Botting problem with Mandriva

[archat68]

I downloaded "mandriva-linux-2008-one-KDE-cdrom-i586". I burned the CD at 4X speed. Also i checked the md5 checksum which indicates the download is o.k.


I tried Mandriva in LiveCD mode. It failed to boot.It stopped with a blank screen just after showing the message "Loading Linux kernel". I tried different options by changing resolution and also selecting noapic, acpi=off etc. without any effect.

Surprisingly Ubuntu booted at first try.

I also downloaded and tried livecd of Mint toady. Faced same problem. After the initial splash screen it shows "loading vmlinuz.." followed by "loading initrd..." and then just hangs.I've tried the compatibility mode also.

So which may be the problem here?
My config is :
Athlon dual core 4000
Jetway 680G motherboard (ATI 1200 series display driver)
2GB RAM
160GB PATA, 80GB SATA (divided in two NTFS partitions)
IDE DVD-RW

However, the Mandriva One CD and the Mint CD that I've downloaded work correctly on other computer with Intel chipsets. So, I think the problem is with my ATI display driver.Is it?

[fingal]

A shot in the dark, but how is your CD/DVD device connected to your motherboard? I've noticed that some distros don't tolerate certain configurations.

In crude terms you want:

channel 1 = 2 optical devices (master + slave)
channel 2 = 2 hard drives (hdds) - master + slave .

I could be wrong but I suspect your's is different, and this can cause kernel issues. You might have an hdd and a dvd drive on channel 1. It's just a case of looking inside your computer and seeing where the wires go...

I hope this is useful.

[archat68]

Yes I have only one IDE channel and both my DVD and PATA HDD are connected to it. So is it the problem?

[fingal]

Yes I have only one IDE channel and both my DVD and PATA HDD are connected to it. So is it the problem?

It is almost certainly the problem. You need to have them on separate channels if you want to boot most Linux live CDs.

As you've found out Ubuntu works, but not Mandriva. In fact this wouldn't be an issue if you were running Windows either. Linux sometimes demands that things are set up in just one way.

In case you change things and the CDs still don't work, then you would probably be right to think in terms of a display driver/video card issue.

[archat68]

My DVD is master and IDE HDD is slave. So this morning I pulled the data cable of the HDD and tried again. But again same results.

[fingal]

My DVD is master and IDE HDD is slave. So this morning I pulled the data cable of the HDD and tried again. But again same results.

I don't think that will work either. I don't know everything about live CDs, but I think you need to try setting up the HDD with its own data cable on the other channel. It all depends on what the kernel expects to find when it boots...

[archat68]

The IDE channel now contains only the DVD drive. I've another HDD which is SATA.