Server freezes while installing Redhat Enterprise Linux Server 6

linux redhat installation rhel6

6,031

Solution 1

Update your BIOS version and try the install again.

I have the same motherboard and encountered the same results. After reading your post and all the comments I updated my ASUS P8Z68-M BIOS to the latest revision of 4002. This solved my problem and I hope it works for you too. A couple of seconds after the blank screen I saw a small-font message "detecting the hardware" and then the installation proceeded as normal.

Solution 2

Sounds like a hardware related issue on install. Try bypassing the hardware probe during install:

From the installer menu hit esc to get to the boot: prompt.
Type linux noprobe and hit enter.

If this works you might still have this issue even after the os has been installed. If this is the case you will need to modify the grub.conf file to also include this option.

6,031

Author by

eisaacson

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

eisaacson over 1 year
We've tried both the first options
1. Install or upgrade an existing system
2. Install system with basic video driver
When trying option #1, it gets to a screen that has a solid cursor about halfway down, then freezes.

When trying option #2, it freezes at the point where it says:
```
Waiting for hardware to initialize...
```
Of course, we bought the unsupported version and haven't found anything to help us so far.

Here are the specs to the server in the original post:
- ASUS P8Z68-M Pro LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
- RAIDMAX Reiter ATX-305WBP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply
- Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I72600
- 16GB Ram
- OCZ Agility 3 SSD 120GB
From some of the posts out there could the UEFI Bios or the Sandy Bridge processor be a culprit here?

We just tried the DVD on a different computer and it got past that point with ease. It's a standard Dell build compared to our custom machine. Could it be having difficulty recognizing drivers? How do we get past that?
- ewwhite almost 11 years
  
  What type of server hardware? What installation method?
- mdpc almost 11 years
  
  I didn't think that you could buy RHEL w/o at least one year support from RedHat? Did you get your copy legit?
- mdpc almost 11 years
  
  Have you thought of using Centos 6.x? It's RHEL w/o the red hat logos.
- eisaacson almost 11 years
  
  The copy is legitimate. We purchased it here: redhat.com/apps/store/server. We're installing Redhat so we can duplicate our production environment as closely as possible. We're trying to use a CD for the install.
- Magellan almost 11 years
  
  @mdpc Yeah, you have to pay extra to get support. Last I checked, $349 for 1 server license and another $349 for support for it.
- mdpc almost 11 years
  
  What is the SPECIFIC sub-version of your RHEL 6?
- eisaacson almost 11 years
  
  We downloaded Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6 for 64-bit x86_64)
- eisaacson almost 11 years
  
  see new test data added to the question
- NuckinFutz almost 11 years
  
  I've seen something similar whole installing centos 6.4. I haven't solved it yet, but installing 6.3 then upgrading after the install seems to work.
- eisaacson almost 11 years
  
  We've been trying to install 6.4. We tried 6.2 but got the same issue. We were able to successfully install 5.9 without any issues but we still need to get it to 6.4.
dmourati almost 11 years

Try ctrl+alt+(f2/f3/f4) to get a log of what was happening at the time of the lockup. Also, see if you can download a RHEL point release ISO , e.g. RHEL 6.3 x86_64.
eisaacson almost 11 years

Thanks but ctrl+alt+(f2/f3/f4) didn't do anything either.
eisaacson almost 11 years

Where do I press F2 to get to the point where I enter this value and what is it supposed to do?
Jake A almost 11 years

You hit F2 in GRUB. I've found that RH sometimes picks the incorrect clock source. Might be worth a try to see if this corrects your problem.
eisaacson almost 11 years

Awesome. That gets us into the installer. I'll give it a try.
eisaacson almost 11 years

From the installer I chose the language and keyboard just fine but when it asks where the installation media is and I choose local CD/DVD the next screen asks for drivers. If I choose select drivers I get a list of what appears to be network adapter drivers but I am not sure what drivers specifically RHEL is asking for at this step. I either need to figure out what drivers to use here or find another method to get the regular install to work.
bbriggs almost 11 years

I would suggest getting in contact with RHEL Support. Even though you do not have a paid plan they will usually help you through installation to some degree without a paid support plan. Because it is driver related it could be any number of components and impossible to really know for sure from here. THey will likely have you run an sosreport and provide that to them with all your hardware details.