Problems with installing on Dell Dimension 3000

[RCheesley]

Hi folks,

A bit confused as my old un seems to have de-registered but ho hum, recreated the account!

I've successfully been using Kubuntu on both machines in our office, but we've just got another one - an old Dell Dimension 3000 - which I am trying to install this evening. It's a 32 bit, 80Gb IDE, 512Mb ram (normally have tons of the stuff lying around but could I find anything more than 256Mb tonight? Not a chance!).

I've had a problem with the disk which was burned at full speed, having errors - so re-burned the disk and got to the installer with splash/silent off, so I could watch it through. There were some sr0 errors at the start - I/O buffer illegal mode for this track - which I assume is relating to the disk drive. This is widely reported with this model and Ubuntu installations, but not found much about it with Kubuntu. The GUI installation went through fine only to bomb out at the end with an error about one of the packages being invalid. The installer then stops at this point,and on reboot just get a blank screen with a white cursor blinking.

Now trying to run the installer again to see if I can get past this problem.

Any other ideas?

Ruth

[dibl]

Re: Problems with installing on Dell Dimension 3000

If my memory is right, it was a Dimension 3000 that I installed Kubuntu on for my son in-law a couple years back. It came to me with a broken heatsink clamp and (not surprisingly) a fried CPU. I replaced the broken stuff then installed Kubuntu and Firefox and gave it back to them. My impression was, it is sloooowwwww. But he only uses it for the browser interface to a proprietary database, so it's fine for that.

I would advise trying the Alternate Install CD, if you're having issues with the Live CD. Burn it at the slowest available speed, and "DAO" mode if that is available.

[RCheesley]

Re: Problems with installing on Dell Dimension 3000

Thanks for the advice, I appear to have got it working - and yes, slooooooow, but will be upgrading the ram in a little while which should help it move along a bit faster!

I ended up going into the liveCD (i.e. boot into Kubuntu rather than install direct) and then click install, it seemed to work that way. I also disabled the onboard network card whcih others advised - will try re-enabling it later to see if it works.

There are some oddities which I suspect are relating to a lack of ram - windows seem to flicker when opened and sometimes don't appear (just a black square) until minimised and maximised and stuff is running mighty slow, but at least it's installed now!

Ruth

[dibl]

Re: Problems with installing on Dell Dimension 3000

In systemsettings make sure desktop effects are turned off. That little GPU doesn't have the guts to run it. You might want to install these packages: gtk2-engines gtk2-engines-oxygen gtk2-engines-qtcurve

[GrantStoner]

Re: Problems with installing on Dell Dimension 3000

For the future, DON'T burn the disks at full speed. If you're having errors on a disk you burned at full speed, chances are it's because you burned it at full speed. Every documentation says to burn installation media at the slowest speed possible - to avoid errors. If you did burn it at the slowest speed and still have errors, yes I'd say the Alternate CD is your best bet.

[67GTA]

Re: Problems with installing on Dell Dimension 3000

I'm wonder what the raster back end would run like on that GPU? I have an Intel i5, but the raster back end doubled my KDE speed and response time with the 3D effects turned on.