2004.0 Won't Boot

[Igman]

HI, i i'm trying to install gentoo 2004.0 using the x-86universal cd (altough minimal dosen't work either), and i'm having a really hard time getting it to boot. Whenever i try booting into smp mode i just get a blank screen, and evan after leaving it for 10 minutes, it was still blank. Also, if i try booting into gentoo modes, it freezes while trying to start hde (my 120gb serial ata). I have tried it with both the do scsi and the noataraid option. Here are my system specs

Asus P4C800-E deluxe
Intel 2.8 c overclocked to 3.3
Radeon 9500 pro
3-com network card ( my intagrated dosen't work in linux)
Winfast 2000xp deluxe
Fujitsu 73 gig scsi ultra 320
120 gb seegate s-ata drive
Pioneer 16x dvd-rom drive
Lite 52-24-52 cd burner

If anyone could help me get my system installed i would be very appreciative

P.S. I downloaded the image 3 days ago from the indiana state mirror

[Twist]

You don't need SMP to install, boot the regular kernel. It may not be SMP in any case, I would recommend trying "gentoo-nofb", the framebuffer does have problems on some machines, and I've never understood why the live CD uses it, as the screen updates are so slow they affect your build times (nofb is faster).

it's also important to mention here that overclocking is not a good thing to do in particular during installs. First, gentoo and linux and in generally actually USES your processor, unlike Windows where you are almost always running generic i686 or pentium II (for XP) code. Very very often processor overclocks that work fine under Windows will fail quickly under linux. This is not a failure of the linux operating system.

Secondly, it is patently insane to drive your processor past its recommended tolerance when what the processor is doing is building your operating system from source code. This is just silly, you are dramatically increasing the chances of memory or processor error and that error could get baked right into the code you run for ages afterwards.

I overclock the hell out of my game machines - a P4 Extreme running at 3.7Ghz for instance - but my Gentoo Server runs at a nice, completely stable and within spec 3Ghz. Standard memory clocking, and I even use the stable as a rock but completely unconfigurable Intel motherboard for it. The 8% or so loss in potential top speed is more than compensated by the fact I know my webserver, RAID-5, and everything is else is running at its best chance for total stability.

[mudshark]

There are a few options here (based on my experience with a P4P800)

Firstly the freeze starting hde is because there is no SATA support in the gentoo (2.4) kernel. This kernel does boot when you disable SATA in the bios (go to IDE configuration and select Compatible Mode, your SATA then appears as PATA). Unfortunately you then lose one of the IDE buses, which may or may not matter.
You can always compile a new kernel with SATA support after installation and set the BIOS back to Enhanced Mode.

Or, you can leave Enhanced Mode on, and use the smp (2.6) kernel.
You can try "smp agpgart" or use the "smp-nofb" kernel, these should get your display working.
Also, I get errors with the PnP bios support (kernel panics with a "bad EIP value") - this can be fixed by passing "pnpbios=off" to the smp(-nofb) kernel.

As for the onboard LAN, it should work with the sk98lin driver. Last time I tried this on the livecd it crashed, but I'll have another look.
The latest sk98lin driver from http://www.syskonnect.de/syskonnect/support/driver/htm/sk98lin.htm is working beautifully in my slackware installation.
The 3c2000 driver supplied with the mobo is buggy, 3com has no updated drivers, apparently asus has a newer version available for download, but the asus.com.tw site has been down for the last couple of days.
_________________
(luvdave)

[mudshark]

OK, posting from the livecd now.
SATA enabled in the bios and booted with "smp agpgart pnpbios=off"
Once at the root prompt typed "modprobe sk98lin" and "net-setup eth1" (eth0 is IEE1398), chose DHCP and the onboard network is working.

Another thing to watch out for is that I get a lot off errors when "Turbo" is enabled in the bios. (under "Advanced|CPU Configuration|Performance Mode"). Weird thing here is that when I have turbo on Windows crashes unless I overclock the CPU. Freaky.
_________________
(luvdave)

[Igman]

hi, i was able to get my system fully booted ( thanks for the help ) and i started the install, but i accidently turned the power off from my power bar.
Now, whenever i try to boot into the live cd i get this message

[Igman]

Hi, i was thinking, the problem may be that i have smoething cached in my ram. Does anyone know how to clear the ram? Thanks a lot, iggy.