This is the third time I am posting this for which I am really sorry but I need someone to help me on this please. Thank you.

Hi,

I recently bought a laptop - HP Pavillion DV5118TX with following major specs -

Intel Centrino Duo Core processor
100GB SATA HDD
1GB DDR2 RAM
nVidia GEforce Go graphics card

It came with Windows XP Home edition but I tried to install Ubuntu on it. After successful installation at that time (at least it seemed so) when i booted the system, it said BIOS Handoff failed, and though after a series of "memory cannot be allocated" errors, it goes to the linux login. I hoped to see the GUI (Gnome) but it never went to that. I logged in as root and did startx or init5 but they did not work either. It said no such command found.

I could not even find the X11 module. I tried installing it again and then again (total of three attempts) and the condition remained the same.

Then I tried to install Red Hat 9.0 and for some weird reason ended up crashing my HDD. So I had to int Windows XP again. During that installation I found out that I have SATA and I had to load RAID drivers from a third source. I had SATA drivers but I doubt that they are only for Windows.

I want to know, what should I do. I read other posts here and I found out that there are people with SATA drives who could install Ubuntu and run it successfully without any problem.

Also, I want to know, as in case of Windows XP you can press F6 to load third party drivers, is there any similar procedure with linux too? And if yes, the drivers I used for windows XP (for reading SATA), can they be used for linux too and how?

Please help me as I need linux on my machine. I have been getting good help everytime I have come on LQ for help and last time was the first time ever that no one bothered to even tell me about the problem. Please help...

Thanks,
AJ

From googling, it looks like a couple of people have managed to get Ubuntu 6.06 installed just fine. What install CD are using? Does the LiveCD work just fine?

I imagine your problem w/ Red Hat 9.0 is that it's old (circa year 2000) and doesn't support the new hardware in the installer's kernel.

Thanks a lot for your kind time and help.

Yes, the Live CD works. I can view the GUI etc but mount command does not work. Gives an error that the specified drive could not be mounted.

I have downloaded all my ISO's from this URL. I used the Alternate CD Sir, before I tested the Live CD.

http://ftp.ussg.iu.edu/linux/ubuntu-releases/6.06/

The problem still remains of the HDD? I have no clue.

Did you try the newer 6.10 release? Sometimes an updated kernel is all that is needed.

I wish the post I found had more information other than "it works on this hardware"...

There could be a specific boot parameter that you need to pass when you install. Do you know the particular chipset of your laptop? Maybe a google of that chipset will come up with a boot parameter that will let you install.

I am so glad that someone is actually looking into this problem. :-)

My chipset is - Intel 945 PM Express Chipset but I am not sure what you are talking about in terms of boot parameter.

???

Slackware? Ubuntu? MEPIS?

Boot parameters are things you can pass to the kernel at the boot: prompt. Whenever you use an install CD, you should see that prompt at the beginning and something about "Hit Enter to continue".

Typically you can add a parameter by typing linux parameter=blah and then enter. Typical laptop parameters would be linux acpi=off all-generic-ide nopcmcia. Usually you can find out about useful boot paramters by hitting F2 thru F7 keys.

I guess I would try the parameters above and see if it works.

I had a similar problem but my system is using LFS that I created and compiled the kernel. If its using intel then the sata controller is probably a ich7 or 8. On my HP dv1000 <-- thats just the series i have a ich7 and doesent work under native mode with linux unless the sata ochi compliant drivers are installed. the regular pii drivers dont work properly and fail to boot under native mode. so you have 2 options. recompile kernel or change the bios from native to legacy mode. ***NOTE*** legacy mode makes the drives behave like IDE so they are slower in this mode.


This should help.

pljvaldez: Thanks. I will try these parameters and let you know. Only thing is that I have to put these parameters at the time of installation of Linux, right? The first screen where you type or select the option.

change the bios from native to legacy mode

exvor: How do I do that? I know I am not a too techie and I apologize that you have to bear it with me.

Thanks a lot guys for your help. I hope I get Linux on my system.

Thanks
AJ

Hmmm hard to say really.

on my system i think i have to hit f10 when its booting but im not on that system at this point so its possible that im wrong. your system manual should give you information on how to access the bios. It would be under advanced settings i think.

Hi, thanks a lot for your help. I got into the BIOS but could not find any settings related to anything called Legacy settings. My BIOS is phoenixBIOS. I do not know if that would help.