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View Full Version : [ubuntu] 8.04 install freeze, really gutted



thefamousnomo
May 30th, 2008, 11:44 AM
i posted this in the sticky too, but rather than just moan i hope to somehow fix this, with a little help hopefully.

im a system builder. i was putting together a budget pc for a friend and had been holding on for the lts. i am bitterly disappointed :(

i have a compaq n610c with 256mb memory that loves 6.06, my wee boy is running edubuntu 7.10 on a 3ghz dell machine (full compiz, the greatest of ease) and am (was?) a big ubuntu fan!

the new pc is standard budget (>£100) 40gb hd, dvd rom, cdr, 512mb, sempron 2300, asrock budget board (i can get the model if it could help someone help me). 8.04 installation freezes at 6% (selecting / installing software), 7.10 live spins but also freezes during install, but 6.06 spins, and installs (first time)!

im still relatively new to linux, could it be possible that the mb chipset is no longer properly supported in newer kernels? i have changed memory, tried every boot parameter i can find, everything that i could think of, but 6.06 installs anyway! the lts for 6.06 will be over soon, and i was hoping to upgrade both my laptop and sons pc, but no way man, not now!

unless anyone can help me with the above i will have to stay away from 8.04 until 6.06 support lapses (maybe start a petition to continue support..?) and either look for a new distro, or...?

Herman
May 30th, 2008, 12:31 PM
One thing that can cause problems similar to what you are describing is poor quality or damaged/dirty CDs or DVDs. (Even if the marks are invisible to the naked eye).
I don't mean to say that's definitely your particular problem, all I know is that when the same symptoms happened to me in the past, that seemed to be the trouble.

I have installed Hardy Heron in computers with around 256 MB of RAM a few times. If lack of memory is something you're worried about, try using the 'Alternate' CD, as that can install in as little as 32 MB of RAM, (a command -line-only system). I have used it to install a normal system with 128 MB of RAM, but the system is very slow when it's installed.

The 'Desktop' Live/Install CD can install in computers with 256 MB of RAM, I know, because I have done that several times fairly recently. If you didn't have Linux in the machine before, one hint is to use a GParted -- LiveCD (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php) to do the partitioning with first so that you'll have a swap area for the Live CD to use. It'll work a lot better then.
Hardy Heron will work well enough on 256 MB but it's very slow.

I just finished installing Hardy in a computer with 304 MB of RAM and Hardy is working quite well in that one. Beforehand I was astonished to find CPU caching in that computer had been turned off in the BIOS, and lots of other BIOS settings needed tweaking also.

I heard somewhere that kernel developers are hinting that the next release, Intrepid Ibex, (still a long time in the future), will be using a lot less RAM due to some magic they have up their sleeves.

Anzan
May 30th, 2008, 02:48 PM
If networking is important, 7.10 is much better than 8.04. Everything worked flawlessly on our LAN in 7.04 and .10.

Hardy was not ready to be the LTS.

thefamousnomo
May 30th, 2008, 02:54 PM
One thing that can cause problems similar to what you are describing is poor quality or damaged/dirty CDs or DVDs. (Even if the marks are invisible to the naked eye).
I don't mean to say that's definitely your particular problem, all I know is that when the same symptoms happened to me in the past, that seemed to be the trouble.

tried various burns, even getting a mate to burn one from his pc, just in case... never gets past 6% software...


I have installed Hardy Heron in computers with around 256 MB of RAM a few times. If lack of memory is something you're worried about, try using the 'Alternate' CD, as that can install in as little as 32 MB of RAM, (a command -line-only system). I have used it to install a normal system with 128 MB of RAM, but the system is very slow when it's installed.

not so much this that im concerned with (the budget pc had half a meg), just my general experience with the new release... i dont think that everything should really just work (windows doesnt, requiring third party driver sourcing), and sometimes i prefer to have to do a bit of tweaking to get things right (how else do you learn?), but without even the basic task of installation possible, what can i do? hose 2 systems that work perfectly, better than perfectly in fact? no, ill stick where i am for the moment, 6.06 on the compaq with 256mb is excellent, although i may double up, and my sons 7.10 dell is awesome. cant risk 8.04 sticking at 6%!

im really looking for someone to point me in the right direction to overcome this. the main issue is that 6.06 is coming to the end of its support soon, i was hoping for 8.04 to build on the last lts release, but so far, for me, it has detracted in a major way. i dont mean to sound fickle, as i say, i really want to solve this, but my thinking was if 6.06 installs, 8.04 should at least install too? could it be that newer kernels are dropping full support for some chipsets? i appreciate that they must keep up with new hardware, but if there was some way i could make this work, i would be very happy!

