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Linux - Laptop and Netbook Having a problem installing or configuring Linux on your laptop? Need help running Linux on your netbook? This forum is for you. This forum is for any topics relating to Linux and either traditional laptops or netbooks (such as the Asus EEE PC, Everex CloudBook or MSI Wind).

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Old 12-21-2008, 07:02 AM   #1
abhishek_akj
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Question Unable to install Linux (any flavour) on Toshiba Satellite A305-S6857


Hi,

This is the laptop that I have
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?poid=424090

I had Vista (pre-installed ) running on it, which as expected crashed all of a sudden one day. Now, I want to install any decent flavour of linux on it(preferably ubuntu or fedora).
I downloaded the livecd images of many flavors (ubuntu 8 , fedora 7,8,9,10 , puppylinux, slitaz, dsl, knoppix ) and created a live USB using unetboot for windows and liveUSB creator from fedora on a different windows machine. This USB thus created was able to boot on that same windows machine ( Lenovo laptop T61 ), so I guess there is no problem with the way the Live USB is created. But none of these flavours were able to boot my toshiba laptop.
In the boot sequence, the kernel is loaded and the initrd is also loaded then a ready message is displayed, but it hangs after that and nothing happens.
I tried to boot in text mode also with the options
vga=771 maxcpus=1 noacpi noapic edd=skipmbr

I even disabled the second CPU core in BIOS and changed SATA port to compatibity mode, but still I was unable to get past the ready prompt which looks like

Loading vmlinuz..................................
Loading initrd.img..................................
Ready

I highly suspect it to be some hardware compatibility issue but am completely unable to find the culprit and now I am out of options .

Has someone else also faced this issue, please help me out. I have already wasted all my weekend trying to solve this mystery.

Please mail me any pointers at abhimeetsu @gmail.com
 
Old 12-21-2008, 09:11 AM   #2
DiBosco
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First of all, it's against the whole ethos of this site to just email pointers to your account. This is all about helping people both now and in the future, so let's keep the discussion here, so anyone else with your laptop can learn from this thread.

Now, trying to track the problems down I have to say I don't really understand what you have done. I don't understand why you have done all these USB installations. Have you got any live CDs booting into Linux and running? One of the best live CDs is Mandriva. I would advise downloading it from here:

http://www.mandriva.com/en/download/free

Make sure you chose the Gnome version as KDE4 is still causing a few issues.

Now, if that boots and runs you can install from that session you've booted into with a very good likelyhood it will run after install to the hard drive.
 
Old 12-21-2008, 12:48 PM   #3
abhishek_akj
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Hi,

i dont have a working optical drive to burn the iso image with, thats why i went ahead with the live USB option. Moreover, I seriously doubt that the issue is with the USB because the same live USB is able to boot another system.

I am thinking that the problem lies with some hardware compatibility, i guess either the sata drive is causing problems. I was hoping that someone might have faced similar problem earlier and could direct me to the solution.
 
Old 12-21-2008, 01:48 PM   #4
Drakeo
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you need to know your kernel and your hardware if you have a broadcom bcm43xx and kernel 2.6.24 and above it is blacklisted and it will hang up your computer vista 64 will freak right out and die. and when booting from a usb there is no dma real slow stuff. down load the Debian installer and do a live install. same thing for some other distros. better have a fast internet connection. fedora has a installer you just down load the iso and point the installer to it an your up and going.


dd this and dd that if and of.
 
Old 12-21-2008, 01:48 PM   #5
MoonMind
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I've got a hunch (not more). Try a distro that offers isolinux instead of GRUB as a boot manager. Some BIOSes do cause problems. It shouldn't be the case with a box this new, but one never knows until one has tried...

If everything else fails, Debris Linux has an isolinux version available. But we don't ship support for your WiFi (it's not Broadcom, it's Intel - it's listed on the page linked in the first post); you'd have to use ndiswrapper or go online via ethernet to get the firmware.

You'll need a very recent kernel to really get compatibility for your chipset, though. Ubuntu Alternate install might offer that (if you can't use the standard live CD).

M.

Last edited by MoonMind; 12-22-2008 at 06:17 AM.
 
Old 12-21-2008, 08:42 PM   #6
abhishek_akj
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Drakeo View Post
you need to know your kernel and your hardware if you have a broadcom bcm43xx and kernel 2.6.24 and above it is blacklisted and it will hang up your computer vista 64 will freak right out and die. and when booting from a usb there is no dma real slow stuff. down load the Debian installer and do a live install. same thing for some other distros. better have a fast internet connection. fedora has a installer you just down load the iso and point the installer to it an your up and going.


dd this and dd that if and of.
Hi,

I think for this solution to work (download iso and put it on Hard disk and point the installer to it), you must have a working operating system, which I dont have. Its nothing more that a hardware collection with just BIOS on it.

To add to my problems , I dont even have a working optical drive to burn the iso images with. But I am still hopeful that I'll be able to run some flavor linux on this dead box.

How can I know what hardware ( the broadcom thing you mentioned ) and kernel I am using. i downloaded the iso from the mirrors , so I guess they must be having updated kernels.
 
Old 12-21-2008, 08:47 PM   #7
abhishek_akj
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MoonMind View Post
I've got a hunch (not more). Try a distro that offers isolinux instead of GRUB as a boot manager. Some BIOSes do cause problems. It shouldn't be the case with a box this new, but one never knows until one has tried...

If everything else fails, Debris Linux has an isolinux version available. But we don't ship support for your WiFi (it's not [b]Broadcom[/i], it's [b]Intel[/i] - it's listed on the page linked in the first post); you'd have to use ndiswrapper or go online via ethernet to get the firmware.

You'll need a very recent kernel to really get compatibility for your chipset, though. Ubuntu Alternate install might offer that (if you can't use the standard live CD).

M.
Hi,

i have put debris on download as I am writing this message. And as far as recent version of kernel is concerned, I have tried fedora 10 and ubuntu 8 and I am guessing they are pretty recent
I'll try the alternate install of ubuntu as well.

Thanks for the help.

I'll keep the forum posted about any developments.
 
Old 12-21-2008, 09:48 PM   #8
Drakeo
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ok make a friend take your favorite usb flash pen get pupplinux and tell them to burn the iso on to a cdrom then dd if= /dev/cdrom of =/dev/sda now what you must make sure is the usb flash pen has never been partition. it should be like new with a windows fat. this will create a image of a cdrom. now in bios boot from usb flash because you already told me you could. . if you cant find a friend to do this then do it while your posting on here.
the cdrom image will boot trust me and isolinux will start.
 
  


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