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RHEL Installation hangs

Solution: append floppy.allowed_drive_mask=0 to the end of the boot string (or kickstart config)

Problem: apparently the initrd still includes support floppy devices and the installer will hang attempting to configure one.  Personally, I think the behavior should be the opposite, an installer should not attempt to use a floppy unless you specifically append a floppy.allow = 1.

This apparently occurs with a number of Linux variants and versions.  Red Hat Enterpise Linux, Fedora, Ubuntu.

To determine if this is your issue, start the installation process (from kickstart or DVD) when it seems it is about to transform to the GUI, it flashes to a blinking cursor about mid-screen on the left.  Press ATL-F2 and you will see the following:

end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
Buffer I/O error on device fd0, logical block 0


reboot, and when the first screen appears, press tab
and after
> vmlinuz initrd=initrd.img
add
> vmlinuz initrd=initrd.img floppy.allowed_drive_mask=0

and the installer should now proceed.
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