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[majinzero]

I'm trying to get this on a nigh 10 year old laptop.

366 Mhz, 128 RAM 10 gig HDD.

I format 3 partions, swap, /, and home.

The install gets as far as completing the package install, but then I just have a completely black screen.

Is the install bombing out? What could be going wrong?

[newt]

Is your / (root) directory set as active?  Did you install lilo to the mbr?  And, is / the first partition on your system?

[majinzero]

Is your / (root) directory set as active?  Did you install lilo to the mbr?  And, is / the first partition on your system?

Honestly don't know what you mean by "active" no, I had the swap as the first partion, and I didn't get as far as the lilo install.

[newt]

By 'active' I meant bootable - an option that's available during partitioning.  Sorry about that.

Also, I assumed you were using VL 5.8 Standard Gold, but that could be an erroneous assumption.  Which release are you installing?

Last, I interpreted 'completing the package install' to mean that you finished installing and upon reboot all you received as a black/blank screen - another bad ASSumption on my part.

I think that a bit more information on the vl release, your partition scheme, and graphics card may help.

[lagagnon]

In my experience that sort of thing is usually the result of:

1) the / partition is not large enough: it needs to be 2.2GB at least for VL5.8 Standard (I am assuming you are installing VLstandard?).
2) a faulty hard disk
3) bad memory chip
4) something else wrong with your partitioning.

Go back into the installer, on the second screen choose "Exit (bailout to the shell)". Type "fdisk -l" and post the results of that to this thread and perhaps we can help you. Also watch the kernel messages at the beginning of the install - watch for any possible error messages associated with your hard drive (hda).


EDIT!!!: The other thing is it could be just your BIOS blanking out your screen, depending on how your ACPI is set up in BIOS. Press the Shift key when your screen goes black. Does that help?

[majinzero]

I'm using the standard install, and the hardware is all good, I have Xubuntu up and running fine on it. I did not make the / bootable is all.

I'll make sure to make / bootable and I think that'll fix it.

[majinzero]

Ok.

I made my / partition bootable, and the first partition on the disk, and the same thing happens.

After installing the packages; it just gives me a completely black screen. Doesn't move on the the next part of the install process.

[majinzero]

ah-ha!

you have to go in and install lilo after all this; kinda counter intuitive that lilo isn't installed as part of the "install" proccess.

But got lilo on here, and the install continued, and I'm now at the desk top

[lagagnon]

kinda counter intuitive that lilo isn't installed as part of the "install" proccess.

Yes it is. You must have missed it.