unable to install plzz help

[swaroop87n]

i have compaq presario SR1235IL model desktop pc
i recently downloded mandrake10.1 official and tried to install it in my pc
when i kept the cd and restarted after that it is promting me to press enter and if i do that after some time it is simply restarting doing nothing
i faced the same problem with fedora core 3
but with the same cd s my friends could happly install them into their pc s when i called the manufacturer for support he said that the machine will not support linux and cant give support i alredy have win xp on my pc
plzzzzzzzzzzzz any one help me installing mandrake

[AlexK]

Hi,
If you have a AV software such as Norton running, please uninstall it temproarily as it doesn't like anything which plays with the boot sector. This could be why your PC is restarting without doing anything (It happened to me).

Does your friend have a "Brand Name" PC (IBM, DELL, HP etc) or is it a home-made system? I ask this because some brand name systems prevent people from installing other OS's.

[swaroop87n]

hi alex i entirly romoved the os and tried to install linux but un able to install my friends pc is an home made one and mine is an hp compaq presario sr1235il model desktop

[AlexK]

When you removed, the OS, did you remove the recovery partition most manufacturers include with their PCs? I think this could be why the linux just reboots.

Makesure everything is gone on the disk before retrying to install. format c:/u won't work, it is imperative that the recovery partition goes too.

Also if it is possible, try putting another (old?) hard-disk into your PC and see if linux can get to the install stage on that disk. This is to make sure that the Compaq/HP bios allows for the installation of linux.

Let me know how you went.

[swaroop87n]

hi alex with the help of acronios partitionmagic i enterly deleted the partitions ,cleared data on it and formated with ext3 format in primary partiton and also a linux swap partition but it didnt work so there might be problem with bios can u plz help me

[jeremy1701]

If you have any USB devices plugged in, please unplug them to install.

Jeremy

[AlexK]

Hmm,
Try the USB suggestion of jeremy1701. Make sure that in your BIOS, the primary boot device is your first CD-ROM drive. The only time I have had Linux restart on me like that is on an old machine whose CD-ROM did not allow bootable media.

Also if you have a floppy drive, make a boot floppy for Mandrake under windows, insert this floppy into the drive, restart, and make sure that the floppy drive is the first boot device in the BIOS and cd rom is seccond boot device. Then proceed to install.

Good Luck.

[swaroop87n]

hi jermy i dont have any usb devises plugged in

hi alex can u tell me ho to make bootable flopy of mandrake under windows how can i do it with out installing mandrake

[swaroop87n]

hi iam giving my hardware profile this may help to suggest me



System Model
Compaq Presario 061 PP018AA-ACJ SR1235IL FD440 0000411LX101GIOVA10
System Serial Number: INI44202R3

processor
2.80 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache
3.15 08/05/2004

main circuit board
Board: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD Gamila/Giovani/Neon series 030
Serial Number: 4911696748
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 3.15 08/05/2004

drivers
23.84 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
9.96 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4481B [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

WDC WD400BB-22JHA0 [Hard drive] (40.02 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WCAMA1263737, rev 05.01C05, SMART Status: Healthy

memory modules
248 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'A0' has 256 MB
Slot 'A1' is Empty

controllers
Standard floppy disk controller
Intel(r) 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller-24CB
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller]

display
Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller [Display adapter]
COMPAQ 7500 [Monitor] (15.7"vis, s/n CNC4382741, September 2004)

bus adapters
Intel(r) 82801DB/DBM USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller - 24CD
Intel(r) 82801DB/DBM USB Universal Host Controller - 24C2
Intel(r) 82801DB/DBM USB Universal Host Controller - 24C4
Intel(r) 82801DB/DBM USB Universal Host Controller - 24C7

communications
Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
Network Card MAC Address: 00:11:09:76:853

other devises
Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
PS/2 Compatible Mouse
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub

i collected all this information with balarc advisor

[AlexK]

Ok,
To make a boot floppy of Mandrake under Windows, all you have to do is insert a blank floppy into the drive, insert the Mandrake CD 1 into the CD-Rom drive.
Then goto Windows Explorer, Select CD-ROM drive From Memory I think it goes like this:
Goto the dosutils folder,
Double click rawrite or rawwrite (It doesn't matter which one)
When It loads, select the image source as D:\Install\Images\cdrom.img (Where D is your CD-ROM drive)
Let the program write the image.
Leave Floppy and CD's in the Drive
Restart
Press Del or F1 (Depending on System) to get into Setup
Make Sure Floppy is 1st boot Device, and CD-ROM is 2nd Boot device
Save and Exit
Mandrake should hopefully start the installation process.