Extremely slow installation

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macNCheeseB
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Re: Extremely slow installation

Post by macNCheeseB » 2019/09/09 13:55:52

hunter86_bg wrote:
2019/09/08 13:33:08
I have an odd question.
Have you tried to install on different hardware and then boot the last grub menu option on this atom board ?
I do have another machine with CentOS on an Atom E3930. I might try this approach if nothing else than to see if CentOS works if installed.

macNCheeseB
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Re: Extremely slow installation

Post by macNCheeseB » 2019/09/09 13:58:40

TrevorH wrote:
2019/09/08 14:50:47
That google I said to try... well I got time enough to try it so here are some suggestions:

"disabling the high precision event timer in the legacy settings of the BIOS"
passing clocksource= on the kernel command line - jiffies|acpi_pm|hpet|tsc
intel_pstate=disable (or disable power management in the BIOS)

I'd also add the "usual" suspects like noapic noacpi nosmp intel_iommu=off nox2apic (tried one at a time)
I looked for anything like those settings in the BIOS without any luck.

Can I add the kernel options to the install startup? Remember I don't have a successful installation yet, it fails before I can even get to the menu for install.

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TrevorH
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Re: Extremely slow installation

Post by TrevorH » 2019/09/09 14:30:40

Depending on whether you're booting in legacy BIOS mode or UEFI you either press tab when you see the initial boot menu or you press 'e'. Legacy BIOS uses syslinux and UEFI uses grub for the menu. In either case, highlight the option you aim to take first then hit the correct key and then you can edit the kernel command line. While you're there I'd also recommend removing the word "quiet" from it to get as much info as possible about what's going on.

You can disable the high precision timer stuff from the kernel command line using hpet=off though a BIOS setting might be a better way to do it.
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

macNCheeseB
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Re: Extremely slow installation

Post by macNCheeseB » 2019/09/09 16:41:27

Ok, I have gotten further. The install gets through all the start-up stuff with out error on the normal install selection but then goes to a blank screen. I've been reading that that could just be a video problem and to try basic graphical installation. If I choose that option, I have always ended in a dead pane. So, I am trying the text install next. Adding "inst.text" to the standard install option and see how that goes.

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TrevorH
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Re: Extremely slow installation

Post by TrevorH » 2019/09/09 17:35:42

You don't want to use a text install as it's too crippled to be of any use. There's no package selection, no partitioning. You get what you're given and it's not nice.
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

macNCheeseB
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Re: Extremely slow installation

Post by macNCheeseB » 2019/09/09 19:55:50

TrevorH wrote:
2019/09/09 17:35:42
You don't want to use a text install as it's too crippled to be of any use. There's no package selection, no partitioning. You get what you're given and it's not nice.
Even that would have been ok to at least get things started. I tried that option and got to a blank page with a blinking cursor that stared at me for an hour before I decided to kill it.

I did try a suggestion of downloading Fedora Server and trying that. I downloaded v30 and it installed via graphic interface like I would expect. No issues at all. I'll need to see if the SW I have can do Fedora, but CentOS would still be the preferred option. Very frustrating because I have it (CentOS) running on another Atom platform without issue, but I could boot to legacy BIOS support on that board which made installation possible.

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TrevorH
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Re: Extremely slow installation

Post by TrevorH » 2019/09/09 21:31:34

Which of the many options that you tried made the difference to get this far?
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

macNCheeseB
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Re: Extremely slow installation

Post by macNCheeseB » 2019/09/10 14:18:15

TrevorH wrote:
2019/09/09 21:31:34
Which of the many options that you tried made the difference to get this far?
Right now I am running with no options except "hpet=off" and getting to the point where I get to a blank screen.

I tried to start the install with vnc on, but I get the error that VNC cannot find a screen (EE No screens found).

If I do startx at the shell, I get the following:
startx line 174: /usr/bin/mcookie: No such file or directory
couldn't create cookie

There is space on / and the tmpfs is not read only as I could create files in /usr/bin from the shell.

Does this point to anything?

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TrevorH
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Re: Extremely slow installation

Post by TrevorH » 2019/09/10 14:26:53

I tried to start the install with vnc on, but I get the error that VNC cannot find a screen (EE No screens found).
And you did that by just hitting tab at the first boot menu and appending a space followed by the word vnc to the end of the kernel parameters? If so then that's all that should be needed. The only other thing I can think of is that it's not finding your network card so there's no interface for vnc to listen on?
The future appears to be RHEL or Debian. I think I'm going Debian.
Info for USB installs on http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/InstallFromUSBkey
CentOS 5 and 6 are deadest, do not use them.
Use the FAQ Luke

macNCheeseB
Posts: 43
Joined: 2011/03/21 20:14:27

Re: Extremely slow installation

Post by macNCheeseB » 2019/09/10 15:17:23

I hit the 'e' key and edited the end with "inst.vnc inst.vncpassword=<something> resolution=1024x768"

It fails to find a screen. When I tab over to a shell and run "ip addr" I see my NIC is up and connected with an IP address and proper routing from my DHCP server.

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