SME Server v5.1.2 on LH Plus 5/133

[Lindsay]

G'day all,
I'm trying to install SME Server v5.1.2 on an old LH Plus 5/133 that i've inherited. It came with OS2 installed. When I boot to the SME CD, it recognizes the bootable CD but then freezes at this prompt "SYSLINUX 1.48 1999-09-26 (blinking cursor)" but does not respond to the keyboard. After failing with SME I installed W2k to see what would happen, went fine but stuffed the boot sector/partition & stops access to the config utility partition.
I'd like to format the disk and start from scratch but I'm only experienced with windows desktops and don't know diddly about servers or linux but I gotta start somewhere. So, do I format & start from scratch? if so how what boot disk do I use & where do I get it??? Can I
I have flashed the bios to 4.05.15PE and updated the EISA config to v1.22.
tia
Lindsay

[Kodjo Agbenu]

Hi Lindsay,

First of all, could you explain exactly what SME is ? May be a Linux distro ?

Another thing : your prompt seems to indicate that you are using an old Linux distro :
SYSLINUX 1.48 1999-09-26

Try with a recent Linux distro (RedHat 7.1/7.2, SuSE 7.2/7.3, Mandrake 8.0/8.1/8.2). If it works, your SME distro probably have a problem with a peripheral (graphic card, keyboard, or any other component).

In my opinion, the EISA utility is not managed under Linux. It is not necessary to remove it, and I would suggest you to leave it untouched.

To change the partition layout, you can use a bootable Linux cdrom or floppy, with the disk partitioning utilities (fdisk, cfdisk) installed on it. However, it would probably a better idea to partition your hard disk during the intallation process, using the graphical utilities provided by your Linux distribution.

Do not hesitate to post further questions if you still have problems after this.

Good luck.

Kodjo

[Lindsay]

G'day Kodjo & others,
Thx u 4 reply.
Yes SME is a distro based on RH7.1 from http://www.e-smith.org/, it's a nice little package if u can install it, however it appears it can't be installed from a scsi cdrom, i've tried 3 different servers ... all scsi cd's, but installs easily from ide. Server software that doesn't install on a server (shrug).

Too late, I formatted it with an old version of dos. I'm hoping I can re-install the config partition with the Navigator CD when it arrives, Can I???

Thanks & tia,
Lindsay
P.S. Going to try Debian when the CD's arrive.