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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 3:08 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 13, 2009 3:12 pm
Posts: 15
I have zero experience with Linux of any flavor. I am very interested in learning and would like to run KnoppMyth/ MythTV. After reading a lot of posts here and several other forums on Myth, I purchased the components to build my very own HTPC! I created a bootable cd of R5.5 and ran the auto install on my laptop (with a new hard drive of course) just to see how the software works while waiting on all of my new components to arrive. It seemed to load fine, but when it said to remove the cd to reboot, I removed it and hit enter. The screen came back up as a black screen with a blinking cursor that does not respond to anything. I'm sorry if this problem has been addressed already, but I could not find it, and most problems are addressed by running commands from a command prompt (which I am unable to get to).
I am afraid that with no experience with Linux/Unix or any other command prompt languages, my wife will kill me before I am able to show her that I am not wastiing money and that I can watch/record TV without Charter Communications!
I am open to any suggestions, and I'm not insulted easily.... so fire away!
Thanks,
John


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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 3:24 pm 
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Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 11:33 am
Posts: 400
Location: Kitsap Peninsula, Wa., United States
This page may help.
http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php? ... terInstall

Additionally, it can be helpful if you list the hardware you are trying to get up and running.


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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 4:51 pm 
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Location: /dev/null
Bugg25 wrote:
It seemed to load fine, but when it said to remove the cd to reboot, I removed it and hit enter. The screen came back up as a black screen with a blinking cursor that does not respond to anything.


Does this occur after your standard BIOS messages (memory test, hdd detect, etc.)? Do you see a line that says "LILO version x.y.z" at all before this blinking cursor?

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Retired KM user (R4 - R6.04); friend to LH users.


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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 9:18 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 13, 2009 3:12 pm
Posts: 15
graysky,
I am using a Dell Lattitude D830 with factory components and a new 120G sata harddrive (installed, only one hard drive). I am loading it on this laptop just to try and familiarize myself with the software, I have no capture/tuner card in the laptop.

I burned a cd with the .iso file of R5.5,
changed the BIOS to boot from cd first,
and booted the computer with the cd... presto KnoppMyth!
After running auto install, it asks to remove the cd and reboot, I think it said it wold do it automatically after 2 mins, so I removed the cd and hit enter. The computer seemed to power down. I dont remember if the bios ran at this point are not, but when the screen powered up, it was black with the blinking cursor, no text at all ever came up. After waiting SEVERAL minutes, I held in the power button to shut it off, then restarted it without the cd in, and immediately after the bios ran.... the black screen with blinking cursor.

I am going to try to reload it again to see what happens! Oh yeah, I did do the cd test prior to install, and it said it was a good load. I left all settings as default during setup, with the exception of setting the time and timezone!

Like I said before, I do pretty well with computers (Windows), but I have NEVER touched Linux, sorry.
I am trying to read as many blogs and online guides to Linux, but dont expect a miracle before tomorrow, but I dont give up easy either!

Thanks a ton for your patience and willing to help. I hope to be able to help some poor soul like myself one day!

John


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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 10:04 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 13, 2009 3:12 pm
Posts: 15
OK, just went through the auto load again, after reboot, the BIOS did run, and ....... black screen! It is like it is looking for a a drive to boot from, but just cant find it! The drive is a SATA drive.... I have read that 5.5 had to be configured for SATA, but I think that has been worked out already. I cant tell you exactly which 5.5 I loaded... could this be the problem? Can you provide a link to the latest and greatest download? My new components on the way also has a SATA drive.


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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 10:47 pm 
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Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 11:00 am
Posts: 9551
Location: Arlington, MA
It sounds like it's not finding the boot loader. I can think of several possible reasons for this. Anything from it not being installed or installed in the wrong place, to the HD not being marked boot-able (in the BIOS or the partition table on the disk), to a hardware setup issue (are there any jumpers on the drive?), to a basic incompatibility between the BIOS and the HD, to ...

All of this presumes that you've tried the various things from the wiki page like trying to get a lilo prompt and boot into single user mode.

One more thing to try is to use the CD as a rescue disk to boot and then run from the HD, which will let you fiddle around with the lilo config, to see if it needs a display setting.


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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 11:09 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 13, 2009 3:12 pm
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No jumpers on the drive. I loaded XP on it and it booted/ran fine.
Dont think it is hardware... I will try some of the other suggestions you have when I get to work tomorrow (if enough spare time)!

Thanks!
john


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PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 11:32 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 13, 2009 3:12 pm
Posts: 15
By the way, here is a list of components I purchased for my first go at building a HTPC:

D-Vine MCE303 Silver HTPC Case
ASUS P5Q-EM LGA 775 Intel G45 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E5200
A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model ADQVE1B16K
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30
(2) AVerMedia AVerTVHD Duet - PCTV Tuner (A188 - White Box) MTVHDDUWB PCI-Express x1 Interface
Antec earthwatts EA500 500W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power ...

Thaughts on this setup?

Thanks, John


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PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2009 3:02 am 
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Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 4:00 pm
Posts: 24
I'm not sure your tv card is supported in linux, but not to say it won't work but I wasn't able to find anyone reporting on getting it running on mythtv. You might consider adding on a Nvidia video card that can support vdpau so to alleviate the cpu load during HD playback.

Have you tried booting R6 on your laptop?
ftp://knoppmyth.net/R6/Current/


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PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2009 2:55 pm 
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Posts: 15
tjc wrote:
One more thing to try is to use the CD as a rescue disk to boot and then run from the HD, which will let you fiddle around with the lilo config, to see if it needs a display setting.


I booted the CD and ran it as a resource disk (my first command line experience!)
ran from the hard drive, could see the /fstab file, but lilo.conf does not exist???


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PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2009 5:14 pm 
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Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 3:48 pm
Posts: 997
Location: Lexington, Ky
If you don't have any jumpers on the drive it more than likely using cable select. Make sure that the BIOS sees the drive as Primary Master.
If not plug it into the other plug on the cable.

Tim


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PostPosted: Fri May 15, 2009 8:24 pm 
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Posts: 15
Its a laptop, no cables to plug/unplug. The hard drive ran XP the way it is now. My other two that run XP and Vista also have no jumpers. To clarify, there is one slot for only one SATA hard drive on this laptop.


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PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2009 3:54 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 13, 2009 3:12 pm
Posts: 15
Tweak wrote:
I'm not sure your tv card is supported in linux, but not to say it won't work but I wasn't able to find anyone reporting on getting it running on mythtv. You might consider adding on a Nvidia video card that can support vdpau so to alleviate the cpu load during HD playback.

Have you tried booting R6 on your laptop?
ftp://knoppmyth.net/R6/Current/


I assembled my new HTPC this morning, loaded XP (only because I'm familiar with it) to test my work.... everything looks good.
I'm trying to install R6 now, thanks for the link!

Anyone out there today that might help if I run into trouble?


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PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2009 4:13 pm 
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Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2003 8:31 pm
Posts: 1996
Location: /dev/null
I'm here and there tonight.

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PostPosted: Sat May 16, 2009 4:25 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 13, 2009 3:12 pm
Posts: 15
OK, got R6 loaded! Im in LinHES. I scanned through all of the menus, everything is auto?
I think I messed up with my tuner card selection, I would have swore that I read a review somewhere that someone was using this card with Linux, but now I cant find it.
Is there a beginners guide to how to use this software that is simple enough for even the simplest minds like mine?
My brain is fried now and I feel kind of silly?


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