installing redhat 7.3 on a dell server

[cyborgxs]

hi

I recentlly bought a second hand dell poweredge 2200. I have been trying to install redhat 7.3 with little success. I get most of the way through the install process, until the point where redhat starts installing packages, then the computer crashes and restarts.

The server has a SCSI harddisk and CDROM couldd it be anything to do with this?

cheers

henry

[mdwatts]

Any error messages before it crashes?

Does the Dell meet the minimum requirements for Redhat 7.3?

[Infrastructure]

Maybe this link might help:

http://www.hypercomp.net/personnel/cmr/linux/

[cyborgxs]

Although the poweredge isn't on the list of compatible hardware the spec is above the minimum requirements:

PII 233
64MB RAM
2GB Harddisk

I checked the web page mentioned above, they had problems with the adaptec 7880 scsi controller, when installing RedHat 5.0. This is the same controller as I've got, but how can I install Redhat to get round this problem?

[cyborgxs]

The crash happens so fast that there isn t any time to see an error message, i've tried searching the redhat website for information about the 7880 controller.

[mdwatts]

I would think Redhat would have instructions on how to load a driver/module during the initial install.

See if you can find how to load the adaptec 7880 module during installation.

[mdwatts]

Have a look at this Caldera Knowledgebase article on loading modules during install (http://support.caldera.com/caldera/solution?11=010716-0023&130=0995322773&14=&2715=&15=&2716=&57=search&58=&2900=ELFwwoRbev&25=6&3=grub+module) as it may help with your installation.

[cyborgxs]

Redhat says it is loading the 7880 module during install, automagically, and it finds the harddisk fine. It lets me choose which packages to install, and how to partition the disk. I ve tried it several times, and it sometimes will get part way through installing the packages but it still always crashes.

[mdwatts]

Unless there is a error message, it is kinda hard to troubleshoot what the problem is.

Could be hardware related, bios settings or even bad install media.

Have you done any searches for your Dell model to see if anyone else has run into similiar problems?

Did you download and create the Redhat cd yourself and did you verify it is not corrupted?

[mingshun]

Originally posted by cyborgxs
The crash happens so fast that there isn t any time to see an error message, i've tried searching the redhat website for information about the 7880 controller.

Install it in text mode.
It is easier to capture the errors that way.

[cyborgxs]

Hi,

The discs I used are from Linux Emporium (a UK supplier), although they are the Threads!?! version. I ve tried installing in text mode and that seem s to have solved the problem, the installation went without a hitch..

Does this mean that the problem relates to the drivers for the graphics card? It does have a dell motherboard with on board graphics.

cheers

cyborgxs