A couple of possible issues.
 
Explain the media that you are using to install Redhat or Mandrake.
 
1. Did you burn your own ISO's? If so, what speed did you burn the images at? Did you attempt to boot the cd from the same cdrw drive that it was burned from, or did you make the images from a different cdrw in another system?
 
Most install failures like this are related to bad iso burns. You need to burn the iso's at a slow speed, such as 4X or 8X.
 
2. The savage video card is an issue with these laptops. If you are sure that you have good downloads and iso burns, you may want to consider a newer distro that may better support your hardware, such as Fedora. Mandrake seems to have difficulty with laptops, even the newer versions. Someone suggested Slackware 9.1 worked on their Aspire, so you may want to consider this.
 
3. Try a cd based distro to see if the system will run Linux from a cd. This gives you an idea if the hardware is supported. Try a NEW version of Knoppix, Mandrake Live cd or Mepis. If this works, you know that you should be able to install a distro.
 
4. Different distros will have varying support for laptops. Depends on the hardware in the system. Laptop installs can be a problem. For example, even if you get one installed, does it have support for your modem (if you are using one).
 
It's always good to check the distro's site to see if your hardware is supported, before trying to install that particular distro.
 
I did a quick search on your laptop and linux. The older distros have problems with various hardware components, such as the video being set up properly for the savage card.
 
Consider these options and let us know what you have found, then we can assist with a solution.

I've not burn my ISOes but the friend of mine that burned them installed Red Hat exactly from those CDs.
Mandrake CDs are good as I installed it correctly on my desktop system.
As well the images have benn burn from a different CDRW unit. do you think that transferring them via LAN on my laptop and burning them it migh work? (consider that on the desktop of my friend those CDs work correctly...)
 
I'm downloading SUSE9 at the moment, as I'vread someone has installe d it on my laptop.
 
I've even ryed installing it with Double screen otion but obviously it doesn't work as the vidio card is the problem.
 
I'll try with SUSE asap (I'm at 10% of the download but I've no blank CD's now....) and now I'll go to search if there is a distro supporting my laptop....
 
each idea is welcome...
 
thank you very much

ok, I've downloaded SUSE 9, as soon as I can buy CD's I burn it and try instlling.....
 
I'll make you know about it
 
thank you for the support

hi
thanks to the memory of a friend of mine I've successfully installed Red Hat 9 on my laptop, he remembered that there was to press Right and then Enter (in order to skip mediacheck, as I knew the CD's were good), after that the graphic of the installation changes and everything has gone well
now my syste is correctly running Red Hat 9
there is only a problem with the VGA card, I can't set the reslution at 1024*768 as it recognizes a wrong display card, and I don't exactly know which is the correct nema of the card....I'll serach about it on the net.....
 
does anyone know which is the correct name of the VGA card installed on my laptop (ACER Aspire 1355LC)????
 
I've seen from windows that is a VIA/S3G KM400/KN400 or something similar.....but I can't find it in the VGA selection menù in linux.....

Acer Aspire 1355LC - Athlon XP-M - 15" TFT
 
Manufacturer Warranty 1 year warranty
 
Dimensions (WxDxH) 33.4 cm x 28.7 cm x 4.9 cm
 
Weight 3.7 kg
 
Processor AMD Athlon XP-M 2600+
 
Hard Drive 1 x 30 GB
 
Networking Network adapter - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet
 
RAM 256 MB (installed) / 2 GB (max) - DDR SDRAM - PC2700 - 333 MHz
 
Graphics Controller VIA ProSavage KN400
 
Audio Output Sound card
 
Cache Memory 512 KB - L2 Cache
 
Optical Storage CD-RW / DVD-ROM combo - integrated
 
Display 15" TFT active matrix - 24-bit (16.7 million colours)
 
Telecom Fax / modem - MDC - 56 Kbps
 
Input Device Keyboard, touchpad, scroll button
 
Battery Lithium Ion
 
Average Run Time 2 hour(s)
 
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
 
Built-in Devices Stereo speakers
 
System Type Notebook

Quote:Acer Aspire 1355LC - Athlon XP-M - 15" TFT ---> XTFT

Hard Drive 1 x 30 GB --->40 Gb

RAM 256 MB (installed) / 2 GB (max) - DDR SDRAM - PC2700 - 333 MHz ---> 2*256Mb

Graphics Controller VIA ProSavage KN400 --->I found Savage 8 AGP....we'll see

Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional ---> and now even Linux 8)


I've changed the details that are different inmy notebook...maybe in italy (I'm italian) the hardware is different from other countries in which this notebook is available......

as my VGA card is not shown in the list of the supported ones I've selected S3 Savage (generic) but when I try to apply chanes I reboot the system but after that X Window won't charge and it doesn't work.....
is there something I've to download as drivers, packages to make linux support my VGA?
 
