[PLUG] Request Debian Install Help

[Ron Braithwaite]

I have an HP Pavilion ZD7058CL laptop and am getting most frustrated
trying to install Debian on a partition. I currently have boot
partitions set aside for Debian, Fedora, and Mandrake.

I am attempting to use a NetInstall CD dated 2004-09-05 (I downloaded it
yesterday) and, like the other CDs I have attempted to install, it
consistently hangs on the first boot (but not on the installer CD) right
when it tries to load the Firewire Ethernet driver.

Now I didn't tell it to use that - I specified the Realtek driver for
eth0 - but it is still loading it. I have gone with the default install,
linux26 acpi=off, linux26 noapic nolapic, and a bunch of other variants,
but no joy. It always hangs on trying to load the Firewire Ethernet
driver.

So in Mandrake, I go over to /initrd/ (I have / mounted as /debian under
Mandrake) and there ain't nobody home. Over in /boot/grub, I see:

device.map     jfs_stage1_5  minix_stage1_5     stage1  xfs_stage1_5
e2fs_stage1_5  menu.lst      reiserfs_stage1_5  stage2

And wandering through the grub morass (What was wrong with lilo, dammit?
I understood lilo and grub seems to be needlessly complex) I list out
the files and there isn't anything there that I can make sense of except
menu.lst.

So, oh great Debian gurus, what the hell do I need to do to install
Debian on my laptop?

-Ron

-- 
Ron Braithwaite <ron at nutriware.com>