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Obsolete Releases => SME Server 7.x => Topic started by: groutley on May 13, 2006, 11:41:40 AM

Title: Cant Install sme 7
Post by: groutley on May 13, 2006, 11:41:40 AM

I've been running sme for a few years now.
one of the great benefits being that it will run on old hardware.

I finally decided its time I upgrade from my 6.01 Installation.
Been too scared too !  If it doesnt work email will be down, and no internet access.

I downloaded the v7RC2 and swapped the HDD in my SME machine to do a clean Build. and booted the CD.
Straight to disappointment !

I run sme on an oldish Laptop, and when I boot the v7rc2 CD I see some normal messages scroll past, and then the screen goes Haywire.
its an LCD screen.. and it just goes white and gets brighter and brighter.

I tried with an external monitor plugged in, and at the same point it clicks to "OUT OF RANGE"  and thats the end of the Install !

I realise that the hardware support is reliant on the CENTOS 4.3 support, and have verified the same issue occurs with an attempt to Install CENTOS4.3.
I now have 3 options..
 The Expensive update of hardware.
 Stick with the current SME
 Find out if Clarkconnect or a similar package works.

Unless someone has a suggestion that will get v7rc2 working on this hardware ?
I am considering attempting to note all the keystrokes required to perform the setup, so that I can Install Blindly, in a hope that once installed it may actually work !!

Can anybody help at all ?

Thanks

Title: Cant Install sme 7
Post by: dsemuk on May 13, 2006, 07:23:55 PM

Have you tried an external CRT monitor rather than rely upon the built in TFT screen?  May be enough to get SME installed.

Dave

Title: Cant Install sme 7
Post by: byte on May 13, 2006, 08:19:12 PM

How about trying, holding "shift" when booting from CD and typing

linux text

Does this work for you ?

Title: Cant Install sme 7
Post by: Mjohnson on May 13, 2006, 10:31:01 PM

I did an install on older hardware and did the following (Per Gordonr recommendation)"

- Installer built with i686 kernel. In order to install on i586 machines you will need to do the following:

1) Press shift while booting to get the boot menu.
2) Type "smei586" at the boot prompt.

Title: Cant Install sme 7
Post by: groutley on May 16, 2006, 09:04:30 AM

Thank you for the above suggestions..
 although none of them provided any joy.
No matter what I do the Install gets to a 'starting installer'
or something like that,
On a later machine you see the screen Blink at this point.
obviously the installer is switching mode from standard VGA,
which seems pretty silly for a text install !

Anyway,  I booted the CD on a later machine, and learnt the keystrokes up till the hdd format.
so..
Tab, Enter    <- to skip CD checking
Enter           <- to accept English language
Tab, Enter    <- to reformat hdd

from here I blindly hit, Enter, Tab and Enter
and the format appeared to start, and after a while the Copy of files from CD to the hd filesystem
Eventually the CD was ejected,  so I hit enter.

The system rebooted...  and while holding my breath !
  It Worked !!
So the sme build itself supports my machine,
it is just the installer itself  that doesn't !! (go figure!)

So now I am at the point of migrating the mail..

Any good ideas on how I migrate the mail from one HDD  to a different HDD on the same Physical Laptop ?
There is NO facility for both HDDs to be present at the same time.

Title: Cant Install sme 7
Post by: raem on May 16, 2006, 11:40:34 AM

groutley

You should post your problem and solution found to the Bigzilla bugtracker.
Maybe there is a problem that needs to be resolved.

Title: Cant Install sme 7
Post by: ldkeen on May 16, 2006, 12:30:35 PM

Does the laptop have USB ports? If so, you could purchase one of those cheap USB to ide adapters for about $30, connect the old drive up and use Charlie Brady's CopyFromDisk utility.
Lloyd