Linux/installing-linux-on-old-system

Installing linux on an old computer

Whenever i try to install linux (Debian lenny to be exact) on an old computer, i am faced with problems like the computer freezing during install or worse, installing OK and not booting later.

In most cases, the problem is with APIC or (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller), the problem is that APIC that the Lenny installer assumes present is really not on older motherboards, So the sollution to that is most probably, dissabeling APIC during the install, and obviously during normal system boot.

1- The compromise APIC is meant to resolve interrupt routing efficiency issues in multiprocessor computer systems, But your older computer is probably not a multiprocessor system anyway.

Solution

Boot the Kernel with 'noapic nolapic' during both setup and boot up (Editing Grub's menu.lst)