Arch Linux

Nellux

Member

Registered: 2009-01-13

Posts: 5

Incapable of installing Arch on old PIII ThinkPad

I cannot complete the Arch installation on my ThinkPad. Everything is fine until I get to the configuration menu. Every config file is empty. I've tried re-writing them from scratch and then saving them, but Arch wouldn't let me save the files.

The first time this happened was with a CD burned at Max speed. I burned another one at the lowest speed DeepBurner allowed me to burn (16X) and I still had the same problem. I also tried to skip the configuration steps, and go directly to installing GRUB or LILO. As you might have guessed, that didn't work either: I was prompted with something like "Cannot find GRUB/LILO are you sure GRUB/LILO is installed?".

Any insights on how to fix this would be appreciated. Thank you.

*The laptop was running Windows XP yesterday, I used DBAN to wipe the disk.

PIII 700Mhz
128Mb RAM
12GB HDD
*

Last edited by Nellux (2009-01-13 20:41:20)

Nellux

Member

Registered: 2009-01-13

Posts: 5

Re: Incapable of installing Arch on old PIII ThinkPad

Before I download the arch ISO from another source and burn yet another CD-R, I'd just like to know if the problem could be solved otherwise...

Nellux

Member

Registered: 2009-01-13

Posts: 5

Re: Incapable of installing Arch on old PIII ThinkPad

Ok here's the deal:

I have downloaded a fresh copy of the newest Arch release from another source. I burned it at 1X with FireBurner, to make sure the burn was the best possible. I still get the same errors.

Nothing in the configuration files.

When I try to install GRUB/LILO: Error: Couldn't find /mnt/boot/grub/menu.lst. Is GRUB installed?

[EDIT] In the config menu, when I try to change the root password, my screen fills with this: chroot : cannot run command 'passwd' : No such file or directory. To remedy this, I have to Alt+F5, then exec /arch/setup then start again.

It's getting annoying... I already have used Archlinux and would love to be able to use it on this laptop.

Mhmm.

Also, could a moderator move this to Installation section, I think it would be more suited there. Thank you...

Last edited by Nellux (2009-01-13 20:06:26)

Nellux

Member

Registered: 2009-01-13

Posts: 5

Re: Incapable of installing Arch on old PIII ThinkPad

I thought the minimum RAM necessary to run Arch was 128, but according to this post it has changed to 192.

That could explain why I can access all of the configuration files manually on the CD (using the command line, not the installer) but I cannot save them.

[EDIT] Hmm.. I'm very sorry to change my mind again, but it seems that the real minimum RAM is 64MB, but the recommended RAM is 192MB.

Therefore, I'm still not sure what is the cause of my problem.

I mean, the computer SHOULD run it.

Last edited by Nellux (2009-01-13 20:42:38)

kludge

Member

Registered: 2008-08-03

Posts: 294

Re: Incapable of installing Arch on old PIII ThinkPad

When I try to install GRUB/LILO: Error: Couldn't find /mnt/boot/grub/menu.lst. Is GRUB installed?

been a long time since i did an install, but it sound to me like you're not creating/mounting either a /boot or / partition.

btw, i'm typing this on a thinkpad a21m.  that's a p3 800 (coppermine) that had 384 mb ram when i did the install.  i guarantee that arch will run--and beautifully--on your platform.

---

[23:00:16]    dr_kludge | i want to invent an olfactory human-computer interface, integrate it into the web standards, then produce my own forked browser.
[23:00:32]    dr_kludge | can you guess what i'd call it?
[23:01:16]    dr_kludge | nosilla.
[23:01:32]    dr_kludge | i really should be going to bed.  i'm giggling madly about that.

k.mandla

Member

From: Japan

Registered: 2006-05-16

Posts: 86

Website

Re: Incapable of installing Arch on old PIII ThinkPad

Would copying the files to the system via USB or another medium work? Maybe after installation boot to a live CD, mount the drive and paste them into place.

I'm not sure if that would solve your problem or not.

I've run Arch on systems with as little as 128Mb (sometimes lower), so it should be possible. I do have a couple of Thinkpads though, and one of them can't boot from a recent ISO (from August, I think?) and I ended up downloading 0.7.2 and making a biiig jump after installation. It worked though.

---

Linux user No. 409907

Nellux

Member

Registered: 2009-01-13

Posts: 5

Re: Incapable of installing Arch on old PIII ThinkPad

Hm.. I have four partitions: swap, /, /var, /home.

I have installed DSL for the moment (I HAD to be able to use that computer and it would not run XP anymore, froze all the time) but I will be trying again with Arch shortly.

When I set up my partitions, I did not put a Bootable flag on any of them. Should I put a bootable flag on the / partition?

Thank you very much!

Last edited by Nellux (2009-01-14 16:05:19)

Mr Green

Forum Fellow

From: U.K.

Registered: 2003-12-21

Posts: 5,896

Website

Re: Incapable of installing Arch on old PIII ThinkPad

I think you will need to make root bootable ...

Is root the first partition?

---

Mr Green

loosec

Member

Registered: 2007-03-08

Posts: 134

Re: Incapable of installing Arch on old PIII ThinkPad

Really sounds like the partitions were not properly mounted. That produces empty config files. Thinkpads are really cool, love them!

kanonmat

Member

From: Linköping, Sweden

Registered: 2008-10-30

Posts: 31

Re: Incapable of installing Arch on old PIII ThinkPad

I have the same problem; Empty confs, the chroot message spammed. I have installed from this cd (2008.06) before and I have 1536Mb RAM on this laptop.
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php? … 63#p533063 The first try at reinstall I didn't remove anything in / and the system was unusuable.

Everything exept /boot is on lvm and ext3 and I use the ftp/http install.
I didn't choose "make a new filesystem on this partition" for the / . I just removed everything from it first. I kept /boot and /home intact.
If I try to boot I get a kernel panic. For example there is no /etc.

/arch/setup says filesystems were successfully mounted and mount says / /boot and /home are mounted.
Three tries, same result.

Last edited by kanonmat (2009-04-22 22:58:15)

---

hp 6910p laptop // phenomII965, gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P mobo, 8600gt desktop.
Sometimes I play xonotic, sometimes I sleep.

MoonSwan

Member

From: Great White North

Registered: 2008-01-23

Posts: 881

Re: Incapable of installing Arch on old PIII ThinkPad

When you go to configure the system, you *must* click on every one and open it in Vi or nano, whichever editor you chose earlier.  The beginner's guide does not explicitly say that iirc but if you don't do it, you end up with empty configs.

*waves at Kanonmat*  I hope this helps you both!

kanonmat

Member

From: Linköping, Sweden

Registered: 2008-10-30

Posts: 31

Re: Incapable of installing Arch on old PIII ThinkPad

o/    Hello!
(Files were empty in vi.) hwdetect was the culprit. It is deprecated according to http://www.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch … 00322.html
I didn't read anything in the news about it. It should be mentioned there. Maybe installs are a bit harder now without hwdetect setting stuff up, I'm not sure what it did exactly.

So, there was no need for me to remove absolutely everything. ((I later failed to restore /boot,  rendering my debian partition unbootable and I accidentally removed the new arch kernel I just installed. After a reboot I had no swedish keymap, so - / & : were all in the wrong places and vi got confusing.))

Atleast the installer works 

---

hp 6910p laptop // phenomII965, gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P mobo, 8600gt desktop.
Sometimes I play xonotic, sometimes I sleep.