New problems, old Dimension

what are the error message(s)? can you even see them? Maybe try alt-F1 through alt-F10 (you may need ctrl-alt-f10 if you're in a windows mode). I know suse dumps log info to tty10 - maybe that will show you something helpful.

without much more info other than it just "hanging" there not much else I can think of. Maybe try knoppix or other linux live-cds. then you get a full linux system without the install issues, which might help for bug squashing...

cheers

Oh yeah there is also an install option to switch off automatic hardware detection.This is suppose to help difficult installs.I haven't used it much but you might need more hardware info with you during the install.

Most linux distros don't have the driver for the montego 2 sound card included.There is a linux driver for it.It's an ALSA driver and you can download it sepeatelt for free.That shouldn't prevent an install but will show an error message during the install.I have had problems with USA and firwire cards.Even if it's not a card USA printers and USB devices can cause problems.I seem to remember certain USA mice and keyboards must be in certain USA ports.It's best to avoid all USB devices if possible,or add them later.The latest version of Kanotix http://kanotix.com/info/index.php has the driver for the montego 2 sound card.It's an installable live CD based on Knoppix.It works better for me.Mandrake 10 has a few problems.Suse 9.1 works well for me.Mepis should be a good one but the best I've tried so far has been Kanotix &A.Buffalo Linux 1.4.1 and Vector Linux 4.0 SOHOrc1 are one disk distros that work well.Buffalo is very up to date and Vector runs an older kernel but gives fewer install problems.Try Kanotix 7A first as a live CD then maybe install it.I'm using Simply Mepis 2004.01 now.The only one that had the driver for the Montego 2 sound card was Kanotix 7A and everything else worked fine too.

Thanks for the suggestions. As I have allready bought the personal version of SuSe 9.1 that's the one I'm going to try & stick to (if it can be done). You know what really pe'ed me off? I sent an email to Dell support, not neccesarily asking for support per se, just a straight answer to a simple question. Does the Dell A13 or even the older A12 BIOS prohibit a Linux install? I suspected it might, and if they would say so I'd at least know what the problem was. Their only response was that they don't support Linux. I know that. Just tell me if it can be done. Dick heads. Well I'm having trouble trying to create an Intel BIOS update, their instructions to create a boot disk are wrong. A certain file is missing. I'm waiting to hear back from them. If I make any headway I'll keep this post updated. Thanks again.

Yes I found the bios instructions for making floppy incorrect also.Suse 9.1 is really nice.I haven't tried it with that sound card but I have the Montego 2 in a 733mhz P3 and use Kanotix in it.The bios shouldn't make too much difference.Are you getting the bios download from Dell or from Intel?In a Dell you can normally flash to an Intel bios but once you do you can't install any Dell Bios.For bios I would try the one you have or get the latest one.I found it best to stay with Dell bios.There should be some boot/install options in Suse 9.1.Turn off the laptop detection I forget exactly what it's called.You can turn off all hardware auto detect but that leaves more work for you to do.After install if it doesn't support your sound card you can download it from ALSA website and there are really good websites with Suse software. http://rpmfind.net/linux/RPM/SuSE_Linux_9.1_(i586).html . http://www.linuxiso.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19447 . http://packman.links2linux.org/ . http://linuxiso.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=36

http://freshmeat.net/projects/openaureal?topic_id=155

http://www.linuxgames.com/news/feedback.php?identiferID=6371 The only bios I see listed for your PC now is A13.The link has the linux driver for you sound card.The Montego II has the Vortex 2 AU8830 chip.Look at your boot options when installing Suse 9.1 and switch off everything it gives you a choice to switvh off.

Different chip but similar driver.I only got mine working with Kanotix.It's a good CD to download http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=114607&highlight=aureal

http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/openvortex

History

Aureal Semiconductor was a little company from Fremont, CA that for a long time worked on contracts of the US government, the Department of Defense.

After acquisition of Crystal River Engineering (a research company that developed one of the first 3D-positional sound algorithms) in June of 1996, Aureal was about to enter the market. In September of 1996 Aureal announced its 3D-positional sound technology for PCs called A3D, closely followed by several competitors, such as Dolby Laboratories and Creative Technology.

In 1998-1999 Aureal sold a large quantity of Vortex series chips to several soundcard-manufacturing companies (mostly to Diamond Multimedia and Turtle Beach Systems). Aureal also manufactured sound cards (though they used PCBs of Diamond Multimedia).

In April of 2000, after terrible financial results in Q4 of 1999 (sales ceased to $8.5 million from $10.8 for the year-ago quarter, while losses jumped sky high to $9.5 million from $3.5 for the same previous-year quarter), Aureal Semiconductor was declared a bankrupt. In common words, the company simply ran out of money: total loss for 1998 financial year figured into $18.5 million, followed by $26.9 million loss in 1999. The last nail into Aureal's coffin was probably a trial process with Creative (patent infringement), which cost to Aureal about $6.4 million in 1999. Creative had won and was satisfied, and lawyers of both sides were happy as well.

Finally, in September of 2000 moribund Aureal Semiconductor was acquired by... Creative, for $32 million. The end.

Hardware

Well, there are 3 different chips: Vortex (Au8820), Vortex Advantage (Au8810) and Vortex2 (Au8830). All of them are interfaced to PCI bus, support PCM playback and recording at sampling rates up to 48kHz, provide hardware acceleration for Microsoft DirectSound (DirectSound3D) using A3D API. The last model, Vortex2, also provides second stereo channel and hardware acceleration for A3D 2.0 API.

My personal opinion. Vortex-based sound cards are a good choice for home non-professional use, especially when it comes to PC gaming. For example, Vortex2-based cards offer good Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and InterModulation Distortion (IMD) when measured using analogue loopback, though THD+N (+ Noise) isn't as good as it could be. But remember, all Vortex-based sound cards use regular AC'97-compatible audio converters, so don't expect too much.

Drivers

Aureal Semiconductor had released a very good driver for Win9x, a version for WinNT 4.0, and a beta release for Win2000 (it doesn't support hardware DirectSound acceleration). In 1999 was issued a driver for Linux; a modified version is still available in many places over the Net. As of FreeBSD, Alexander Matey had written a driver, too; it runs under newpcm sound subsystem, so it's rather an interface than a real driver. I had hacked it a little for compatibility reasons.

That's good to hear.20 gigs is plenty for linux.You can upgrade Suse 9.1 personal to 9.1 professional by downloading the additional software.Look here for instructions http://www.linuxiso.org/forums/viewforum.php?forum=36 Also you can add the mutlimedia codecs and dvd software that;s not included in Suse.