Herman
May 30th, 2008, 09:18 PM
Well, I don't know then. Hardy Heron installs fine in old computers I have here, maybe I'm just extremely lucky.
People bring me old computers they or their friends and neighbors are throwing out that haven't worked for years. Some people throw away computers with good hardware just because they have a virus or a booting problem in Windows and they think it's incurable. Sometimes they have one or two hardware problems as well.
I can usually get them going again for free and install Ubuntu in them if they have at least 256 MB of RAM. I try to add more RAM if I have another old broken one that I'm wrecking and it has the same type of RAM modules. I just do it for a hobby.

Are you using the Hardy Heron 'Desktop' CD? (md5sum 8895167a794c5d8dedcc312fc62f1f1f ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.iso)
Do you have a swap area already made in your hard disk for the Live CD to use?
How long are you waiting when it pauses at 6%?
The progress bar doesn't always move at a steady rate, it can remain in one spot for a while and then jump a long way forwards quite suddenly sometimes.

I have noticed that the installation time for Hardy does seem longer than for previous releases.

:lolflag: Take a look at this installation I made with Hardy Heron Beta and I had some hiccups with the installation, Hardy Heron Beta / Gutsy Gibbon Graphical Installation C (http://www.herman.linuxmaniac.net/p22.html)

Regards, Herman :)

seraphim25
May 30th, 2008, 09:48 PM
i have had simular trouble with installs i have an nvidia pci vidio card and an on board vidio intel had to dis able nvidia and run on board vga to get to insall then in stall nvidia and then dis able onboard vga and en able nvidia for it to work distribution choices on board vga first to in stall even if disable or so it seems

sports fan Matt
May 30th, 2008, 09:55 PM
Isnt 256 mb ram not designed to run on HH? I have 384 and it runs well, but Ive heard that 256 is extremely borderline--or am i wrong and it depends on hardware specfications?

Herman
May 31st, 2008, 12:32 AM
Isnt 256 mb ram not designed to run on HH? I have 384 and it runs well, but Ive heard that 256 is extremely borderline--or am i wrong and it depends on hardware specfications? It's very much a matter of opinion, it depends on how much slowness the user is willing to put up with. It does also depend on other hardware factors too, and BIOS settings.
Some computers have a separate video card that has it's own RAM, and so leaves more of the regular installed RAM free for everything else the computer needs to do. The amount CPU cache memory makes a big difference too. Some computers with 256 MB of RAM can perform as well as others that have much more installed memory than that.
Hardy Heron seems to work okay with 256 MB of memory, but of course, more memory would be a lot better.

Personally, I would rather spend a few dollars and invest in an additional or a bigger RAM module than put up with a slow computer.
The problem for most people is knowing exactly what kind of memory to go looking for, where to get it, and how to pay for it.
New parts from a computer store are of course the preferred choice if possible and if it's a valuable machine. In my location access to a computer store is something that only occurs once every year or two, and may become less frequent than that as the price of fuel keeps going up.
Old broken computers are a good source of spare parts if you're fixing an old computer that's relatively worthless anyway. If something blows up, it's only a small loss, too bad.
In some instances with old computers, the motherboard only supports a limited amount of RAM.

Often people put up with slow computers, not realizing that if they take a look around in the computers BIOS, there may be settings that may need changing, especially if it's a second hand computer and you don't know its history. There may be settings like enabling hyperthreading and L2 caching and so on that might be set wrong. A little BIOS tune-up and tweaking can sometimes go a long way towards improving the performance of a slow computer for free if you know what to do. It's a good idea to search for the manual for your motherboard and BIOS on the internet and do some reading. There are some good BIOS sites on the internet too.

Installing Xubuntu or Ubuntu with IceWM or some other lightweight desktop is always an option for those of us with less memory in their computers too. The last time I checked out Xubuntu I was very pleased with it. IceWM is very nice too.

jr4902
May 31st, 2008, 12:50 PM
i have had simular trouble with installs i have an nvidia pci vidio card and an on board vidio intel had to dis able nvidia and run on board vga to get to insall then in stall nvidia and then dis able onboard vga and en able nvidia for it to work distribution choices on board vga first to in stall even if disable or so it seems
I have been following this post, since I have a similar problem (post # 1113, pg. 113 of Sticky Note). My computer freezes at 68% of instal of 8.04, "Configuring gnome - keyring". I would like to try disabling the integrated video and sound cards, since several others have mentioned them as a potential problem. How do I disable them prior to installing 8.04? since they are integrated, I cannot disconnect them.

I have 500 MB Ram, an AMD chip that is about 1.6 ghz, 2 hard drives (one, slave, Windows XP; the other, primary, for Ubuntu). I am attempting to install Xubuntu since I have an older, less powerful system.

jr4902

thefamousnomo
June 3rd, 2008, 09:06 AM
Hardy was not ready to be the LTS.

agreed!


