I just installed Mandrake 9 on my Inspiron 8200 w/ a Geforce 4 Go 64Mb... The install seemed to go fine, but Mandrake will not boot well. It seems to boot, and then I hear a little sound jingle, but all I see is a striped screen and I can't really do anything. I know this is probably a display issue, but I have no idea what to do... I can boot into failsafe, but I have no idea what to do from there...

Anyone know what to do?

Get nVidia drivers from their site.

www.nvidia.com


btw, I am getting 8200 in a few days and will be installing Slack on it....
Is there any way for a refund for wiping out windblows and not using that piece of crap?

You can probably tell them not to install an OS.... But I downloaded the right drivers but I have no idea where to start. I downloaded them in windows and burned them to a cd since they don't fit on a floppy.

I don't even know how to get to a text prompt in linux. I have never installed linux and am completely clueless. In the install process, i did not install any display options because that's how I was told to do it. Everything else seemed to install fine.

I don't know if I set up my network right either. I'm on a University network and I only know my IP address. It asks for like host address and stuff so i just put 1.1.1.1

Ok... I just tried again... When I choose to start linux it boots to a text login. I enter my login information and I'm at a text prompt. From here, I tried a command to download the driver file from Nvidia that I got somewhere on Google. But then it says "host not found".

I'm assuming this from where I put 1.1.1.1 in the host box during the install. The thing is, I have no idea what to put there. I don't know anything about linux or networks. Without downloading, how would I get the install files off the cd and then install them?

I installed Mandrake 9 without a problem but I had to use the expert install or it would hang. Try the expert install and choose defaults. You also need to find out more about your network. You need ip, subnet, and dns. do not worry about hostname leave it blank.

Good Luck

Check out linux-laptops.net, there is a link about this.

Actually no you can't. I tried this. Dell _cannot_ sell a personal computer without a M$ O/S under their monopoly agreement with M$.

If you want to buy a Poweredge 6300 or something like that, then I think you get an option of RedHat Linux. But I don't think the PE6300 will travel well and it is pain to hold on your lap.

---------------
Jeremiah