mandrake install errro

[evdama]

I have been using W98 up to now but as more and more Pc hardware and software is moving away from it,I dont want to be held at wallet-point and forced to buy XP.So Im trying to get away from Windows and have got a copy of Mandrake 8.2.
I would like to say Im having trouble with it but I cant.
I cant even get it loaded.
Ive searched the net (make some effort first) and can get similar issues documented but the solutions given are either in linux gobbdegook or are links to more of the same. Could someone give a hint (in english) step by step if possible. I would be so grateful.
The machine is a succesfully home built 1700XP Athlon on an Asus A7v266e with 512mb of crucial ram.On the first set of Ide ports (not too bothered about the other set just yet) is a Maxtor D740 20gb and a Pioneer slot loader dvdrom, each is set as the master on their own port and cable.I have a removable caddy system so the hard drives are exclusivly for each OS-no dual booting requred.
All but the lucent modem is recognised.
I made a boot disk from within Windows ,I had to use one of the alternative cdrom images-the default one didnt work.
Thre drive has had a low level format with Maxtors powerdiagnostic and is certified error free.
The set up program starts and the lights are green until the partitioning box comes up.
The guys at Mandrake know what theyre doing and I dont ,so I chose Auto allocate.
I press done and it begins (audibly) formatting the drive .
I then get the message

"An error occoured mounting partition/dev/hda1 in directory/mnt failed (no such device) "

Any advice appreciated as my brain has been rotting for the last four years.
Regards

[skidhmor]

The thing that strikes me as odd is that Diskdrake, Mandrake HD partitioning tool, usually make you reboot after editing the partition table(ie-creating/destroying partitions)
You might try writing down the size/type/names of the partitions Diskdrake auto-allocates, then restart the installation in expert mode and manually create the partitions w/exactly the same specs as didskdrake did.

[DMR]

Agreed. When you create a partition, the system needs to reboot to recognize it. The new partition will then have to be formatted before it can be used. This isn't a Linux thing; the process is necessary in DOS/Windows as well.

The installer should have prompted you to reboot after creating the partition(s). Did it?

[evdama]

Dmr and skidhmor thanks for reponse.
No ,I was at no time prompted for a reboot.The progrm returns me to the formatting stage (sometimes asking if I have a scsi interface) immediatley afterwards
I also tried manually rebooting at a seemingly appropriate moment but the process seems highly automated (compared with my Windows experiences) and very intolerant of intervention.The istallation just restarts from scratch
I experimented with the options in expert mode and made up a configuration using the auto-allocated setup but with the last partitions' type left as blank (as opposed to "/" or "home" or "var" etc.)
This allowed the installation to complete successfully.
However upon rebooting from the HDD I now get a large ML dialogue box with the message

mount:error 19 mounting ext2 flags kernel panic:no init found. Try
passing in it=option to kernel.

As you can imagine this all means very little to me.Could you advise further and possibly give me your idea of a successful configuration with the partitions names/types/sizes so I could try this.
Apologies...

[DMR]

D-oh!

I forgot to mention that after doing a manual reboot, the installation program will indeed start again from scratch. From there you would just skip through it to the partitioning/formatting part. At that point you should see your newly-created partitions and be able to assign them mount points (/, /home, /var, etc.) and continue with the rest of the installation process. Sorry for omiting that rather critical piece of information...

Exactly what mount points did you assign to the partitions you created; it sounds like you might have missed a critical one.

[evdama]

Thanks DMR ,the selected partitions remain after a forced reboot .
In (ironically)expert mode installation the process gets to the "setup filesystems stage.I am presented with a proposed format pattern.
If I click Auto allocate,it says "nothing to do".
If I click Clear All then Auto allocate it asks"what type of partitioning? (With /usr,simple,or server.I choose with /usr)

I now have four partitions.

1* Mount point "/" is a Journalised FS: ext3 ,494 mb
2* Mount Point "Swap" 243 mb
3* Mount point "/usr" journalised FS:ext3,2996MB
4* Mount point "/home" journalised FS: ext 3 15862MB

I can "Format"each partition individually ,click "Done" and have the program do all four at once or use the wizard to find and format them but the error message persists and the program returns to the filetype setup stage with the selected partitions

Having a fiddle with the types I changed the Journalised FS ones to Linux native and was able to successfully complete setup.
I get a bootmanager box which gives half a dozen options all of which end up with the No init found Kernel panic message I quoted in the previous post.........

[DMR]

Hmm,

It almost sounds like there's something about your hardware setup that the installer doesn't like.

Are you using lilo as your bootloader? If so, you can try to get into the system by passing the "init=" parameter as the error message suggested. At the "Lilo:" boot prompt, enter the following:

label init=/bin/bash rw

where label is one of the options displayed in the bootloader window. For example, if your first boot option is labelled "Linux", then at the commmand prompt you would enter:

Linux init=/bin/bash rw

If that works, you should boot to a command prompt, with your root (/) partition mounted in read/write mode. See if you can at least get that far...

[evdama]

Yes LILO is the boot loader.
I get the 5 options and an 8 second countdown.
I can choose the graphical or the dos-like boots but at the prompt I cannot type anything!
It is a logitech cordless keyboard board (via a ps2 receiver) and works in the bios screens,in DOS and in the mandrake setup.It works ok on another machine too.I tried another,traditional corded unit,also, but with the same outcome.
Before I embarked on this project I did a check on compatibility and modem aside ,mandrakes site came back with no compatibility issues known.
The only thing I can think of is the Promise controller for the raid/IDE ports.I can only switch between the functions rather than disabling it altogether .I will try pulling the plugs on the devices on these ports(a cdrw and a fixed backup hdd).
Any ideas!
Could I be so rude as to inqure your filesystem setup so I could try it for this drive?

[DMR]

Originally posted by evdama
The only thing I can think of is the Promise controller for the raid/IDE ports.Erg...
So you do have the raid option, eh? Yes, if I were looking for a culprit (which I am), that would be my first guess as well. If you're absolutely sure that your IDE devices are properly configured, then it's quite possible that the installer is choking on the Promise controller. I'll see if I can dig up any further info on that...

Originally posted by evdama
I can only switch between the functions rather than disabling it altogether.Bugger! Disabling it was going to be my next suggestion.

Originally posted by evdama
Could I be so rude as to inqure your filesystem setup so I could try it for this drive? Not rude at all.
I usually allocate about 10G total to my basic workstation installs, and separate some of the different filesystems onto their own partitions. Here's the setup of my Mandrake 8.0 install, which is on a slice of a 40G drive:

/boot- 40M, hda5
/ - 500M, hda6
/home- 3G, hda7
/usr - 5G, hda8
/var - 500M, hda9
/tmp - 509M, hda10
swap - 256M, hda11 (I have 192M of physical RAM on this machine)

[evdama]

Thanks for your patience DMR.
What are the actual types (native,swap ,ext ,journalised etc) of your critical partitions.

I tried unplugging the drives on the auxilliary ide ports to no avail.
Im wondering if the 3 pin Raid/IDE jumper was just left off it might disable the facility...? Risky.

While putting in the alternative partitions ,under the details list of the /boot partition there is an entry;

"partition booted by default (for MS-DOS,not for LILO)"

Is this normal for a single OS

If this isnt right any ideas on how to correct it.