Image I did the standard wipe of three passes. This was ran from SDA after re-installing Win 7 onto the newer and bigger SSD.

oldcpu may indeed by correct as the SHA-1 doesn’t match even though the MD5 does match.

I just don’t get why with a “fresh” HDD I can’t install it by any means and the optical drive just “dies” for the SUSE discs. Unless, as stated as the possible culprit, I have a bad installation media. I will try downloading and comparing the MD5 and SHA-1 again. Then if they both pass, I will try burning the ISO at the slowest speed possible. And go from there. I do not know where else to go yet with this process. As I stated above though, I don’t blame openSUSE. It has by far, been my favorite experience in the Linux world. #! wasn’t bad, but that is dead.

I did not know that replacing the HDDs would cause such a mess. This is the first time I have ever tried going from a base level consumer that has only ever used Windows for the basic tasks of games, music, and web browsing, to a person who wants to learn about other OS options (NOT MAC!) and be a more knowledgeable user that can contribute to a community that has much to offer. My goal is to one day leave Windows behind unless there is a game I really want to play that wont work on Linux, and use Linux, and open sourced programs for everything else.

I hope that I answered all of your questions. My answers are the best that I can provide with the knowledge that I have.

Thank you everyone for your feedback on this matter. I really want to figure this out.

A question I have though about GRUB, is should it not be able to probe for another OS, if it is in the home or root folder SDB, and I only swapped out SDA?

11

You always get more potential errors on faster burns. DVD burning is not the most reliable thing that is why there is a media check on the install disk. A good Windows burning software should work ok assuming your drive is ok. I have found that drives just are not as reliable as in the past but I guess you can’t figure on long time reliability for complex mechanical devices that retail for $20.

I have gone to USB and happy t have

Grub works fine in seeing othe OS in most instances if you don’t mix the boot methods. You can not chain an EFI booting OS with a MBR booting OS thye don’t really see one another. I have not had any problems with any of the recent versions seeing all the OS’s on all the drives I have OS on. Just recently installed 13.2 on a new clean SSD. had no problem at all and it picked up everything else bootable on the system’s other drives.

12

You have a valid point about the cost of the equipment to the quality of the equipment. Regardless of the ease of manufacturing to reduce product cost, allegedly. I wouldn’t mind going USB, but I hate reaching behind my computer to find the 2.0 ports as the 3.0 ports on the front of the case don’t work right out of the box. I have been using MBR for all installs. That I at least knew to check and make sure of.

13

Well I may have to deal with the pain in the but part of pulling my computer out of the cubbyhole it is in, in my desk, and try the USB route. I downloaded 13.2 KDE, at approximately 20:00. I checked the MD5 and SHA-1: Dropbox - md5_&_sha-1.png - Simplify your life. I used FreeISOBurner to burn the disc image as it allowed for varying burn speeds. I chose the slowest which was 8x burn speed. I put the DVD into the optical drive, chose both the live option & check installation media option and got absolutely nowhere. Once again, a black screen after it says it is loading the kernel. It will not get past this point for me.

Which program do you use to image your USBs? And is it Windows compatible? I have used ImageUSB, but am curious to see what someone else is using.

I just don’t understand why I get a black screen with no video signal with SUSE when it loads the kernel. Bodhi 3.0 works, Crunchbang 11 works, Elementray works, Fedora 21 works, and PMagic works. Just not SUSE. I understand that the biggest point if Linux is choice and freedom. I just don’t get what I can’t have the choice I want. This is so aggravating.

14

On Wed, 22 Apr 2015 04:16:02 +0000, Alectron84 wrote:

> I just don’t understand why I get a black screen with no video signal
> with SUSE when it loads the kernel.

That usually means that the video card is trying to sync at the wrong
rate with the monitor. If it hasn’t been suggested already, try
‘nomodeset’ at boot time and see if that gets it going for you.

Jim

–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

15

The numbers in your image look correct, except that I can’t fully check the sha512 because it is cut off. If those are what you are getting, then your download looks good.

16

The original post you were responding too, my numbers didn’t match. The image new one is from a fresher download.

17

Can you tell us what laptop or what motherboard (if desktop) your PC has ? Maybe that will give us a clue (as maybe someone else has encountered same).

Apologies if you stated same and if I missed such when I looked for it.

18

On 2015-04-22 05:16, Alectron84 wrote:
> I wouldn’t mind going USB, but I hate reaching behind
> my computer to find the 2.0 ports as the 3.0 ports on the front of the
> case don’t work right out of the box.

You can get an USB cable with a male connector on one end, and female on
the other. Leave it connected to the back, with the female socket
dangling somewhere you can use it.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

19

Yes, what kind of machine and which graphics hardware (video card) you have, would be good to know.

In addition, I have another idea.

Fine.
Did you once install 13.1 yourself?
If yes, and if you still have the 13.1 installation media, and if you did not change your graphics hardware since then, you could very well try to boot from the 13.1 installation media, that once has worked for you. This one could even still be downloaded.

OK, when was the last time that you booted Parted Magic?
Did you try it recently?

Good luck
Mike

20

I have tried the 13.1 DVD as well, I get the same hang up. Go figure. I was able to boot Parted Magic two weeks ago I think. It has been in the last month for sure. It has no problems offloading itself from the CD into the RAM.

I did not state this in any of the previous posts, so no apologies needed :slight_smile: I am running an AMD system with the following main components: FX-6300 CPU, Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 MoBo, Sapphire R7-260X 2GB GDDR5 (Non OC edition) GPU.