ArcaOS installation troubleshooting

I got the following question from an end-user, I love this question, so I'm going to try to answer in some depth. First, I am an optimist with PC hardware; I expect it to work. But not all hardware will work for ArcaOS. So how do I know when to give up on hardware?

I have a question about installing AcraOS. I had the intention to play around with ArcaOS on real hardware, but it hangs during the install, is it time for me to find different hardware or are there workarounds? My target hardware has a dual core DM&P Vortex86DX3 1Ghz processor (i686-compatible) with 2GB of RAM. It's not something that's specifically listed as compatible with ArcaOS, but it has a traditional BIOS. I assume you've seen your share of hardware incompatibilities, how do you know when hardware is the issue?

To get started, look at this Wiki page about System Requirements for ArcaOS.

Your system looks pretty good from that point of view. If you are under ArcaOS support, you can open a support ticket for your system and they will guide you through installation.

If I can't get the installation media to boot at all, then I might get discouraged. But if the installer program boots, ArcaOS is running on the computer, so after that, an installation should be possible.

Sometimes adjustments to BIOS or to the ArcaOS installer pre-boot menu are needed to get the installer to run and for the hard drive to be recognized. Once the installer is running, you can enter system maintenance and see your system. If no hard drive is recognized, you'll need to do something about that before starting.

If all looks OK, but the install fails after you have gone through all of the configuration screens, then you can get the install logs and have a look at what the installer was doing when it failed. Arca Noae has a wiki page on getting log files for submitting a ticket. When you gather the log files, you can have a look yourself, and perhaps the reason for failure will be obvious. The wiki page for gathering log files and submitting a ticket is here:

In the end, ArcaOS should run on most systems that would run OS/2 Merlin Convenience Pack (NCP), but also on many newer systems.

Another resource for picking a computer to run ArcaOS is the Blonde Guy website. These computers have been documented to run ArcaOS and notes show what to do for a successful installation.