On Thu, Sep 17, 2015 at 10:12 AM, Dirk Hoffmann <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear community,
>
> Sorry, if this is a "known issue" or "feature", but we tried to install
> SL7.1 from DVD on a totally new disk without partition table. This seems to
> fail systematically with a hanging dark screen and mouse pointer and no
> usefull error message.
>
> Is that what it is expected to do?
>  - Crash installation attempt on disk without partition table
>  - No clear error (or better: suggestion to partition/format disk)
>
> Apparently it helped to install a dumb partition table (which was erased
> anyway afterwards), and installation went smooth as usual.
>
> I was not exactly the installer, but thought it was worth mentioning the
> observed facts here. The problem was observed on three PCs with various
> characteristics and from different vendors (among them DELL, but others more
> exotic).

Reporting "someone else had a probem, but I don't know how it
happened" is one of the great problems of debugging. It's not clear,
for example, if your colleague was trying to install on top of
pre-installed operating system on the new disk, or if they're familiar
with what is, admittedly, the horrible installation GUI form upstream
with its new and confusing "spoke and wheel" model.

I'd strongly urge you and your colleage to walk through a VM
installation and make sure you both know or learn how to manage
partitioning with advanced options, for just this sort of case.