Arch Linux

grazie

Member

Registered: 2007-02-14

Posts: 6

Installion problems on multi distro machine [solved]

Started with 0.7.2 i686, but had problems with that so I was advised to try 0.8. Just downloaded base-0.8-beta1-20070122-i686.iso image. Mdsum5 and burn verify no problem. However, I'm having lots of bother getting it installed on a machine containing other distros. So I tried installing on VMWare and had no problems whatsoever with either with the iso image or the burnt CD.

I had to use ide-legacy to boot the real machine. As the disk was already prepared I went straight to option 3. Set Filesystem Mountpoints and set the swap (overwrite), / (ext3/overwrite) and boot (ext2/no overwrite) partitions. Then on selecting all base packages I get I get error

checking package integrity...error: archive kernel-headers-2.6.19

Package installation failed

Continued with 4. configure system anyway and a get a load of mount point errors and the chroot fails. When I edit (vim) the list of configuration files, they're all empty and if I try to add anything I get error E212: Can't open file for writing. Obviously I can't set the password either.

So I thought I'd try the ftp base installl. The network set up was fine. Instead of the above package integrity error, I get

error: the following file conflicts were found :
  grub: /mnt/boot/grub/menu.lst: exists in filesystem

errors occured, no packages were upgraded

Package installation failed

Also I get a load of errors on trying to install the kernel, but at least there was no package corruption.

I tried both methods a number of times. With the CD install I sometimes get more CD errors. With ftp base install I get exactly the same problems. I also tried preparing the disk within the install using cfdisk. However, when I deleted /dev/hda10 and created a new one, cdfisk wanted to rename most of the other partitions, so i didn't go ahead with that. I've seen this problem with cfdisk before.

I know I could move the virtual machine to the real machine, but I rather not have the hassle. Anyone got some workarounds?

Last edited by grazie (2007-02-18 16:43:40)

mutlu_inek

Member

From: all over the place

Registered: 2006-11-18

Posts: 684

Re: Installion problems on multi distro machine [solved]

3. Set Filesystem Mountpoints and set the swap (overwrite), / (ext3/overwrite) and boot (ext2/no overwrite) partitions.

What do you mean by "overwrite"? Formatting?

All the errors you are writing about have to do with the /boot partition. Maybe your designated /boot partition is corrupted (or not actually ext2)? Maybe you should try formatting it.

when I deleted /dev/hda10 and created a new one, cdfisk wanted to rename most of the other partitions, so i didn't go ahead with that. I've seen this problem with cfdisk before.

The partition naming/numbering sheme is ordered. If you delete a partition and then re-create it, it will have the same name. If you just delete it, names of partitions with higher numbers will change. That is not cfdisk specific, not even Linux-specific.

Last edited by mutlu_inek (2007-02-17 03:13:15)

grazie

Member

Registered: 2007-02-14

Posts: 6

Re: Installion problems on multi distro machine [solved]

Thanks for your reply mutlu_inek.

What do you mean by "overwrite"? Formatting?

Yes the installer gives the option to format or not, selected partitions during the installation. The app uses the terms overwrite/no overwrite.

Maybe your designated /boot partition is corrupted (or not actually ext2)? Maybe you should try formatting it.

The /boot partition was ext2 and I wasn't aware of any corruption. The fsck check on booting was fine and no other distro was having problems. However, removing the kernels and config files or reformatting the /boot partition seemed like good option that I hadn't yet tried. I backed up the partition and allowed the installer to format/overwrite it during the install. This fixed all the problems.

The partition naming/numbering sheme is ordered. If you delete a partition and then re-create it, it will have the same name. If you just delete it, names of partitions with higher numbers will change. That is not cfdisk specific, not even Linux-specific.

My disk has 10 partitions. Within cfdisk I deleted /dev/hda10 created and recreated it. However, rather than getting a new /dev/hda10 the partition was designated /dev/hda7 with the original 7, 8 and 9 all reassigned. I'd say this was a bug.