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Mailing Lists: lists.debian.org > debian-user-digest > 07 > 110814.html (Request Expert lists.debian.org Support)

debian-user-digest Digest V2007 #2732

From: <debian-user-digest-request(at)lists.debian.org>
Date: Sat Nov 03 2007 - 09:54:11 EDT


Content-Type: text/plain

debian-user-digest Digest Volume 2007 : Issue 2732

Today's Topics: 

  Re: fglrx upgrade to 8.42.3           [ Davide Mancusi  ]
  Re: WINE under Lenny                  [ Sjoerd Hiemstra  ]
  I value your time :) - Re: Other ave  [ Augustin 
  Re: Installer stops (freezes) when s  [ Kamaraju S Kusumanchi <kamaraju@blu ]



Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2007 11:12:11 +0100


From: Davide Mancusi <arekfu@gmail.com>


To: debian-user@lists.debian.org


Subject: Re: fglrx upgrade to 8.42.3

Message-ID: <472C497B.9060605@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable


Jonathan Kaye ha scritto:

> Hi Davide,
> I've installed it and it's BRILLIANT!!!! Three cheers for ATI they've g=

ot it

> right!
> fgl_glxgears ran around 380fps under 8.39. Now, under 8.42 it's over 50=

0! So

> I'd say go for it.
> Cheers,
> Jonathan

        Thank you all for the feedback. I have tried to install the package=20
from the ATI website but I have the same problems (Jonathan =97 how did=20
you install it? Did you ask the installer to build a Debian package?).=20
Since I think I might have screwed up something with the diversions and=20
with symlinks in /usr/lib, I would be very grateful if anyone with a=20
working 8.42.3 installation could post the fglrx-related part of=20

/var/lib/dpkg/diversions and the output of
$ ls -l /usr/lib/libGL*
$ ls -l /emul/ia32/usr/lib/libGL*  (did I mention I'm on amd64?)

	Thanks again!


Davide


Do you need help?X

--=20


A tautology is a thing which is tautological.

--
Time flies like an arrow.  Fruit flies like a banana.


Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 11:32:16 +0100
From: Sjoerd Hiemstra <shiems146@kpnplanet.nl>
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: WINE under Lenny
Message-Id: <20071103113216.275ebfc7.shiems146@kpnplanet.nl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

On Fri, 2 Nov 2007 23:22:06 -0400 Carl Fink wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 01, 2007 at 08:10:22PM +0100, Sjoerd Hiemstra wrote:
> > On Thu, 1 Nov 2007 10:10:21 -0400 Carl Fink wrote:
> > > Is anyone having any luck with WINE?
> > 
> > Yes, I have a few programs running successfully with Wine on Lenny.
> 
> I'm going to have some time this weekend. Any suggestions on
> debugging the problem (aside from getting the Magic SysRq set up)?


Phew... I can only say that Lenny, as a whole, has always worked
without a glitch, even though it is called 'testing'.
Since a new installation of Debian, I've only used aptitude for every
install, upgrade and dist-upgrade, maybe that's what has helped to keep
the system error free.



Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2007 10:41:35 +0000
From: Joe <joe@jretrading.com>
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: risks of using net apps as a user in wheel or adm?
Message-ID: <fghj90$reo$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Andrew Sackville-West wrote:

> On Fri, Nov 02, 2007 at 09:29:51PM +0000, Joe wrote:

>> Microsoft Update and apt-get are probably as close as you get, and 
>> I wouldn't bet a large amount of money that either is 100% safe. One day MU 
>> will get hacked, and the whole world will collapse.
>>

> 
> wow, that's quite a comparison: Microsoft Update which will secretly
> upgrade stuff on the system even when explicitly told not to versus
> apt-get which must be explicitly told what to do and then asks "are
> you sure?" And I won't even go into the parts where you get to look at
> apt code...
> 
> Frankly I hope MU does get hacked (if it hasn't already) because some
> people need to learn some lessons, not the least of which is MS itself
> for releasing such tragically flawed software to begin with. 
> 
> Note though that I do not wish ill upon the poor users of this
> product... merely that the PTB's over there would get a clue (and yes
> I know many of them do have a clue, just not enough or the right ones).
> 


Ah, I wasn't comparing operational use, just the systems as being 
reasonably tamper-proof methods of delivering software from the original 
sources to the user. The vast majority of downloaded software comes from 
unidentifiable sources via paths which are relatively easily hacked.

