Debian Squeeze installation hangs at detect networking network

Hi!

I've tried to install Debian Squeeze (6.0) on a Dell PowerEdge 1750 for a day and it failes with Kernel Panic when detecting the network.

First I tried to upgrade Lenny to Squeeze, that failed (could make it work by using the old kernel though, by linking the old vmlinuz), then I tried to install it from scratch with no luck.

I've tried both the unsupported version with non-free firmware included and also tried installing by adding it via usb but it failes all the time.

The info below is handwritten, since I have no way of getting the logs from the machine, but I thought it might be usefull ( and I tried using that with the HW compatible checks).

Any ideas?

00:00.0 Host bridge: Broadcom CMIC-LE Host Bridge (GC-LE chipset) (rev 33)
00:00.1 Host bridge: Broadcom CMIC-LE Host Bridge (GC-LE chipset)
00:00.2 Host bridge: Broadcom CMIC-LE Host Bridge (GC-LE chipset)
00:0e:0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage XL (rev 27)
00:0f.0 Host bridge: Broadcom CSB5 South Bridge (rev 93)
00:0f.1 IDE interface: Broadcom CSB5 IDE Controller (rev 93)
00:0f.2 USB interface: Broadcom OSB4/CSB5 OHC1 USB Controller (rev 05)
00:0f.3 ISA bridge: Broadcom CSB5 LPC bridge
00:10.0 Host bridge: Broadcom CIOB-E I/O Bridge with Gigabit Ethernet (rev 12)
00:10.2 Host bridge: Broadcom CIOB-E I/O Bridge with Gigabit Ethernet (rev 12)
00:11.0 Host bridge: Broadcom CIOB-X2 PCI-X I/O Bridge (rev 05)
00:11.2 Host bridge: Broadcom CIOB-X2 PCI-X I/O Bridge (rev 05)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5704 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 02)
02:00.1 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5704 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 02)
04:05.0 SCSI storage controller : LSI Logic / Symbios Logic 53c1030 PCI-X Fusion-MPT Dual Ultra 320 SCSI (rev 07)
04:05.1 SCSI storage controller : LSI Logic / Symbios Logic 53c1030 PCI-X Fusion-MPT Dual Ultra 320 SCSI (rev 07)

 

Maybe you should try Ubuntu 10.10 or Debian testing; maybe they have better hardware support.

 

Thanks for your reply. We could of course try another distro. However, our platform has been entirely built on Debian for more than 10 years and we would like to keep it so.

Strange thing is that the very same machine has run both Etch and Lenny. Is the sudden lacking of hardware support just politics?

/Sten

 

Did you ever find a solution to your problem? We are having the same issue.

 

Disable hardware components in BIOS to isolate the component that gives you problem when trying to install. If the problem is network card, just add a PCI card and use it instead onboard card, and wait for future updates in kernel. If the problem is a raid controller, maybe a fw can fix it...

Another thing that you can do is to update fw of your server at last level.

Try installing Ubunto or another distro, just for testing (is the problem only with debian? is a problem with every distro? is just a kernel problem?).

Take a picture with a digital camera of the entire screen with kernel panic and post image here. You can make a video and upload it to youtube too.

Best Regards.

 

No I never did. Rolled back to Lenny. I tried different approaches with the non-free firmwarebundle without any luck. Both on flashdrive, cd and the debian non-free cd.

If you are sure that it is the nic giving you trouble I would go for the suggestion adding a supportde one.

Godd Luck