[Bug 218] New: Install hangs after 1st filesystem creation.

https://bugzilla.arklinux.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=218

           Summary: Install hangs after 1st filesystem creation.
           Product: Ark Linux
           Version: 1.0 alpha8
          Platform: i686 (PC, Intel)
        OS/Version: All
            Status: NEW
          Severity: High
           Affects: Overall Usability
         Component: Installer
        AssignedTo: [email protected]
        ReportedBy: [email protected]
         QAContact: [email protected]


Description of Problem:

After successful "Creating Linux Filesystem" step of install, get the following
messages and the system hangs hard (no mouse, no response to keyboard, including
ctrl-alt-f2, ctrl-alt-del, etc.) Installation type was the "install to empty
space" option (sorry, I forget your name for it).

------------- start of messages --------------------------------
mtrr: base(0xf9000000) is not aligned on a size(0x0000) boundary
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k char-major-4, errno = 2
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k char-major-4, errno = 2

installer exited.
installer failed (exited on signal):0
---------------- end of messages -------------------------------

System is a Dell Latitude CPi notebook, 128 MB RAM, 366 MHz PII, 20GB hard
drive, 3Com MegaHertz PCMCIA ethernet card. All hardware is in good shape, and
I've run several other versions of Linux on it.

Two things, for what they're worth:

I saw the mtrr: base(0xf90000000) message before one of the earlier screens
(before the language choice one, I think). I doubt it is part of this problem.

There are a bunch of spots where a character is blocked out by the color of the
graphic that is "behind" it. For example, the second kmod message in reality
looks like:

kmod  f iled to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -s char-major-4, err o = 2

The spaces from "kmod" "modprobe" are blue. The spaces in front of the "-s" and
"-k" are black, even though the screen behind them is blue. the remaining spaces
are white.  

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
Ark Linux 1.0 Alpha 8

How Reproducible:
Boot, select language (I used English (US), English keyboard, Chicago timezone),
select "use empty space" install. (Have to manually go re-delete the partition
each time, but before it tries to allocate the partition, the empty space gets
created.

I haven't been able to switch to an alternate console fast enough after the
filesystem is created. It locks up within a few seconds of the completion of the
filesystem format.

Actual Results:

System locks up hard. (Requires power switch to reboot -- no keyboard activity
is responded to, mouse is also ignored.)

Expected Results:

Next step in install process.

Additional Information:
      
Ok, played around with it some, and I can shed some additional light on it.

The mtrr: message I saw is the same one I saw earlier. The kmod: messages also
happened before the first graphic screen. What I'm seeing is messages that were
covered up by the graphics. (I'd say by X, but I rather suspect you're using
something else.) When the install dies it shifts partway back into text mode,
and the text becomes visible.

There were actually about four of those kmod messages (all alike), but I no
longer think they're related to the problem.

One possible problem: I am deleting partition 4 of 13 to give it space. I've
noticed on subsequent boots that it's only using part of the space, and it's
using it to create a swap partition. 

In fact, I'd bet money that's the problem: It cannot create another primary
partition, because all four have been allocated. It could create a logical
partition within the extended one, but there's no space there, and you can't use
space outside the extended partition for a logical partition _within_ the
extended one. Ergo, it can't create the necessary partition no matter what. (I'm
not too crazy about locking up the machine as a response to this problem, but I
understand why it's stuck.)

Recommended fix:

Smarten up the disk-allocation portion of the installer. My system already _has_
swap space, which it could have used. (It could ask first, to be polite.)

Another solution to the problem would have been to allocate all the available
space to one partition, and make the swap space a file within that partition. (I
know, that's frowned on for performance, but it's not really that big a problem,
and it would allow the install to continue.)

If your Installer and linuxrc files were scripts, I'd test this out myself, but
I'm afraid I'll have to wait until you get a fix in your stuff.

Let me know if you want me to keep my machine as is, so you'll have a test
platform for whatever fix you come up with. You can send me a corrected linuxrc
or installer, rather than having to wait until the next release -- I'm fairly
sure I know enough to rebuild the iso image, substituting the new one.



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