Recently I decided to try out Ubuntu (or Kubuntu), since it's Debian-based but with a faster release cycle. I ordered a couple of CDs, and they arrived in due course.
My new computer hardware also arrived today, and I put it together without too much trouble. Then I popped in the Kubuntu disk and started installation, which I thought would be pretty simple.
Not so much. I lost track of how many times I hit reset
after the Kubuntu installer froze, mostly while writing the partition table or formatting the disk. Eventually I managed to get the partition table written and then escaped to a shell. mke2fs froze once but then did manage to format the partitions after I rebooted again. On the next attempt with the GUI installer, I managed to get most of the way through copying files ... but it froze again at about 80%.
Honestly, I don't know whether the problem is hardware or software, but I'm leaning a bit toward software at this point. If it were a hard drive going this bad, this fast, I'd think it would be a bit more consistent. (For example, wouldn't formatting the same partition fail more consistently?)
Jeff's now downloading a Debian 4.0 (etch) net-installation CD image for me, and I'll give that a try tomorrow. I hope that turns out better.
Post a comment