"invalid partition table" with Knoppix 3.3

[TaNgO]

I have win2k pro and tried to install knoppix 3.3 spanish remasterized.
I boot from CD and everything goes fine until I run fdisk.

when I run fdisk, I recieve de message "hda has invalid partition table" and offers start with an empty one.

If I boot with knoppix 3.2, fdisk works fine.
I made a copy of hda first sector with dd and copied in two different floppies and writed on papper my partitions info provided by fdisk under knoppix 3.2

Booted again with knoppix 3.3 and started fdisk with an empty partition table.
I entered existing partitions info and added the new ones for knoppix, but.... Always exists a but... When fdisk called sync trying to update partition table, the system hangs...

Additional info...
Knoppix 3.2 has kernel-2.4.20, and Knoppix 3.3 has kernel-2.4.24-xfs

ALWAYS made a backup of your MBR BEFORE start playing with fdisk, cfdisk, sfdisk, qtparted or other partitioning tool

dd count=1 if=/dev/hda of=/root/mbr_backup.bin
cp /root/mbr_backup.bin /floppy/mbr_backup.bin

Anyone has had the same problem?

Probably you will tell... Install Knoppix 3.2 and update it.
In this 3rd world country broadband Internet access is expesive. I need something that could be installed from CD. I need spanished version so my brothers (one studies economics ciences, the other one studies laws) could start using linux.

I will appreciate any suggestions.

[Gozar]

What happens if you use the spanish contry code at the boot prompt with knoppix?

knoppix lang=<spanish contry code>

[TaNgO]

I tried almost every cheat code at boot time. I tried with nodma, noscsi, no<...>, etc.
I tried with lang=es and with lang=us. (Just for trying... I think it's very difficult that the problem could be the language).

I installed this version of knoppix in 3 other machines before I tried with mine. The previous ones are all working fine today, and... none is older than 2 years.
Mine is PII 400 from 1999, with SIS M747 Motherboard, IDE Controller SIS 5513, video on board AGP SIS 6326.

My probleam appeared with another old one on this las weekend.
Here is the output of lspci from the other machine... I will post my output of lspci ASAP.

thanks for your advices and suggestions

Here is my friend's lspci output

00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5600 Host (rev 11)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64
Memory at ec000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [c0] AGP version 1.0

00:00.1 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev d0) (prog-if 80 [Master])
Subsystem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS5513 EIDE Controller (A,B step)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 128
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16]

00:01.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 85C503/5513 (rev b1)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:01.1 Class ff00: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] ACPI
Flags: medium devsel

00:02.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS 530 Virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge (AGP) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=64
I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff
Memory behind bridge: e7e00000-e7efffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: e6c00000-e7cfffff

00:0d.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RT8139
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 9
I/O ports at de00 [size=256]
Memory at ebffff00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Expansion ROM at ebfe0000 [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 86C326 5598/6326 (rev 0b) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 64
Memory at e7000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=8M]
Memory at e7ef0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
I/O ports at cc00 [size=128]
Expansion ROM at e7ee0000 [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 1
Capabilities: [50] AGP version 1.0

As you can see.... He has the same SIS Chipset like me.
Another SIS Chipset Victim?

[TaNgO]

Hello everybody!

Im writting this from my girlfriend's computer and guess what??? She has an IDE 5513!!!
But... always exists a but... It's running the Spanish Knoppix 3.3 that is driving me crazy at home!!!
Here is lspci output right from this machine....

00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 530 Host (rev 03)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32
Memory at d8000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [c0] AGP version 2.0

00:00.1 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev d0) (prog-if 80 [Master])
Subsystem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS5513 EIDE Controller (A,B step)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 16, IRQ 14
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at 4000 [size=16]

00:01.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 85C503/5513 (rev b1)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:01.1 Class ff00: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] ACPI
Flags: medium devsel

00:01.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 11) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
Memory at dc900000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]

00:02.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS 530 Virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge (AGP) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff
Memory behind bridge: dc800000-dc8fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: dc000000-dc7fffff

00:09.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6105 [Rhine-III] (rev 86)
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown device 0105
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at d000 [size=256]
Memory at dc901000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

00:0a.0 Communication controller: Motorola SM56 PCI Modem
Subsystem: CIS Technology Inc SM56 PCI Speakerphone Modem
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
Memory at dc902000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2

00:0d.0 Multimedia audio controller: ESS Technology ES1969 Solo-1 Audiodrive (rev 01)
Subsystem: ESS Technology Solo-1 Audio Adapter
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 12
I/O ports at d400 [size=64]
I/O ports at d800 [size=16]
I/O ports at dc00 [size=16]
I/O ports at e000 [size=4]
I/O ports at e400 [size=4]
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 1

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS530 3D PCI/AGP (rev a3) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS530,620 GUI Accelerator+3D
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
Memory at dc000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=8M]
Memory at dc800000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
I/O ports at c000 [size=128]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 1
Capabilities: [50] AGP version 1.0

By the way... This machine is 3 years old... Not like mine that is 5 years old...