Out of RAM!

[nojo]

I'm trying to install Mandrake 7.0 (and maybe 7.2) on a pc with 48mb of RAM. I seem to be running out of RAM in the installation process of loading Ramddisk. I've loaded other pcs with the same version of Mandrake on systems with more RAM without any problems. Is there a (easy) way of loading Mandrake via a swap file, with limited amount of RAM? :(

[FoBoT]

48 mb isn't a limited amount of ram

something else must be going on, it should load with 48mb

hmmmm......

you are using a swap file, right? your comment about using a swap is a little vague, if you aren't telling the installer to create/use a swap file, why not?

[nojo]

How do I tell the installer to enable a swap file?
The installation is bombing out after the second stage of ramdisk. And it start to list the configuration of the pc. Then it stops with a shutdown comment and says "out of ram". :confused:

[FoBoT]

:confused:

you mean the installer already is going? or it is still running from the boot disk and really hasn't started asking you stuff?

normally, you can partition and initialize a swap file, at the same time it lets you create your other partitions

if it isn't reaching that point, then it is a different problem, i am trying to remember, i have read this somewhere

please clarify at what point it is bombing and i will do a couple searches

[nojo]

Yep, it's still running from the boot disk.
The installation portion hasn't even started yet. If I could get to the start of the installation, no problem. I could do all the partitioning and stuff.

[Tyr-7BE]

Give this forum a search for "ramdisk mandrake". This isn't uncommon in Drake 7.2, and the general verdict is that it's hardware related and not related to the amount of ram. Is your CPU overclocked? I remember hearing about a guy who set his overclocked CPU back 6 MHz and it worked fine. Do a forum search (takes a while) and see what other people have said about this problem.
Just for the record, it doesn't seem to happen on non-RH systems, if it comes to that.

[FoBoT]

yeah, i new somebody smart would remember

thanks T! ;)

[nojo]

No, it's not over clocked.
And sure it makes a difference with the amount of RAM! Any installation of any operating system will require a minimum amount of RAM. Even when I used Freesco, it required 16 mb of RAM, but I installed it with 8mb. In that application I could copy it to the hard disk first then run the installation.
In reference to Mandrake 7.2 or 7.0 I installed it on a system with 96mb of RAM, running a PII 300. And a system with RH6.0 on a system with a P133 32mb of RAM. I suppose MDK setup is a much bigger file to load than RH, with all that fancy pictures and graphics. So if it doesn't matter how much RAM you have then can you tell me what is the minimum? ;)

[FoBoT]

that really depends,

there is a thread in the "how i did it forum" about installing on 4mb pc's

i think 16mb is the minimum for most mainstream distro's "regular" type installs

i am quite sure that there is something else causeing this problem, not the amount of ram


just got to finger out what it is! :o

[nojo]

Well, tomorrow what I can try do is swap out my RAM one bank at a time with some spares I have and see if that does any good. Or try it out on another pc with the same type of hardware.
By the way its an older HP Vectra with P120 processor and which I added to fill the three banks for a total of 48mb of RAM.

[nojo]

Nope, Nope, Nope.
Today I tried swapping out all the RAM in the HP machine and tried to load MDK7.2 with 32m and 48mb of RAM. No luck!
Next I tried on a older Compaq Deskpro with I guess a 120mhz processor and 32 mb of RAM. I had the same results. Of course depending on the amount of RAM it still bombed out on the boot up process (second stage) even before the installation portion.
Seems like with RH I can install it on machines with less RAM, cuz of the smaller boot up files. MDK must use alot more.

Yea, I saw that post on 4mb before.
But who wants to do all that work just to ge to a terminal. I want pretty graphics!

Did anybody load MDK7.0 on less than 64m RAM?

[Malakin]

Make sure you are doing the installation by booting off the install CD, and if that doesn't work try a text mode install, if that doesn't work try adding more ram temporarily from another machine.

I've had similar problems with mdk 7.2 on a 48 meg box, it would not install from a floppy no matter what I did.