Hello all,
I would like to install Debian Jessie on my i386
When I boot from the installiso I see the menu and pick 'install'. The bios beeps once immediately and I get the following output:
I 've tried 3 cd's already...(md5 sum=ok) this computer always ran Debian before..what can I do to get past this error so I can install from cd again?
Thanks for any help/ideas
It means it's not detecting your hard drive for whatever reason.
What's your hardware?
Thank you
My hd is ATA, and it still boots my previous installation.
I just tried an old debbie installcd (that used to work for sure) but I get the same error now. 
The installer plainly doesn't care that your previous installation still works so neither do I.
It matters less to the hard drive drivers what your hard drive is than what your hard drive controller is. An "ATA" hard drive sounds extremely old, which might be a problem, unless you meant "serial ATA".
Computerhardware is about 5 years old.. it is an IDE disk, with the old thick connector and wide parallel cables. There 's only one HD.
All previous debbies installed and ran fine.. o o what did they change
PATA became rare over 10 years ago. I suspect your computer's older than 5 years.
You probably have to tell it to load libata before boot. It's probably not even finding your cdrom without it.
If you're saying that you have a install CD that used to work on that machine but now doesn't, try setting all fields in your BIOS to default.
Sometimes changes to BIOS settings (eg, ROM shadowing) can do this sort of thing.
ok, thanks for the tips both 
This is sooo weird
I wonder if it could have maybe anything to do with that small battery for the bios?..that one has never been replaced.
Could that give this effect..?
Unlikely to be the BIOS battery (since you're not powering down between setting the BIOS to default and booting). It would probably tell you that the BIOS contents were invalid if the battery was flat. Also, the clock time would come up as really historic.
Okay, have you added any new hardware to the system since this last worked? Such as an add-in card of some sort? Do you have anything plugged into any USB port? If so, unplug it.
---------- Post updated at 08:11 PM ---------- Previous update was at 08:08 PM ----------
Also, does your BIOS settings allow you to set the disk controller mode (eg, set to IDE, AHCI, etc)? If so, try the other modes.
A library? Is there a debian documentation for that? I never saw anything mensioned about libata being necessary, in releasenotes/wiki in order to use Debian.
It does boot from cdrom. I even get the full color installmenu. And when I 'enter' on install, it goes all black and says the kernelpanic thing. I tried expert install as well..all the same.
Not the battery... ok, makes sense what you say. good to know 
Yes I did. I changed the mouse which is now usb (instead of ps2 or what s the name) I'll check it out.
You did not answer the question about whether you were booting from a modern install CD or your old install CD, so I am forced to assume a modern one.
If it was another PATA hard drive, it's still liable to be the same PATA-related error.
If you were still booting from PATA drives, it's still liable to be the same PATA-related error.
If you're still booting from PATA drives, it's still liable to be the same PATA-related error.
The error means it can't find the hard drive and/or cdrom. This is with very few exceptions hard drive controller driver related, and certainly not a mouse problem.
You probably need to tell the CD to load relevant drivers as I mentioned earlier. See what options the cd has for boot and look for alternate kernels or instructions which tell it to load libata.
May you should look for GRUB2 repair download. I recently installed bsd on an six year old laptop, it worked with GRUB2 repair. Nontheless, have a look at your bios first device to boot. This should work even with systemd and jessie. There is also a way to get it work without systemd. I suppose it ain't your hardware but the installer itself. Be happy not to struggle with UEFI. Otherwise you plug in the grub2 repair on an usb-drive and then run the CD-Installation. At least you can give it a try.
A grub problem would not cause a kernel panic, particularly not this kernel panic. If grub had any trouble working or locating partitions, it wouldn't load the kernel at all.
Can you try booting older release of debian (i think you mentioned old ones work), just to confirm it is not the issue with kernel version or the disk itself.
If that test does not pass, check jumpers on the IDE disk, try various combinations (CS, Master, Slave).
Do you have other disks inside ?
If the test passes (old version of debian works) then post output of (during live cd or old version installed)
As root:
lshw > hw.txt
Attach the hw.txt, perhaps some bugs can be found online regarding specific hardware combinations but i cannot promise anything
Hope that helps
Regards
Peasant.