[Brad5689]

ok so i'm trying to install opensuse on my intel iMac through Parallels and i keep running into an error when it's installing and trying to create a partition

Error:
Failure occured during following action:
Formatting partition /dev/hda1(502.0 MB) with swap

System error code was: -3030

Can anyone point me into the right direction or does anyone have a clue what might be the problem if so how do I fix it

Thanks in advance,
Brad

[ghporter]

It looks to me like Parallels doesn't support the format Suse is trying to use for the swap partition. Just a juess though.

[Fritz Anderson]

Well, I wouldn't expect it to be a problem with Parallels, as all they have to do is emulate the HD as a block-level I/O device. The Linux kernel is the layer that cares about (and implements) file system formats.

If you Google "SuSE 3030" (not -3030 -- that filters out results with the number "3030" in them), you'll find a lot of forum posts on the same subject. The ones that aren't dead links (thank you, cached pages) end their threads with the problem unresolved.

I've tried this with the full DVD ISO downloaded image (hint: at the very beginning activate the UFS file-system module), the same image burned to a physical DVD, and the net-bootstrapped installation. All of them hang at initializing the swap partition.

The common thread may be that I don't feel like reserving more than 12GB for the SuSE device, but I can't accept the partitioning scheme the installer (YAST) devises: They don't leave enough room in the root filesystem for everything I want to play with, and they give too much room to the /home filesystem for a one-person installation. ISTR that if I didn't change the partitioning, the installation went through (at least until it ran out of space on the root volume).

Oh, when it does the online updates as part of the installation, and you select all of them, you will be presented with a warning like "You have selected an update to the kernel or its modules. You will have to restart after updating. If you are just now installing, you may wish to install these updates later. [Approve] [Cancel]" Well, I approved of the warning's sentiment, but it turned out that they meant "approve installing the update." This resulted in a system with different parts of the kernel having different versions. It didn't live very long.

[Fritz Anderson]

Okay, here's the deal. Overall, you have to do the partitioning yourself. This is an outline what I remember of what I did with what I had to hand. You may have to explore from there.

Use Parallels' VM setup to make sure that you're starting with an HD image as big as you'll want. 8 GB for a deluxe installation, plus whatever you'll need for your work in /home.

Starting from a boot off of the DVD, type "rescue" at the opening menu. This takes you to a BASH prompt for a stripped-down Linux. If you want man pages, look them up beforehand, because you won't get any here.

At the prompt (which I'll abbreviate as %) type

% fdisk /dev/hda

A note will appear saying that the disk will be wrapped in some sort of MS-DOS marker. This is OK. Type

m[return]

to examine the available commands.

Having in mind the sizes you want for swap (1 GB?), root, and /home, create three partitions.

c <- for create
p <- for primary
2 <- swap partition will be /dev/hda2
Press return to accept the start at the beginning of the HD, and specify +1000M to get a gigabyte size for the partition.

t <- set the ID tag for a partition (CHECK THIS AGAINST THE MENU; I could be misremembering)
2 <- partition 2
82 <- partition type for Linux swap

c <- create
e <- extended
3 <- root will be /dev/hda3
Return to accept the start immediately after partition 2, +8500M (or whatever)

c
e
4 <- /home will be /dev/hda4
Return to start after the last, return to run to the end of the disk.

w <- Write the partition map and quit.
(q to safely abandon your work)

% mkswap /dev/hda2

This will more-or-less automatically format the swap partition.

% mkfs.reiserfs /dev/hda3
% mkfs.reiserfs /dev/hda4

These may not have done anything useful. The YaST installer reformatted these partitions anyway.

% exit
Exit. Shut down the VM.
Change the VM's boot order to CD-first; the HD now looks as though it might be bootable, and the bootloader will look at it for a long, long time before it gives up and tries the DVD.

Abort out of graphical YaST to return to the terminal interface. [OK] Yes, you knew the installation was aborted.

Install device drivers fot the Ethernet card (n2k-pci?) and the UFS (? U-something; it makes the DVD readable) file system.

Proceed with the installation. Note that the HW clock keeps local time. When it proposes its initialization, click the "HD Initialization" (?) headline/link if YaST's guesses as to what file systems should go with which partitions are incorrect. Edit a partition scheme _based on_ the proposed scheme. Use the "Change" button to change _only_ the mount points ("/" and "/home").

Proceed. The -3030 error did not appear.

That's what I _remember_ of what I, in my ignorance, did. If reality confronts you with something else, go with reality.

-- F