HELP!!!!

[matryark]

i have never used any version of linux, but i do have mandrake and was goin to install it but an error message comes up sayin could not initialize cd-rom
then it says cant load ramdrive and that that shouldnt happen then it reboots
:(

what do i do?!?!?!

[Lovechild]

What kind of system are you running...
SPECS!!!

It sounds like your Cdrom may need a special bootdisk to work..

And which distro are you installing ??

[matryark]

wow that was a quick response

im on a pentium 400, 128 sdram, 50x cdrom, 32/12/10, viper 2 agp card, mx300 sound card, uh ya thats about it

im tryin to install mandrake 7.2
im runnin windows 98 se booo

[Lovechild]

WHAT BRAND IS YOUR CDROM ???

try booting into windows and pop in the mandrake cd 1.. it has an option to make a boot disk.. do that.. images for bootdisks are on the cd..

the file your looking for is called something like cdrom.img !!

[matryark]

my cd rom is just some atapi 50x
its like no name er somethin

and i made the boot disk and booted up my comp with it in and got as far as the second screen after u press enter and it checks all this stuff then it goes to another screen and it has a little blue window checkin everythin and it comes up with that error :(

[Lovechild]

do you have another CDrom to test with ??? maybe your cdrom drive isn't very good !!

Try tinkering with your bios settings.. things like UDMA and PIO might affect the outcome..

I have NEVER seen this before..... I just go tinker with my 2. box to figure this out !!

[matryark]

k tanx man

ill try usin my burner to install it

ill keep ya updated :)

[Lovechild]

U HAVE A BURNER... use that one... when I installed Drake on my fathers computer he tried using the DVD drive = a no go

I popped it in the burner and BINGO..

that will surely work !!!

[ShadowGoblin]

Try turning of pnp in your bios .Had same problem.

[Lovechild]

Originally posted by ShadowGoblin:
Try turning of pnp in your bios .Had same problem.

NOW WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT ???

*gets more coffee* keep on hacking guys !!

[matryark]

hmmm didnt work :(

and im able to boot with my burner but that doesnt work wither

maybe ill completely take out my cdrom

k brb

[matryark]

k well that didnt work

:(
i dont know what else to do someone help please....

the error keeps sayin something about ramdisk
?!?!?

help

[matryark]

can someone help me please?!?!?!

[bdg1983]

There's only so much we can suggest until someone that has had the exact same problem as you posts the answer.

I would suggest trying a different distro at least to rule out hardware problems.

[matryark]

aiight

tanx all

[rod]

Did you download and burn this iso yourself?

A large percentage of installation errors are due to corrupt ISO images.
A way to check downloaded ISO images is running an 'md5sum' check. To do this in Windows, get md5sum.exe here (http://ftpsearch.lycos.com/cgi-bin/search?form=lycosnet&query=md5sum.exe&filetype=All+files), switch to the directory where the ISO file is located and run (from a DOS window):


md5sum [name].iso

Regards,
Rod

[ 17 March 2001: Message edited by: rod ]

[bdg1983]

Sorry, I'm not saying to stop checking for further responses to your post.

Someone may come up with the right answer.

[matryark]

hey thanx man
i did that and just a bunch of numbers and letters came up
how do i know if its corrupted??

[rod]

The program will return a 32 digit md5sum. Compare this digit with the one listed for this image in the MD5SUM file on the server where you downloaded ISO from.

Regards,
Rod

[ 17 March 2001: Message edited by: rod ]

[ShadowGoblin]

Try using your windows 98 install disk choose option 2 an install from cd rom .
Find your install dir then exe what ever to install like autoboot.bat.
This way you have the drivers for the cd rom and it won`t need a ram disk!

[bdg1983]

Question has now been moved to 'Technical Support'. :eek: