Arch Linux

cole85

Member

Registered: 2007-08-28

Posts: 2

System won't load (help needed)

Hello!

I have a PIII 600 computer which I don't really need, but I decided to make any use of it with Archlinux. The problem is that even before I cleared my hard drive, the only thing I had been able to load on it was Windows ME in a safe mode (I don't know if that's the correct name for this mode, as I was using Polish language version).

But I managed to run the Arch installer using acpi=off option. Now, when I turn the computer on, I can see the Grub menu, but no matter what I choose, the system stops loading and just does nothing. I had the same sympthom when I used the installer without acpi=off option (or with any other).

Can anybody tell me, what kind of problem (I guess it's my hardware) do I have? Is there a way to run the system I have installed right now, maybe using command line in Grub?

Some additional info: I have 128MB SDRAM DIMM (Windows was saying it was 126, but my bios finds more than 131 000 bytes), SoundBlaster 128, nVidia Riva TNT2, 17-inch LCD working at 1280x1024, a PCI wifi card, a radio ISA card. I can't run Archie nor memtest.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Ramses de Norre

Member

From: Leuven - Belgium

Registered: 2007-03-27

Posts: 1,289

Re: System won't load (help needed)

Have you tried adding acpi=off or noacpi to the grub kernel line? In the grub menu you can press 'e' to edit an item, press enter and then 'b' to boot the modified entry.

cole85

Member

Registered: 2007-08-28

Posts: 2

Re: System won't load (help needed)

It works! Now I have the command line, what should I do to get xwindow (or sth) working? I have installed, as suggested, only the first package - should I run the installer from the CD again?

hussam

Member

Registered: 2006-03-26

Posts: 572

Website

Re: System won't load (help needed)

You don't need the installer cd anymore.
Just run: pacman -Sy xorg
This will install xorg. Later you can pacman -S kde or gnome or xfce or whatever you want to install.

Also if you needed acpi=off to boot, you can permanently add it to /boot/grub/menu.lst

Last edited by hussam (2007-08-28 19:32:19)

fwojciec

Member

Registered: 2007-05-20

Posts: 1,411

Re: System won't load (help needed)

Wiki is your friend - http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Main_Page

I do not mean to be mean, it's simply inefficient to try and answer all the questions you _will_ have while trying to configure Arch to your liking, especially since Wiki covers most of them, and covers them well.  If you come across a problem that's not covered in the wiki post here and we will definitely try and help you