Problems installing Linux on Compaq Presario Desktop PC

[belliott4488]

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Has anyone ever installed Linux on a Compaq Presario Desktop PC with an Intel Celeron processor? I'm trying to install SuSE Linux, but I can't even boot from the SuSE CD (from Novell/SuSE, not one I downloaded - it's been used for several other successful installs at work). I also tried booting from a boot floppy I made on my Red Hat Linux PC, but I get the same result.

In both cases, the PC restarts when the kernel has been only partially loaded.

Has anyone else seen this or have any suggestions?

thanks,
Bruce

[UgoDeschamps]

Do you get any error messages? or simply reboot?
Have you tried any other distro?
Have you tryed liveCD
(This might be irrelevant) is you version for 686?

[drakebasher]

More questions: how much RAM do you have?
In the first screen, after the BIOS is booted, but before SuSE starts to boot, you should have the option to view boot options. See if anything looks like something you should try. And like ugo asked, any error messages?

[jeremy1701]

I would like to add that I've installed several flavors of Linux on my Compaq Presario 5724. It had only 196Mb of ram and was 500 Mhz Celeron, so you should have no problem. That puppy ran Linux faithfully for a few years before it was decommisioned, just last week as a matter of fact. It now rests with the others in the mysterious Land of Forgotten PC's (aka, my garage).

Jeremy

[belliott4488]

Ugo - nope, no error messages or anything. It's the same as if someone pushed the 'reset' botton. There's a click, and then I'm back to the Compaq logo and the scrolling counter as the RAM gets checked.

The problem first occurred when I was trying to install SuSE Server 8. It displays a graphical panel, then a progress bar as it loads the kernel from the CD. That gets about 75% done, and then *bam* - restart.

I also tried the Red Hat boot floppy, but that went a little differently. I suspect that's because it was a recovery disk made for my other PC, and it might have been expecting a certain hardware configuration. I'll try it again this evening and report the messages I get.

I still have to try an actual Red Hat installation disk, although I don't think you're supposed to boot from the CD until after you've partitioned the drive (SuSE lets you partition the drive as part of the installation procedure, i.e. after you've booted from the CD). I might try the Red Hat CD anyway, just to see what happens.

drakebasher: I have 192 MB RAM, which is less than the 256 MB SuSE recommends, but should that prevent it from booting up?

I don't recall any messages between the BIOS loading and the start of booting off the CD. I'll try again this evening and report what I see. (Of course, I can interupt the memory check to go to the BIOS setup, but you aren't referring to that, are you?)

Jeremy: I'm relieved that you've been successful with Linux on your Presario. I was starting to worry that this was a Compaq peculiarity, and you're the only person who reports success with it, so far.

thanks, and I'll report more as it comes,
Bruce

[drakebasher]

(Of course, I can interupt the memory check to go to the BIOS setup, but you aren't referring to that, are you?)

No. You understood correctly. After the BIOS does what it would do no matter what you are trying to boot. Then you may get a message like "Attempting to boot CDROM..." and then you should see information from the CD that you would not see if you booted to a DOS floppy. It could be too little RAM. You may be able to work around it once you look at the boot options.

[belliott4488]

Thanks, I'll give that a try. It's quittin' time on the U.S. East Coast, so I'll be heading home shortly to try it out.

- Bruce

[drakebasher]

It's quittin' time on the U.S. East Coast, so I'll be heading home shortly to try it out.

I'll see you here later.

Location: Ellicott City, MD
I lived at Town & Country Apts for 6 years until '94. Good part of the world.

[belliott4488]

Go figure - I tried booting again from the SuSE CD and the Red Hat boot floppy, taking careful notes all the way, and when I got to trying the various boot options offered by the SuSE graphical loader, "Install in Safe Mode" worked. I have no idea why, but that seemed to do the trick.

It's a little late in the evening to be starting an install, so I aborted, but tomorrow I'll give the whole installation a shot.

Of course, I might still lose a little sleep wondering why I had to do a "Safe" install ... or maybe not.

thanks for the responses,
Bruce

[UgoDeschamps]

Safe mode, usualy wont have GUI, will use LOT less ram, (since it might load less stuff into mem)... That the logical explanation... (imo)