The MU issue is simply one of monoculture, not software quality. If 90% 
of the world's PCs used apt-get daily, the repercussions of malware 
smuggled into major packages would be just as serious as an MU hack today.



Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 20:14:05 +0800
From: Augustin <beginner2005@masquilier.org>
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Cc: Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net>,
	"Douglas A. Tutty" <dtutty@porchlight.ca>,
	Raj Kiran Grandhi <grajkiran@gmail.com>
Subject: I value your time :)   - Re: Other avenues to get help
Message-Id: <200711032014.06466.beginner2005@masquilier.org>
Content-Type: text/plain;
  charset="utf-8"
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Hello again,

1) Thank you to all who replied both on the list and off list :)  See 
number 4) at the bottom for specific replies. 

2) I am glad that nobody took my post as a troll :) It was not 
intended that way. I truly appreciate the people who spend time 
answering question to so many users on this list. 

3) I value your time. I really do :)  As a proof, I can tell you the 
following story (which you don't need to read if you are short of 
time ;) ). 
Recently I installed Debian on my secondary, older computer. It didn't 
go without a hitch. Actually, whatever I tried, I ran into troubles.
I tried installing in different modes, and the system would hang up at 
different stages... but I could never complete the install. I didn't 
want to waste people's time, so each time I was tempted to post to 
this list asking for help, I remembered another think that I could 
check on my own, or something else that I could search on the 
internet, to see if someone had the same symptoms. 
At one stage, I even spent some time searching the internet to figure 
out how to calculate the md5 hash key of the *burned* CD, to make 
sure it was identical to the original iso (It was). 
After really many hours, I was getting crazy and I wanted to give up 
trying on my own, without your help. But, as previously, I thought 
about one more thing I could check on my own before bothering you. As 
luck would have it, I remembered that years before, I had burned a 
memtest boot CD. I booted the computer with it, and quickly found 
that one of my two memory sticks was terribly faulty (the computer 
had been serviced 2 weeks earlier, and the memory stick had probably 
either been damaged or improperly re-inserted into its slot). I 
removed the offending stick, and tried again... this time the 
installation went without a hitch :)

I spent the whole day, reusing and recycling every bit of knowledge I 
could gather from the documents and from the internet, trying alone 
for a whole day to solve my problem rather than spending any more of 
your time that is precious to me.

So, if today I come to you with this new hardware problem, it's 
because I have RTFM'ed and searched for a long time without finding a 
solution. This problem (I think it's been the same cause all along) 
has been recurring on this computers for years, and by now, I really 
need help to get to the end of it. If something is broken, I need to 
know what so that I can replace it. If I have a special chipset, I 
need to figure out which one. etc. 

4) Thanks for your replies. 
I will study all the avenues you offer, do more homework on my own, 
and come back to you with more precise questions. 

Ron: I am not sure there is a single LUG in the whole country where I 
live. I have been subscribed for years to all the country/language 
specific mailing lists I found but there is no traffic on them. But 
I'll check some more. :)

Douglas: I had a look at the installation manual, but I'll make sure 
to read all of it. I'll check debian-boot and do a report. Text mode 
and CLI is fine with me :) I'll try again to see if I can glean some 
more info.

Raj: I had checked the debug message in the F4 window, and searched 
the web with the information printed there. Others had experienced 
the same problems, but I have not found a solution that was valid in 
my case. I'll study the man pages and other docs to see what 'ps' 
does, what information I can glean from it and I'll come back to this 
list when I have this information. Thanks. 

With your help, I have more things to check and I'll do my bit and 
study what I need to in the next few days. 

Blessings,





-- 
Augustin
http://minguo.info/ better election methods
http://minguo.info/usa/ the USA FA/DP
Free Association with Delegable Proxy: an internet experiment in 
democracy. 



Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 17:47:21 +0530
From: "Siju George" <sgeorge.ml@gmail.com>
To: "Raj Kiran Grandhi" <grajkiran@gmail.com>
Cc: "Debian User" <debian-user@lists.debian.org>
Subject: Re: etch apt - Failed to fetch kernel, Size Mismatch error
Message-ID: <b713df2c0711030517xd4c4db7gb0e293c931158943@mail.gmail.com>
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> Inspect the output of

>

> $ apt-cache show linux-image-2.6.18-5-486 --no-all-versions

>

> and

>

> $ wget --spider \
> http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-image-2.6.18-5-486_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb

>

> Compare the "Size" field of apt-cache output with the "Length" field of
> wget output. They should match. (they do on my system)

