HDD install--two different results on same computer

[ephrem]

First the specs:

Dell Inspiron 1100
Intel i845g video (i810)
Intel integrated sound (i810_audio)
256MB RAM
20GB HD
15 XGA
Broadcom 440x 10/100 NIC

Knoppix 3.2 2003-07-26

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Knoppix does just fine identifying my hardware. Knoppix from the live cd gives me 1024x768 at 24bit color depth, sound, and network access.

I've had quite a few difficulties in getting Debian installed on this laptop, so I thought I'd give Knoppix a shot. The first time I installed it to hard drive it did wonderfully. It did so well, in fact, that I decided to reformat my hard-drive and use Knoppix as my main base installation.

All installations after the first fail to give me sound, and my X session is at 640x480 at either 16bit or 24 bit color depth. I've run knx-hdinstall a couple times now feeding trying different cheat codes at boot to see if it affected the installation, but without any luck. The only obvious difference between the first installation and the latter ones is that with the first installation I was on a working network, and successfully used DHCP broadcast. The latter installations were at home away from the network. And I reconfigured the partitions on the hard drive, too, but I can't see where that would cause a difference in how knoppix installs.

Is there some quirck with DHCP and the install when off of the network?

Also, I just found that knoppix-installer is the current method of installation... any chance that this would address these issues?

Thanks,
Ephrem

[ephrem]

Did a reinstall with knoppix-installer while hooked into the network. I'm back up and running w/ sound and the correct resolution. It's not currently seeing the network, so I'll have to look into that... I expect it is as simple as editing /etc/network/interfaces as described by http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/FaqNetwork

[aay]

Thanks for following up. I'm glad the new installer helped out. Please post back with the results of your network configuration. Hopefully all will go well. Editing /etc/network/interfaces should do it for you. You can also run netcardconfig (or wlcardconfig for wireless) as root and that should walk you through your configuration.

[ephrem]

The simple edit of /etc/network/interfaces did the trick.

Strangely, the first five or six times I booted into Knoppix without access to the network X windows would try to use an incorrect video configuration which resulted in nothing but video noise. A reboot would bring me back into a correct X-Windows video config. I haven't had this problem for a couple days, perhaps some upgrades changed something--I can't be sure.

All is well at the moment. Now I'm trying to get Knoppix into my dad's gateway desktop. It's not handling the P4 or the flat panel correctly... we'll get it figured out. I'm firmly convinced that Knoppix makes a great Debian installer.

[Dave_Bechtel]

--For the flat panel, try booting with a framebuffer like ' fb1024x768 '.

The simple edit of /etc/network/interfaces did the trick.

Strangely, the first five or six times I booted into Knoppix without access to the network X windows would try to use an incorrect video configuration which resulted in nothing but video noise. A reboot would bring me back into a correct X-Windows video config. I haven't had this problem for a couple days, perhaps some upgrades changed something--I can't be sure.

All is well at the moment. Now I'm trying to get Knoppix into my dad's gateway desktop. It's not handling the P4 or the flat panel correctly... we'll get it figured out. I'm firmly convinced that Knoppix makes a great Debian installer.