If you have problems during the boot process, such as the kernel hangs during
the boot process, the kernel doesn't recognize peripherals you actually have,
or drives are not recognized properly, the first things to check are the boot
parameters. They can be found by pressing F1 when booting from the
rescue disk.
Often, problems can be solved by removing add-ons and peripherals and then booting
again. Internal modems, sound cards, and Plug-n-Play devices are especially
problematic.
Tecras and other notebooks, and some non-portables fail to flush the cache when
switching on the A20 gate, which is provoked by bzImage kernels but not by zImage
kernels. If your computer suffers from this problem, you'll see a message during
boot saying A20 gating failed. In this case, you'll have to use the
`tecra' boot images.
If you still have problems, please submit a bug report. Send an email to [email protected].
You must include the following as the first lines of the email:
Package: boot-floppies
Version: version
Make sure you fill in version with the version of the boot-floppies
set that you used. If you don't know the version, use the date you
downloaded the floppies, and include the distribution you got them from (e.g.,
``stable'' or ``frozen'').
You should also include the following information in your bug report:
architecture
i386
model
your general hardware vendor and model
memory
amount of RAM
scsi
SCSI host adapter, if any
cd-rom
CD-ROM model and interface type, i.e., ATAPI
network card
network interface card, if any
pcmcia
details of any PCMCIA devices
Depending on the nature of the bug, it also might be useful to report the disk
model, the disk capacity, and the model of video card.
In the bug report, describe what the problem is, including the last visible
kernel messages in the event of a kernel hang. Describe the steps you performed
that put the system into the problem state.