>

Hi,

it matches on my system. yet I get the error messages.
Details below

===========================================================

xfsdc:~# apt-cache show linux-image-2.6.18-5-486 --no-all-versions
Package: linux-image-2.6.18-5-486
Priority: optional
Section: admin
Installed-Size: 47256
Maintainer: Debian Kernel Team <debian-kernel@lists.debian.org>
Architecture: i386
Source: linux-2.6
Version: 2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4
Provides: linux-image, linux-image-2.6, linux-modules-2.6.18-5-486
Depends: module-init-tools (>= 0.9.13), coreutils (>= 5.96),
initramfs-t
                                             ools (>= 0.55) | yaird
(>= 0.0.12-8) | linux-initramfs-tool
Pre-Depends: debconf (>= 0.2.17) | debconf-2.0
Suggests: linux-doc-2.6.18, grub (>= 0.97-3) | lilo (>= 19.1)
Conflicts: grub (<= 0.95+cvs20040624-17), initramfs-tools (<< 0.55),
yai
                                     rd (<< 0.0.12-8)
Filename: pool/updates/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-image-2.6.18-5-486_2.6.18.

                                 dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb
Size: 16170710
MD5sum: 9109283c0e49d2968b5f36af7958b671
SHA1: 8be3503b0d4e9d6e46ae1fe0c2a5abb5bddd17a9
SHA256: 3bf20902b50e0629bfabf5342ec8709479535447aee2bbacc6b69a3f5cfed469
Description: Linux 2.6.18 image on x86
 This package provides the binary image and pre-built loadable modules
f
                                   or
 Linux kernel 2.6.18 on x86 and compatible machines.
fsdc:~# wget --spider \

> http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-image-2                                                                                                         .6.18-5-486_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb

--16:58:43--  http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/l/linux-2.6/l


inux-image-2.6.18-5-486_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb
           => `linux-image-2.6.18-5-486_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb'
Resolving security.debian.org... 128.31.0.36, 212.211.132.32,
212.211.13
                                            2.250
Connecting to security.debian.org|128.31.0.36|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 1,61,70,710 (15M) [application/x-debian-package]
200 OK

fsdc:~# uname -a
Linux hifxfsdc 2.6.18-5-686 #1 SMP Wed Sep 26 17:54:59 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux
hifxfsdc:~# apt-get update
Get:1 http://security.debian.org etch/updates Release.gpg [189B]
Get:2 http://ftp.de.debian.org etch Release.gpg [378B]
Hit http://ftp.de.debian.org etch Release
Ign http://ftp.de.debian.org etch/main Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://ftp.de.debian.org etch/contrib Packages/DiffIndex
Get:3 http://security.debian.org etch/updates Release [22.5kB]
Hit http://ftp.de.debian.org etch/main Packages
Ign http://security.debian.org etch/updates/main Packages/DiffIndex
Hit http://ftp.de.debian.org etch/contrib Packages
Ign http://security.debian.org etch/updates/contrib Packages/DiffIndex
Hit http://security.debian.org etch/updates/main Packages
Hit http://security.debian.org etch/updates/contrib Packages
Fetched 22.6kB in 3s (5748B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
hifxfsdc:~# apt-get dist-upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  dhcp-client librpcsecgss3 linux-image-2.6.18-5-486 linux-image-2.6.18-5-686
4 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 32.5MB/32.6MB of archives.
After unpacking 24.6kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Get:1 http://security.debian.org etch/updates/main
linux-image-2.6.18-5-486 2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4 [16.2MB]
Get:2 http://security.debian.org etch/updates/main
linux-image-2.6.18-5-686 2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4 [16.3MB]
Fetched 652B in 1s (347B/s)
Failed to fetch
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-image-2.6.18-5-486_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb
 Size mismatch
Failed to fetch
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-image-2.6.18-5-686_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb
 Size mismatch
E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with
--fix-missing?
fsdc:~# uname -a
Linux fsdc 2.6.18-5-686 #1 SMP Wed Sep 26 17:54:59 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux
fsdc:~# wget --spider
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-image-2.6.18-5-686_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb
--17:01:44--  http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-image-2.6.18-5-686_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb
           => `linux-image-2.6.18-5-686_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb'
Resolving security.debian.org... 128.31.0.36, 212.211.132.32, 212.211.132.250
Connecting to security.debian.org|128.31.0.36|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 1,63,19,840 (16M) [application/x-debian-package]
200 OK

