[GRLUG] IBM NetVista not booting graphical environment - UPDATE

[john-thomas richards]

On Thu, Mar 06, 2008 at 03:36:33PM -0500, Raymond McLaughlin wrote:
> john-thomas richards wrote:
> > On Tue, Nov 20, 2007 at 03:18:01PM -0500, john-thomas richards wrote:
> >> I am helping a friend with his non-profit's computer (he runs an inner-city
> >> ministry that helps with job placement, tutoring for students, leadership
> >> development, etc.).  The machine is an IBM NetVista, Pentium III processor,
> >> and an nVidia card.  I attempted to install XP (he *needs* Quickbooks) for
> >> him.  The install works fine until the machine reboots and attempts to load
> >> the GUI.  When it does so, the monitor goes into sleep mode and requires a
> >> hard reboot (the keyboard becomes unresponsive).  I thought this was odd
> >> behavior so I got another *identical* machine (literally; he received a
> >> donation of several identical machines from a local business) and tried
> >> installing XP onto that blank drive (after formatting, of course).  Again the
> >> monitor went into sleep mode.  I then booted the machine with a Knoppix CD.
> > [snip]
> > 
> > After pouring much time into this, it has been determined that this
> > (and the other two) motherboard has a very special and very specific
> > failure that keeps it from booting a GUI.  (Mad props to Greg F. for
> > all his help.  He is a Very. Smart. Guy.  Thank you!)  So my friend
> > with the non-profit ministry has some nice hardware but no
> > motherboards.  He was recently offered some more computers by another
> > donor so I thought, hey, why not make a nice server out of the
> > hardware?  To cut this short, dual-Pentium III motherboards are a rare
> > find these days (nada on eBay).  Any of you guys have one (I have the
> > processors :-) for sale?
> 
> Please forgive me if you've already "been there and done that", but have
> you tried installing Linux on these things? I know you need Windows
> eventually, but if you can get a light enough weight Linux up and into
> graphical mode, a VMWare Player session could provide you with the
> Windows functionality you need. Pentium IIIs are kind of at the low end
> of what will run XP in a VM. But, as I said, a light weight (i.e. low
> resource demanding) Linux should be able to leave plenty for office work
>  in an XP VM. In this case more RAM is really better than a second CPU.
> Pentium IIIs start at (I think) 500MHz. I hope you  have at least 750's.

Been there, done that.  ;-)  I tried booting with Knoppix, installing
Debian, etc.  Nada.

The processor is a 933MHz (Coppermine core).
-- 
john-thomas
------
Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another
mind.
James Russell Lowell, poet, essayist, and diplomat (1819-1891)