Linux 6.1 on intel with SCSI-drives i severe pain

[Alex Friis <alexfriis mobilixnet dk>]

Now here's my story:

4 weeks ago I ordered my Linux Redhat 6.1 Deluxe - got it - found me an
out
posted IBM Server 325 (Pentium II 23x Mhz) with two Ultra wide 4.5 GB
hard drives - it had doing NT for 1.5 year. BTW, is NT a acronym for
Nasty Technology ;-). Got the Linux Install package - got the Linux pre
designed 'Server' installed in less than 7 minutes. Did the virgin boot
and everything was OK - Linux was running and was occupying the ID0-SCSI
drive only.

After a few days, I must say, very exciting linux'ing, ioerror, coming
from the SCSI hard drive, was reported on the ..... hardware console
???.

I made a raw formatting of the disk, but still the SCSI-verify-util
reported bad blocks all over the disk.
I dismounted the faulty drive, jumped and terminated the spare and made
my second linux install. Now - when the install process is almost
finished, it says something like 'doing post installation
configuration...' but at this point my server just froze.
The only thing left was to pwr-off-pwr-on but the LILO *never* appears;
the server just still stucked, showing 'CP 7F' down in the right hand
corner.
AFAIR- its the same code you get, if you boot a blank floppy disk.

After several linux install variations and not coming any further, I
decide
to *verify*, that I *actually* got some error in the 'hardware/bios'
area.
I shovel in a Windows98 install CD [oh no ...] - and make the install.
Some 45 minutes later - get ready! - the server *boots* :-(

Now - do I really got a HW-problem or has Linux been doing a strange
mutation, while sitting there on the install CD :-?


My last point:

The RH Deluxe states that it includes 6 weeks of 'redhat support' - can
someone please explain if that covers more than the FTP download option,
ERRATA and joining these redhat-lists?
I'm pretty sure a bill will show up, if I really went for 'professional
support'
- but it just *can't* be true, that I have to pay, to get this RH-linux
vivid again!



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Any tiny or even better, more than tiny hint, suggestion, advice ...
WSE, could save my (and so my family's) X-mas and New Year ;-)

Happy X-mas to all of you on this list - who actually 'runs' Linux ;-)
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-- 
med venlig hilsen/best regards
         Alex Friis
   'per aspera ad astra'
mailto:alexfriis mobilixnet dk