Well, I don't know then. Hardy Heron installs fine in old computers I have here, maybe I'm just extremely lucky.

me neither. knoppix 5.1.1 also wont boot, puppy 2.16 does, and runs well (i know its not a new release, but tracking back kernels with what i have lying around), 6.06lts spins and installs no probs, but ended up using xandros 4.5 oce - booted, 6 install info screens, 20 mins later full working desktop, all hardware supported!


Are you using the Hardy Heron 'Desktop' CD? (md5sum 8895167a794c5d8dedcc312fc62f1f1f ubuntu-8.04-desktop-i386.iso)

no, im using alternate cd for 8.04 (as i was planning to do some minimal server installs, md5sum checks out). 7.10 live cd spins and runs ok live but freezes on install, 6.06lts spins and installs first time.


Do you have a swap area already made in your hard disk for the Live CD to use?

no, but why would 6.06 be cool (and 7.10 to an extent) but not 8.04? also, im not particularily after a nice live experience, just a basic local harddrive install!


How long are you waiting when it pauses at 6%? The progress bar doesn't always move at a steady rate, it can remain in one spot for a while and then jump a long way forwards quite suddenly sometimes.

overnight


i have had simular trouble with installs i have an nvidia pci vidio card and an on board vidio intel had to dis able nvidia and run on board vga to get to insall then in stall nvidia and then dis able onboard vga and en able nvidia for it to work distribution choices on board vga first to in stall even if disable or so it seems

on board sis chipset, fully supported by 6.06 and xandros 4.5 oce as it turns out!

*** looking around the xandros install returned some cpu info as i686 (amd sempron 2300)... not too up on the differences in architecture and instruction sets but could this be the issue? also, how can i double check the recognised cpu architecture in linux - dmesg | grep cpu, or cat/proc/cpuinfo returns a lot, but not architecture... this may affect you too jr4902... ***

sorry bout the dead time, tiscali are screwing up a 2 to 8mb upgrade something chronic!!!

thefamousnomo
June 9th, 2008, 12:13 PM
* bump *

i really dont want to sack ubuntu...

jr4902
June 14th, 2008, 01:30 PM
Thanks for mentioning that version 6 works, but 8 doesn't. I downloaded and installed Xubuntu 6,7 and 8. All work perfectly from the Live Cd, but only version 6 installs completely. 7 and 8 freeze at some point.

I don't know if this helps, but when I updated version 6, some 200 packages were recommended (some security, some software). I avoided the version 6.1 upgrade, but did the rest. During the installation, the system froze. I now have 2 kernels to choose from during boot up. The first one, 2.16.15-51-386 dumps me into Grub, where I am lost (I am new to Ubuntu, which is likely obvious). The second one, 2.16.15-26-386 still works well.

Could there have been a change in these kernels which accounts for my/our problem?

thefamousnomo
June 17th, 2008, 04:03 PM
* bump *

does it help troubleshooting if i add that i can install a minimal / server system (no x, etc)?

it always freezes at 6% selecting and installing software. i also had an identical pc in terms of hardware and it is also freezing at this point...

as i said ended up moving to xandros 4.5 oce to at least be able to provide a working os (pluses and minuses so far), but i really dont want to drop ubuntu...

somebody, somewhere must be able to help...:confused:

thefamousnomo
June 20th, 2008, 12:15 PM
i am disappointed :confused:

jr4902
June 24th, 2008, 10:25 PM
amethyst00
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Re: Fresh install problems - freezing on format / copying files
Hello to everyone !
I encountered the same problem on a desktop, not a laptop.
I think you must be patient. The install process freezes several times !
When you launch the install CD, press F6 and try some of the cheatcodes. Cf. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

Good luck !

I have been scrolling through forums for suggestions to solve "feeze on installation" problems. This reply from 6 days ago looks like it has possibilities. I tried the ones that appear when you press F6, but they didn't help. There are other suggestions on the help page. I will try them. (I also need to learn how to properly copy and paste a posting!)

The original post which I quoted is April 27th; the above reply was 6 days ago.

Hope this helps.

juky
June 26th, 2008, 07:26 AM
i am disappointed :confused:

Hello, I did not notice that anyone mentioned downloaded iso image check. Did you check the iso before install?

Maybe you can try to redownload an iso, e.g. DVD iso:


http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/release/ubuntu-8.04-dvd-i386.iso

Or go to
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/release/ and choose whatever suites you.

Just a hint, dunno if this suggestion will help....

