Centos 5.4 CD 1 crashes while loading initrd.img

General support questions including new installations
Post Reply
Agron
Posts: 9
Joined: 2010/03/24 14:40:43

Centos 5.4 CD 1 crashes while loading initrd.img

Post by Agron » 2010/03/24 18:01:57

All I see is:
[quote]
Loading vmlinuz..................
Loading initrd.img......................................................
........................................................................................
........................................................................................
........................................................................................
[/quote]


And then it goes blank, it beeps, and everything starts all over again.


Is there anything in the BIOS setting CENTOS does not like?

I don't know how CENTOS 5.4 is related to RedHat, but the Fedora12 installation CD runs fine on this machine.

Any help is appreciated.

gerald_clark
Posts: 10642
Joined: 2005/08/05 15:19:54
Location: Northern Illinois, USA

Centos 5.4 CD 1 crashes while loading initrd.img

Post by gerald_clark » 2010/03/24 18:09:03

You did not tell us anything about your machine.
That is the symptom of one of the following:
1. Not enough RAM.
2. Bad RAM
3. Machine is 586 class.

Agron
Posts: 9
Joined: 2010/03/24 14:40:43

Re: Centos 5.4 CD 1 crashes while loading initrd.img

Post by Agron » 2010/03/24 18:19:50

Well, the machine has
256 MB of SDRAM
CPU is Pentium MMX 166MHZ (i586)
1 GB Harddrive space

I am trying to install the i386 edition of CENTOS 5.4 from http://mirror.stanford.edu/yum/pub/centos/5.4/isos/i386/CentOS-5.4-i386-bin-1of6.iso

In fact I installed it on a virtual machine on the same 1GB harddrive with only 256MB of ram. Now I want to install it on the actual machine. But it keeps rebooting.

User avatar
AlanBartlett
Forum Moderator
Posts: 9345
Joined: 2007/10/22 11:30:09
Location: ~/Earth/UK/England/Suffolk
Contact:

Re: Centos 5.4 CD 1 crashes while loading initrd.img

Post by AlanBartlett » 2010/03/24 18:51:47

An [b]i586[/b] based processor is [b]not[/b] supported.

Please do the required reading ([url=https://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewforum.php?forum=47]FAQ & Readme First[/url]) and the [url=http://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS5.4]CentOS 5.4 Release Notes[/url].

For your information:

(1) [i]CentOS[/i] is 100% binary compatible with [i]RHEL 5[/i].
(2) [i]RHEL 5[/i] is [b]not[/b] binary compatible with [i]Fedora 12[/i].
(3) [i]i386[/i] just indicates the 32-bit version of the OS [i]not[/i] the supported processor type. (This is a historic decision by [url=http://wiki.centos.org/FAQ/General?highlight=%28TUV%29#head-d29a2b7e61ffc544973098f9dd49fe4663efba50]TUV[/url].)

[quote]
I don't know how CENTOS 5.4 is related to RedHat,
[/quote]
To make such a statement, which shows you have done little or no research, will not endear you to anyone. Please see the [url=http://wiki.centos.org/FAQ/General]CentOS General FAQ[/url].

Agron
Posts: 9
Joined: 2010/03/24 14:40:43

Re: Centos 5.4 CD 1 crashes while loading initrd.img

Post by Agron » 2010/03/24 19:36:08

[quote]An i586 based processor is not supported.[/quote]

Are you nuts?

i586 is 32 bit and supports the i386 instruction set.

User avatar
toracat
Site Admin
Posts: 7518
Joined: 2006/09/03 16:37:24
Location: California, US
Contact:

Re: Centos 5.4 CD 1 crashes while loading initrd.img

Post by toracat » 2010/03/24 20:15:58

[quote]
Agron wrote:

Are you nuts?[/quote]
No, he is not.

[quote]
i586 is 32 bit and supports the i386 instruction set.[/quote]
CentOS-5 provides kernel i686 (32-bit) and x86_64 (64-bit). I would suggest you try CentOS-4 because it still supports i586 (RHEL-4 does not).

User avatar
toracat
Site Admin
Posts: 7518
Joined: 2006/09/03 16:37:24
Location: California, US
Contact:

Re: Centos 5.4 CD 1 crashes while loading initrd.img

Post by toracat » 2010/03/25 07:33:20

You can find more detailed info about the i586 install here:

http://centosnow.blogspot.com/2009/09/i586-installs-for-centos-48.html
http://orcorc.blogspot.com/2009/09/like-stake-through-heart.html

Both were written by CentOS core admins. Once again, this is CentOS-4 only. The i586 support was dropped in CentOS-5.

Agron
Posts: 9
Joined: 2010/03/24 14:40:43

Re: Centos 5.4 CD 1 crashes while loading initrd.img

Post by Agron » 2010/03/25 17:35:31

OK, thanks for clarification. "i386" on the ISO files is very very confusing. Please put BIG emphasis on the Download page that it stands for 32-bit i686 CPUs.

Thanks all!

Post Reply