Product SiteDocumentation Site

Chapter 14. Troubleshooting Installation on an IBM POWER System

14.1. You are Unable to Boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux
14.1.1. Is Your System Displaying Signal 11 Errors?
14.2. Trouble Beginning the Installation
14.2.1. Problems with Booting into the Graphical Installation
14.3. Trouble During the Installation
14.3.1. No devices found to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux Error Message
14.3.2. Saving Traceback Messages Without a Diskette Drive
14.3.3. Trouble with Partition Tables
14.3.4. Other Partitioning Problems for IBM™ POWER System Users
14.3.5. Are You Seeing Python Errors?
14.4. Problems After Installation
14.4.1. Unable to IPL from *NWSSTG
14.4.2. Booting into a Graphical Environment
14.4.3. Problems with the X Window System (GUI)
14.4.4. Problems with the X Server Crashing and Non-Root Users
14.4.5. Problems When You Try to Log In
14.4.6. Your Printer Does Not Work
14.4.7. Apache-based httpd service/Sendmail Hangs During Startup
This appendix discusses some common installation problems and their solutions.
You may also find the IBM Online Alert Section for System p and System i useful. It is located at:
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/lopdiags/info/LinuxAlerts.html
Please note that the url above has been split across two lines for readability. It should be entered into a browser as one continuous line, with no linebreak.

14.1. You are Unable to Boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux

14.1.1. Is Your System Displaying Signal 11 Errors?

A signal 11 error, commonly know as a segmentation fault, means that the program accessed a memory location that was not assigned to it. A signal 11 error may be due to a bug in one of the software programs that is installed, or faulty hardware.
If you receive a fatal signal 11 error during your installation, it is probably due to a hardware error in memory on your system's bus. Like other operating systems, Red Hat Enterprise Linux places its own demands on your system's hardware. Some of this hardware may not be able to meet those demands, even if they work properly under another OS.
Ensure that you have the latest installation updates and images from Red Hat. Review the online errata to see if newer versions are available. If the latest images still fail, it may be due to a problem with your hardware. Commonly, these errors are in your memory or CPU-cache. A possible solution for this error is turning off the CPU-cache in the BIOS, if your system supports this. You could also try to swap your memory around in the motherboard slots to check if the problem is either slot or memory related.
Another option is to perform a media check on your installation CD-ROMs. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program has the ability to test the integrity of the installation media. It works with the CD, DVD, hard drive ISO, and NFS ISO installation methods. Red Hat recommends that you test all installation media before starting the installation process, and before reporting any installation-related bugs (many of the bugs reported are actually due to improperly-burned CDs). To use this test, type the following command at the boot: or yaboot: prompt (prepend with elilo for Itanium systems):
	linux mediacheck
For more information concerning signal 11 errors, refer to:
	http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/