Any Linux gurus out there? I’m installing a new hard drive on my laptop and thought that this would be a good opportunity to give linux a test drive. I’ve downloaded pclinuxos, burned it to a disk and trying to run it off of CD (they recommend this before a full install to make sure it plays well with your hardware). I can’t get it to boot up and I get the following error.

crc error

VFS: cannot open root device “rd/3” or unknown-block (0,0)

Please append a correct “root=” boot option

Kernel panic – notsyncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs on unknown-block (0,0)

I’ve cruised the linux forums and other folks are successfully running it on the same laptop as mine so it should work.

Acer 5050

AMD Turion Chip

1 GB RAM

Fresh 150 GB SATA Drive

258 MB ATI RADEON XPRESS 1100

I’ve registered at a linux forum and will be posting there for help as soon as I get approved. Just thought I’d toss it out here in case there are any linux geeks around.

Have you tried giving him a blanket?

Oh, wait a minute, put my glasses on. Never mind. I thought you said Linus issues.

Linux is someone's senior project gone horribly, horribly wrong.

===========

crc error

VFS: cannot open root device “rd/3” or unknown-block (0,0)

Please append a correct “root=” boot option

Kernel panic – notsyncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs on unknown-block (0,0)

===========

From the looks of the error you posted, it seems like the problem isn't your computer, it's the boot-strap commands on the cd. There's an error in the commands, or a missing parameter, that tells the loader where to find the root filesystem. "rd/3" = third partition/slice on removeable disk.

The "crc error" message opens up another possibilty, and that is that the cd itself is "bad" (bad burn, damaged download image, etc..) Re-download the ISO image, and verify the md5 checksum on the image before burning. Then, verify your burned disc.

^That's what I was gonna say..... :PPPPPP

"From the looks of the error you posted, it seems like the problem isn't your computer, it's the boot-strap commands on the cd. There's an error in the commands, or a missing....."

Snooze....I NEVER want to know that much about computers. I just want it to do cool **** and send me cigars.

^

Hey, if I can get this dog up and running, I'd be happy to send you cigars. From one Packer fan to another.

Merry Christmas to you and yours

The wifey is getting impatient for her laptop and I need to get it going again. Linux download is the short term solution (day or two if all works OK) while I get Acer to send me the restore/install Vista disks to get back to original factory settings.

Actually I hope that Linux has everything that I need and works with what I'm trying to do (e-mail, internet, word, excel... stuff, DVD {cough} backup and burning stuff, wifes VPN...). If so, I'm getting out of Vista and Windows all together

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!

(But I'll be happy just getting to the end of the road).

twas a rough year to be a Pack fan bucky. Oh Well..always next year

Yes, yes it was. But still good football at least up until the 4th qtr for most of the games.

F'n defense, special teams, and penalties let it all slip away at the end of the game. What, on average, they lost thier games by 4 pts or less?

Bucky,

Try a different distro.

RedSplat, err, RedHat always had good autoinstallers in the past.

Yeah...Rodgers was definitely a bright spot. Not really sure what the hell happened to the defense....just a down year.

Re 10. Yep trying dreamlinux right now. Should be burning the iso image in the next 10 min or so. I did a bucnh of research on pclinuxos and it looked to be "the deal" but for some reason the burned CD is not working for me and I've downloaded and & burned it a couple or times. Bummer. To be fair, I've been multitasking (kids and stuff) so I don't think I've given it a fair shake. I jJust want to get the system up and running so I'm trying multiple things.

I'm gonna run into work tomorrow for a couple hrs to clean up some stuff and load up some stuff in the kilns for the long weekend (we make glass based stuff). While there I'll probably get some "quality" time with the laptop while I wait for the kilns to fire up to temp.

In the meantime, I'm gonna fark with this for a bit tonight.

Re11

I'm still behind Rodgers 100%. The RB Grant... jury is still out. I'm wishy washy on that. WR... 100% behind them... great crew there. IMHO the offfense is pretty solid except for the front line. I'm not sold on the zone blocking scheme that they have been running the past couple of years.

Defense: Some guys have their moments but as a whole, they are gonna create a hole in my stomach lining (ulser).

Offense front line and Defense needs to be addressed in the draft/free agency. Also need a punter and a lot less penalties. McCarthy needs to crack the whip!

Bad peminisiton (SP?): Headlines in Detroit paper come Monday. "Lions ROAR over Packers to Avoid Winless Season."

Shoot me now...

Seriously, verify the md5 checksums before you burn and then, if provided, also verify after.

One blown bit in the download and you're fucked.

(up front disclaimer, my spelling sucks and I don't feel like using a word processor to check it at this point)

I did the checksum on my latest .iso download and it checked out fine (didn't do it on the burned file though).

I'm getting closer. It loads up ~60-75% of the way then hangs.

When I went to run it from disk I got errors or "failed" on something that said something like latino keyboard something or other. Backspace key registeredd "?f" or something. A few errors saying something about latino keyboard. Maybe I downloaded the central american version (shrug) Trying a different download from a different mirror site now. Hard to for me to decifyer the erors. I'm only doing this as a time waster, a novalty and to fark around a bit, soon enough though the wifey will be on me to get the laptop up and running for real.

I have 5-8 business days to kill until the emergency restore disks arrive from the manuf. (why don't they bundle them wiht the computer? A CD runs what, $0.50 these days?)

I'm getting closer

I agree with TG, it sounds like you had an error either in the CD/DVD you burned or in downloading the ISO.

I use PCLinuxOS and it is one of the easiest to install. I suggest you go to distrowatch.com and download the latest distribution release ISO, in this case PCLinuxOS 2007, or even 2008 Minime since its a notebook. With Minime though you will need to manually configure network and wireless connections.

If you downloaded a development distro that is your problem. You don't want the development betas, they are still working out the bugs.

DreamLinux also happens to be my second favorite distro, its just not quite as polished as PCLinuxOS, but it is a more recent release. It is fast, has good installer, network, wireless and update programs, and I like the XFCE interface. PCLinuxOS 2009 should be released for distribution in JAN or FEB 09 with all the new updates, dodads and eyecandy.

After reading your latest post, you must be using the new development beta.

Try PCLinuxOS 2007, or PCLinuxOS 2008 Minime. Dreamlinux 3.0 works well too.

^

*shrug*

Not sure on the errors without seeing the exact error message. My guess is that the cd is probing for everying and, in some cases, failing miserably.

Why screw around? Just install the OS. You'll probably have better luck, since the installer will detect your hardware and do a base customization of your loader and etc/rc.3 files.

You can always use a UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD) or manufacturers software to nuke the disk (and get rid of the linux installed loaders and parititions) before you reinstall Visturd.

17 for 15

**** (didn't notice that GW70 had two posts there)

17 for 14.

I'll give it one more spin then I'm done for the night. Looking at it and from what I read , I'm gonna try PCliniuxOS over DreamLinus.

I'll probably, eventually do XP or Vista on a partition but play with Linux on another.