Can't use Linux on a new HP computer
 

I have been trying to use Linux on my new HP Pavilion TG01-2856no but just cannot. The problems I face are: black screen on live environment ISOs, kernel bugs (screenshots at https://imgur.com/a/CWlmjUV ), HP logo screen freeze, failed to post install grub, failing to boot up after installation and write cache disabled.

So far I have tried disabling secure boot and fastboot, a different USB stick, different USB ports, different ISO burning software, different distribution: Debian, Ubuntu, Pop_OS!, Manjaro, Fedora, Void, Arch, Arco and Solus.

Debian installs but doesn't boot up after that. Void Linux almost installs but freezes at post install Grub. Solus and Ubuntu are just a black screen. Fedora freezes at the HP logo screen. Pop-OS! says that the write cache is disabled. All others show me the screenshots I linked above.

I would say normally H.p is one of the most compatible for Linux especially the printers.

I'm on a H.P laptop : product: HP Laptop 14-cm0xxx (6ZJ47EA#ABU)
vendor: HP

and have a HP Smart Tank Wireless 455 printer . I've got vanilla Arch running no problems ; previously
Slackware also no probs.

HP Pavillion is that quite an old laptop ? For getting harfdware specs "lshw" is good also "inxi"

Generally these are the glitches : Is laptop CPU 64 bit or 32 bit ? Which iso Architecture did you get 32 bit or 64 bit.

Is motherboard uefi and therefore needs a EFI partition or is it grub legacy ?



Blackscreen could be nvidia graphics problem

My specs are: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Super, 16GB RAM, Intel core i5-11400, 512GB SSD

And I cannot access the terminal on said computer. The motherboard is UEFI and has an EFI partition.

Nope! It's a current Gaming Desktop as far as I can find out. Usually supplied with Windows 10 Home 64. It doesn't say but I'd reckon the motherboard is EFI.

Might help if you can capture the boot messages and post them here in quotes ( The screen shots don't really show much/enough. Confirm it's a Gaming Desktop though.)

Oh! Welcome to LinuxQuestions by the way!

Hope that's of some use. :D

Play Bonny!

:hattip:

nothing hitting ctrl + Alt + f6 ?for terminal

I can't even get Linux to boot up.

This is the earliest image I could take after booting up: https://ibb.co/dWxbVNJ

Have you tried the fail safe menu entry, that usually is the work around for the black screen problem and or add nomodeset as a boot option. Are you using 32bit or 64 bit iso's and what are you using to put them onto the usb?
As for what you have already mentioned, secure boot, fast boot disable. There is also a fast boot under windows power settings advance options that may need to be disable.

I don't know anything about fail safe menu entries. If you are talking about the safe graphics then yes, I havw tried them. I haven't tried the nomodeset option yet. I use Ventoy as the ISO burner and 64 bit ISOs. I have disabled the fast boot from Windows.

try balenaetcher or rufus, Ventory has good reviews however on my 2 year old hp laptop ventory usually doensn't boot. I prefer rufus for it can install the iso to a usb by coping the iso to fat32 partition or by dd mode to put the iso onto a usb similar to balenaecher if the former won't boot.

I have tried them but didn't work

With different distros there may be different reason why the installation doesn't work, might be better to start with the one distro you want to use and work with it.

These aren't very old, the CPU from Q1 2021, around 6 months. In Linux, the general rule is the hardware needs to be older than the distro release date by some non-trivial number of months, unless you are an expert and/or developer. The primary exceptions to this are rolling releases, which release daily or every few days. Most alphas and betas amount to rolling releases, but aren't normally recommended except to those already intimate with the distro.

Try a rolling release, which will have current kernel, X and firmware versions on their installation and/or live media, or a devel version of some upcoming release. Use distrowatch.com to find out which releases qualify. One rolling release I can suggest to start with, due to my familiarity with it through continually using multiple installations of it, and the character of its user base, is openSUSE Tumbleweed. Devel versions you might try if ambitious include Fedora 35, Ubuntu 21.10, Debian Bookworm/Testing/12 & Mageia Cauldron.

