PDA

View Full Version : [xubuntu] Problem Installing Xubuntu on old PC



hangman13us
May 8th, 2009, 08:35 AM
Hi All,
I hope here somebody could help me. I have old PC (more then 10 years old). It’s my first PC and it’s some kind of sentimental value for me. The machine is not so bad – see attached report from Everest home edition below:

~~~~~~~~~
EVEREST Home Edition © 2003-2005 Lavalys, Inc.
________________________________________

Version EVEREST v2.20.405
Homepage http://www.lavalys.com/

Report Type Report Wizard
Computer ZEN
Generator Shared PC
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.1.2600 (WinXP Retail)
Date 2009-04-28
Time 08:56

Summary
________________________________________

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional

OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)

Computer Name ZEN
User Name Shared PC

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Celeron-A, 533 MHz (8 x 67)

Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset Intel 82440LX/EX

System Memory 256 MB (SDRAM)
BIOS Type Award Modular (09/23/98)

Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM2)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter Trident Video Accelerator 3D Image975 (4 MB)

3D Accelerator Trident 3Dimage 975


Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Trident 4DWave DX Sound Accelerator

Storage:
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller

Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive FUJITSU MPE3136AH (13 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/66)

Disk Drive USB 2.0 Flash Disk USB Device (972 MB, USB)
Optical Drive HL-DT-ST CD-ROM GCR-8520B (52x CD-ROM)

SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 13013 MB (9438 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard PC/AT Enhanced PS/2 Keyboard (101/102-Key)
Mouse Microsoft PS/2 Mouse


Network:
Network Adapter Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)


Peripherals:
Printer Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
USB1 Controller Intel 82371AB/EB PIIX4 - USB Host Controller
USB Device USB Mass Storage Device
~~~~~~~~~~


Recently I found Xubuntu and a friend of mine strongly recommended it to me especially for old machine like this one. I tried to install it few times but all attempts just failed. The machine even did not show Xubuntu – when I selected and entered in the install Xubuntu it showed some notes and start to repeat them on the black screen of the console.
Can somebody help me. I suspect some hardware incompatibility.

regards,
hangman13us

jerrrys
May 8th, 2009, 08:52 AM
never tried Xubuntu. but if you can run xp pro you should be able to run 804...
804 likes old computers...

hangman13us
May 8th, 2009, 08:59 AM
I know that... I think some of my hardware is not compatible with Linux at all. The only distribution which has been installed on this PC was Kubuntu 6 - the performance was very low... but there is no problem with XP. :(

regards,
hangman13us

hangman13us
May 8th, 2009, 09:09 AM
I just tried again the error is:

[319.210210] end_request: I/O error on device sr0, sector 1207256


[319.123122] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 301815

This starts when I try to install Xubuntu. I can see the logo of Xubuntu but later the errors displays on the screen and this repeats for ever (I test it for 30 mins). Also the numbers above changes on each line...

please help... this should be something.

rgrds,
hangman13us

Colin@oxford
May 9th, 2009, 09:33 AM
The sr0 device is the CD, so perhaps there is a problem with that CD. I suggest that you try Puppy Linux in the first instance since it is very small and works successfully on my 10-year old machine with only 128MB. This will at least prove whether your hardware is compatible with Linux or not. I suggest version 4.0 which uses an older kernel supporting older architectures. If you get similar sr0 problems, then it might indicate a problem with your CD drive.

kerry_s
May 9th, 2009, 09:46 AM
i would suspect a bad cd, try burning a new one, burn slow 4x for the best results, you might also want to use the alternate cd, you don't have enough memory for a live install.

533mhz and 256mb ram is very low specs, but it is usable, *ubuntu's are not the best for such a machine, there are faster, better choices.

hangman13us
May 16th, 2009, 08:58 AM
Puppy Linux in very nice. I'm impressed that you have such a small and nice looking OS. Puppy runs fine. I had to use Xvesa instead of Xorg. Suppose the problem with my PC Linux compatibility is in the Video Card. Trident 3D 4 Mb is very low and I had a lot of problems with Non Windows installations.

Kerry_s: can you recommend some of the OS you mentioned. This is an old computer on which I can practice and try new things. Thanks for your time on this one. :D

Bartender
May 16th, 2009, 01:38 PM
+1 on kerry's comments.
You need to download the alternate install version. I just recently tried to install Ubuntu to a PC with 256 RAM using a LiveCD. It sat there and spun the CD for ten minutes without accomplishing anything.
I doubled the RAM and install went fine.
The alternate CD needs less RAM to install than the LiveCD, so if you can't boost the actual RAM inside the alternate CD is the best workaround. Installing more RAM would actually be the better solution!!

You can burn the install CD on any computer of course, but use a good quality CD-R, not RW, and burn it slow.