First-day frustrations with Mandrake 7.2

[Robster]

This is the first experience I've had of Linux, so I was expecting a few problems. However there's some 'odd' things going on that I'm hoping someone can shed light on.

System:
Asus CUBX motherboard
PIII 600E
256mb PC100
2 x IBM 75GXP 46gb hard drives
Matrox G400MAX
Soundblaster Live! 1024 Player
3Com US Robotics 56K internal modem
Teac CD540E CD-ROM
Plextor 121032A CD writer

Mandrake was setup on the first two partitons of the second hard drive, with a 4gb partition for / and a 500mb for /swap. All good so far.

Installation seemed to go OK, but I didn't risk writing to the MBR so kept the Linux boot to floppy only.

Mandrake up and running, both KDE and Gnome seem fine. That's the good bit.

The bad bits:

The CUBX's onobard CMD IDE controller is found but not installed. Looks like it's not supported yet. Not a critical problem, just some performance sacrifice on the disks. Bit disappointing considering the CUBX has been around for over a year, but well...

USR internal ISA modem is completely ignored. And I meant COMPLETELY ignored. No sign of it in the hardware list, no connection possible. Querying the modem in the PPP application returns - nothing, no response. Try installing again using the modem's jumpers to turn off PnP, forcing it to use COM3 and IRQ5 (the same as Windows98 and Windows2000 assigns it automatically). Nothing at all. Still no sign of it anywhere on the system. I know Linux has problems with ISA but this is damn frustrating.

On another subsequent re-install, I tried using Grub on the MBR. Worked OK! Nice multi-boot menu in place and worked. But when trying yet another install later, it totally buggered up the MBR. Couldn't boot into anything. 'NTLDR is missing'. Good job I had a Ghost image.

Three of the attempted installs today resulted in no graphical interface login, just a command line. Possible result of choosing 'no password' for root maybe? Didn't happen on the last install when I did specify a password.

USB connection for my Fuji digital camera isn't recognized. Not a huge problem but I may as well mention it!

Now, what worries me the most here is the total lack of response from the modem and the destruction of the MBR, apparently at random. OK, I can keep the Linux boot on floppy, but what about that modem?

Any ideas folks? I've looked 'round some of the older threads and there doesn't seem to much in the way of solutions.

I'm a total newbie here, so I guess some of these issues seem quite mundane. I'm just used to Windows2000 where you install and it just works :)

[cage47]

Not sure about the other stuff but I had the same problem with my login not going to graphical. I've been using 7.0 since last March and 7.0 would not setup my monitor with greater than 640x480 res. When it tested the screen was screwy. When I got 7.2 I tried 860x640 (?) and the screen came up and asked if it was correct and I said yes. But when my install completed it only went to that localdoman login and only took me into X. No KDE. Did this three times. But when I put my old hardware settings in it loaded. The trick is watch after the test when it asks you to autologin a user. If it has KDE or Gnome or something else in the window manager box it's working fine, if that box is blank the video isn't set right. and KDE (and the subsequent graphical login) won't start. :o

[exupery]

I have had the same problem with Grub and the MBR. It twice has destroyed my system requiring reinstall of all my windows and Linux software from the ground up. Is this a problem with Mandrake 7.2 or is it with Grub?

[Robster]

OK, well I peservered and got the modem working - kind of - using the ISA PnP NHF instructions. I've got Linux talking to the modem but the connection to my ISP doesn't seem to get past authentication. I need to do some more work on this tommorow as it may be an issue with the ISP.

Something else...

The ISA PnP NHF instructs to add a line to the rc.local or boot.local file in RedHat and Suse respectively. What is - and where is - the Mandrake counterpart?

Thanks
Rob

[MkIII_Supra]

/etc/rc.local

Use Debian...

[Molecule Man]

Same as in RH. /etc/rc.d/rc.local if I remember correctly. Every path but the ones for building RPMs is the same as RH in MDK.

On the ISP, some require more than just the username to login. For Earthlink it is in the form:
ELN/username@earthlink.net

others can vary. You might also check and see if PAP or Chap makes a difference.

[Cloak|56k]

Originally posted by MkIII_Supra:


Use Debian...

Tried to install it....failed ;)

Still using Drake :)

[Robster]

Mmm....

Well, I tried /etc/rc.d/rc.local and it made no difference. It's like it just isn't run during the bootup process.

However I found /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit which runs the initial isapnp command during bootup. Made the necessary changes, saved file, rebooted - bang. Can't get back in. Bootup hangs at 'Starting system logger' (or words to that effect). Looks like another install is due unless anyone knows how to get back in.

[Robster]

OK, I've reinstalled and am now back where I was before I buggered it all up :)

Here's my situation now regarding the modem:

/etc/isapnp.conf has been edited to enable COM3 on IRQ4 as per the NHF.

On booting, the startup procedure reports the isapnp command failing due to a conflict.

This conflict is (presumably) caused by the /dev/ttyS2 UART value being 16550A instead of 'unknown'.

If I set the value to 'unknown', then run isapnpn, then switchg it back to 16550A manually through X-Term it works OK, so I'm figuring I need to edit whatever the system startup script is.