Debian 11 was just released this month, so may also be a good choice, and it may be only necessary to find out what's actually happened when it "doesn't boot". Are you sure? What does happen exactly when you "can't even get Linux to boot up" and tried Ctrl-Alt-F6? Likely Debian booted, if it was Bullseye/11 rather than Buster/10, but the graphics configuration needs some adjusting. Any of F2-F6 with Crtl-Alt should produce a login prompt in white text on a black screen.

Debian did sometimes get to the tty, but after typing in my login name nothing happened. The password prompt didn't come up and trying to access any of the other ttys didn't work.

I installed Debian again but now it gets stuck at Network Time Synchronization

Did you try Ctrl-Alt F3 after it "got stuck"?

Yes I tried to access the tty. But I think the problem is with my CPU. It sometimes stalls
when trying to boot up.

Did/does Windows have any boot problem(s)?

No. Windows doesn't have any problems.

At the grub menu press e for edit and add nomodeset to the end of the linux line

I have tried that already

Maybe adding noacpi will help

That desktop has enough power, memory, and processor to run almost anything. It does look to be EFI locked, but these days that is not a real problem as long as you install EFI compliant distributions. They may have done something odd in the bios/firmware: I would check the settings available.

The one thing problematic I see is that video system. Those offer great video, but are also often problems for Linux distributions due to driver issues.

What live distributions have you tested? Before I would want to recommend some additional options for testing, I want to know which ones have failed, even if they failed at different stages.

The ones that I know boot into a live environment, Manjaro, Solus and Pop_OS!. The ones I'm not sure if they boot into a live environment, Fedora and Ubuntu.

Nope

Wondering if Debians kernel is older than his laptop.
I try something with a newer kernel. Like a 5.9 or higher at least.


https://mxlinux.org/blog/mx-19-4-now...s%20the%205.10.


Edit: also. Was a md5sum check done?

Debian had a release this month, and the kernel was 5.10.0. However I'll try MX and see if anything's different. I did do a md5 check

MX Linux didn't work. I tried the ahs version.

I need a distro that has atleast kernel version 5.11 out of the box

You might try Fedora 34 (fedora 35 has not yet been officially released). That message says that the system likely has not been configured for internet access yet. Fedora configures the network as one of the earliest steps during first boot.
Fedora 34 released with kernel 5.12 and is currently, after updates, at 5.13.14

Fedora also does boot live so you can see if it boots & works before the install.

I have tried it already but I couldn't even get to the installer. It just got stuck at the HP Logo splash screen

have you tried the latest Manjaro linux513 iso, not the lts? Manjaro linux513 has kernel version 5.13

I have a set of Ventoy USB drives with a couple of dozen distributions on them. I think my Manjaro is the latest and had a very recent kernel.

You can always do a search on distrowatch.

Have you tried a couple of recent spins of puppy, or the latest multicore image from the tinycore Linux people?

Fedora 34 shipped with 5.11.12. Tumbleweed is currently shipping with 5.13.12:The modesetting display driver ships with the Xorg server, so it's the latest available for the server.

I have tried Tumbleweed, but it got stuck at "Loading basic drivers". However I did get FreeBSD working.

Again, no help from Ctrl-Alt-F3? It may need to be installed using nomodeset or other startup option, then fix the video and/or install additional firmware on first boot using text mode (vttys). There should be no impediment to using >5 month old hardware in TW. Take look at the time comment & date in the last post in this forum thread.

Fedora 35 has been branched and seems on track for the beta release in about 2 weeks. The version currently out has kernel 5.14.0 so it may be an option for you.

I'm gonna try Garuda since it has kernel-zen

Try MX Linux. https://mxlinux.org/mx-linux-blog/

"Zen Kernel — Result of a collaborative effort of kernel hackers to provide the best Linux kernel possible for everyday systems."
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/kernel

I think my computer is similar to yours.
A brand new HP Pavilion TP01-2xxxx with an i5-11400 processor and EFI-only mainboard.
I also didn't get any single Linux distribution to work.
But now Ubuntu 21.10 and Fedora 35 are running. I haven't tested anything else.
What helped me:

- Set OFF Fast-Boot in Windows
- Secure Boot is activated in the BIOS
And the only boot or kernel parameter which was added is:
- acpi=off

Hope it helps.

(Edit: I have no onboard graphic, so maybe you have to use "nomodeset" too)

One final note:

It's better to use

noapic

instead of

acpi=off

Because this allows a normal suspend and a shutdown incl. fully power off.