AHHHHHH HELP Cant install Mandrake

[Samurai]

I have tried to install Mandrake both the 9.0 and the latest beta version, but it has not worked. It will get to the initial Mandrake screen where it tells you to press F1 for more info and press ENTER to continue. If I press enter the screen turns black and both the caps lock and scroll lock leds start blinking at the same time. I dont know what to do. I also tried installing redhat 9 that didnt work either i dont know whats up. I have a Sager 88887 3.06, 1 gig ram, 40 5400rpm.


Here is how i tried to install it, first i tried to make a linux partition of 10 gigs, then making that partition the active one so that the computer loads into the empty partition and allows me to install linux. but that didnt work. So i tried making a boot disk instead of just booting off the Mandrake CD, but that also did not work, it froze in the exact same place. Then i went crazy and formated my WIN XP partition too and made one big partition and formated it for linux from partition magic. but even that did not work. So now im stuck with a blank comp that has neither windows nor linux.

I would REALLY apriciate some help!!! REALLY REALLY REALLY !!!!!

[myrkat]

Originally posted by Samurai
I have tried to install Mandrake both the 9.0 and the latest beta version, but it has not worked.... There are a few people here that, I believe, are working towards the "definitive" Sager distro/hack.

I'm waiting for them (or Mandrake 9.2 final, whichever comes first).

-myrkat

[Samurai]

So no one here with a Sager 8887 has gotten linux to work?

[myrkat]

Originally posted by Samurai
So no one here with a Sager 8887 has gotten linux to work? I think laclasse is running linux on his (I could be wrong). Scour the linux forum here and on www.powernotebooks.com.

-myrkat

[Symlink]

I am running SuSE 8.1 on the 8887. During install, I had to add the kernel parameter, pci=off and then install in text mode. After the install, I edited the grub entry to remove the pci=off parameter. The problem was the system was hanging during the firewire probe. Mandrake hangs at the same place.

Mandrake requires different kernel parameters than SuSE, I think something like one or more (maybe all) of these: linux nousb nopcmcia noprobe noauto at the boot prompt

Look around this forum and the www.powernotebooks.com forum. A few people seem to have Mandrake running on the 8887

[Samurai]

I tried "linux nousb nopcmcia noprobe noauto at the boot prompt", and the "alt2" command but still nothing. Do you guys have any other ideas? Im willing to try anything at this point.

[laclasse]

Samurai,

myrkat, you are not wrong ;).

Yes indeed, i run linux on my 5660. So far of from the info you posted, i think your install fails cause of acpi ( Which is what you want top run on the p4 ), or might be pcmcia or firewire that hangs it. As well, mandrake has a bad use to enable APM even on desktops. Considering ACPI and APM are mutually exclusive, you may have clues here.

The one thing to realise is that the routing is made via acpi on our machines, and acpi at the moment isn't included in standards kernels, it needs to be patched.

The best best will be to try booting with the following kernel options:
linux noprobe noauto nopcmcia nofirewire pci=noacpi ( or acpi=off ) .

Let me know how it goes. I wish i had a 888X to help you better. If no go, well i will just advise you to try another distro.
Hope that helps.

[myrkat]

Originally posted by laclasse
Samurai,

myrkat, you are not wrong ;).

Yes indeed, i run linux on my 5660. So far of from the info you posted, i think your install fails cause of acpi ( Which is what you want top run on the p4 ), or might be pcmcia or firewire that hangs it. As well, mandrake has a bad use to enable APM even on desktops. Considering ACPI and APM are mutually exclusive, you may have clues here.

The one thing to realise is that the routing is made via acpi on our machines, and acpi at the moment isn't included in standards kernels, it needs to be patched.

The best best will be to try booting with the following kernel options:
linux noprobe noauto nopcmcia nofirewire pci=noacpi ( or acpi=off ) .

