From: Paul on
cisz wrote:
> "Paul" <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote in message
> news:hkt7dl$r8c$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
>
>> You could compare the following, to what you find, to see if there is
>> some significant difference.
>>
>> I booted a Knoppix 5.0.1 CD, and using the "dmesg" tool, and this is what
>> it reports
>> for my motherboard. I tried a later version of Knoppix, and it didn't dump
>> the
>> E820 reserved memory areas like this CD does. 0xA0000 is the hex
>> equivalent
>> of 640K, and in this case, the "0x9FC00 usable" is the 639K mark. So it
>> seems
>> virtually the entire DOS area is listed as available.
>>
>> The release date of Knoppix 5.0.1 is listed as "2 June 2006", so that
>> seems to be
>> a pretty close match for the "May 10" reported in the kernel message.
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoppix
>>
>> The other part of the BIOS communications to the OS, is the ACPI
>> information.
>> On an older motherboard, I suppose that could be missing, but then the
>> OS installation could not support ACPI power management if that was the
>> case.
>>
>> *******
>> Linux version 2.6.17 (root(a)Knoppix) (gcc version 4.0.4 20060507
>> (prerelease)
>> (Debian 4.0.3-3)) #4 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 10 13:53:45 CEST 2006
>>
>> BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
>> BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009fc00 (usable)
>> BIOS-e820: 000000000009fc00 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
>> BIOS-e820: 00000000000e6000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
>> BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000007ffb0000 (usable)
>> BIOS-e820: 000000007ffb0000 - 000000007ffc0000 (ACPI data)
>> BIOS-e820: 000000007ffc0000 - 000000007fff0000 (ACPI NVS)
>> BIOS-e820: 000000007fff0000 - 0000000080000000 (reserved)
>> BIOS-e820: 00000000fec00000 - 00000000fec01000 (reserved)
>> BIOS-e820: 00000000fee00000 - 00000000fee01000 (reserved)
>> BIOS-e820: 00000000ff380000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
>> 1151MB HIGHMEM available.
>> 896MB LOWMEM available.
>> found SMP MP-table at 000ff780
>> On node 0 totalpages: 524208
>> DMA zone: 4096 pages, LIFO batch:0
>> Normal zone: 225280 pages, LIFO batch:31
>> HighMem zone: 294832 pages, LIFO batch:31
>> DMI present.
>> ACPI: RSDP (v000 ACPIAM ) @ 0x000f8860
>> ACPI: RSDT (v001 A_M_I OEMRSDT 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0000
>> ACPI: FADT (v002 A M I OEMFACP 0x12000601 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0200
>> ACPI: MADT (v001 A_M_I OEMAPIC 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0390
>> ACPI: MCFG (v001 A_M_I OEMMCFG 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb0410
>> ACPI: OEMB (v001 A_M_I AMI_OEM 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffc0040
>> ACPI: AAFT (v001 A_M_I OEMAAFT 0x02000904 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x7ffb4fc0
>> ACPI: DSDT (v001 4CDS2 4CDS2213 0x00000213 INTL 0x02002026) @ 0x00000000
>> ACPI: PM-Timer IO Port: 0x808
>> ACPI: Local APIC address 0xfee00000
>> ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x01] lapic_id[0x00] enabled)
>> Processor #0 6:15 APIC version 20
>> ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x02] lapic_id[0x01] enabled)
>> Processor #1 6:15 APIC version 20
>> ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x03] lapic_id[0x82] disabled)
>> ACPI: LAPIC (acpi_id[0x04] lapic_id[0x83] disabled)
>> ACPI: IOAPIC (id[0x02] address[0xfec00000] gsi_base[0])
>> IOAPIC[0]: apic_id 2, version 3, address 0xfec00000, GSI 0-23
>> ACPI: IOAPIC (id[0x03] address[0xfecc0000] gsi_base[24])
>> IOAPIC[1]: apic_id 3, version 3, address 0xfecc0000, GSI 24-47
>> ACPI: INT_SRC_OVR (bus 0 bus_irq 0 global_irq 2 dfl dfl)
>> ACPI: INT_SRC_OVR (bus 0 bus_irq 9 global_irq 9 low level)
>> ACPI: IRQ0 used by override.
>> ACPI: IRQ2 used by override.
>> ACPI: IRQ9 used by override.
>> Enabling APIC mode: Flat. Using 2 I/O APICs
>> Using ACPI (MADT) for SMP configuration information
>> *******
>>
>> Anyway, that is as close as I can get, to understanding what the
>> BIOS is passing to the OS. And what may be preventing a normal
>> boot on your machine.
>>
>> Paul
>
> I was able to reformat the harddrive using gparted. I'll try doing the
> "dmesg" and check
> what it says.
>
> I was thinking of trying to install debian. (I've got debian on a different
> computer).
>

At this point, it would be nice if *something* would install. I don't know
if I have the skills to figure out what is wrong, based on the above. But
maybe something will be so grossly wrong, it will stand out.

Paul

From: cisz on

"Paul" <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote in message
news:hkulsb$oj5$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
> At this point, it would be nice if *something* would install. I don't know
> if I have the skills to figure out what is wrong, based on the above. But
> maybe something will be so grossly wrong, it will stand out.

As it turns out, the problem was the ethernet card itself. When I removed
it, I was able to install
win xp and the error message didn't appear. (Assuming there's nothing wrong
with the pci slot).

Now I need to find a new ethernet card that fits into this size case.
Gateway calls it a "st. charles flex case".
It's smaller than a desktop and larger than a laptop.


From: Paul on
cisz wrote:
> "Paul" <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote in message
> news:hkulsb$oj5$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
>> At this point, it would be nice if *something* would install. I don't know
>> if I have the skills to figure out what is wrong, based on the above. But
>> maybe something will be so grossly wrong, it will stand out.
>
> As it turns out, the problem was the ethernet card itself. When I removed
> it, I was able to install
> win xp and the error message didn't appear. (Assuming there's nothing wrong
> with the pci slot).
>
> Now I need to find a new ethernet card that fits into this size case.
> Gateway calls it a "st. charles flex case".
> It's smaller than a desktop and larger than a laptop.
>
>

PCI come in "regular height" and "low profile". I don't
know if there is anything smaller than low profile.

Here is a tiny one. This looks smaller than low profile. One
problem with products like that, is they may not include alternate
faceplates. Some low profile products, include two faceplates, and
you can install the faceplate that fits your computer case. If your
computer case is unusual, you may have trouble locating a good solution.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833156107

*******

The faceplate on a low profile PCI, is listed as 3.118" here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventional_PCI#Low-profile_.28half-height.29_card

This page, mentions the slot dimension of the St. Charles Flex case.

http://support.gateway.com/s/CASES/3500739/3500739faq16.shtml

"This case does not support full height expansion cards.
The expansion slots are approximately 3.25 inches in height"

So you may be looking for a low profile card, with the proper faceplate on it.
This one appears to have a low profile faceplate. And it likely has
an Intel LAN chip on it. The two slots cut in the edge card, means
the card can run in 3.3V or 5V motherboard buses. (All my desktops
here are keyed for 5V.)

Intel PWLA8391GTL 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI PRO/1000 GT Low Profile Desktop Adapter 1 x RJ45 - $29
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16833106122

Paul