Swap problems with 3.4-3rc2
Posts: 57
Has anyone else had problems with rc2 and swap files during installation? I have seen the following behavior on three separate machines, all with pre-existing Mepis installations:
- Install fails with a cryptic error when trying to format the swap.
- Clicking OK sends one back to the partition setup screen.
- Change swap to "none or existing" and installation will continue routinely.
- When finished, no swap file will be in use.
I also installed the rc on a machine that had a different Linux on it (It's my first-line test machine - can't remember but it might have had Kanotix on it prior to the rc.) In this case, the rc formatted and put the swap in use without incident.
In all three cases where the swap would not format, I was able to set it up manually by using mkswap and adding a line to fstab.
This has been reported to the dev team. Just wondering if anyone else has seen it.
Irv
Swap
Posts: 57
Jon,
Thanks.
I've come to understand this. After more thought, I think the problem is that this behavior in the installer is new. (Did previous versions of Mepis pick up and use the swap when running live?) I've always told the installer to format the swap and I've done quite a few Mepis installations because I tend to play with things until they break. 
I've not seen this error prior to the recent rc.
Seems to me that either the installer software or the user needs to be made aware of this matter so that appropriate action can be taken. (Installer ought to be able to turn swap off and continue, shouldn't it? And/or the user should at least be informed that this is not a HD problem and told to go back and choose the "None or existing" option.)
Also, my systems ended up not using their swap partitions after install. "None or existing" implies that the existing swap will be picked up and used, but that's not happening with the installer in the rc.
This is all not a big problem to me - I've been using Linux long enough to know how to find and fix basic problems, and I'm not afraid of the command line. But the installer in the present rc has a different behavior than previous one under these circumstances, and what's going on isn't quite intuitive to the user (at least it wasn't to me). If it isn't broken, then it doesn't need fixed, but things that are different and things that are counter-intuitive at least need to be noted, for the sake fo the dev team as well as other users.
So this is the note!
Irv
Use swapoff command
Posts: 5513
Irv, if you try to run the Live CD on an existing partitioned system, Mepis (and Knoppix-based distros) will find the swap partition and use it to make the Live CD run faster. So if you try to modify/format the "swap" partition while it is in use you will run into problems.
Open a konsole and "su" to user root (with root's password). Assuming that the swap partition is /dev/hda1, you can issue the following command:
swapoff /dev/hda1
That will disable the swap partition. Once that's done you should be able to format it.
Jon