I am brand new to linux, and would like to dual boot Slackware with MS Windows. However, I am unable to get past the first menu of the GRUB 2 installer needed for the first boot: there appears to be no response to the keyboard.

Hardware details: Toshiba Satellite Z30-A, x64-based PC with intel core i7 with 8 GB RAM and with an external USB DVD drive (ASUS SDRW-08D2S-U Lite).


Sequence of events:


1) Using Windows 10: Defragmented and shrunk "C:/" partition to release 109.91 GB of unallocated space. I note there is already an EFI system partion of 100 MB that is 100% free.
2) Disabled secure boot, and ensured that boot mode was UEFI (NOT legacy "CSM")
3) inserted DVD purchased from Slackware.com with x64 label facing upwards
4) Selected optical disk drive from the boot menu [in Toshiba, obtained by holding F12 during start up]

Output:

3 very brief screens, followed by one "frozen" screen, with following text:

i): "_"
ii): "Toshiba Leading Innovation"
iii): "Welcome to GRUB"



iv) "GNU GRUB version 2.00

Slackware 14.1 huge.s kernel
Slackware 12.1 huge.s kernel (use KMS console)
Detect/boot any installed operating system

Use the '^' and 'v' keys to select which entry is highlighted.
Press enter to boot the selected OS, 'e' to edit the commands before booting
or 'c' for a command-line.
The highlighted entry will be executed automatically in 30s."

At this point, no further progress. Pressing keys does light the back-lit keyboard, but nothing else happens, irrespective of whether I wait the 30 seconds or try every key. Only option is to power off. Windows working normally.
I have tried several times.


Key sources of help:

On DVD: readme and readme_uefi files, slackbook-2.0
websites: installation documents at docs.slackware.com, as well as previous posts on this and other sites.

However, most documentation and posts I have found assume that one has at least got past the installer.

The closest I could find were from a Ubuntu user (http://askubuntu.com/questions/42303...ng-to-keyboard) => I also tried leaving time between attempts, up to several hours between since last windows session.
And from a Fedora user (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...screen-411951/) => could this mean my purchased DVD is fautly?

I would most grateful for some tips on how to get past this stage. Thank you very much in advance, I look forward to joining the world of linux.

Hi sarine and welcome to this forum.

First, congrats for your very clear explanation of the issue and the research you made before posting. Hopefully this will help us to help you.

It seems unlikely that your DVD be faulty, but that can't be completely ruled out, as a problem with your USB DVD drive.

To rule that out you could try an installer on an USB stick instead, at least to check that you can go past the first screen.

You can try one (unofficial, but that doesn't really matter) following instructions here: http://slint.fr/de/installer.html

Additionally these installers speak French and German (not Italian yet, sorry).

If you try a "small" one (without the packages) you should be able to use your DVD as the SOURCE of packages when asked.

If your keyboard is still unusable, that will at least rule out a problem with your DVD or DVD drive.

1 members found this post helpful.

Dear Didier,

Thank you very much for your reply. Your links and instructions were very clear, but I still appear to get stuck at the same screen.

Sequence of events:

1) As Didier suggested, I downloaded "small" image: slint64-14.1.iso, as well as Rufus (http://rufus.akeo.ie/)
2) Inserted brand new 8 GB Philips USB 3.0 memory stick
3) Used Rufus to create bootable stick with default parameters(MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI, FAT32 file system)

Result:
The same three brief screens followed by a frozen screen (described above). The only difference is that the "frozen" screen offers a much larger range of choices and languages (which I will not detail here).

This assures me that it is unlikely to be a fault with my DVD (whose text files I could read from Windows). I suspect that I am doing something incorrect - but I am not sure where else to look. Any further tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance,

I would suspect a buggy firmware. First thing to do, update to the most recent release (if there are updates available, of course). Maybe post here the brand and version of this firmware. Also, explore all options of your firmware's menu, to see if some setting could help.

You could also try to boot in legacy mode using the CSM, to see if that allows you to use the keyboard. You will see a different greeting screen then. That is normal as in that case the installer uses Syslinux instead of Grub as boot loader.

1 members found this post helpful.

Dear Didier,

Thank you very much. When I used legacy "CSM" boot and booted with the USB, the keyboard worked, and it all proceeded as normal. Now, I will try to track down the firmware update, but at least for now I have a way to continue on my Linux/GNU journey.