Installation of CentOS 6 fails

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jekutin
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Installation of CentOS 6 fails

Post by jekutin » 2011/09/27 21:25:10

I am trying to install CentOS 6 to a PC with 1.5 MHz Celeron, 1 MB memory, 15 GB SSD and Intel chipset. I can install only the mini versions, all others freeze when about 400-700 packages are loaded. In addition to several Windows version I can install Suse and Ubunty but like CentOs, Fedora installation fails. Any good ideas?

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vonskippy
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Re: Installation of CentOS 6 fails

Post by vonskippy » 2011/09/28 06:19:04

Get a computer that was made in this century?

Why would you want to install a ENTERPRISE class OS on such a craptastic underpowered junior mint computer?

r_hartman
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Re: Installation of CentOS 6 fails

Post by r_hartman » 2011/09/28 08:06:04

I actually still run an ENTERPRISE class OS (CentOS 5) on an HP Omnibook 6000 (800MHz PIII, 512MB, recently doubled from 256), installed for learning purposes, and don't see what's wrong with that. And 'this century' is already almost 11 years old :-o

To the OP:
Welcome to the CentOS fora.
1) What do you mean by 'the mini versions'?
2) Can you update a 'mini version' after installation (assuming a 'mini version' is a minimal install)?
3) Can you install additional packages to a 'mini version' (again assuming a 'mini version' is a minimal install)?
4) The 'freezes' may just be timeouts for some reason, not lockups. Can you switch to the alternate consoles (Alt-Ctrl-F[2-4]) to see what's going on?
5) Again assuming a 'mini version' is a minimal install, can you provide more info on your system through getinfo.sh (please refer to the recommended reading)?

jekutin
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Re: Installation of CentOS 6 fails

Post by jekutin » 2011/09/28 08:54:55

Hi vonskippy,

thank you for your reply. My computer is not very old, I bought it 2008 as new. I needed a computer with 3-4 ethernet connections, low power consumption (solar powered), robust (no moving parts, strong aluminium box), audio input,... The one I have now, was the only suitable, I could find . It is running Suse succesfully since the beginning, but I am looking for another, simplier (less features) operating system. Excluding Apache, all programs are special.

When I started to use Linux, sometime in 90's, Linux was advertised to run in all kind of computers, especially in old and with small resources. Our www server is from that time (600 MHz Pentium) and still running Suse. We have also top modern computers, but those are running Windows 7 and used for software development .

I do not need much from the operating system, in this case it must be Linux (better real-time) and have GUI, KDE or Gnome, no matter. I have been working first 15 years with command line interpreters, but when I got GUI, I will not go backwards any more.

I first thought that the poblem with the installation was that CentOS do not have suitable drivers for Intel chip set, because I could install all vesions without GUI, but maybe CentOS only needs heavier resourses. If that is the case, I have to go on using Suse or looking for some other (not RedHat based) system.

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vonskippy
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Re: Installation of CentOS 6 fails

Post by vonskippy » 2011/09/28 17:33:42

1.5 [b][color=FF0000]M[/color][/b]Hz Celeron, 1 [b][color=FF0000]M[/color][/b]B memory

MegaHertz - MegaByte

Wooooooosh! Sarcasm apparently it IS a lost art.

jekutin
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Re: Installation of CentOS 6 fails

Post by jekutin » 2011/09/28 20:23:58

Ok, I am afraid there must be some kind of typo. Maybe it is because I have been this year working with those mega computers. This Linux computer will be collecting data from small embedded computers and those are megahertz and megabyte (max) systems.

The other "typo" was this mini version, officially it seems to be minimal. As I told, I can install the minimal version and it works fine, but I did not easily find how to upgrade it. Instead I rerun the installation iso and selected the first option, which in this case may be that upgrade. It seems to do all the same as a greenfield operation, at least I did not find any obvious differences.

The freezing happens always in different places, sometimes somewhere after 24 packages loaded, sometimes after 800 packages. Once I saw a flash of a command screen with an error message something like hardware error, but could not read more. I have run the check routine several times and always succesfully, also the burning process was fine. I will download a new iso, but I am afraid, that will not do any difference.