xfsdc:~# apt-cache show linux-image-2.6.18-5-686 --no-all-versions
Package: linux-image-2.6.18-5-686
Priority: optional
Section: admin
Installed-Size: 46860
Maintainer: Debian Kernel Team <debian-kernel@lists.debian.org>
Architecture: i386
Source: linux-2.6
Version: 2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4
Provides: linux-image, linux-image-2.6, linux-modules-2.6.18-5-686
Depends: module-init-tools (>= 0.9.13), coreutils (>= 5.96),
initramfs-tools (>= 0.55) | yaird (>= 0.0.12-8) | linux-initramfs-tool
Pre-Depends: debconf (>= 0.2.17) | debconf-2.0
Recommends: libc6-i686
Suggests: linux-doc-2.6.18, grub (>= 0.97-3) | lilo (>= 19.1)
Conflicts: grub (<= 0.95+cvs20040624-17), initramfs-tools (<< 0.55),
yaird (<< 0.0.12-8)
Filename: pool/updates/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-image-2.6.18-5-686_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb
Size: 16319840
MD5sum: 6b800f593454b8683d0f8cfd169fc96a
SHA1: 93c11f17b422b73a4828c45190b2258a480160ca
SHA256: 0a64fb619013c4b816e9aac5df67fb42a2b51ac4c0cc1a5aaa9b85afc96418da
Description: Linux 2.6.18 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
 This package provides the binary image and pre-built loadable modules for
 Linux kernel 2.6.18 on Pentium Pro/Celeron/Pentium II/Pentium III/Pentium
fsdc:~# wget --spider
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-image-2.6.18-5-686_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb
--17:02:37--  http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/l/linux-2.6/linux-image-2.6.18-5-686_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb
           => `linux-image-2.6.18-5-686_2.6.18.dfsg.1-13etch4_i386.deb'
Resolving security.debian.org... 128.31.0.36, 212.211.132.32, 212.211.132.250
Connecting to security.debian.org|128.31.0.36|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 1,63,19,840 (16M) [application/x-debian-package]
200 OK



> If you get different sizes, then delete all the cached package lists in
> /var/lib/apt/lists, run apt-get update and apt-get dist-upgrade again to
> see if it fixes the problem

>
>

I had problems running apt-get update too.
So I changed the repository and it is working fine now :-)

Thank you so much

Kind Regards

Siju



Date:  Sat, 03 Nov 2007 09:15:11 -0400
From: Kamaraju S Kusumanchi <kamaraju@bluebottle.com>
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject:  Re: Other avenues to get help
Message-ID:  <fghr3e$g4p$1@ger.gmane.org>
Content-Type:  text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding:  7Bit

Augustin wrote:

> 
> Besides this list, which other avenues exist where I could get expert
> advice?


Debian IRC ( http://www.debian.org/support ) is good if you like instant
answers. The downside is that your message is read by only couple of people
active on the IRC channel at that time.

Then there is forums.debian.net if you prefer the forum interface.

I like the mailing list interface of all the avenues, so I usually stick
with mailing lists than forums, IRC etc.,

hth
raju

-- 
Kamaraju S Kusumanchi
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/kk288/
http://malayamaarutham.blogspot.com/

Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 08:19:42 -0400
From: "Douglas A. Tutty" <dtutty@porchlight.ca>
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: risks of using net apps as a user in wheel or adm?
Message-ID: <20071103121942.GA6641@titan.hooton>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline

On Sat, Nov 03, 2007 at 10:41:35AM +0000, Joe wrote:

> Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
> >On Fri, Nov 02, 2007 at 09:29:51PM +0000, Joe wrote:
> >>Microsoft Update and apt-get are probably as close as you get, and 
> >>I wouldn't bet a large amount of money that either is 100% safe. One day 
> >>MU will get hacked, and the whole world will collapse.
> >>
> >
> >wow, that's quite a comparison: Microsoft Update which will secretly
> >upgrade stuff on the system even when explicitly told not to versus
> >apt-get which must be explicitly told what to do and then asks "are
> >you sure?" And I won't even go into the parts where you get to look at
> >apt code...
> >
> >Frankly I hope MU does get hacked (if it hasn't already) because some
> >people need to learn some lessons, not the least of which is MS itself
> >for releasing such tragically flawed software to begin with. 
> >
> >Note though that I do not wish ill upon the poor users of this
> >product... merely that the PTB's over there would get a clue (and yes
> >I know many of them do have a clue, just not enough or the right ones).
> >
> 
> Ah, I wasn't comparing operational use, just the systems as being 
> reasonably tamper-proof methods of delivering software from the original 
> sources to the user. The vast majority of downloaded software comes from 
> unidentifiable sources via paths which are relatively easily hacked.
> 
> The MU issue is simply one of monoculture, not software quality. If 90% 
> of the world's PCs used apt-get daily, the repercussions of malware 
> smuggled into major packages would be just as serious as an MU hack today.
> 


