Linux is a No-Go on My System :(

[jsimmons]

Also, had you tried flashing the BIOS or taking any other steps?

The BIOS is already at the latest version. Nothing to flash.

[jsimmons]

Dude, have you tried Xubuntu? Try the alternate install iso, as the graphical one has a glitch that prevents a complete install. If it still fails, then your PC officially doesn't want any *Buntu installed and you should look at another distro (Arch, Slax, SUSE etc.)

Dude, that's the only one I haven't tried, and I'm not inclined to try when all the rest (including, as already stated, the alternate installs) have failed miserably.

At this point, I think the motherboard is toast (well, maybe not toast, but certainly incompatible with Linux in its current state), and I'm trying to decide if a) Linux is worth this much hassle right now, and b)if I decide to get a new motherboard, do I get another copy of the one I have, or a different brand. There are pros and cons no matter which way I decide:

1) If I get another Asrock 939Dual, I don't have to reinstall Windows on my other drive, and it might allow me to install Linux, but as we all know - if you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.

2) If I get a different brand (considering a Gigabyte board), Linux compatibility might improve, but I'd have to reinstall Windows (and that's a freakin hassle).

I don't want to buy another Asrock just to find out that it's just plain not compatible, and I don't want to get a different brand because i'd have to reinstall windows. It looks like I'm stuck between ASRock and a hard place. (I love puns .)

[Michael]

jsimmons,

What did you end up trying? Any successes yet?

~ Michael

[jsimmons]

jsimmons,

What did you end up trying? Any successes yet?

~ Michael

As far as hardware, nothing yet. With the impending price decrease on 939 chips, I'm gonna upgrade to a faster (dual core) CPU, so I decided to wait to order a new motherboard so that I'd get everything at once. Once I get the new motherboard, I'll RMA the existing one (it's always nice to have a backup motherboard laying around).

I've pretty much decided that I don't want to reinstall Windows yet again, so I'm just going to go ahead and get another ASROCK 939Dual Sata2. If it doesn't work with the new board, I guess I'm gonna have to wait for a new version of Ubuntu to be released, and try again.

[jsimmons]

Ordered a new m/b (the same brand/model) a shiney new 4200 X2 ($199!!), and another GB of Patriot XBLK RAM from egghead this morning. Should get them next week, so we'll see if the new M/B fixes my install problems.

Silver lining: If nothing else, Linux will fail to install at a faster pace.

[jsimmons]

Well crap - it still won't install...

[Michael]

Same problem, or what challenge are you now facing?

[jsimmons]

Same problem, or what challenge are you now facing?

It stopped at "Completely removed ntfsprogs" (the progress bar stuck at 97%). This is just one of the places it might hang during install...

Tomorrow, I'll try installing windows on the drive to see if that works. That will at least rule out the drive being bad. If Windows Installs, I'll try installing Linux in a dual boot setup on that drive. It'll be downright dirty shame to give up so much hard drive space (by having a windows partition) just to make it work...

The new motherboard came with bios v1.9 on it, and i'm almost positive that flashing it to 2.1 won't help/matter.

My question is how in the hell did Phoronix get Linux installed on this motherboard because it sure ain't workin' for me.

[Michael]

My question is how in the hell did Phoronix get Linux installed on this motherboard because it sure ain't workin' for me.

Fedora Core 4 and Fedora Core 5 with Anaconda had installed without fault using that ASRock motherboard. Perhaps there is some other compatibility conflict with your system?

[1c3d0g]

jsimmons: I think you should at least try out a live CD first (like Slax) and see if it boots into a GUI. There may be something fundamentally wrong with your PC that makes it unable to run Linux.