Using LinuxCNC With a Mesa 7i76ED, Questions about which version to install.

Maybe I can add to this as I've been trying to install Linuxcnc (older ubuntu version) for the last few days.

At first I was getting errors at the grub install phase. Problem was possibly a bad DVD disc, but more than likely the DVD drive in the cnc computer was dirty/old. I put the burning DVD drive from the computer that burned the DVD into the cnc computer and then everything installed correctly and quite fast.

Sometimes, after a seemingly successful install, I would get the blank screen, flashing curser after BIOS posting and seemingly nothing would happen. Not sure on that but it may have been a boot order setting in the BIOS, or a corrupt install.

What I've found during all of this is, it seems you can get a "sort of working" install, but it's not right.

Also, if you hold the shift key down during BIOS post, keep holding it, the grub menu should come up, giving you options of exactly what kernel/etc you want to boot from.

Going by the OP’s last error it looks like he is either trying to install to the USB stick he booted from , /dev/sdb or he has a second hdd that is failing.

I’m going to guess there is a hardware issue or an operator issue.

If he has a USB keyboard and mouse maybe it is not waking the machine up. This could be a bios setting issue. Not knowing the motherboard or machine type really makes it hard to diagnose, kind of like flinging shit at a wall.

The OP doesn’t mention if he reboots after his fail whether that goes successfully or not. It appears that he just goes to reinstall.

Hey so the problem is the the operating system self destructs in a few hours if it's not being used. Totally blows my mind that this is happening.

Could it be a screensaver or the system going into a "sleep" mode and come out of it incorrectly.

If you can go into the BIOS while booting, look to disable anything that allows sleep mode or something like that.

My win7 lap top will not come back to life if I close the top AND let it sit for about 12 hours. I have to unplug the power and remove the battery to get it to boot properly again. Just saying it could be a hardware thing causing a weird shutdown after it sits idle for a few hours and maybe corrupts the install. Then it can't boot the next time. Just guessing at this point.

PhilCNC wrote:

Hey so the problem is the the operating system self destructs in a few hours if it's not being used. Totally blows my mind that this is happening.

ID Ten Tea.


Be you man or be you troll ?

In response to BeagleBrainz: Hey yeah I was frustrated when I typed out that last post. It seems to be working now after I installed the R12 version of Debian 9 Stretch ISO. Basically, I started fresh with a brand new thumb drive. The thumb drive I used orginally must have been the problem, it's a 4GB Sony branded thumb drive and it seems like the age must have been the reason why the ISO didn't install correctly. That's all I can think of honestly. But hey it's working now which is all that matters. The whole process was just so hard to troubleshoot, it was filled with loop holes and and fixing 1 problem seemed to bring about a different set of problems.

To anyone reading this thread in the future. If you have trouble getting the LinuxCNC Debian 9 Stretch ISO to work correctly, first verify you are installing the correct version, AMD64 for a 64bit system or i386 for a 32 bit system. When the most up to date version available to download is the one without a suffix. The r12, r13 etc. suffix means revision. If you still have trouble like I did, try using a brand new SSD from a reputable manufacturer. The original hard drive in a 7-10 year old computer can be a problem. Lastly, don't use an old USB thumb drive. I think the reason why my install had so many problems was simply because of an old USB thumb drive. Anyway, thanks to everyone who took the time to respond and read this thread.

Hey, one final update. The real reason why I was having all these problems was extremely hard to diagnose, but finally I found it. There is some stray voltage, causing my hard drive to be wiped in the time span of a few hours. It seems to be intermittent, but using a grounded plug has solved the problem. Holy crap, I was totally out of ideas, when I went to unplug the monitor cable, I felt an mild shock, and that's what led me to investigate. Look in the picture. I measured 54 VAC. This is a lesson learned the hard way, I won't forget. Anyway, I'm still setting up the 7i76E. I will probably come back online and ask a few questions as I go along. Thanks to everyone who had advice to share.