Vector linux install problems

[easuter]

hey guys,

since this forum doenst have a vector linux (standard edition) distro section and vector is a slackware spinoff, i decided to post for help here.

i have been tring to install vector linuxo n my old machine for the last few hours, but without success.

i partitioned my hdd with ext2 and the installer installed the 800mb of the distro.

then an error ocurred:

'Unable to extract. The file may be corrupted or the partition full. The current state of the instalation is unknown. We should reinstall from the beggining.'

i have no idea why this happens, since the computer clearly meets the minimum requirements:

pentium II 400mhz
40gb ibm driverstar hdd
128mb ram
matrox millennium g400 vga card

please help me out here, i'm kind of new to linux and i have no idea how to fix this.

thnx

[spencerf]

My first question would involve your partitioning. How did you set it up? Just one big ext2 partition?

It should be at least

hda1 mount point = /boot ---ext2 +32M
hda2 swap ---swap +256M or +512M
hda3 mount point = / ----ext3 or jfs or xfs or reiserFS NOT ext2 it doesn't have journaling

[spencerf]

I just thought of this too, did you do an md5sum check of the iso you downloaded and then also of the exact same iso once your burned it on to cd?

I would definetly do this because your error message mentions "corruptibility"

[budman7]

I had the same error when I installed Vector on my test machine.
There was a scratch on the cd.
Replace cd, problem fixed.

[easuter]

hey thanx for the reply, i was able to get it installed by putting the hdd and the cdrom drive on diferent ide slots. wierd... but anyways it worked.

i have got it installed, but it hangs on the startup screen.

so this is a new problem now...

i made a video clip for you to see.

the user loggon works fine but after that it kind of semi-freezes. the mouse cursor moves arround and all, but i cant do anything with the computer. i dont know if this has anything to do with the fact that my keyboard is a portuguese keyboad layout or not,. but i doubt it.

take a look at the clip and see.

http://clientes.netvisao.pt/alynnsut/vector_problem.wmv

i actualy left the computer running like this for about 45 minutes just to make sure, but nothing happened..

plz help me, i'm rwally desperate to get this pc working with linux!

[budman7]

Do Ctrl+Alt+Bcksp, login to root, then do xorgconfig.
Make sure you have your keyboard, mouse, monitor and video card specs on hand.

Mouse, what kind is it.
keyboard, just pick the correct one from the list.
Monitor, look in the manual or on the back for horizontal and vertical refresh rates.
Video card, model and how much memory does it have.

[easuter]

well, thats the first problem: vector doesnt have a portuguese keymap...

i dont have any of the manuals for my screen/video card anymore.

well,let me ask, will slackware run well on these specs? because if it does, i think i'l give it a try

[easuter]

ok, forget that last post, i was really frustrated.

i'm starting to think this might also be due to my poor partitioning skills

i didnt have the main partition (hda3) set to bootable and i had some other partition (hda1) doing nothing, and that one was set to bootable.

also, is the swap supposed to be a logical or primary partition and is it supposed to be at the beggining or the end of the hdd?

[spencerf]

hda1 should be mounted at /boot be ext2 and be market as bootable
hda2 should be swap should be rought 512 Mb and is neither primary or logical it is marked as LinuxSwap
hda3 shoud be mounted at / and be either ext3 or some other journaling filesystem and should not be bootable.

[budman7]

If you are going to only have these 3 partitions, make the swap a primary.
Not to contradict what spencerf said, but, all partitions have to be primary, extended or logical.
Primary partitions are just that, primary. You can have up to 4 of these.
Extended partitions are just containers for logical partitions.
Logical partitions, well, they reside in extended partitions.