Good luck!

chicadoncu
June 27th, 2008, 10:40 PM
I wiped my hard drive completely. Then I put in the Ubuntu Linux disk and when I get to the very first screen, I have to wait for it to install on its own because it doesn't recognize the keyboard (though it does later on) Then, when and if it loads, it is extremely slow. So I click on the install icon and start the installation process. I can get to step 4 of the installation. It skips the "Prepare Disk Space" screen and goes directly to the "Prepare Partions" screen. It wouldn't be a big deal, but there's nothing to select on this screen. I can't get passed it, and I can't get the installation to go to the "Prepare Disk Space" screen. I want Linux to take the hard drive over....it's brand new and never been used. I wonder if it being new may be the issue. I don't know, but it's incredibly frustrating, and if anyone can help, it would be wonderful!!! Thank you

thefamousnomo
July 8th, 2008, 04:45 PM
I wiped my hard drive completely. Then I put in the Ubuntu Linux disk and when I get to the very first screen, I have to wait for it to install on its own because it doesn't recognize the keyboard (though it does later on) Then, when and if it loads, it is extremely slow. So I click on the install icon and start the installation process. I can get to step 4 of the installation. It skips the "Prepare Disk Space" screen and goes directly to the "Prepare Partions" screen. It wouldn't be a big deal, but there's nothing to select on this screen. I can't get passed it, and I can't get the installation to go to the "Prepare Disk Space" screen. I want Linux to take the hard drive over....it's brand new and never been used. I wonder if it being new may be the issue. I don't know, but it's incredibly frustrating, and if anyone can help, it would be wonderful!!! Thank you

its a bit off topic, but default partition settings are probably going to suit if you have wiped the hd... it would be an idea to not only format the hd, but remove any partitions that are there... the install cd will (SHOULD) take care of this and the rest...

is it a standard ide harddrive, not scsi or sata? (although this shouldnt really matter in this day + age) :)

cant think of anything else...

btw - still no luck with installation

@juky - check page one of this thread d00d

might try 8.04.1 and see if any of the fixes applied has sorted the prob (im not holding my breath)

karachuonyo
July 15th, 2008, 12:39 PM
Rather late in the thread but I thought of upgrading laptop running kubuntu 7.04 to ubntu 8.04. Using the alternate Cd I reformated the / partition and started the installation only for it to freeze at 6% base system installation. Tried again with a different cd image which i verified and still freeze at 6%. Tried to install Kubuntu 8.04 from the same cd I used to install on my desktop and it also froze. I think my Cd's are fine so i suspect software changes in the cd images. BTW the laptop is acer 1310 with 1 gig RAM.

jr4902
July 17th, 2008, 01:57 AM
[QUOTE=might try 8.04.1 and see if any of the fixes applied has sorted the prob (im not holding my breath)[/QUOTE]

I tried Xubuntu 8.04.1 using Wubi, but it froze at exactly the same spot as Xubuntu 8.04 (81% of installation, at beginning of "configuring target system"). I am trying various installation options using Wubi since it installs (or trys to) within Windows. Thus, I can keep Xubuntu 6 untouched on my slave drive.

I hope your installation goes better than mine! I am sure that you know about Xubuntu, but since you were able to at least get started in installing Ubuntu 8.04 you may be able to fully install Xubuntu. I could not get even the Live CD to operate for Ubuntu (I have a 5 year old computer with AMD 3100+ CPU, 500 MB memory, integrated sound and graphics).

cre8ivgil
July 27th, 2008, 06:33 PM
I've been working on my desktop for the past week and it always freezes at 15%, I'm using four different types of discs 2 CDr and 2 DVDr, all passed the MD5 checksum verification. I've installed to two different laptops and the installation was flawless. I have tried every suggestion I found on the web yet it freezes at 15%. I have two harddrives in my desktop one is for XP the other one is for linux. I had other distros on this drive before, and would reformat and repartition using gparted or parted magic before changing to a different distro. Hardy 8.04.1 is killing me I just can't figure this one out. I even disconnected the XP drive, remove all PCI add in cards, changed the memory chips and ran it with 512MB, 1GB and 2GB configurations, sometimes I use 1 memory chip other times I use 2 memory chips, I've used high density chips then low density chips, make changes to the bios to disable add on video and sound cards...yet it freezes at 15%. By the way XP works great...so the computer does work.

jr4902
August 2nd, 2008, 04:45 PM
I have been checking this, and other, "install freeze" threads. You may be interested in one posted by Apieroux April 27, 2008. It has resulted in a bug report being filed by Aleksey1977:
Re: Fresh install problems - freezing on format / copying files
The freeze also occurs for me in Intrepid Alpha 3.

I have submitted a bug report for the issue at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/253321

Hope it helps
Jim