I tried to run get_info script, but it did not run in that minimal version, I could install. Also I could not find any (usefull) information in the other session, although I am not very good at looking for.

There is something special with RedHat derivatives. Some time ago I tried to install Fedora 15, same results as with CentOS. Yesterday I tried to install Fedora 16 alpha, but it did not even let me choose the version to install.

I am pretty sure, that the problem is in hardware. This computer has KingSpec SSD, Intel chipset and USB CD reader, which are not very common in normal desktops or laptops. Taking into account these, what does CentOS do differently compared to Suse or Ubunty.

r_hartman
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Re: Installation of CentOS 6 fails

Post by r_hartman » 2011/09/29 08:51:39

@vonskippy
Subconsciously read 'G' for 'M', as M is meaningless, so I indeed missed the sarcasm. Well spotted.

@jekutin
Try running memtest86+ before reïnstalling. Let it run for a couple of hours if it does not return errors straight away.

The fact you can successfully do a minimal install seems to indicate that your DVD is OK and your hardware is being recognized.

If you have an internet connection, you should be able to update or expand your system using
[code]# yum update[/code]and[code]# yum (group)install[/code](as root, hence the '#' prompt).

If you have no internet, you should be able to expand your system from the DVD using[code]# yum --disablerepo=\* --enablerepo=c6-media (group)install[/code]after mounting the DVD on /media/cdrom.

pschaff
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Installation of CentOS 6 fails

Post by pschaff » 2011/09/29 18:51:09

Trying an update in the installer will not give one the opportunity to add additional packages. After the system is up and running packages or groups can be added with "yum install ..." or "yum groupinstall ..." respectively.

Is René's DVD assumption good, or have you been trying to do a notoriously unreliable network install?

jekutin
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Re: Installation of CentOS 6 fails

Post by jekutin » 2011/09/30 12:38:59

Memtest was running 3,5 hours without errors. Meanwhile I tried to install CentOS to an old Linux server with Asus motherboard, 1 GB memory and 4,5 GB IBM SCSI HD. Some time after start loading the packages vmlinuz informed, that there is not enough space. I restarted the installation and defined the partitions manually, after that installing minimal desktop went fine. Just to be sure I used the same DVD and DVD reader, so at least those are ok. Then I replaced in the official target PC the SSD with an old 2,5" 20 GB HD and installed minimal desktop, that was ok, although I did not test the result. Instead I rerun immediately the installation to test full desktop. The installation freezed in creating .../VolGroup-lv_root. I have tried several times and allways the same result. I have faced with this kind of problems when installing Windows to a HD where there has been Linux but never this way, actually this was CentOS over CentOS. The first installation to the HD was over Suse 12 and ReiserFS, althoug propably that does not matter. Inspite of one manually made partition definition I have always used the default values (ok, Finnish keyboard and Helsinki time zone).

After several freezed installation tests I got an error message saying, that there porpably is an error in the hardware. After clicking ok there was some seconds a splash screen saying something that it can be a bug. To be able to go on testing and get rid of the partitioning probelem I installed Suse 12. That went nicely but it did not help, installation of CentOS freezes in creating partitions. This time I installed Suse with ext4.

I have tested both options: use all space and replace existing Linux. Maybe now I install Windows, if that helps with the partition problem.

pschaff
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Re: Installation of CentOS 6 fails

Post by pschaff » 2011/09/30 13:55:23

I doubt that installing Windows is going to help anything. Clearing the partition table and any possible metadata with[code]dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda count=256[/code]would be my next action, and as you point out, might be a prerequisite for a Windows install anyway.

You might also try the CentOS-6 LiveCD/DVD as a test of the hardware compatibility. That would also allow you to [url=http://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=28723&forum=54]provide more information about your system[/url] by running "./getinfo.sh" and showing us the output file.

If it is a recent Intel chipset (e.g. Sandy Bridge) then CentOS-6.1 may be required. A test install of [url=http://www.scientificlinux.org/download/]SL-6.1[/url] might be interesting.

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