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Home Computer Router Trouble

M

mit

n00b
Joined
Dec 24, 2007
Messages
23
I have been seeing different articles about turning an old computer into a firewall/router, so I wanted to try it out (more for the learning experience rather than a practical need). I found an old computer (P3 933mHz, 384mb SD ram, 4gb seagate hard drive) and put in two old network cards I had lying around. I have tried installing SmoothWall, pfSense, and IPcop, and I cannot get any of them to install. SmoothWall stops a few seconds after clicking install on a line that says something like apm: BIOS version..... (not at the screen right now). IPcop stops right after clicking install saying "crc error". pfSense gives a few errors during install and then fails to boot, saying it cannot find the kernel.

I do not have much experience with Linux or *nix OS's at all and I am not too good at these types of things (which is why I am doing projects like this - to learn more). Any help would be greatly appreciated as to what I am doing wrong and what to do next.

Thanks.
 
Try a different CDROM drive. Better yet use a spare CDRW drive if you have one.

I recently had major issues getting Linux to install on a older IBM NetServer. Turned out the CDROM didn't like the disk that I burned. I had to try my whole collection of drives before I found one that worked well with the disk.
Also ran into the same issue at work. Again, a spare CDROM solved the issues of installing Linux.
 
I ran memtest, 6 passes with no errors. I have not tried another cd drive though, I know I have some lying around I could use. Will a usb cd drive work?
 
I tried a few other cd drives, but none worked. I might try burning at a lower speed. I also have another old computer I may try. Will ClarkConnect install easier?
 
You might run a utility to check the surface of the 4 GB HD, a failing hard drive would cause the errors you are seeing as well.
 
The last time I tried installing Smoothwall I got the APM message.. I thought there was a way around that. like launching the install with specific switches. (Maybe specifying a different kernel for install?? Cant remember exactly) take a look around on the install pages for options or help.
 
Can you run any of these distros in LiveCD mode? If so, then you it is a good chance that the hd is your problem (which is what I suspect).
 
Actually, I can run pfSense in LiveCD mode, but I get errors when installing to the hard drive. Definitely my next step there (I tried burning a CC at a lower speed and it didn't work).
 
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