Bug 65782

Sorry about the sarcasm, it's been a long day....

Do you know if its the mouse or monitor probe that is doing it?

If you change the lines in the 'anaconda' script that looks like:

videohw    = videocard.VideoCardInfo(skipDDCProbe = flags.test))

monitorhw  = monitor.MonitorInfo(fbDevice=fbdev, skipDDCProbe = flags.test)

and change the skipDDCProbe value from 'flags.test' to '1', then put that
anaconda script on a floppy and boot with 'updates' on the command line, see if
that helps.

I'd like to know what exactly is handing it because this shouldn't really
happen.  In the next release I'm adding a 'skipddc' probe option just in case.

I'm not sure if its getting stuck on video probing or not.  I tried manipulating
the script before to skip the mouse probing because I initially thought it was
locking up on the mouse probe but the machine continued to lock up.  After
playing with it for a while I'm sure it's being caused by the video hardware
probing.  The server locks up after the video card has been probed two times (it
doesn't seem to matter weather the monitor is the hardware being probed or not)
 I need to make a special trip out to exodus today and try out these anaconda
modifications.  I'll let you know how things turn out.

I tried out the changes that you suggested, changing the flags.test option to 1
resulted in video corruption and a lockup rather than just a lockup this time. 
BTW..  I found out the model of the server is a Compaq Proliant 1600.

Also, this appears to be a duplicate of bug #64827 the fix for that bug didn't
work for me either.
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=64827

I can get the installer to move a lot farther along if I do the following:

comment out these lines in anaconda:
if 1:
    sys.stdout.write(    _("Probing for video card:   "))
    fbdev = None
    videohw    = videocard.VideoCardInfo(skipDDCProbe = flags.test)
                                 
    if videohw and videohw.primaryCard():
        sys.stdout.write(videohw.primaryCard().shortDescription()+'\n')
        fbdev = videohw.primaryCard().getDevice()
    else:
        sys.stdout.write(_("Unable to probe\n"))

    sys.stdout.write(    _("Skipping monitor probe: "))
    monitorhw  = monitor.MonitorInfo(fbDevice=fbdev, skipDDCProbe = 1)
    sys.stdout.write(monitorhw.shortDescription()+'\n')
    
    # only probe if we're installing a real box or
    # we're running in a virtual console and need to startup X server
    if not os.environ.has_key('DISPLAY') or flags.setupFilesystems:
        sys.stdout.write(_("Probing for mouse type:   "))
        mousehw.probe (frob = 1)
        sys.stdout.write(mousehw.shortDescription()+'\n')
    else:
        sys.stdout.write(_("Skipping mouse probe.\n"))
    

and these lines (starting at line 467):
    xcfg = xf86config.XF86Config(videohw.primaryCard(),
                                 monitorhw, mousehw, runres)


Anaconda will then start up without a problem and let you get up to the point of
package selection.  After you finish selecting your packages it errors out again
(I don't have the exact error but it should be instantly reproducable if you
make this change).  The installer errors out even if you opt not to install X11.
 I don't know enough about programming in python or anaconda's layout to get any
farther than this.  But I hope it might be usable information.

Is there any way to program in some kind of generic setting for the variables if
you try to skip probing?

If you put something on the boot command line, like:

linux mynoprobe

then in the python code you can do a test like:

if string.find('/proc/cmdline', 'mynoprobe) != -1:
   # they specified mynoprobe on the command line
else:
   # they did not specify it

I'm still confused why you are seeing problems in the first place.

I'll see if we have a proliant 1600 around here for me to look at.

Closing due to inactivty, please reopen if you have additional information to add.

Changed to 'CLOSED' state since 'RESOLVED' has been deprecated.