Hello people,

since months I'm trying to install some proper Linux-OS on my Notebook but it simply won't work. So far I've tried Suse, Kanotix, Fedora 2 and 3 and Mandriva 10.2 (and Knoppix Live-CD). Suse (Live-CD) could not start. No idea why. Then I tried to install Kanotix but the OS did'nt even recognize my Touchpad nor my USB- or PS/2-Mouse. Then I arranged a DVD of Fedora 2. I installed it. Everything was fine, everything installed. Then, at the end of the installation, I hit return in order to reboot. Then System started everthing, the progress bar went until the end and then the screen turned black. Same thing happended with Fedora 3 and Mandriva 10.2. (I think all three stopped at the same point. I'm not quite sure...)
So far the only OS i got to work on this notebook is Windows XP which is still sharing the hdd with Linux.

This is my hardware configuration:

[Fujitsu Siemens Amilo A 7600 (CY26)]
Flat screen: 1024*768 @ 60Hz
Processor: AMD Athlon XP M 1800+ (Thouroughbred-A (Mainstream))
Memory: 512MB DDR-RAM
Motherboard: Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo A-Series (Chipset shown by Aida32: ATI ...Radeon IGP320M)
Graphics chip: ATI Radeon IGP320M
Networking device: Realtek RTL8139-Family-PCI-Fast Ethernet-NIC
Modem: Some On-board-56k modem
Sound chip: ALi M5451 AC-Link Controller Audio Device

I think that's the most important stuff. I'm sure that I'm still gonna come back to you because my USB-Modem won't work on Linux...

I hope I didn't leave out any important details. Please help me get Linux work on my Notebook. I don't know what is always going wrong!

Looks like a video card problem i.e. the default x config does not work with the ATI card. Through googling it appears the ubuntu supports this card out of the box.

This link might provide some insight:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/history/182125

Hi,

I have this notebook too and it works fine linux (except for the modem).
If you cant install some distributions you may have a USB-device plugged in the inner or the middle USB-port. Only use the outer one (the one at the left side).
The bios of the Amilo A 7600 is buggy so everytime X is started with 3D enabled the Amilo crashes and you get a black screen.
All distributions containing X.org 6.8.1 or better and Kernel 2.6.x (or 2.4.23 and better)
support 3D on IGP 320M. Some distributions like Fedora Core 3 try to enable 3D by default if they detect a IGP 320M and this results in a black screen.
The reason for the problems with the USB-mouse is also the buggy bios. They occur with kernel 2.4.27 and newer and newer 2.6.x - kernels. But the outer USB-port is usable everytime.

Solutions

1. If you do not need 3D disable it in your xorg.conf
Comment out the line:

Load "dri"

For this you have to boot in runlevel 3, so that X is not started automatically.

2. If you want 3D and/or you want to use all USB-ports:
You have to inlude a custom DSDT-table in the boot process.
This is somewhat tricky so I cant explain it in a few words.
See:
http://acpi.sourceforge.net/dsdt/index.php # genereral things about DSDT
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amilo # Yahoo group, main topic is Amilo A 7600 with linux
there you can get help and a well tested
DSDT-patch



For touchpad:

-is the psmouse-module loaded? Sometimes it does not load automatically (SuSE 9.2)
-try booting with

i8042.nomux

as a bootparameter

For PS2 devices:

-make sure your bios is at least 1.0.7, but do not use the latest 1.10 if you want a quiet
notebook.
1.0.9 works good.

If you already have questions about the Amilo just ask.

Thomas