Let me know how it goes. I wish i had a 888X to help you better. If no go, well i will just advise you to try another distro.
Hope that helps. Do you know if the ACPI will be rolled into the next kernel? Or is this not likely to change anytime soon?

-myrkat

[laclasse]

Problems with ACPI is that is has a list of 'Bad Bios' who had very buggy implementations of it. Dell is a very good example. Latitude pIII have this bad buggy bios.

Anyhow ACPI check your BIOS signature against an 'opensource' maintained list of bad buggy bioses. If ya bios past it your are fine.

This is the reason it would not be integrated to 2.4.X series kernels, which are the stable branch at the moment. But it is already in recent 2.5.X, and yes it will be fully assimilated and integrated with the awaited 2.6.0 kernel. ;)

Anyhow, here is a log of the latest ACPI patches debug on at boot time on the 5660. As you can see some minor mistakes are there and the fans are not reporting ;( buty already better than other OS who don't even have temperature ;) Bah here i paste my whole dmesg :


Linux version 2.4.21-pre5 (root@screamer) (gcc version 3.2.3 20030309 (Debian prerelease)) #12 Mon Mar 17 06:25:58 CET 2003
BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009f000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000009f000 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000000e4000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000001fef0000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000001fef0000 - 000000001fefb000 (ACPI data)
BIOS-e820: 000000001fefb000 - 000000001ff00000 (ACPI NVS)
BIOS-e820: 000000001ff00000 - 000000001ff80000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000001ff80000 - 0000000020000000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000ff800000 - 00000000ffc00000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fff00000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
511MB LOWMEM available.
ACPI: have wakeup address 0xc0001000
On node 0 totalpages: 130944
zone(0): 4096 pages.
zone(1): 126848 pages.
zone(2): 0 pages.
ACPI: RSDP (v000 PTLTD ) @ 0x000f6360
ACPI: RSDT (v001 PTLTD Sheeks 01540.00000) @ 0x1fef6ae7
ACPI: FADT (v001 Clevo 845MP 01540.00000) @ 0x1fefaf2d
ACPI: BOOT (v001 PTLTD $SBFTBL$ 01540.00000) @ 0x1fefafa1
ACPI: DSDT (v001 INTEL 845M 01540.00000) @ 0x00000000
ACPI: BIOS passes blacklist
ACPI: MADT not present
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=Linux-2.4.21p5 ro root=301 idebus=66 ide0=autotune ide1=autotune hdc=ide-scsi
ide_setup: idebus=66
ide_setup: ide0=autotune
ide_setup: ide1=autotune
ide_setup: hdc=ide-scsi
No local APIC present or hardware disabled
Initializing CPU#0
Detected 2399.397 MHz processor.
Console: colour VGA+ 80x34
Calibrating delay loop... 4784.12 BogoMIPS
Memory: 515208k/523776k available (1530k kernel code, 8116k reserved, 536k data, 108k init, 0k highmem)
Dentry cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 7, 524288 bytes)
Inode cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
Mount cache hash table entries: 512 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
Buffer-cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
Page-cache hash table entries: 131072 (order: 7, 524288 bytes)
CPU: Trace cache: 12K uops, L1 D cache: 8K
CPU: L2 cache: 512K
Intel machine check architecture supported.
Intel machine check reporting enabled on CPU#0.
CPU: After generic, caps: bfebf9ff 00000000 00000000 00000000
CPU: Common caps: bfebf9ff 00000000 00000000 00000000
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz stepping 07
Enabling fast FPU save and restore... done.
Enabling unmasked SIMD FPU exception support... done.
Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
mtrr: v1.40 (20010327) Richard Gooch (rgooch@atnf.csiro.au)
mtrr: detected mtrr type: Intel
ACPI: Subsystem revision 20030228
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfd9b0, last bus=2
PCI: Using configuration type 1
tbxface-0117 [03] acpi_load_tables : ACPI Tables successfully acquired
Parsing all Control Methods:.......................................................................... .................................................................
Table [DSDT] - 514 Objects with 47 Devices 139 Methods 12 Regions
ACPI Namespace successfully loaded at root c033d79c
evxfevnt-0092 [04] acpi_enable : Transition to ACPI mode successful
evgpe-0416 [06] ev_create_gpe_block : GPE Block: 2 registers at 0000000000001028
evgpe-0421 [06] ev_create_gpe_block : GPE Block defined as GPE0 to GPE15
evgpe-0138 [08] ev_save_method_info : GPE number associated with method _L1D is not valid
evgpe-0416 [06] ev_create_gpe_block : GPE Block: 2 registers at 000000000000102C
evgpe-0421 [06] ev_create_gpe_block : GPE Block defined as GPE16 to GPE31
evgpe-0138 [08] ev_save_method_info : GPE number associated with method _L05 is not valid
evgpe-0138 [08] ev_save_method_info : GPE number associated with method _L1D is not valid
