Linux installations halt with HP Z400

[lmlahti]

I got a new HP Z400 workstation with some extra hardware add-ons (6core processor etc). I updated the BIOS to the newest version 3.54 from HP website. I am now trying to install the RedHat (5.7) and SUSE (11.1) Linux distributions from HP website. I downloadd the ISO image from HP and burnt this on a CD-R disc. However, neither RedHat nor SUSE boots from the optical drive. This has to be something related to the ISO files since I am able to boot from optical drive with Ubuntu 11.10 without problems. However, the Ubuntu installation halts at a later point. Since HP supports SUSE and RedHat, I am asking here how to get forward in installing SUSE or RedHat on HP Z400? I noticed that in HP instructions there is mention of ""Disc 1"" and the ISO image. If I should first run the Disc 1 before booting from the ISO image, then where I can obtain the Disc 1? A quote from the instructions is below:

1. Burn the .iso file to CD-R bootable media. For example, on a Linux Workstation use the 'cdrecord' utility:
'cdrecord -v -eject speed=16 dev=2,0,0 filename.iso'
where dev= is the device address for the CD-ROM burner that comes from 'cdrecord --scanbus'.

2. Insert disc 1 from your Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (WS) box set and boot the HP Workstation.

3. When prompted at the end of the installation for additional software, insert the Driver CD that was created from the .iso file in this package.

4. Continue following prompts until the operating system is sucessfully installed.

[Matti_Kurkela]

> 2. Insert disc 1 from your Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (WS) box set and boot the HP Workstation.

> 3. When prompted at the end of the installation for additional software, insert the Driver CD that was created from the .iso file in this package.

The .iso image you got from HP is not the OS installation media. Neither RHEL 5.7 nor SuSE 11.1 will fit on a single CD. The installation media should be a number of CDs, or one or two DVDs. You should get them from RedHat or Novell, respectively.

What you got from HP is a Driver CD. Apparently, the installation can proceed well enough using the standard RHEL/SuSE media. The drivers on the Driver CD might provide e.g. updated display drivers so that the OS can use the display controller at full resolution and hardware acceleration; but during the basic OS installation, the unaccelerated standard resolutions provided by the built-in generic driver on the RHEL/SuSE media should be good enough. So the hardware-specific drivers and utilities will be added at the end of the installation, not at the beginning.