Red Hat ES 3.0 install on Proliant PL1600R

[Chris DePetro]

I am currently running Red Hat ES 2.1 on a Proliant PL1600R (PIII 500MHz, 640MB ram). I know the box is legacy, but it only runs our external DNS and private FTP.
I am trying to upgrade to ES 3.0, but after starting anaconda and detecting video and monitor, it just stalls. I had the same issue with RH9 when it was released, which is why I have ES 2.1.
Any help would be appreciated. I have already tried passing 'linux mem=640M' at boot, but no luck. Thanks in advance.

[Stuart Browne]

Try as I might, I can't come up with a memory configuration that would provide 640MB of RAM that would work in a 1600.. (512+64+16+8? doesn't sound very server-oriented to me!)

In any case, when it gets to this point, can you switch to the 2nd/3rd/4th vty (CTRL-ALT-F2/F3/F4), and see if any error messages are coming up there?

With RH installs, these VTY's show various debugging information, and might give us a clue as to what it is actually stalling on.

[Chris DePetro]

Thanks for the reminder. But the machine locks solid. None of the CTL-ALT combos work. Tried again, switching immediately after skipping CD check. Last message displayed from F3 term is "ddcprobe returned bogus values".
I had the same problem trying to install RH9 on this box. Maybe issue with XFree86 4.3 and the old Cyrus Logic video? Works fine with RHES 2.1 ( XFree86 4.1 ). Maybe time for a new server.

By the way. Memory config is 256+256+128.
NOT my doing. Box was inherited. Thanks.

[Stuart Browne]

Yup.. am stupid.. Couldn't come up with such a nice number.. *sigh* math skills abandoning me..

Anyway.

Try a purely text-based install then, at the boot prompt, simply type 'text'.

[Chris DePetro]

Already tried. It actually freezes before starting GUI.
Anaconda starts...video card detected...monitor detected...FREEZE.
Usually the mouse would be detected, then the GUI (or text) would follow.
No such luck tonight. I'll make another pass another night. Thanks.

[Stuart Browne]

Hrm.. Yovu'e tried unplugging the mouse, and turning off the PS2 port in the BIOS then?

[Andrey Tatarinov]

I have exactly the same Compaq server.
I managed to install the Red Hat 9 on this machine by providing the setup program with the following kernel parameters:

>linux NOFB NOUSB

Hope it helps in your case.

Andrey.