Hieveryone,
I am trying to dual boot a new 64 bit HP pavilion dv5000 to the Suse 64 bit edition. So far I have very limited experience with Linux, indeed with computers. I have successfully intalled Suse 10.0 on an old Compaq Presario (32 bit edition) and I have also installed Debian on an old Micron P166.

I need the preinstalled Windows XP on the newer computer for some applications. I have downloaded the 64 bit cds from the suse web site and have also checked the MD5 sums. They are okay. When I try to install from the first CD I first see the Welcome screen, then the installation screen. When I go for installation the very next screen is a black screen. This happens from the installation CD as well as a CD that I burned for installation over the internet.

However, if I tried the old Suse 10.0 cds for the 32 bit installation, the screens come up correctly and I could go ahead with the entire installation if I wanted to. However I am interested in installing the 64 bit version since the newer laptop supports it. I have already tried changing the screen resolution on the installation prompt screen. Suse seems to be using 1074x768 while the other option on that menu is 800x600. I have also tried installing with ACPI disabled with the same result-black screen when I hit enter. Text mode installation just freezes.

The laptop has an ATI Mobility Radeon Xpress200 series Video card and 15.4 inch widescreen monitor. I have searched this forum and many other web sites but my exact problem is not addressed-the screen going blank so early in the installation.

Thanks to anybody who can help me with my situation. I would really appreciate it.
preeth26

I am betting it is video mode related. The SuSE 10 64bit installer COULD NOT run in digital video mode. A high end laptop might have that just as my high end tower/monitor used DVI, laptops also have a variety of possible video modes, if it isn't using analog, you are out of luck for the SuSE 10 64. You could use the 32bit until 10.1 64 comes out.(I am using the SuSE 10.1 beta 1 which works just fine for digital video, it is a flaw in the SuSE 10 64 release.) I don't recommend using the beta unless you really know what you are doing, because anything that is twitchy will be impossible to know whether it is you or the beta software. You will not be able to install things via YAST or use YOU until 10.1 is officially released.

Hi there
Thanks a lot for your posting. I guess you are right, it certainly sounds right. Do you have any suggestions for successfully booting a 64 bit version of linux on this computer? I do not want to make an serious mistake and lose my existing windows XP while trying to dual boot, if at all I successfully manage to install Linux on to this. Do you have any other version of linux that may work better?
Thanks for your advice
preeth26

Frankly, your best bet is using analog video. Try hooking up an external monitor through VGA if your laptop has an extension. That should work long enough to install. Once installed, you can switch back to the digital, it was only the install that wouldn't accept it.

Hi there
I am hoping to get some more help, thanks again in advance! When installing Suse 10.0 , the installation freezes after some initial steps, more specifically at the point where it says that is probing PCI devices. The same thing happens when I try to install Ubuntu 64 bit edition. I am trying to install with ACPI disabled. I have no clue as to what is happening. The original display problem seems to have resolved itself, I am using vga=normal in the boot prompt. I have waited long enough to see if the installation will continue but no luck. Moreover, all this also somehow interferes with the Windows installation although the installation has hardly commenced. I to end up repairing the entire Windows installation with the operating system cd and the driver disk!

Does it make any sense to first install the 32 bit version of Suse 10.0 and then trying to install the 64 bit version as an upgrade or something? Would this work?

I have tried booting Knoppix and this seems to work fine with all the settings being duly configured.

Thanks for any advice...
Regards
preeth26