INSTALL CHEATCODES


There are times that an install just will not go the way it´s supposed to. Sometimes it hangs half way installing the packages or during the hardware detection. In those cases a ¨cheatcode¨ or an alternative kernel version can help.

The default is that you press F1 ( or F2 ) at the first screen as you boot from the CD, then you will get a screen with some info about boot options and a prompt where you can type a code.

In most cases the CD has a few different kernels you can use, ( Mandrake has: ¨linux¨, ¨alt0¨ and ¨alt1¨ ) we take as example the default one ¨linux¨, you start with typing the kernel version and then add the option:

linux noapic ( skips part of hardware detection )

linux pci=noapic ( skips parts of the hardware detection on PCI cards )

linux ide=nodma ( disable DMA on all IDE drives )

linux mem=1536M ( if the memory has more then 1G memory )

linux vga=0 ( sets the vga to default )

linux acpi=off ( skips parts of the hardware detection on PCI cards )

Here are a few more options you can add after the kernel version:
noagp ( skips hardware detetion on agp slot )
noaudio ( skips parts of the hardware detection )
noddc ( skips parts of the hardware detection )
noapic ( skips parts of the hardware detection )
nopcmcia ( skips parts of the hardware detection )
noscsi ( skips parts of the hardware detection )
nousb ( skips parts of the hardware detection )
nofirewire ( skips parts of the hardware detection )
noapm ( disable Advanced Power Management )

The next ones are used without typing the kernel version first and only have effect on the installer itself:

vgahi ( high resolution graphical install )
vgalo ( low resolution graphical install )
vga16 ( 640 x 480 in 16 colors install )
text ( text install instead of graphical )

I hope that one of these codes will do the trick for you if you have install problems.

Note: If you have the kernel source installed you can find all the options for the kernel you run in /usr/src/linux/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt


Bruno


PS: Slackware has a special power-cheatcode, ¨the silver bullet¨: bare.i root=/dev/scd0 noapic


-- Aug 14 2003 ( Revised Apr 9 2009 ) --