Actually, it tells me the install was completed but when rebooting it tells me that it couldn't start X - still, there are obviously more problems than just X.

After doing 6 or 7 test installs, I connected the box to the cable via three Hauppage cards (2- Wintv go's and 1 PVR 250) and the video outputs to the television.
The last two attempts ended with hundreds of lines scrolling by with errors - can't accecss one file or another because they don't exist - the last time one line repeated over and over - trouble opening terminal:linux .

Would this indicate a hardware problem? I tried with a different RAM stick only to get the last message about the terminal.

I'm using an ASUS A7V8 X MX SE mobo with an AMD 2600 processor with 728Mb RAM and a 1 Gb stick the last time. Installing R5D1 - and R5C7 after reading of problems with TV out using the PVR 350, thinking the PVR 250 might also cause a problem.

The last install before I moved the box to the television went fine and I was able to download the TV listings and get a picture.

I thought maybe the disc got damaged or corrupted so I burned another copy but got the same results.
Any suggestions?

Did you re-download from a different mirror and check the md5sum?

Did you boot the disk with the "testcd" option to have it do a self check with your CD drive?

Hi,

Do tjc's suggestion first just to be sure your cd was good to start and then you can be fairly confident the install is good.

You didn't give much for hardware information but here are a couple of ideas for x not starting. Usually x won't start / run because it is confused about the video card you are using. An lspci should report what was discovered.

Sometimes the hardware detection finds what you have and mistakenly uses the incorrect driver. dmesg|less will allow you to scroll though and see what the os thinks you have.

If you can't easily determine what your video is, then edit the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 as root and set the Driver to be "vesa" That is a generic and works about 99.99% to get things started.
Then if you do
# killall gdm
# startx you should see a gray screen come up. ctl alt backspace will kill it. If this is true then do
# gdm

Take the issues one at a time, get x running, then do setups, all of them, and after, see what remains for troubles.

You can always change the driver and the screen settings once it is running and have figured out what hardware you have available.

The R5D1 - pvr350 is unique to that combination and some have found a fix & a hack also.

Mike

tjc... In a word, no.
The md5 sum on the original download was ok... I just burned a new copy, but I'll get one from a different mirror and see what happens.

mjl...The video chip is an onboard nvidia.

If I get the same result next time ( Sunday at the earliset I should have some time to try it again) I'll follow your tips, then report my success - hopefully.

What I don't get is why the install was flawless several times then suddenly it went south.

Thanks for the input!

[quote="meanmistermustard"]What I don't get is why the install was flawless several times then suddenly it went south. [/quote]
One of my wise old uncle once told me that the difference between rats and rabbits as lab animals was that rats would survive just about anything, but if you screw up a rabbit at all it'll roll over and die on you. Homemade CDs are like rabbits in that regard. Leave 'em in the sun, get gunk on them, expose them to too much heat, scratch them, ... and you'll get a dead CD more often than not.

I got the file from another mirror and burned it las night... install went fine this am - although I didn't go through the setup since it's not connected to the cables or television now.... I'll have to leave that for Sunday.

Hi,

You still can go through most of the setup and point things to the proper storeage areas, test out the music, gallery, most everything except tv.... Personnally, tv is about last on my list.

Mike