Bug 15298

Summary:	Classical DVD will not boot on older Dell desktop
Product:	Mageia	Reporter:	Thomas Andrews <andrewsfarm>
Component:	Installer	Assignee:	Mageia Bug Squad <bugsquad>
Status:	RESOLVED INVALID	QA Contact:
Severity:	minor
Priority:	Low	CC:	johnltw, loginov_alex, marcello.anni, marja11, rwalker
Version:	Cauldron
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	i586
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Source RPM:	32-bit Classical DVD	CVE:
Status comment:

Description Thomas Andrews 2015-02-15 18:23:34 CET

Description of problem:
The 32-bit Classical DVD for Mageia 5 Beta 3 refuses to boot on my Dell Dimension E310 desktop computer. The computer doesn't even recognize the DVD-RW as bootable, using the same drive that burned it. The DVD does boot in another, non-Dell computer. 

This behavior is exactly like what happened with these two computers and the classical DVD for Mageia 4, which prompted the 4.1 release.

The Dell computer has a stock motherboard, with a Pentium 4 processor, maxed out at 2GB of RAM. The computer that will boot is a home-brew desktop with an Asus-made motherboard originally for a Fujitsu desktop, with a Sempron 3100+ processor, also maxed out with 2GB or RAM.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
32-bit Classical DVD Mageia 5 Beta 3

How reproducible:
Every time

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Try to boot the DVD
2.
3.


Reproducible: 

Steps to Reproduce:

Thomas Andrews 2015-02-15 18:24:33 CET

Priority: Normal => release_blocker

Comment 1 Thomas Andrews 2015-02-15 18:52:54 CET

I just checked for hardware issues on my computer by booting the Mageia 4.1 DVD. It booted normally on the affected computer.

Comment 2 Marja Van Waes 2015-02-15 23:29:54 CET

So, the return of bug 12549?

CC'ing some who hit that bug.

@ all

Did it come back with the Classical DVD Mageia 5 Beta 3 iso for you, too?
Does anyone see it on 64bits hw?

If someone can confirm it, please CC tmb and ennael

CC: (none) => johnltw, loginov_alex, marcello.anni, marja11, rwalker

Comment 3 Thomas Andrews 2015-02-16 00:07:52 CET

After reading the comments in bug 12549, it seems that my memory has been a bit hazy. My computer did not act "exactly" as it did at first with that bug. That time, as I now remember, I got a single line on the screen about the ISOLINUX version, and then things would hang up until I cut power. This time the DVD simply isn't seen as bootable on this machine.

But I'm still sure that somewhere in the testing of the potential 4.1 iso I encountered the same symptoms, where the DVD wasn't recognized as bootable. I don't recall when or why, though. It may have been a build with another fault that was quickly detected and fixed with the next build. 

Sorry I can't be more specific.

Comment 4 Thomas Andrews 2015-02-18 00:52:02 CET

My bad. My apologies to the whole Mageia Team.

The fact that no one else was seeing this was making me suspicious. My suspicions were raised even higher when I tried to install Beta 3 on the machine that WOULD boot the DVD, only to have five or six packages fail to unpack and then some succeed on the second try.

So I checked the md5sum yet again, and it was again OK. Then I burned the DVD again, this time using a brand-new, pristine DVD-RW in a different computer and optical drive.

That second DVD is working perfectly. Beta 3 is installing on the troublesome computer's test partitions as I type.

This is what I get when I don't check out every possibility I can before hitting the Panic Button. I should have known better. What threw me was the consistency. It would ALWAYS boot in the one machine, but would NEVER boot in the machine that burned the DVD in the first place.

Priority: release_blocker => Low
Status: NEW => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => INVALID
Severity: critical => minor