Ubuntu
ubiquity package

Alternate-CD: InitRD Kernel needs PAE to run - thus installation impossible

Asked by Emm Tee

When trying to install 10.04 LTS via alternate installer (supposed to use lower kernel requirements) then just after the bootmenu the Installation aborts with a message saying that pae is required.

Please either add a note to the download-page or please simply fix that by using a kernel that's compiled without the PAE requirement - both for installation ramdisk and later selected by the alternate installer.

Used-ISO: ubuntu-12.04-alternate-i386.iso (Initial LTS release from April 26)

Hardware: Samsung P30 Laptop (Built 2004) - Pentium Mobile CPU (does not support "pae") - but worked for older Ubuntu release

CPUINFO:
--------------
root@p30:/proc# cat cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 9
model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1400MHz
stepping : 5
cpu MHz : 600.000
cache size : 1024 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 tm pbe up bts est tm2
bogomips : 1196.11
clflush size : 64
power management:
--------------

Question information

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Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu ubiquity Edit question
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Solved by:
Micah Gersten
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:

This question was originally filed as bug #989450.

Revision history for this message
Micah Gersten (micahg) said : 		#1

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue and helping to make Ubuntu better. Examining the information you have given us, this does not appear to be a bug report so we are closing it and converting it to a question in the support tracker. We appreciate the difficulties you are facing, but it would make more sense to raise problems you are having in the support tracker at https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu if you are uncertain if they are bugs. For help on reporting bugs, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#When%20not%20to%20file%20a%20bug. There is also a vibrant support community available at http://askubuntu.com and you might consider asking your question there.

Revision history for this message
Best Micah Gersten (micahg) said : 		#2

This is by design, please see the release notes:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PrecisePangolin/ReleaseNotes/UbuntuDesktop#System_requirements

"The Ubuntu 12.04 installation image does not include support for old computers that do not support PAE. If your computer is affected, you can either first install Ubuntu 10.04 or 11.10 and upgrade to 12.04 or you can use the Lubuntu or Xubuntu images. The non-PAE version of the Linux kernel will be dropped completely following the 12.04 release. "

If you choose to use the Lubuntu or Xubuntu images to install, you can then install whichever environment you want on top of that.

Revision history for this message
Emm Tee (emmtee) said : 		#3

Thanks Micah Gersten, that solved my question.