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Chapter 14.
Troubleshooting Installation on an IBM
POWER System
This appendix discusses some common installation problems and their solutions.
You may also find the IBM Online Alert Section for System p and System i useful. It is located at:
http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/lopdiags/info/LinuxAlerts.html
Please note that the url above has been split across two lines for readability. It should be entered into
a browser as one continuous line, with no linebreak.
14.1. You are Unable to Boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux
14.1.1. Is Your System Displaying Signal 11 Errors?
A signal 11 error, commonly know as a segmentation fault, means that the program accessed a
memory location that was not assigned to it. A signal 11 error may be due to a bug in one of the
software programs that is installed, or faulty hardware.
If you receive a fatal signal 11 error during your installation, it is probably due to a hardware error in
memory on your system's bus. Like other operating systems, Red Hat Enterprise Linux places its own
demands on your system's hardware. Some of this hardware may not be able to meet those demands,
even if they work properly under another OS.
Ensure that you have the latest installation updates and images from Red Hat. Review the online
errata to see if newer versions are available. If the latest images still fail, it may be due to a problem
with your hardware. Commonly, these errors are in your memory or CPU-cache. A possible solution
for this error is turning off the CPU-cache in the BIOS, if your system supports this. You could also try
to swap your memory around in the motherboard slots to check if the problem is either slot or memory
related.
Another option is to perform a media check on your installation CD-ROMs. The Red Hat Enterprise
Linux installation program has the ability to test the integrity of the installation media. It works with the
CD, DVD, hard drive ISO, and NFS ISO installation methods. Red Hat recommends that you test all
installation media before starting the installation process, and before reporting any installation-related
bugs (many of the bugs reported are actually due to improperly-burned CDs). To use this test, type the
following command at the boot: or yaboot: prompt (prepend with elilo for Itanium systems):
linux mediacheck
For more information concerning signal 11 errors, refer to:
http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11/
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Table of Contents
Troubleshooting
