Can't get linux to install on LG E500 laptop

davlor2 · 03-21-2008, 06:44 AM

I have a new LG E500 laptop, it came with Vista home edition already installed. For the past two days I have been trying to get any version of Linux to install. Most don't even start to install and crash within a few seconds. The farthest I have gone is with Ubuntu 6.06 which will run off the live cd but crashes on the actual install at disk partitioning, at this point Ubuntu does not see my hard disk or partitions. I did manage to repartition using gparted. Besides Ubuntu I have tried Mandriva, Fedora, Debian, Suse, PCLinuxOS and Slackware. TIA

This LG E500 15.4" Widescreen Laptop is built and designed to perform. The Intel Core2 Duo T5750 2.0GHz processor, a massive 250GB S-ATA Hard Drive, and 2GB (expandable to 4GB) of memory makes this LG Laptop powerful. More Info
WebID: 10098984
Mfr. Part Number: E500-J.AP01A9
Base Features
Approximate Battery Life Up To 4 Hours
Hard Drive Speed/Capacity 250GB 5400RPM SATA
Optical Drive DVD+/-RW Super-Multi Dual Layer
Processor Speed 2.0GHz
Processor Type Intel Core 2 Duo T5750
RAM 2GB DDR2 (Exp. Up To 4GB)
Screen Size 15.4"
Graphics
Discrete Video Memory Yes
Expandable Video Memory No
Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon HD 2400
Integrated Video Memory No
Native Screen Resolution 1280 x 800
Upgradable Video System No
Video Memory 128MB
Audio
Audio Chipset Realtek ALC 883
Audio Output Stereo
Digital Input No
Digital Output No
Hardware Volume Control Yes
Integrated Amplifier Yes
Integrated Microphone Yes
Microphone Input Yes
Speaker Wattage 1 Watts x 2
Speakers Yes
Inputs/Outputs
Card Reader Yes
Card Reader - Compatible Memory Types SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro
Composite Output No
ExpressCard/34 Input No
ExpressCard/54 Input No
HDCP Compliant No
HDMI Input No
HDMI Output No
IEEE 1394 Input/Output 1
IR Receiver No
Number of Touchpad Buttons 2
PC Card Input PCMCIA Type II
S-Video Output 1
Type of Keyboard 103-Keys With In-Laid Numeric Keypad
Type of Modem No
Type of Pointing Device Touchpad
USB 2.0 4
VGA Output 1
Webcam Yes
Networking
Ethernet Port 10/100MB
Integrated Bluetooth Yes - v2.0+EDR
Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g

mether · 03-23-2008, 08:15 AM

Have you tried kernel parameters like acpi=off noapic or similar while installation .. If not give them a shot.

dxqcanada · 03-23-2008, 09:46 AM

Did you use a 32bit or a 64bit Linux distro ?

antus · 04-11-2009, 08:49 PM

A bit late to the party here, but i'll confirm linux is fine on my LG E500, with the 1.8ghz core 2 duo and nvidia graphics chipset. Ive got fedora 8 on it, and the 2d open source nvidia drivers did not work properly at 1280x800, but the proprietry nvidia drivers work well. I assume newer fedora versions would work as well if not better.

I ditched vista, and dual boot xp and fedora 8, and with no official xp drivers, I cant brigten and dim the backlight, its always 50% in xp, but in fedora the function + brightness up and down works fine

jstephens84 · 04-11-2009, 09:29 PM

Does it give any specific errors during install? Might give Ubuntu 8.10 a try to see if that helps.

antus · 04-11-2009, 11:42 PM

I dont recall any trouble, other than corrupted video until i graded the video drivers, although it must have been a year ago that I installed it!

I know sometimes bios sata raid can cause install troubles with slightly older distros (have seen this on some servers at work, although current centos 5.2 seems fine now). I'd suggest going in to the bios and setting the hard disk to pata emulation with sata raid disabled, and if it still doesnt work google for the kernel option to disable sata raid, its something like 'nodmraid'. This sounds more like the problem you may be hitting.

Good luck!