Executing all Device _STA and_INI methods:...............................................
47 Devices found containing: 47 _STA, 2 _INI methods
Completing Region/Field/Buffer/Package initialization:................................................
Initialized 8/12 Regions 0/0 Fields 18/18 Buffers 22/22 Packages (514 nodes)
ACPI: Interpreter enabled
ACPI: Using PIC for interrupt routing
ACPI: System [ACPI] (supports S0 S3 (swsusp) S4 S5)
ACPI: PCI Root Bridge [PCI0] (00:00)
PCI: Probing PCI hardware (bus 00)
PCI: Ignoring BAR0-3 of IDE controller 00:1f.1
Transparent bridge - Intel Corp. 82801BAM/CAM PCI Bridge
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Routing Table [\_SB_.PCI0._PRT]
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Routing Table [\_SB_.PCI0.AGPB._PRT]
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Routing Table [\_SB_.PCI0.PCIB._PRT]
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] (IRQs *11)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKB] (IRQs *11)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKC] (IRQs *5)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKD] (IRQs *9)
ACPI: Embedded Controller [EC] (gpe 28)
[ACPI Debug] String: _____________
[ACPI Debug] String: | |
[ACPI Debug] String: | EC._REG |
[ACPI Debug] String: | Arg0=
[ACPI Debug] Integer: 0000000000000003
[ACPI Debug] String: | Arg1=
[ACPI Debug] Integer: 0000000000000001
[ACPI Debug] String: |___________|
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
PCI: Using ACPI for IRQ routing
PCI: if you experience problems, try using option 'pci=noacpi' or even 'acpi=off'
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
Initializing RT netlink socket
Starting kswapd
ACPI: AC Adapter [ADP0] (on-line)
ACPI: Battery Slot [BAT0] (battery present)
ACPI: Battery Slot [BAT1] (battery absent)
ACPI: Power Button (CM) [PWRB]
ACPI: Lid Switch [LID]
ACPI: Sleep Button (CM) [SLPB]
acpi_processor-0842 [22] acpi_processor_get_pla: Error evaluating _PPC
ACPI: Processor [CPU0] (supports C1 C2 C3, 2 performance states, 8 throttling states)
ACPI: Thermal Zone [THM0] (40 C)
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with MANY_PORTS SHARE_IRQ SERIAL_PCI enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
Real Time Clock Driver v1.10e
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a National Semiconductor PC87306
RedCreek Communications PCI linux driver version 2.20
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00beta-2.4
ide: Assuming 66MHz system bus speed for PIO modes
ICH3M: IDE controller at PCI slot 00:1f.1
PCI: Enabling device 00:1f.1 (0005 -> 0007)
ICH3M: chipset revision 2
ICH3M: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
ide0: BM-DMA at 0x1860-0x1867, BIOS settings: hda:pio, hdb:pio
ide1: BM-DMA at 0x1868-0x186f, BIOS settings: hdc:pio, hdd:pio
hda: HITACHI_DK23DA-40, ATA DISK drive
blk: queue c0355740, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
hdc: Samsung CD-RW/DVD-ROM SN-308B, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hda: host protected area => 1
hda: 78140160 sectors (40008 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=4864/255/63, UDMA(100)
ide-floppy driver 0.99.newide
Partition check:
hda: hda1 hda2 < hda5 hda6 hda7 > hda3
ide-floppy driver 0.99.newide
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
IP: routing cache hash table of 4096 buckets, 32Kbytes
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 32768 bind 65536)
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0.
reiserfs: checking transaction log (device 03:01) ...
Using r5 hash to sort names
ReiserFS version 3.6.25
VFS: Mounted root (reiserfs filesystem) readonly.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 108k freed
Adding Swap: 506008k swap-space (priority -1)
Linux agpgart interface v0.99 (c) Jeff Hartmann
agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 439M
agpgart: Detected Intel i845 chipset
agpgart: AGP aperture is 256M @ 0xe0000000
[drm] AGP 0.99 aperture @ 0xe0000000 256MB
[drm] Initialized radeon 1.7.0 20020828 on minor 0
8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.26
eth0: RealTek RTL8139 Fast Ethernet at 0xe0975800, 00:90:f5:14:08:16, IRQ 9
eth0: Identified 8139 chip type 'RTL-8139C'
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
usb-uhci.c: $Revision: 1.275 $ time 06:23:34 Mar 17 2003
usb-uhci.c: High bandwidth mode enabled
usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0x4400, IRQ 11
usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0x4420, IRQ 11
usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
usb-uhci.c: v1.275:USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver
usb.c: registered new driver hid
hid-core.c: v1.8.1 Andreas Gal, Vojtech Pavlik <vojtech@suse.cz>
hid-core.c: USB HID support drivers
mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
ehci-hcd 02:0a.2: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0
ehci-hcd 02:0a.2: irq 5, pci mem e099fc00

usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3
PCI: 02:0a.2 PCI cache line size set incorrectly (32 bytes) by BIOS/FW.
PCI: 02:0a.2 PCI cache line size corrected to 128.
ehci-hcd 02:0a.2: USB 2.0 enabled, EHCI 0.95, driver 2003-Jan-22
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 4 ports detected
hub.c: connect-debounce failed, port 2 disabled
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:1f.5 to 64
hub.c: new USB device 02:0a.0-2, assigned address 2
intel8x0: clocking to 48000
input0: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse] on usb1:2.0
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
scsi0 : SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
Vendor: SAMSUNG Model: CDRW/DVD SN-308B Rev: U002
Type: CD-ROM ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 8x/24x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12
reiserfs: checking transaction log (device 03:06) ...
Using r5 hash to sort names
ReiserFS version 3.6.25
reiserfs: checking transaction log (device 03:07) ...
Using r5 hash to sort names
ReiserFS version 3.6.25
eth0: Setting half-duplex based on auto-negotiated partner ability 0000.
ttyS1: LSR safety check engaged!
ttyS1: LSR safety check engaged!
Linux Kernel Card Services 3.1.22
options: [pci] [cardbus] [pm]
isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
Intel PCIC probe: not found.
PCI: Enabling device 02:07.0 (0000 -> 0002)
Yenta IRQ list 0000, PCI irq5
Socket status: 30000006
cs: IO port probe 0x0c00-0x0cff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x0800-0x08ff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x0100-0x04ff: excluding 0x378-0x387 0x4d0-0x4d7
cs: IO port probe 0x0a00-0x0aff: clean.
/dev/vmmon: Module vmmon: registered with major=10 minor=165
/dev/vmmon: Module vmmon: initialized
parport0: PC-style at 0x378 (0x778) [PCSPP,TRISTATE,EPP]
parport0: irq 7 detected
/dev/vmnet: open called by PID 282 (vmnet-bridge)
/dev/vmnet: hub 0 does not exist, allocating memory.
/dev/vmnet: port on hub 0 successfully opened
bridge-eth0: up
bridge-eth0: attached
/dev/vmnet: open called by PID 305 (vmnet-natd)
/dev/vmnet: hub 8 does not exist, allocating memory.
/dev/vmnet: port on hub 8 successfully opened
/dev/vmnet: open called by PID 567 (vmnet-netifup)
/dev/vmnet: hub 1 does not exist, allocating memory.
/dev/vmnet: port on hub 1 successfully opened
/dev/vmnet: open called by PID 566 (vmnet-netifup)
/dev/vmnet: port on hub 8 successfully opened
/dev/vmnet: open called by PID 588 (vmnet-dhcpd)
/dev/vmnet: port on hub 1 successfully opened
/dev/vmnet: open called by PID 589 (vmnet-dhcpd)
/dev/vmnet: port on hub 8 successfully openedinteresting.
[drm] Loading R200 Microcode

