trying to install debian on new system

[keak]

HI there,
we just got a new system a couple days ago and are trying to install debian.

We downloaded the minimum network iso and burned it onto a cd.
It boots up just fine from the cd, and went through the menu to set the country, input language, etc.

But then we get to a page that says

you're installation CD-ROM couldn't be mounted. this probably means that the CD-ROM was not in the drive. If so  you can insert it and try again.

Try again to mount CD-ROM?

Does anyone have a good way to come around this issue?

Any help will be great

 

[RhythmAce]

It could be that it can't find the installer itself. On Red Hat, fedora and CentOS it is called anaconda. You may want to browse the cd and see what is on it.

 

[pentode]

I've had problems with Debian installer for non-standard CD-ROM interfaces. Is this is laptop?

What version of Debian are you installing?

 

[jstreich]

Sounds like a bad disk to me or it asked "Chose source for installation:" and you chose CD instead of net... Just an idea.

Your using the "businesscard" debian installer from the offical Debian site? If that doesn't work get the larger net CD, and if you run into trouble again boot with "rescue linux" and run debootstrap.

[plug=shameless]

http://game-master.us/phpx-3.4.0/

[/plug]

 

[keak]

I've tried all of these options.
We are still getting the errors. Is there any other ideas why this may be happening?

 

[jshurst]

Have you tried any other installations (Ubuntu), or perhaps just another CD? That will at least start narrowing it down.

J

 

[pentode]

What version of Debian are you trying to install - Sarge or Etch? I'd try downloading the larger netinstall version of Etch from the Daily builds.

There are some known problems with the RC1 etch installer that are being worked out. I just installed Etch on an old laptop yesterday using the large netinstall CD from the daily build. It worked well.

What type of machine and what type of CD drive?

You might try posting a question here:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?f=26

 

[keak]

I tried Fedora and it gave me the same error message.

I then went on and attached a old CD rom that know would have worked for sure; it booted up fine from the CD and I could chose the langues, country, etc, but then it gave me the same error messages saying that the CD drive cannot be found.

Is this more of a system issue than a hardware issue perhaps?

Kind of running out of ideas here to install linux successfully here ....

 

[pentode]

Does this machine have Windows on it now?

If so, you can install Debian directly from the Internet:

http://goodbye-microsoft.com/

 

[dragonforce]

see if you can boot up with a live cd (knoppix,gentoo live) and see if you get funny errors. if not copy the iso over onto the hard drive and change the installation source to the partition. eg /dev/hda1 or /dev/hdb1; what ever. see if that will help.

/*******************************

DragonForce
-Is it wrong to be strong
*******************************/

 

[gdvissch]

I have had this problem on different PC's when they have two cd-rom drives (or CD and dvd) it looks like after the boot it tries to mount the CD on the other cd or dvd drive...

What worked for me is after the boot when you get this message change the CD to the other drive and press the key to try again...

Strange but true (at least on my PC's)

CU
G.

 

[jstreich]

You could, if your adventurous, boot to a live distro (KNOPPIX/DSL/UBUNTU) CD and run debootstrap.

[plug=shameless]

http://game-master.us/phpx-3.4.0/

[/plug]