Install of Fedora 7 on Dell Poweredge 2300

Langdon Stevenson langdon at lindenrow.com.au
Mon Aug 20 11:03:17 UTC 2007


I thought I should post my solution to this issue for completeness.

Turns out that the firmware of the scsi card (Perc2/SC) required 
updating.  Once this was done I was able to get the installer to run.

The next problem I encountered was caused by the megaraid driver 
(required by older Perc RAID controllers) not being loaded by the 
installer.  Adding:

   linux noprobe

to the init string of the installer boot allowed me to manually select 
the correct megaraid driver.

The last issue encountered with the install was that the RAID setup (in 
the scsi card configuration had
to be changed from i2o to "mass storage".

Having done all of these things I have a working F7 install on a PE2300. 
  Nice machine that is doing a good job - even if it is getting a bit
long in the tooth.

Langdon


Langdon Stevenson wrote:
> Just wanted to update this issue: I have now successfully installed 
> Debian on this machine as well as Ubuntu.
> 
> I can find no information about the original problem via Google, and no 
> amount of prodding at bios and RAID settings helped.
> 
> I am at a loss as to how to proceed, unless someone who knows more about 
> the installer can give me any pointers.
> 
> Regards,
> Langdon
> 
> 
> Langdon Stevenson wrote:
>> I recently acquired a Dell Poweredge 2300 (256 megs RAM, 5 x 9 gig 
>> SCSI2 disks on RAID controller).
>>
>> I want to set it up for a friend as a low cost file/mail server.
>>
>> It does not have a DVD drive (and lacks any visible IDE ports), so I 
>> am limited to booting from a CD and installing over the network.
>>
>> I have downloaded the Fedora 7 Rescue iso, checked the iso, then 
>> burned it to a CD and tested the CD.  No problems with the media.
>>
>> I then attempted to install Fedora 7 on the server.
>>
>> The CD is detected and the machine boots to the install prompt (asking 
>> me if I want to install, recover, boot from disk etc).
>>
>> When I choose "graphical install", or "text mode install" I get the 
>> following output:
>>
>>
>> Loading /boot/vmlinuz........
>> Loading /boot/initrd.gz.......
>> Ready.
>> /boot/vmlinuz: attempted DOS system call
>> boot:
>>
>>
>> Then the install stops.  No activity after this.  Hitting enter 
>> returns me to the install prompt and I go around again.
>>
>>
>> I have downloaded the latest Ubuntu Server and am running the install 
>> at the moment to check if this is something to do with the hardware, 
>> or Fedora.  So far, no problems.  The server is currently finishing 
>> the install without any hiccups.
>>
>> So it seems that there is no (serious) problem with the hardware.
>>
>> Does anyone have any idea why the Fedora install hangs?
>>
>> Regards,
>> Langdon
>>




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