Real Weird Install problem

[Fone Phreaked]

ok, when I try to install Fedora, it will go fine into Anaconda, and let me partition and all that jazz, but when I actually start to install the packages, my computer does a very strange thing.

The case speaker will beep three times quickly, then shut off the monitor and Optimouse, when I switch the optimouse off of USB and back to PS/2 the mouse will stay lit.

The really strange part is that when you hit the case power button very quickly after monitor shutdown the monitor will come back. This happens about 5 times then the whole system freezes completely. So I have to do a hard reboot. Which kills my install.

This exact same problem happens to me when I try to install RedHat 9, and 8. and I'm at a loss. I've tried several different monitors, so it's not a problem with them, and my video card works fine for windows and everything else.


My system is this.

30 gig pri, 80 gig sec. HDs
AMD 2600 XP
Asus A7V8X-X mobo,
Geforce 4 440 w/ 128
and 512 dimm.
Standard CRT monitor, standard mouse, key.

[crackers]

Check the motherboard manual for what those "3 beeps" mean. I'll almost bet that you have a hardware malfunction, possibly over-heating. Or, the video card/mobo combination is not working. I had an Asus A7V8X that got fried when my GeForce 2 decided to short out. I got the three beeps and then... silence.

New motherboard, new graphics card. (I've got a A7V8X-X myself and it works just fine with RH 8, 9, and FC1.)

[edal]

Firstly, is your power supply OK ? The fact that your monitor and mouse die as soon as the CDROM ramps up the speed sound like a flaky PSU. Grab a meter from someone and measure the yellow (+12 volt) and red (+5 volt) connectors on a hard drive or CDROM. The black meter lead should be connected to either the chassis or the black lead on the same connector.

Next, make sure that your memory is OK. If memory serves (agghh, sorry) the first Fedora CD contains a copy of memtest86, run this for a couple of hours and make sure that none of your memory is flaky.

Try changing the IRQ of your IDE controller. It sounds as if things are dying as soon as the CDROM drive starts copying large amounts of data into either memory or your hard drive. You could also try changing things round in your system so that the hard drive is on the primary IDE channel and the CDROM is on the secondary.

Interesting problem, let us know how you get on.

Ed Almos
Budapest, Hungary

[Fone Phreaked]

So I tried that, tested the 550w PS w/ a digital multimeter and all of the other leads too, and still the same thing

I reinstalled Windows just to see if that would work and no problems there, which is odd. I don't think it's the transmission of the data, it handles large amounts very well.

And as for the Vid card, it recognizes the Geforce at boot, so I really don't know what to do.

[kyuso]

I had a similar problem a long time ago with Asus A7V8X and AMD Athlon XP processor. I ended up getting a good power supply and good fans.

Windows doesn't utilize computing resource that well, but linux happens to do processing at full utility, which sometimes touches the limits of the weakest components of the computer, especially with the heat dissipation in AMD Athlon XP (I heard the newer AMD CPUs are much cooler and there are better cooling methods with new motherboards). I never have problems since, although I occasionally clean up dust inside the fans so that they run optimally.