Mandrake install on SCSI system

[Druid]

Ok, I have decided to take the plunge and install Mandrake Linux on my (second) PC.  It is an old system but should be OK for linux; AMD K6/2 300MHz, 96Mb RAM, Matrox Millenium graphics card, Adaptec AHA 1542 SCSI card, with SCSI cdrom, and 3 SCSI hard drives of 1GB each.  

I have the Mandrake CDs but I am having problems installing.  I have changed the bios to boot from CDRom, the SCSI controller is recognised, but I get a "Boot Failed" message.  Made a boot floppy, and booted from that, and I can get the Mandrake installer screen.

Then I get a dialogue box telling me "No CDROM device found".  Click OK, another dialogue that asks what device to use to gain SCSI access, so I scroll down the list to "aha1542.o", click OK.  Another dialogue box asks me to enter the paramaters to give to the kernel, and a flashing cursor next to the word "Options", and this is where I get stuck.  WTF do I type in here to let it continue.  I tried nothing, SCSI id of the CDRom, but I get a message that says "Insmod failed" then "No CDROM device found" and sends me back to the list of drivers. I have searched for a couple of hours for some ideas with no luck.  If anyone has any ideas....
Thanks

[voidmain]

I could be wrong but I think the "Boot From CDROM" in your BIOS may only apply to IDE devices.  Take a look at this link (the reference to "Adaptec 1542 on Mandrake 8.1):

http://www.mandrakeuser.org/docs/hardware/hbits4.html

This person apparently borrowed an ATAPI (IDE) CD rom to do the installation.

Now having said that, I seem to recall the 1542 having an option in it's BIOS (CTRL+A when you boot the system) where you can turn on boot from CD. Don't quote me on that though, you'll have to look through your Adaptec BIOS options.

I've installed RedHat on many SCSI server systems and have never had a problem, although it's been a long time since I touched a 1542 card.  Most of the new Dell servers you just stick the CD in the SCSI CD drive and you don't have to do anything special to install.  In fact RedHat would install booting from CD on servers where NT Server would not.  I found that very amusing...

Also, I believe your CD should be the last device on the SCSI chain and should be terminated.  Also make sure you do not have any SCSI ID conflicts.

[ February 10, 2002: Message edited by: VoidMain ]

[Druid]

Void Main,
Thanks for the link.  I borrowed the IDE CDRom from my Amiga and I have managed to install Mandrake.  When i did the first reboot and I got a load of commands (startup script executing?) and it hung at the line

kernel panic: No init found. Try passing init=option to kernel

a few lines before this is:

Loading aha1542 module
busybox: init_module: aha1542: No such device
ERROR: /bin/insmod exited abnormally

so i figure it is probably still a SCSI controller problem.
Any ideas?

Thanks

[voidmain]

Strange, I will do some research for you but in the mean time it sounds like the kernel is not autodetecting your SCSI card, you may have to pass it the IO address of your SCSI card on boot.  Follow the instructions from that link I mentioned in the last note for booting off your hard drive just like it said you had to do for booting from CD.  That is, when you first turn your computer on you should get either a LILO or a GRUB boot menu.  You can pass the IO address of your SCSI card to the kernel at that menu.  If this indeed successfully boots your installation you will need to add that information to the LILO or GRUB config file (and run /sbin/lilo if using LILO).  I can give you more details on this if passing the IO address is successful.

Example at boot menu command line:

linux aha1542=0x230,11,4,5

Depending on which boot loader you are using and what "label" you used for your Linux boot menu, you may need to replace the word "linux" in the above example with the label on your menu. If you have a "LILO:" prompt you can press the TAB key to see the label choices.

[ February 11, 2002: Message edited by: VoidMain ]

[Druid]

I have LILO set up to use a graphical interface, with a choice between LINUX, FAILSAFE or  FLOPPY.  By using a boot floppy I have been able to enter the IO of my SCSI card, as you suggested, but with exactly the same results.  I will try to find out if I need to change jumpers or dipswitches.

Must admit that my experience with linux has not been good so far, but the help I've received is much appreciated.

Thanks

[voidmain]

I don't know man... maybe try a different distro, like RedHat or SuSe.  I have had problems like that with Mandrake on other machines so.. And I assume you have no trouble installing Win* on this system?  If you have trouble with both Win* and Mandrake then you've got a problem with your hardware setup.

[Druid]

I tried turning off Plug n Pray, still no change.
I will try another distro - Red Hat, maybe?  Win98SE and Win2k both install and run fine so I know it's not a hardware problem.
Thanks again for your efforts.

[Druid]

Well, it seems like my adaptec 1542 was the problem after all.  I just replaced the scsi card with an adaptec 2940.  It booted the Mandrake install disk from the SCSI CDRom and installed with almost no problems.  I am typing this using Konqueror and Mandrake 8.1, connected to the net using a cable modem connected to my W2K box.

Right then, I'm off to explore this new OS.

Druid

[voidmain]

Way to go Druid.  Sorry I wasn't much help other than saying "I've used a 1542 before with no trouble".