PDA

View Full Version : [ubuntu] Computer restarts during install



Fischeja
July 3rd, 2008, 08:45 PM
Hi,

I recently bought a computer without an operating system on it and decided to try out Ubuntu. I booted from the LiveCD and selected install, but after the kernel loads and reaches 100% the computer restarts. I've attached a txt file of what I was able to get from the serial port. Sometimes the computer will not restart and just hang.

I thought maybe the CD was bad, but it works fine in other computers.

Thanks

Pumalite
July 3rd, 2008, 09:34 PM
Post your specs.

Fischeja
July 3rd, 2008, 11:28 PM
My specs are:

Pent 4 3GHz
2 GB ram
80 GB HD

Pumalite
July 3rd, 2008, 11:47 PM
Burn a new CD after doing md5sum on the iso. Burn at 4x or less. Don't use CD-RW.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto?highlight=%28burn%29%7C%28

Fischeja
July 3rd, 2008, 11:58 PM
Ok i'll try that and post the results.

jnw222
July 3rd, 2008, 11:58 PM
how old is it

maybe it is a bad cd drive

Pumalite
July 4th, 2008, 12:00 AM
Ok i'll try that and post the results.

Clean the lens in your burner too.

Fischeja
July 4th, 2008, 12:54 AM
how old is it

maybe it is a bad cd drive

I just bought the computer off of ebay. It's at least 3 years old. It's a Dell optiplex gx280

Fischeja
July 4th, 2008, 12:58 AM
I ran md5sum on the iso and it was fine. I also cleaned the lens and burned at 2x on a CD-R and the same thing is happening.

damis648
July 4th, 2008, 01:03 AM
I just bought the computer off of ebay. It's at least 3 years old. It's a Dell optiplex gx280

Hmm.... could be bad. If you have an extra CD drive lying around, try putting it in there and try with that drive. I am thinking it is a bad CD drive.

Fischeja
July 4th, 2008, 01:46 AM
Hmm.... could be bad. If you have an extra CD drive lying around, try putting it in there and try with that drive. I am thinking it is a bad CD drive.

I'll try to get a hold of one and post the results.

Fischeja
July 8th, 2008, 10:01 PM
Is it possible to boot from an external cd drive that connects via usb?

Pumalite
July 8th, 2008, 10:07 PM
Absolutely. There are several threads around that explain how to install to USB and boot from it.

upchucky
July 9th, 2008, 12:34 AM
there is no monitor, screen, or vid driver in his log, does the machine boot in live cd mode? if so the settings for that boot scroll by and you can get them then edit into xorg.conf Via the live cd editor.

Fischeja
July 9th, 2008, 01:45 AM
Unfortunately I still can't boot into live cd mode. I was able to create a bootable usb stick and I tested on another system and it worked fine. I then tried it on my system and I get the same results as booting from the cd (It restarts the computer after it loads the kernel).

Pumalite
July 9th, 2008, 02:42 AM
Memory? Graphics?

Fischeja
July 9th, 2008, 04:14 AM
Memory? Graphics?

I have 2GB memory. For graphics, I opened up the case and didn't see a video card. I have a slim optiplex gx280 and it only has two slots and they are both empty. I assume they are agp and pci express slots. So I'm guessing I'm running off of the onboard graphics.

Pumalite
July 9th, 2008, 01:06 PM
You should give the Alternate CD a try. (text based, easier to use, more control, it avoids possible hardware and/or/graphics problems.

Fischeja
July 10th, 2008, 03:23 AM
I tried the Alternate CD for Ubuntu 8.04, 7.10, and 7.04 and I got the same results. Ubuntu 8.04 restarted the computer while 7.10 and 7.04 just hung before any prompts came up.

Pumalite
July 10th, 2008, 12:36 PM
Here are some boot parameters to try:
http://www.hispafuentes.com/hf-doc/HOWTOs/BootPrompt-HOWTO-html/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html#toc1
http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/ch05s02.html
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html

http://grumpymole.blogspot.com/2007/05/ubuntu-how-to-edit-grub-boot-parameters.html
https://help.ubuntu.com/7.04/installation-guide/hppa/boot-parms.html
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/10-boot-time-parameters-you-should-know-about-the-linux-kernel.html
http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes
http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Kernel-parameters-2.6.11
noapic nolapic acpi=off irqpoll pci=noacpi pnpbios=off vga=0x317 vga=788 vga=789 vga=791 all_generic_ide
To be used alone or in different combinations.