I cannot for the life of my install any distro of linux...

[maxiscool52]

Alright so I wanted to try linux out but every distro I try the installation fails. Usually the cd boots up and begins the installation and it goes for a little while but ultimately fails. I guess ill just summarize what I've done so far, here are the distros Ive tried and their errors:

Mepis:

Can't find mepis filesystem, sorry.
Dropping you to a (very limited) shell.
Press reset button to quit.

openSUSE64bit:

CPU 0: Machine Check Exception:
TSC 25476e7f8 ADDR 9000000c2004001
This is not a software problem!
Run through ascii to decode and contact your hardware vendor
Kernel panic - not syncing:Machine check

openSUSE32bit:

CPU 0: Machine Check Exception
CPU 0: Bank 4
Kernel Panic - not syncing: CPU Context corrupt

Ubuntu 64bit:

Kernel panic - not syncing: Aiee, killing interrupt handler!

Backtract 2:

Fatal Error occurred Live Data not found. Searching for BT directory. You are maybe using a unsupported boot device(eg SCSI or PCMIA CD-Rom)

My computer is a compaq presario cq50, it has a turion 64X2, 3 gigs of ram Nvidia graphics running windows vista. Ive defragmented my hardrive and did a harddrive and memory test in the bios. I have no idea what is wrong and no idea how to fix it.

[maxiscool52]

crap i just realized i posted this in the wrong forum, I meant to post it in Installation help, but openSUSE is the dirstro I wanted to use in the first place... so that would be awesome if i could get it to work.

[oz]

crap i just realized i posted this in the wrong forum, I meant to post it in Installation help

Welcome to the forums!

...moved it for you.

[oz]

Just some things to try...

First off, make sure you've downloaded the proper ISO files for your machine, and also make certain you've properly burned them to the CD/DVD:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/ins...ll-cd-dvd.html

If you've overclocked that machine, undo whatever you did so that it's back to default specs.

Make sure your computer is not overheating.

Make sure all RAM is seated properly.

Try taking out a stick or two of RAM and try again. Put that RAM back in and take the other out, then try again.

Make sure your processor is seated properly and the fan on it is running properly. Make sure the heatsink is properly seated and that it isn't covered with dust.

If need be, try some other distros.

I'll post back if I should think of some other things you can try. Maybe someone else will offer up some ideas in the interim.


Oh, and does that machine work properly under Windows? Just curious...

[maxiscool52]

Well for one its a laptop, and I dont feel like voiding the warranty, I dont think its a hardware defect because Im running vista and it runs perfectly. Ive yet to have a blue screen of death, def havent overclocked it, I guess ill run a memory test over night. Its a pretty new laptop so I doubt dust is an issue, it gets a little hot if the computer is working hard like any other laptop but i doubt any overheating. I havent checked the md5sum thing for every disc but I doubt that somehow every single one is bad, I mean the disc burns fine, boots fine, the installing thing gui comes up for every distro ive tried but all of them fail when I actually star the installation. I make sure to choose AMD64, but tried installing the 32 bit openSUSE too which also failed. I guess ill do a memory test and try another distro....

[maxiscool52]

sorry for the horrific grammer and paragraphs

[kostasan]

Many distros have an option "memory check" during boot. Run this test to see if anything is wrong with the Ram. Also check the md5sum of the iso you downloaded and burn it at low speed, 4x for example.
To make a md5 checksum open a terminal in any Linux machine and type
Code:

md5sum suse11_x86.iso

In the place of suse11_x86.iso put the exact filename of the iso.

To do it in windows check the following links
etree.org | md5sum.exe
http://www.irnis.net/gloss/md5sum-windows.shtml

You can also try to install it on an other pc to make sure it has not something to do with the livecd.

[maxiscool52]

Success!! I downloaded Mandriva and it worked but its going really slow. I think its probably because I need drivers for everything. Where should I look for linux drivers?

[oz]

Success!! I downloaded Mandriva and it worked but its going really slow. I think its probably because I need drivers for everything. Where should I look for linux drivers?

Most drivers are included within the Linux kernel itself. Some proprietary drivers might be found in the various Mandriva repositories, or on the vendor's website.

What drivers are you looking for?

[maxiscool52]

Im pretty sure i need graphic drivers of some sort because Im currently in what must be 640X480 resolution and my computer can barely handle scrolling in firefox I just downndsloaded the linux driver from the NVIDIA site but im not sure how to install it. I also need some sound drivers because there is something wrong with the sound it sounds distored.