Yep, vmnet is VMware virtual network modules. A few things are interesting:

PCI: Ignoring BAR0-3 of IDE controller 00:1f.1

and

evgpe-0138 [08] ev_save_method_info : GPE number associated with method _L1D is not valid
several times.
and

PCI: Enabling device 00:1f.1 (0005 -> 0007)

and

PCI: 02:0a.2 PCI cache line size set incorrectly (32 bytes) by BIOS/FW.
PCI: 02:0a.2 PCI cache line size corrected to 128.
ehci-hcd 02:0a.2: USB 2.0 enabled, EHCI 0.95, driver 2003-Jan-22

Which is obvious. Well all this let me believe that there is still a problem somehow with the bios as all get a bit corrected. The hdparm script do not show at boot. As well as the alsa modules:
intel8x0 : clocking at 48000
etc...

Please comment, these are the latest acpi patches and kernel patch too. I am sending this for comments to the acpi sourceforge mailing list. Will let you know.

By the way on another chapter, i redirectected the leds of my keyboard to the network ;)
Yep, the Scroll Led blinks when there is network Activity, the Caps Lock ( Which i disabled on my keyboard, and made another TAB key thanks xmodmap ) shows the Received data by blinking. Anyhow the program used is called 'ifled' , google it, sourceforge it, freshmeat it. It works great. USeful hacks:
- xev : X event proggy, helped me to set up the volume key of the DJ player independantly on lineakd. Lineakd runs as a server and makes me nervous ;) . PAranoid Penguin definately.

- xmopmap -pke will print a list of our current keymap, then read in the shell the value of the xev output proggy when you press the key.

remember, i do not detain that information, i just type man in the shell followed by the command. man xev, man xmodmap etc....

Happy Tweaking ;)

[harrelld]

laclasse,

Thanks for the LED mod info.

And a very special thank you for all the other tips and mods that I have used without recognition.

[NeoCORE]

Hmm... I don't understand why noauto didn't work for you, it worked fine for me and I have an 8886 which is basically the same as the 8887 architecture wise...


Do you really want MDK... or would you try RH or my personal favourite right now, Gentoo :)


NeoCORE

[Samurai]

The distro doesnt really matter to me i just want a graphical user friendly version of linux. I just recently had limited success with Red Hat. Using linux noprob noauto nofirewire i managed to install the distrib, but upon restarting my computer, after instalation, it froze while trying to defect the firewire. I trying bypassing this by trying to access the interactive initilization by pressing " I " durring start up but that didnt work. I pressed I a million times but that didnt help.

[NeoCORE]

Ok, as for redhat, I was in the same position, you still have to boot with nopcmcia in redhat until you recompile the kernel.

Yes, I also did the same by continually pressing I with no luck, again, the interactive start-up does not start until after that step... and it's only really interactive for the services, not what is dected to begin with.

