Condolences.

orion wrote:

Good thing I don't keep important files, except the web files on the web server box running Windows 2000. Really odd is that Knoppix CDR disks boot off of it, but the Red Hat 7.X and 8.0 disks boot, but give me an abnormal error message after trying to install the OS.

You need to be a great deal more specific than that, before you can get useful help. (Surely, you've been around these forums long enough to know that you need to fully quote the error message, at the bare minimum!) Few people are even going to try to help you if they have to guess the nature of the symptom. I'm going to take a shot at this nonetheless -- once only.

Under the assumption that the error concerned the hard drive, the nature of the problem would then be either (1) high-level logical content (formatting and partition table), (2) low-level formatting, or (3) physical. Yes, you could conceivably have any of the above and still run some Microsoft OS (except that any physical problems would have to be localised-only).

Back up the "Web files" (and anything else you don't want to lose) to elsewhere. Then, boot a Knoppix or LNX-BBC CD, or a Tom's Root-Boot, or some other maintenance disk. Type "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1". Be aware that this will overwrite your first hard drive's sector zero containing boot code and partition table with all zeroes. Effectively, this wipes the drive (to a first approximation). Make sure you're sure you're OK with that result, before issuing the command. Suggestion: Also use that maintenance disk to set up Linux data and swap partitions in your partition table. They're more reliable than are the partitioners in Linux distribution installers such as Red Hat's.

At this point, you might want to try a Linux installation again. You've not eliminated all hard drive-related causes of installation failure, but dodgy partition tables, leftover damage from boot-sector viruses, and defective leftover filesystems ("partitions") have been eliminated from consideration. Suggestion: When you have the Linux installer make filesystems in the partition-table entries you established in the prior paragraph, select "Check for bad blocks." This tests individual sectors for readability, and maps out ones that fail to test OK.

If the installer still doesn't like your hard drive (which I assume is IDE), then it might be worthwhile checking your hard drive manufacturer's Web/ftp sites for a "low-level formatting utility" or "pseudo-low-level formatting utility" specific to that make and model of hard drive. These are usually written for MS-DOS, and rewrite the hard drive's low-level timing tracks, often rejuvenating drives that you were prepared to discard as "failing" or "unreliable".

If none of the above fixes your problem, and you still have hard drive-related errors, then it could be a BIOS setting (try reverting to factory defaults, in your CMOS BIOS Setup program), or a slightly defective hard drive, IDE controller, or other motherboard circuitry. If it were an extremely new motherboard, it could even be a chipset whose quirks the installer's Linux kernel can't yet contend with -- but that sounds unlikely in your case.

Again, if you want help, please be [link|http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html|specific]. Thanks.

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

orion wrote:

Normal install, formats and partitions correctly, tries to probe the monitor and vide card, and then says "Unknown Monitor" and "Unknown Video Card" and then displays some graphic garbage and then displays the words "Abnormal Error" on a blank screen except with a command prompt.

1. I wrote: "If you want help, please be specific." You're now talking about a video problem, and yet you aren't posting information about your video hardware. Conclusion: You aren't yet serious about getting help.

My best guess based on your earlier non-description was that there was a hard drive problem. It now turns out that my stab-in-the-dark guess was wrong, and my effort writing all that lengthy analysis was wasted. Oh well: I can't get that time and effort back, but I can avoid making the same mistake twice.

2. If my video hardware were giving Linux installers a hard time, I'd do a text-mode installation first, and then work on getting X11 running after installation had otherwise completed successfully, as a separate problem. E.g., if using the Red Hat Linux installation disks, type "text" at the CD's boot prompt instead of just pressing the Enter key.

As to how to get help with your X11 problem, post-installation, (a) get serious, and (b) move to a more-appropriate forum.

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

imric wrote:

Try text-mode install?

Immediately after I wrote:

If my video hardware were giving Linux installers a hard time, I'd do a text-mode installation first.

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com