stage1 hangs before spash screen

LittleDan · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 10:05 pm Post subject: stage1 hangs before spash screen

I used the Minimal Install CD on my x86 computer. Though the hardware is usable, previously having Ubuntu intalled on it with no real problems, I'm not sure how reliable it is since it was built by someone selling it on EBay. When I boot into Gentoo, I'm always able to get the ISOLinux message to come up, but after that, resuts are inconsistent. Sometimes, I just get a blank line following it. Other times, I get a boot prompt. When I press enter, sometimes I just get a blank line. Other times, there are a series of dots. Very rarely, this series of dots is followed by a spash screen. The spash screen only does one thing here: it hangs. One of the times this happened, I looked at the console behind it and it had some message about not being able to mount any drive, with cdrom coming first. I'm unable to reproduce this, however. Does anyone have any advice or know what I should do to find and fis the problem(s)?

godish · n00b Joined: 05 Oct 2004 Posts: 50 Location: Boston MA

A few things i would try are...
1) Make sure you checksum the image that you downloaded. (The instructions are in the installation guide)
2) Burn the cd at a slower speed. (i generally dont burn above 24x)

If you are still having problems post back and ill give u some more stuff to try. But generally, reburning generally fixes wierd stuff.

LittleDan · Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:35 pm Post subject:

Apparently, the md5 sum was wrong and so I did fix it and reburn the CD at 8x. But now, I still have the same problem. BTW, most of the time, it goes to the part where I press enter at the boot prompt and it hangs after a blank line.

syg00 · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 12:59 am Post subject:

Instead of the default kernel, try "gentoo-nofb".
If that still fails, try adding "nodetect" as an option.

LittleDan · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 4:04 am Post subject:

Those still don't work. They have the same problem. For some reason, now it is more or less consistently hanging with a blank newline and no dots, whether or not I use the modified kernel.

syg00 · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 5:22 am Post subject:

Start checking the obvious - dodgy hardware.
I'd be looking at cables and cable connections; make sure they are sitting properly.

Where you're having problems is when it really starts to transfer data. Failing that, might be worth looking for another drive to test.

LittleDan · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 8:44 pm Post subject:

The internet connection definitely works. I've tested it with other OSes

syg00 · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:12 pm Post subject:

Nope, I meant the flat ribbon cable between the IDE connector and the back of the drive.

LittleDan · Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 11:39 pm Post subject:

OK, I tried pushing that in a little harder, and it felt like I was doing something, but the problem persists. The possibilities remain open that it should be pushed in still harder (but I don't want to break the thing, and it feels in) or that it was miswired altogether (but the CD drive works (sometimes) for other things), but I think it might be something else.