My suggestion is if you have a good few hours free and want a fast good distro, goto gentoo... if you want a GUI quick, reinstall rh, and use what i said, and this time, compile a kernel to fix your problems...

Also, if you aren't going to be using you pcmcia, and don't mind not having the latest software, go back to rh 7.2 you might have better luck with it, and possibly won't have to compile the kernel either... but you are going to loose features and speed if you do.

NeoCORE

[prairiedog2k]

Thanks guys

brand new 8887 (from PCTorque, of course)
I installed Mdrk 9.1 final this morning
using f1 to get to boot: options and f2 to see the vga options

vga16 noprobe noauto nopcmcia nofirewire acpi=no

worked well for for me.

It was locking up during regular install otherwise
recognizes all the hardware, pretty much (I haven't done a complete enumeration).

Now to tweak the heck out of it.
:lol:

[myrkat]

Originally posted by prairiedog2k
...vga16 noprobe noauto nopcmcia nofirewire acpi=no... Did you go in after install to setup your pcmcia and firewire? Could you post a short, definitive guide to the install?

-myrkat

[prairiedog2k]

unfortunately no
as far as the install guide goes. That is all I have done so far. I spent most of my time this past weekend mucking about in XP trying to the drivers straight for AverStudio to record.

[PeterClark]

If anyone still has problems you can always install Linux using Vitrual PC. That way it will run out of windows. I use that for messing aroung with linux some, yet I am not sure if this would work for someone that wants to run linux a lot.

[davkenrem]

I've just recently installed Mandrake 9.1 on my NP5660 and everything is working except my Lexmark X83 Printer.
Rumour say that Mandrake 9.2 is damaging CDROM drives during install.

this is from distrowatch.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warning: Mandrake 9.2 destroys hardware

As has been widely reported, installing Mandrake Linux 9.2 can
render certain types of CD-ROM drives permanently unusable.
MandrakeSoft has issued an errata about the problem, while a
list of affected CD-ROM drives is available here. There are
reports that the problem has been identified and a new kernel is
currently being tested. Users whose computers contain one of the
affected CD-ROM drives by LG Electronics are urged not to
install Mandrake Linux 9.2 until a workaround is found.

Not surprisingly, LG Electronics have not acknowledged the
problem, nor did they issue any sort of warning. According to
the above mentioned errata, the "[LG Electronics'] Optical Disc
Drive products do not support Linux nor do they test with
Linux". While most Linux users will feel little or no pity for
the Korean manufacturer and the potential damage to their
reputation and sales following the widely reported incident,
MandrakeSoft finds itself in an unenviable situation. It cannot
ship the product with such a serious, known issue, yet
remastering even one CD with updated software will cost money
and result in further delays in product shipment. Stuck between
a rock and a hard place, Mandrake can only hope that its
traditional openness and honesty towards users will help them
overcome yet another crisis on their road to financial recovery.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[gardyloo]

Hi, all,

I had problems exactly like this on the NP8886, and got around them by the following methods:
1) at the installation prompt, hit "F1", and type "linux noauto" (without the quotes, of course). This gets around the FireWire hang;
2) the monitor setup uses a CUSTOM graphics card, FLAT PANEL 1280 x 1024 monitor, with resolution at 1280 x 1024, 24 bpp;
3) the ethernet module to use is the 8139.too (for the RealTek RTL-8139 Fast Ethernet driver);
4) x-server: VESA.

these settings (after a bit of trial and error) allowed me to install MDK 9.1 relatively painlessly on my NP8886.

[rk_cr]

Hello everyone,
I'm not really a linux expert but I was able to install Mandrake 9.2 without a hitch on my 5670 (except for some monitor problems, but I'll fix those later).

So, my recommendation? Go with 9.2, you won't run into the CD problem because A. they fixed it before the real release and B. Sager doesn't use the CD drives in question anyways.

[penvzila]

Get mandrake 10. Worked the first time for me on a 5690.