The exact model is:
S3 Graphics Savage 8 AGP, the same thing for the monitor, I've no idea of it's name, I only know (from the spec given by acer) hat it works in 1280x1024@75Hz......(XTFT@1280???? mah....)
 
otherways the VGA is also defined as VIA Pro Savage KN400 chipset VT8235 and this is the link to the spec of the laptop.....
http://www.acer.it/acereuro/page9.do?dau...;crc=3054073823
 
is there someone that solved the problem?or someon that has an Idea.....I'm completely newto linux so it might be a silly thing but I feel lost about it..... '>
 
I absolutely don't wat to run my linux under 800x600, and at the moment it's the only resolution I can select.....
 
is there someone that solved the problem?or someon that has an Idea.....I'm completely newto linux so it might be a silly thing but I feel lost about it.....

From the specs/link that you provided;
 

Quote:15.0" XGA TFT LCD con 1024 × 768 risoluzione pixels, 16.7 milioni di colori
 
Looks like 1024X768. Try this at 70 mhz and 16 million colors, unless you can find the exact mhz foir this resolution.
 
So, it actually sounds like a monitor settings problem to me now.
 
Are you manually editing the XF86Config file, or using the control panel to adjust the monitor settings? If the control panel, also try generic LCD for a monitor choice.
 
When you try to invoke X, what error message(s) are you getting?

hi, I've seen that on the VIA website there is a driver for KM400 under linux, I'll try to download it tomorros with the LAN ofthe campus as now I'm behind a very old phone centraline (is it the right word???) and I'm connected ad the impressive speed of 26kbps........ 8)
only a question....if I download the file with windows and I save it in a NTFS partition used only for datas (No OS present) how can I reach it from linux?

Can you provide the link to the driver page that you found?
 
Make sure that the Northbridge and Southbridge numbers match the driver that you download. Consult the tables that viaarena (I assume this is where you found it) provides.
 
Also, you have to make sure that you download the correct version for your distro, or consult the via driver manual.
 
In terms of the NTFS filesystem, No dice. You need to use a fat32 partition to share the file, or burn it to a CD and transfer the file to Linux.
 
There is no write support yet in these distros for NTFS yet.
 
I have not ever had to do this, so I can't provide specific advice on how to do it.

double post, sorry....

you can find the drivers here, but I still haven't tried them as I don't knoe how to install the frivers as I'm a newbye to linux....
 
I'll post the general page for linux users as it can be useful for more users with different chipsets, then you'll ave to choose your one in the table at thebottom of the page
 
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=296
 
It's possible to choose the drivers for Red Hat 9 and Mandrake 9.1
 
Well, I have copied the files to a FAT32 partition on my HD but I don't know how I can access it, as from linux I can see onlyy floppy (that I don't have) and CDROM, I absolutely don't know how I can get to the "upper level"where I can see my partitions (or better, my only FAT32 partition....)
 
can you explain it please???

Try the following;
 
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/getting-started-guide/s1-q-and-a-windows.html

ok, as soon as I have a little bit of time I'll try
 
thanks

well, after I choose System Tools I cannot find Hardware Browser.....how can I access it????????
 
thanks....

please help me, I run the minstall command as it's teached in the "readme" of the zipped archive, it prints
Install Start ------------
Install Finish------------
but when I go to the display card configuration tool there are the same of before selected and I cannot choose Via driver as written in the text file that explains how to install the drivers.......
 
HELP HELP HELP..................

I also run minstall and the lspci showed no modification. What happened is that my pci.ids was too old, then I went to ociids.sourceforge.net and get the newest one. I copied into /usr/share/hwdata and now lspci sees my VIA KM400
 
that's it