dell demension L933r stalled installation with 3.1 and too dark with 2.11.1

[ejames82]

recently i've had good luck with tinycore.  the first install had some difficulty, but since then, many have been successful, until today.

the computer is a dell dememnsion L933r.  it has a pentium III processor and 256mb ram. 

when i boot the tinycore 3.1 disk, here's what i read:

booting linux kernel 2.6.33-tinycore
checking boot options  done
starting udev daemon for hot plug support  done
scanning hard disk partitions to create /etc/fstab
setting language to C  done
setting time zone to UTC  done
possible swap partition(s)  enabled
loading tinycore extensions...hdc: DMA interrupt recovery
hdc: status timeout: status=0xd0 {busy}
hdc: possibly failed op code: 0xa0
hdc: drive not ready for comment

that's where it gets stuck.  the stick spins and spins.  it was only 20 minutes (then i hard killed it), but there was clearly something wrong.  i have two disks, and they are both md5 verified, but both disks did the same thing.
then i tried tinycore 2.11.1 (verified), and it did NOT get stuck.  it booted all the way to the desktop, but the screen was so dark, it is unuseable.  any adjustment (brightness, etc) was adjusted as bright as possible.  the monitor is a HP pavilion M70.

i was able to install another distro, just to prove that the hardware was capable, but i would rather have tinycore installed.

any direction or advice would be most appreciated.

[tinypoodle]

Is the console dark as well, or only X desktop?

[ejames82]

hi tinypoodle,

when you say "console", do you mean control panel?  i know in kde environment the terminal is called "konsole".
the X desktop is the default desktop.  that i definitely know, it's very dark.
anyway, everything is dark.

i took some pictures and hosted them at imageshack.


regular desktop

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/25/oct3001.jpg


with control panel

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1092/oct3002.jpg


with control panel and terminal

http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/7852/oct3003.jpg



thanks again.

[tinypoodle]

No, I meant on a virtual terminal.
As in hitting Ctrl+Alt+F1
Or when exiting X.

[ejames82]

no problem with the console.

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/7623/oct3a.jpg

when version 3.1 boots completely with the disk, the desktop display is great.  i'm going to try changing  cd-roms.  maybe the cd-rom is marginal.  barely good enough for the other distro and not quite good enough for this one.

thanks.

[tinypoodle]

Looks like an X issue then, is all I can say.

On a sidenote: you lack the firmware extension for your NIC to work  

[ejames82]

would a network card extension effect the bootup?

"loading tinycore extensions...hdc: DMA interrupt recovery"

i'm assuming this is the info you're referring to. 
the ethernet is onboard.  the card is dial-up, and it's not even used.  just every other computer that i've installed tinycore on had a dial-up card as well.  it's never interfered before.

maybe this is one time tinycore isn't going to work.  you can't win 'em all.

thanks tinypoodle.   

[tinypoodle]

No, sorry I referred to the output on your console, I don't think there is any relation, just that without firmware the NIC wouldn't work. And looks like ethernet to me, not dial-up.

[maro]

"loading tinycore extensions...hdc: DMA interrupt recovery"

I'm pretty sure those two messages are independent from each other. The 'Loading ...' part of the line is from '/etc/init.d/tc-config', but the 'hdc: DMA ...' is AFAIK an error or warning message from the kernel. Have a look in the 'dmesg' output, those messages should be there as well. They might be "surrounded" by other information, that did not make it to the console.

My hunch is that it is the old hardware. I've got a 10-year old notebook (Dell Latitude CPx) on which I can't boot TC 3.x at all. I've forgotten the exact messages, but they are somewhat similar. It's not even getting as far as running '/init'. I have just resigned myself to the fact that old HW can cause problems.

[ejames82]

tinypoodle,

now that i know what the name of that interface is...console, i have to admit i have been in the console at least a few times.  i should have considered the possibility that either i could use it's output to benefit me, or make changes to benefit me. 


maro,

"DMA ...' is AFAIK an error or warning message from the kernel. Have a look in the 'dmesg' output, those messages should be there as well."
that sounds great, can i run the dmesg command from the [crtrl+alt+f1] console?  i am unable to make it to the X desktop enviromnment.  this is the latest 3.1 tinycore.  tinycore 2.11.1 will get to the X desktop but is so dark it's unuseable.
"My hunch is that it is the old hardware. I've got a 10-year old notebook...I can't boot TC 3.x at all...It's not even getting as far as running '/init'"
init must be the driver/software information.  where you would review to see if hardware is getting recognized and configured.


thanks for the replies.

[ejames82]

i was able to boot up tinycore 3.1 with two other CD-rom decks (decks i had not tried yet).  so now i know i definitely have one malfunctioning/marginal CD-rom deck.  i know for sure that the malfunctioning/marginal deck will work for data exchange, but won't boot.
i'll try the 2.11.1 disk in these two decks as well.  i want to see if the desktop is dark using them.  i expect it to be dark, still, and it's probably a driver issue, but it will only take a few minutes to know for sure.


tinypoodle,
as you stated earlier, there is no internet connection.  i was hoping that with the new CD-rom the software would load, but it didn't.

[tinypoodle]

Expected. firmware.tcz is not included in base.

[ejames82]

tinypoodle,

i noticed another poster had the same trouble getting internet.

the question that begs to be asked is this: 
why is it that sometimes the internet works without intervention, and other times is doesn't?  this is the first time that it failed.  i would guess that it's all the different processor types that need to be considered/worked with (an astronomical number).  this is a pentirum III.  i can't specifically recall using a pentuium III, much less having success with it (getting internet with tinycore).

i haven't really had the luxury to actually try to fix this problem with due diligence, i had other obligations.  i have that out of the way now.  i'm going to put some effort into this.
i'll see if i can't find a way to capture the firmware.tcz on a flash drive and transpher it to the computer that needs it.
this is my idea of excitement.

thanks again.

[tinypoodle]

Processor is irrelevant.
It's the network card which requires firmware which TC has singled out from base into an extension.

[ejames82]

tinypoodle,

i was able to get the firmware.tgz on a flash drive, but installing it didn't work. 
i successfully mounted the flash drive and even verified that the file existed.

according to this:
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.com/Package+management+cheat+sheet
i decided this command to be appropriate:

tce-load -i pkg /mnt/sda1/firmware-2.6.29.1-tinycore.tgz

the first time i tried it as root.  the terminal's response:  don't run as root
the second time, not being root, the terminal's response:  pkg.tgz not found

i didn't think it would work anyway, but i found it very intrigueing nonetheless.

thanks tinypoodle