Right, but what about on a stock Debian system (no windows), using
iceweasel with javascript and flashplayer while a member of wheel, ssh,
adm, staff, and having important info and documents in one's home
directory?

Would it be better to have a separate user not a member of any special
groups (perhaps rdtutty instead of dtutty) then put a /home/rdtutty/uldl
directory owned rdtutty.dtutty and symlinked to /home/dtutty/uldl.  This
would facilitate file transfer of downloads (such as OS .iso's, pdf's,
etc)?

Would that fully protect my stuff, or is the whole box's security at
some risk having any user on a box run iceweasel, javascript, and flash?

Doug.



Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 08:48:42 -0400
From: "Douglas A. Tutty" <dtutty@porchlight.ca>
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: how to reinstall?
Message-ID: <20071103124842.GC6641@titan.hooton>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline

On Sat, Nov 03, 2007 at 04:09:57AM -0400, Kevin Mark wrote:

> On Fri, Nov 02, 2007 at 04:19:28PM -0700, Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
> > On Fri, Nov 02, 2007 at 11:22:17PM +0200, Andrei Popescu wrote:
> > > On Fri, Nov 02, 2007 at 02:29:29PM -0400, Kevin Mark wrote:
> > > 
> > > >   -  do 'dpkg --set-selections < mypackages' for setting packages
> > > >   -  do 'aptitude dselect-upgrade' to install all packages 
> > > 
> > > I always just run 'aptitude install' for this. Where is the 
> > > 'dselect-upgrade' action documented? A quick search through the man page 
> > > and the README didn't provide anything related.
> > 
> > its documented in apt-get. I don't know if it is in aptitude or not.
> > 
> 
>  I thought aptitude had that. I found the info in the debian-reference:
> -------------------
> http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/ch-package.en.html
> -------------------
> 6.4.9 Record/copy system configuration
> 
> To make a local copy of the package selection states:
> 
>      # dpkg --get-selections "*" >myselections   # or use \*
>      # debconf-get-selections > debconfsel.txt
> 
> "*" makes myselections include package entries for "purge" too.
> 
> You can transfer this file to another computer, and install it there
> with:
> 
>      # dselect update
>      # debconf-set-selections < debconfsel.txt
>      # dpkg --set-selections <myselections
>      # apt-get -u dselect-upgrade    # or dselect install


As part of my backup script, I run

# aptitude search '~i!~M' > apt_inst.sel

This gives a list of al pacakge installed (~i) that aren't (~!) marked
as automatically installed (~M) [in other words, manually installed].

Then to do a reinstall, I do a base (no tasks selected install), then
run aptitude and set things up so that it doesn't install recommends and
that only those packages that I want installed (from my list) are marked
for manual install.  Run 'g', 'g' to clean out the cruft of a base
instal I don't want (like locales) and change debconf to
debconf-english.  Then I start with some important-to-me things like mc
and lynx.  From there, I get things back in a few stages: text-mode,
exim, vim, then the big things like X, Konqueror, etc.

The actual time spent selecting things manually like that (based on my
list) is small, especially compared to the time aptitutde spends
downloading everything over dial-up.

Doug.


Do you need more help?X

Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 08:29:07 -0400
From: "Douglas A. Tutty" <dtutty@porchlight.ca>
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: Using backports after upgrade
Message-ID: <20071103122907.GB6641@titan.hooton>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline

On Fri, Nov 02, 2007 at 11:33:26PM -0400, John Fleming wrote:

> Hello - I was running Sarge with SpamAssassin upgrades from backports.org. 
> Then I upgraded to Etch.  I have backports in my sources.list, but I don't 
> seem to be getting SA updates.  (My SA is 3.1.7, and latest seems to be 
> 3.2.3)
> 
> Is there something about my upgrading from sarge to etch that could've 
> affected this?


I think that you may find that the SA upgrades have migrated to
debian-volatile.  Its a new official service for upgrades that are not
security-minded (as is security.debian.org) but that info changes (such
as virus and spam scanners).  If so, its just one more line in your
sources.list.

