Linux Install Problems, 'Select Installation Media'

So I'm trying to install an old version of Fedora 7 on my old computer. The reason is that I need legacy kernel support for a project I'm working on.

So I boot to cd, select english, us, and all that, but once I get to Select Installation Media and I choose CD-Rom it asks me for a driver it can't find. Which boggles my mind.

I've run into this problem when I installed Fedora 9 on my current computer so I was hoping that what I remember we tried last time would work. Basically we added to the install options and we were good to go. However it didn't work this time.

I believe we may have also swapped out the dvd-drive a couple times to get it to work, but I'm hazy on that detail. Plus I don't have an extra DVD drive to test my theory.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem might be? and therefor a solution?

by old, how old? What motherboard /chipsets?

Maybe try the "all-generic-ide" options.

http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?p=602888

Older Kernels don't have support for the POS IDE chip on your motherboard frm JMicron.

Install a newer distro like the mentioned Fedora 9 then run an older kernel from Fedora 7 for example when installed

Make sure you checked the disk for errors; I've found that it's my most common cause of installation errors.

have you thought about trying to run it in a virtualized environment? vmware and virtualbox run under windows and linux; virtual pc runs under windows only.

in a virtual environment, they often use generic virtual hardware so you might have better luck.

You may have a corrupted CD (or DVD) burn.

I'm not entirely sure what the error was, but we went ahead and installed Fedora 9 then Fedora 10. Fedora 9 had some weird issue where it would lock up, so we installed 10.

However, it was more likely the network card that caused the problem rather than the OS install.

Currently Fedora 10 is running very well.

To speak of the computer's age, its an Opteron 148 with a DFI Lanparty NF4 board.

pharoer said:

Older Kernels don't have support for the POS IDE chip on your motherboard frm JMicron.

Install a newer distro like the mentioned Fedora 9 then run an older kernel from Fedora 7 for example when installed

Click to expand...

I think that the JMicron controller is the culprit here;I ran into this with ubuntu 5.xx a few years ago.