Riddle me this #1

[[AK]Hylander]

(Repost and copied from the newsgroup I frequent)

Ok you techies - I'm still having issues with my Unit-2 PC I'm trying to rebuilt from the parts of what was my primary machine.

First, I was never able to get Linux to install. I tried removing RAM, etc. I found the initial problem where Mandrake needed to have the line 'Linux VGA=0' set before installing, and that solved the problem - but once the installation process loaded and it began to install - I'd get the error message:

error in exec of stage2 :-(
trying to execute '/usr/bin/runinstall2' from the installation volume, the
following error occured

FATAL ERROR IN STAGE1: No Such file or directory

I can't recover from this.
You may reboot your system.


Anyways - I gave up on Linux for the moment and moved onto the other problem.

I "had" Win2K Pro installed and running with absolutely no problems - except that it was running on FAT32 instead of NTFS. So since I didn't have a whole lot of time into it, I just went and put the Win2K install CD in and was going to reinstall. I selected to format NTFS and every time it fails (not quick format, full). It goes to 100%, and then gives me the error message that it failed and could not be completed. I downloaded the low level format and diagnostic tool from IBM for my drive, and it found absolutely no errors. I ran basic and advanced diagnostics, erased the boot sector, erased the whole disk, etc. I did this to a Maxtor as well with the same results.

So I decide to load WinXP and see if that works. SAME THING. But then I select NTFS format "QUICK" and it goes through and begins the install process. But after it goes through about 1/2 way, it goes to "completing installation" with between 24 - 29 minutes left and it just gets 'stuck'. The hard drive just thrashes but there is no activity with the CD. I let it run for a good half an hour and it didnt move at all.

Here are the system specs:

Epox 8KHA+
AMD XP2000+
1024mb of PC2100 DDR
MSI GeForce 4 Ti4600 128mb
SoundBlaster Live! Value card
45 gig IBM Deskstar (but tried a 20 gig Maxtor as well)
LS-120 SuperDisk (Use it as my floppy device)
Very basic Mitsumi 16X (i think) CD-Rom drive
HP "old" CD-RW drive like 4X2X16 or something like that

IDe is set up with HD as Master 0, Mitsumi Cd-Rom as Slave 0, CD-RW as Master 1, LS-120 is Slave 1.

Now, IIRC, I was trying to install from the CD-RW since it was the master on the second IDE channel. Think I should try installing from the 'regular' CD drive?

I'm running out of ideas on what the hell is causing the problem here since I tried 2 different HD (both which were working fine as the IBM was in my 'primary' system before I rebuilt and the Maxtor was running the Linux box) with the exact same issues.

[[AK]Squidly]

I'd install from whatever cd drive the machine is set to boot from.
Hell, just pull non essential CD-RW until you get the damn OS installed, then install that crap later.