Package: installation-reports Severity: normal INSTALL REPORT Debian-installer-version: http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/unstable/main/installer-i386/20031113/images/ using bootfloppy-image.img and floppy-image.img uname -a: Linux playpen 2.4.22-1-686 #6 Sat Oct 4 14:09:08 EST 2003 i686 GNU/Linux Date: Tue Nov 18 23:47:05 PST 2003 (This started about 7 PM) Method: Using daily build netboot images (14Nov03) to do a network install Machine: Intel ISP1100 platform with 440BX chipset Processor:Intel Celeron 433 Mhz Memory: 512 Mb Other: Intel Network, No CDROM or VGA capability Root Device: IBM 18 Gb SCSI on a Qlogic 1040 based HBA (qla1020 driver) Root Size/partition table: Root partition wound up being 350 Mb swap and the rest going into the '/' partition due to issues with trying to boot with grub a /boot partition. Disk /dev/sda: 18.3 GB, 18351959040 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2231 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 1 2188 17575078+ 83 Linux /dev/sda2 2189 2231 345397+ 82 Linux swap Output of lspci: 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (AGP disabled) (rev 03) 00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02) 00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01) 00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01) 00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02) 00:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 08) 00:0d.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 08) 00:0e.0 SCSI storage controller: QLogic Corp. ISP1020 Fast-wide SCSI (rev 05) Base System Installation Checklist: Initial boot worked: [O] Configure network HW: [O] Config network: [O] Detect CD: [E] Load installer modules: [O] Detect hard drives: [O] Partition hard drives: [E] Create file systems: [O] Mount partitions: [O] Install base system: [O] Install boot loader: [O] Reboot: [E] [O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it Comments/Problems: First off this install was ontop a headless 1U server with no VGA capable display. I used a cisco 2511 for a console. I did not have full access toa escape and control sequeces becuase of this and this caused alot of grief, but not all of this was the installer. The boot sequence went rather smooth. I ran into the inevitable bad floppy, but in the several boots I had to run, I never had a problem with the initial boot. The boot sequence came up and asked for my lang, with it defaulting to english. Detected my hardware including network, and configured it with DHCP. This was broke for me until this run, so I was happy. It went through loading installer modules and establishing the mirror. This is where I ran into the first problem, it started detecting the system hardware again becuase the installer wanted to load packages off the CDROM. This system does not have a CDROM. When I tried to get it to ignore that and say 'No' it stayed in that cycle of trying to discover the CDROM. I had to Manually configure the CDROM and then choose 'No'. At which point a red error screen came up complaining about no CDROM drives found on the system. I continued and I was placed on Detect CD on the main menu. I'll refer to this as the 'HW Detect and CDROM Error' becuase I got this sequences after almost every step through the install. Why do I have to have a CDROM to do a network install? Partitioning the hard drive. The Installer fail becuase it could not read the partition table on the drive. I had to initiate a shell and use cfdisk -z to zero out the partition table. Once that was done, I returned to the main installer. At which point I went through: 'HW Detect and CDROM Error' When I choose to partition the disk within the main installer, it worked as it should. This installer should really be able to handle unknown partition tables without having to resort to the shell. I completed this and returned to the main menu. 'HW Detect and CDROM Error' and back to step #3. During configure and Mounting partitions, things worked fine. Since I had a large root partition, it hung out for a while at a blank blue screen, I expected this, but some sort of status might be good for the general user. 'HW Detect and CDROM Error' and back to step #3. Installing base system was smooth 'HW Detect and CDROM Error' and back to step #3. Installing kernel was smooth as well. The system defaulted to i386 version of the kernel even though I have a i686 based system. I assume there is no logic behind that, but using the machine architecture would be a better and expected default. 'HW Detect and CDROM Error' and back to step #3. Grub Install This went smoothly. My only complaint here is that the verbage around choosing where to install grub is not intuitive. For someone not used to devfs or linux in general, it could cause problems. Also, I originally configured a /boot partition and set that as active. I am not sure what the proper way to do a config like this, but it broke grub on the reboot. This is a problem I have had for some time, but I thought I'd see if things had changed since redhat still seemed to do it that way. More on grub a little later. 'HW Detect and CDROM Error' and back to step #3. Finish and reboot. This went well till it was supposed to reboot. grub error 15 'file not found'. I had the grub menu, but I could not get it to boot off the kernel. root 17 Gb partition which was (hd0,1) and a 100 Mb /boot that was (hd0,0). Nothing I did worked, so I started the installer again. I tried to fix grub and spent time trying to rescue the system. This installer does not allow for rescues that easily. I seem to recall there is an escape sequences, but I don't know where it is and there was no mention of it, so on through the installer till: 'HW Detect and CDROM Error' and back to step #3. I reinstalled from scratch after trying to boot a coouple of times and wasting alot of time trying to figure out why grub was messing up. I repartitioned the disk to how it is now and reinstalled onto that. The install was a repeat of the above, but this configureation was able to reboot. I mentioned that I was on a serial console. I had to use the installer as a rescue again in order to get a shell so I could add the boot parameters back into the grub configuration file: console=ttyS0,9600n8. Could this not be saved from the inital boot parameters and applied to the config? Or at least ask about adding it? The ability to add these parmeters in could be critical in installs such as this. And since the first reboot is a critical configuration step (base-config), not having access like this could i potentially break the install. As for the seroal console interface, it was slow :) 9600 and painful becuase of the hitches with the detect CD. Since this was on a console of another system, I would get console messages from that system. The installer was pretty good about updating the display and keeping it readable. So, the display worked pretty well in that regard. In summary, I think the installer is getting smoother, but has yet a few major bugs to work out before it is ready for release. I am happy that the networking issue had been resolved from beta1. This install, while frustrating at times, was solveable, and progressed well. The last install I was able to make work 17 Oct was far scarier and left me with a system that was barely salvageable. This install completed and left me with a minimal system as I would expect. I saw a few things that looked pretty interesting within the installer, like possible future RAID capability that was exciting.
-- System Information: Debian Release: testing/unstable Architecture: i386 Kernel: Linux localhost 2.4.22-1-686 #6 Sat Oct 4 14:09:08 EST 2003 i686 Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
