Topic: Installation from usb drive

[tlicht]

With all probability a daft question - otherwise I would have found an answer already... but:
I am trying to install v 8.1 on a new hard drive. Tried first from a dvd, but after the initial language and keyboard questions the install program could not find what it was looking for.... actually from three different DVDs, both i386 and x86_64.

So instead  installing from a USB memory stick created with Rufus... seems to be a similar problem. After the above mentioned questions the installation method is to be etabilished: of the given choices the Hard drive alternative seems most logical. Then comes the Select Partition dialog with /dev/sdb1 suggested and a line where the directory name for the images is expected.... None of the libraries on the flash drive including the root are accepted....

Then with the absurd idea that the installer actually wants the iso image in it's original format I copyy it onto the memory stick. That seems actually acceptable for a short while - but.... after starting anaconda a million (well not really, but MANY) error messages gives the option of entering a debugger... and there I don't have the faintest idea what to do.

Hardware: Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3 with G6950 and 4Gb DDR3 + a brand new 2 TB caviar red

Question: what am I doing wrong and how should I do it?

Thanx for your brain power 

[TerryF]

Have you checked the compatibility of your hardware?

Have had no issues installing SME 8.1 from an overburnt CD, DVD and a USB stick, are you sure your ISO is OK?

Added:  USB creation wiki HERE

[tlicht]

Thanx; yes and no.
I have had the 7.6 version running on this mobo for a couple of years - installed from a CD. The hard drive is new though.... I had the green Caviar before but since it started to have problems I bought the red Caviar instead which is said to be more suitable for a file server.

8.1 is too big for (my) CD so I burned it to a DVD with the above results.... same  - or very similar - problem with USB flash drive. I tried three different programs to make the bootable USB flash (Fedora Live USB Creator, UNetbootin and Rufus) with the same sad results - the installer doesn't seem to be able to find the relevant files.

Beginning to despair.... 

BTW: I did not state my mobo quite correctly earlier: it is a GA-H55M-DH2 - seems very similar to the one I wrote earlier though...

[stephdl]

2 ideas
-if the hard-drive was used by another system, erase it with dd and a live-cd

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx

-try to install another OS like centos5 and look if you can install it...maybe your problems before were not done by you HD but by your mobo.

You can do the two ideas both to ensure that you have eliminate the hardware issue.

[TerryF]

8.1 is too big for (my) CD so I burned it to a DVD with the above results.... same  - or very similar - problem with USB flash drive.

Again you can use the overburn function if present in your CD/DVD creation app to create a CD, ImgBurn has such a function.

the install program could not find what it was looking for.... actually from three different DVDs, both i386 and x86_64.
So instead  installing from a USB memory stick created with Rufus... seems to be a similar problem.

Similar or same? any chance of a screenshot of the error screen?

Basic Qs I know but what are your Mobos sata settings etc eg does it have raid settings.

[tlicht]

Thank you stephdl,
The hard drive is new....
Tested to install CentOS 6.5 which starts very much in the same way as the SME 8.1 - but while the SME install couldn't proceed past the Select Partition dialog, the CentOS did without problems.
I also tested the Linuxmint 17 cinnamon live CD without problems.

Since CentOS is HUGE I had to use another USB flash drive since the one I used for SME server is only 2 GB. I also used the larger one for the Linuxmint - so maybe the problem was the 2 GB USB flash drive?

Sad to say, using the large (16 GB) USB flash drive for SME did not solve the problem - stop after the Select Partition dialog as before.

I might be mistaken, but this seems to indicate that the SME installation (from USB and DVD) doesn't do a very good job...

[TerryF]

Tested to install CentOS 6.5 which starts very much in the same way as the SME 8.1 - but while the SME install couldn't proceed past the Select Partition dialog, the CentOS did without problems.

I might be mistaken, but this seems to indicate that the SME installation (from USB and DVD) doesn't do a very good job...

CentOS 6.5 is what SME9 is created from, CentOS 5.10 is where SME8.1 derives.

You could try a CentOS 5.10 install to check, don't use the full distro just the CD ISO.

Its just a matter of finding why your setup is being difficult, the many I and others have performed have all gone smoothly.

Maybe try SME9

[tlicht]

Thanks again TerryF,

My ImgBurn did not manage to fit smeserver-8.1-x86_64.iso onto a CD.... although overburning is checked....

The error is exactly the same for all tried media:
Device /dev/sdb1 does not appear to contain SME Server CDROM images.

I'll give CentOS 5.10 a go also... 

sme9 I imagine is still a work in progress, which is not really what I need just now.

[TerryF]

SME9 is at RC1 and quite mature, it is very close to release..there are some who currently use it in a production enviro although that is not recommended just yet

What sort of CD drive are you using (internal sata/external USB), I have had no probs burning CDs using ImgBurn and the overburn function theres something not right here

Lots of things come to mind some not so logical like maybe try a reseat of the sata cables (it is a sata drive yes?)

[tlicht]

Yes, I have a SATACD on the machine I use for burning.

CentOS 5.1 LiveCD didn't go down so well.... it hangs already from start at
vesamenu.c32:not a COM32R image

OK so I'll have a go at SME9 later today - it is almost 2 a.m. here, so I think I'll get some sleep 

Thank you for your kind help - I'll report back later (for me - tomorrow for you)

[TerryF]

You could try some of the install boot options see wiki [ur=http://wiki.contribs.org/Bootingl]HERE[/url]

In particular the 'sme noprobe' option..

[tlicht]

SME 9 is small enough to fit on a CD, so I burnt one and started it. First I let it check the CD - it was OK. Then I started a straight installation - no options. After a while anaconda reported Exception Occured:

very similar to the exceptions when trying to install 8.1 from a flash drive with the .iso added. The noprobe option might not have helped to avoid these....

Maybe I am not supposed to use the SME server anymore.... 

[guest22]

So instead  installing from a USB memory stick created with Rufus... seems to be a similar problem. After the above mentioned questions the installation method is to be etabilished: of the given choices the Hard drive alternative seems most logical. Then comes the Select Partition dialog with /dev/sdb1 suggested and a line where the directory name for the images is expected.... None of the libraries on the flash drive including the root are accepted....

Isn't this a known issue that recently got resolved for SME9, but has not found it's backport way to SME 8.X ?

[tlicht]

You are probably right!
I am now in the process of trying to install SME-9.0rc1-x86_64 from a usb flash and it seems to have passed the previous hurdles... but I see now that it hangs with Failed to activate storage MD_UUID, so still no working SME server.... 
Maybe there is some friendlier distro out there - I am only using the file server feature....

[tlicht]

...and after pressing the report error button the now quite familiar Exception Occured message box appears:

...not exactly the same errors as when booting from CD...