New at Linux needing lots of help!!

[HumanTorch]

Hi!

I'm new at Linux... I tryed it in a public computer and i liked very much, so i decided to install in my computer.

I've two distributions.... Mandrake Linux 10.2 LE and Ubuntu 6.06... One of my teachers said to use the Mandrake... But i've problems when im installing the Mandrake, and also Ubuntu...

Days ago, I've put the CD1 of Mandrake in the drive and i reboot... A menu screen appeared and i followed the instructions (contract, languages, keyboard, etc...)... When I get to partitions menu, appears in a box saying my Windows partition is too big... What i did? I entered in Windows XP, did partitions... One partition for backups, one for Windows and other for Linux with 3 sub-partitions... Free space, Linux Ext32 and Linux Swap.

Now, i put the cd in the drive, reboot and appears the usual welcome screen saying to install press Enter... I press Enter and appears a screen with a progress bar which don't moves!! I left it +/- 80min, because i thought that it would take a while uploading and uncompressing the files, but nothing happens....

Almost the same with Ubuntu... I put cd in drive, reboot, Start/Install Ubuntu and appears a blaack screen with the phrase: "Uncompressing Linux... Ok, rebooting the kernel." and one more time, nothing happens...

What is the problem??! Partitions are afecting something?

I hope forward from you sooooooon!!

Thx in advanced

[genesus]

do you have any non standard hardware? You may have to enter special boot parameters in order to boot up correctly and install properly. When booting from the cd you'll get a boot prompt, and one of you f keys will give you a cheatsheet of available special boot parameters that you may have to use.

[HumanTorch]

All my hardware are correctly installed... I have two drives... I already tryed to put cd in one drive and then in the other, to check if it was a drive problem... But the same thing happens, in one drive and another....

[Kojak]

Try using one of the following boot-parameters for starting the CD

linux noapic
linux nolapic
linux noapic nolapic
linux dma=off

Maybe you get it booting with one of those.

[HumanTorch]

I insert that commands and i received a lot of messages like:

PCI: Found IRQ 3 for device 0000:00:1c.3
PCI: Found IRQ 3 with 0000:00:1d.1
PCI: Found IRQ 3 with 0000:00:1f.2
IRQ Routing conflict for 0000:00:1f3, have irq 5, want irq 3
assign_interrupt_mode Found MSI capability
vesafb: framebuffer at 0xd8000000, mapped to 0xe0800000, using 1875k, total 1638
4k

(.......)

I don't know what to do!! I'm completly lost...

I have also the Ubuntu v6.06... I tryed to install but nothing... Appears a black screen with letters in white saying "Uncompressing Linux. Ok, booting the kernel" and the nothing happens...

I'm thinking in backup all my data and then format the disk and try to install Linux... But i'm trying to find other way to solve it without format the hard disk...

[Kojak]

I did some research and found this on the kernel mailing list:

Linux always uses the interrupts choosen by the bios. The bios stores
the irq number in PCI_INTERRUPT_LINE, and configures the irq router
accordingly.
If both do not match, then the above message is printed.

Try for now with only one harddrive in your computer. It may well be that your BIOS has problems with IRQ sharing for both drives and thus kills everything. IRQ errors are very nasty and they are usually caused by a BIOS problem or a bug in the kernel (rather unlikely).

Go into your BIOS and disable Plug'n Play. If that doesn't help, try assigning IRQ channels manually withing your BIOS.

Also: please list your complete hardware specifications.

[HumanTorch]

As you asked, here is a list of hardware:

WDC WD1600JD-55HBB0
DVD-16X DVD-ROM BDV316E
HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4160B
ADSL Modem USB Ice Data 500
Texas Instruments OHCI compatible with IEEE 1394
Sound/Video: Realtek 880
IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers:
- Intel 82801FB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2651
- Intel 82801FB/FBM Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 266F
USB Controllers:
- Intel 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 2658
- Intel 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 2659
- Intel 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 265A
- Intel 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 265B
- Intel 82801FB/FBM USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 265C
USB PC Camera
Logitech USB First/Pilot Mouse+
Intel 82801 PCI Bridge - 244E
Intel 82801FB/FBM PCI Express Root Port - 2660
Intel 82801FB/FBM PCI Express Root Port - 2662
Intel 82801FB/FBM PCI Express Root Port - 2664
Intel 82801FB/FBM PCI Express Root Port - 2666
Intel 82801FB/FBM SMBus Controller - 266A
Intel 915G/P/GV PCI Express Root Port - 2581
Intel 915G/P/GV Processor to I/O Controller - 2580
Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
WAN/ATM/ADSL miniport #4
SAPPHIRE RADEON X300SE
SAPPHIRE RADEON X300SE - Secondary
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.93GHz


I think that's all... :P