I get this error "Could not uncompress second stage ramdisk, this may be a hardware or kernel error" and then it (mandrake linux community disk 1) asks me to reboot. Does anyone know the reason/solution to this?

"I get this error "Could not uncompress second stage ramdisk, this may be a hardware or kernel error" and then it (mandrake linux community disk 1) asks me to reboot. Does anyone know the reason/solution to this?"

One possibility is that you may not have enough RAM to run mandrake linux community disk 1.

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Steve Stites

I have 512 MB...I was ab le to install Linux kernel though...but it takes me to the classic linux command line and doesn't start kde...how can I start kde?

" it takes me to the classic linux command line and doesn't start kde...how can I start kde?"

Assuming that you have KDE on your system you could try this command to start the GUI:
startx

___________________________________
Be prepared. Create a LifeBoat CD.
http://users.rcn.com/srstites/LifeBo...home.page.html

Steve Stites

If the problem comes during instalation, I had the same problem,

I install the old kernel with the command "alt1" when the system start with cdrom_1 and i choose the package kernel 2.6.3 later, I have both kernels running without editing lilo.conf

If the instalation end sucessfully in start you can choose what kernel want to run in lilo...

And now the installation CD1 which was working before also gives the same error ... could not uncompress ramdisk!! Its frustrating.

I get the same problem, running on a Toshiba Satellite with 256Mb RAM. I've checked the integrity of the iso with md5sum, but I'm starting to think that maybe this could be a problem with the media - I'm using CD-RW 650Mb discs to write the isos to using cdrecord - could it be truncating the ISO file?

I've tried with alt0 and alt1 and a host of other things, none of which it likes.

Would anybody else mind having a look at the media they're writing the isos to and getting back to me? I'd really like to get Mandrake 10 running!

Thanks,

Ben

Okay... I've fixed it !

The problem was that I'm a bit thick really.

I'd managed to miss the warning in cdrecord that I was writing the iso to a cdrom which was 74min not 80min (the iso is big). Writing it to the correct sized iso fixed the problem immeadiatly, and mandrake 10 community is now happily installing itself to my laptop.

So - to fix the problem, write the iso to an 80min disk.

Thts great! I have already installed RH9 now though, but glad to knw this problem is fixed.

trying to load /tmp/image/Mandrake/base/mdinst_state2.bz2
as a ramdisk * reading compressed ramdisk: IO_ERROR

is the text that appeared in the log

upon further investigation this was in fact caused by a bad media (even though i tried multiple other disks, i think the Delta CD-R brand is crap)

I verified that it was bad disks by trying to copy the files off the disk and onto another computer of mine running windows XP. The XP machine couldnt read some of the files.

I am going to mount the ISO's and install via NFS

- Greg Costanzo

I have experienced the same problem as many others in installing the new Mandrake 10 "Official" distro. "unable to uncompress second stage ramdisk" read many posts with guesses but no solution.

The answer is...... the iso image is to large 711mb for all but the best media and burner software.

I do not know why sometimes a download will complete "successfully" but leave you with an undersize iso file. check the MD5 checksum.

When I downloaded the files from Virginia Tech. (ftp.ft.edu) I finaly got the full size files and the burn with XCDRoast on RedHat9 with good Memorex media and the install on a Dell Inspiron 8500 was perfect.

Mandrake 10 "Community" did not seem to have this problem. Why do they need to make the ISO so big?