Doug.



Date:  Sat, 03 Nov 2007 09:35:07 -0400
From: Kamaraju S Kusumanchi <kamaraju@bluebottle.com>
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject:  Re: Installer stops (freezes) when scanning hardware
Message-ID:  <fghs8q$j95$1@ger.gmane.org>
Content-Type:  text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding:  7Bit

Augustin wrote:


> This machine is a desktop computer (7VT600P-RZ(-C) mainboard with VIA
> KT600 chipset). I think I have only mainstream hardware (this is no
> laptop!), yet I always have had some problems with it with different
> versions of different distros.


memtest - to check for bad memory.
badblocks - to check for bad blocks on the hard drive.
I dont know how check faults in other hardware other than replacing it with
a different one testing them.

Pop in a Knoppix CD and see if it detects any of these or related problems
before proceeding with Debian.


> 
> And right now, I can't install Debian (etch 4.0r1), although I have
> successfully installed Debian on my secondary (older) computer.
> 


Which image are you using? Are you using the net install image or the CDs
from Debian website or CDs supplied by a third party vendor ...? I would
suggest to use the latest net install image (of either stable or testing)
and see if you can overcome this hurdle.


> 
> Symptoms with Mandriva:
> -----------------------
> 
> 1) I managed to install it, but I had to disable harddrake (hardware
> scanning) at bootup because the bootup sequence would freeze
> otherwise.


Never heard of it. Could be Mandriva specific.


> 
> 2) I don't have problems with KDE applications, but with apps such as
> firefox, the gimp and the Mandriva Control Center (MCC) I always
> experience some problems that seem hardware related: MCC never works
> (maybe it scans hardware when we start it), and every morning, the
> *first* time I have to open the "save file as" dialog in firefox or
> gimp, the dialog and the whole app would freeze for a whole 10
> minutes! (when I need to save a file with gimp, I usually open the
> dialog box, go back to konqueror for browsing, then come back later
> when the app is unfrozen). But then, the second time works as it
> should.
> This seems to point to a problem with loading some IDE module /
> hardware access problem... I don't know.


Log files. Have you checked the appropriate log files for errors?
For X related problems, I would look into
~/.xsession-errors, /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Other log files of interest are /var/log/messages, /var/log/syslog etc.,

I don't know Mandriva follows the same convention in terms of file names,
but you get my drift...


> 
> 3) Most of the time, the system does not shut down completely cleanly:
> at the end of the kernel shutdown sequence, there are some messages
> about being unable to unmount /usr and /home because the resources
> are busy, yet I have never found the stray application that causes
> this.


What is the kernel? output of uname -a would be nice.


> 
> I am not completely sure that the above symptoms are relevant to the
> Debian install problem, but I include them in case they are...


To tell you the truth, I skipped your post initially since you were asking
problems related to Mandriva on a debian specific list. But looking at your
other post in different thread made me come back here and offer my 2 cents.


> I have tried several times, and the installer freezes for 5~10 minutes
> *several times* during the install sequence, when checking for the
> hardware. The F4 windown shows something either like:
> "hw-detect.hotplug: detected hotpluggable network interface eth0"
> or like:
> "missing modules ide-mod, id-probe-mod" etc. (I searched the web, but
> the conclusion seems to be that this is not actually tremendously
> relevant!)
> 
> 
> Then each time it asks me about entering some data related about
> pcmcia hardware (I enter nothing: as far as I could gather by
> searching the web, I don't need to).


Install the latest testing net install image. I remember seeing this kind of
errors with old installation images (not sure if it was sarge or etch).
Using the testing images overcame this problem.

First try to install it normally (that is just press enter at the prompt
instead of using the expert option) unless you really need the fine
control.


> 
> Then at the stage of looking for the partitions, the installer freezes
> one more time, and this time for good (I gave up waiting after 1
> hour).


Are you using SATA by any chance? I remember seeing similar issue with SATA
hard drives but the problem went away once I used the latest images.


> What options can I try when starting the install?
> I usually type "install expertgui". What Do I type instead?


Just press enter and let the installer do its magic.


hth
raju

-- 
Kamaraju S Kusumanchi
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/kk288/
http://malayamaarutham.blogspot.com/

End of debian-user-digest Digest V2007 Issue #2732
**************************************************

Received on Sat Nov  3 09:54:27 2007

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