LinuxQuestions.org - Acer Aspire won't run installed Mint

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- - Acer Aspire won't run installed Mint (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/acer-aspire-wont-run-installed-mint-4175553822/)

katnapper57

09-17-2015 08:59 PM

Acer Aspire won't run installed Mint

Computer Tech gave up on installing Mint on my Acer Aspire 5560 laptop running Windows7. He installed it, rebooted & got an Acer Protect msg. The computer would not boot Mint and He says Acer created this computer to run only Windows and there isn't anything more he can do, even wiping Windows off will not allow Mint to run. I am so disappointed had my heart set on running Linux Mint, am fed up with stuff like this. Is this true, am I doomed to running Windows the rest of my Acer's life? Has this happened to anyone else in the Linux world?

Ztcoracat

09-17-2015 09:37 PM

What was the exact message that came across the screen after installing Mint?
If Linux Mint was installed properly the bootloader should of taken you to the log in screen.

What is the exact model so I can look the the Acers specifications?

It might be that your Acer has UEFI and all you'd need to do is go into the BIOS and disable the secure boot.
<OR> it may be that there is a hidden partition that is associated with Windows so don't throw the towel in yet.

katnapper57

09-18-2015 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ztcoracat (Post 5422048)

What was the exact message that came across the screen after installing Mint?
If Linux Mint was installed properly the bootloader should of taken you to the log in screen.
What is the exact model so I can look the the Acers specifications?

It might be that your Acer has UEFI and all you'd need to do is go into the BIOS and disable the secure boot.
<OR> it may be that there is a hidden partition that is associated with Windows so don't throw the towel in yet.

I don't know what the msg was since the computer tech was the one trying to install Mint. He just said Acer has my computer protected so that no other OS can be installed. I find this odd since I have seen other posts where Mint was installed on the same Acer model only those posts were concerning Windows 8 and I am running Windows7. I took it to the tech b/c he said Linux is his world and I couldn't get my computer to run Mint from a bootable usb drive. I was afraid to install it to computer without trying it first but since he knew what he was doing I asked him to install it. My model is Acer Aspire 5560 running Windows7 - (Quad Core)Processor AMD A6-3420M APU with Radeon HD Graphics 1.50 GHZ-6 GB memory-64 bit OS. Since I'm running Windows7 UEFI wouldn't apply would it? I'm not technical savvy that's why I relied on the computer tech to do this but he was quick to throw in the towel saying he couldn't get past Acer's Protection Screen!

yancek

09-18-2015 08:04 AM

Quote:

I couldn't get my computer to run Mint from a bootable usb drive.

Why not? What did you try, what software did you use to create the bootable Mint flash drive? Some of the more common which run on windows are unetbootin and pendrivelinux. Did you use either? If not, what did you use? Do you see an option to boot from usb in the BIOS of your computer. If you have a flash drive plugged in, does it show in the BIOS under HDD?

A pre-installed windows 7 would probably not be using UEFI although it's possible. You might take a look at the User Manual for the machine to see if you can find anything about booting from usb.

katnapper57

09-18-2015 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yancek (Post 5422238)

I downloaded Mint Cinnamon 64bit & I used pendrivelinux like the instructions said. I was able to boot from usb after changing my boot sequence and yes the flash drive showed in the Bios under HDD but all I got after that was some strings of white lettering on black screen and then it seemed to just lock up and sit there none of the keyboard keys would do anything and finally had to power off with the power button. I thought perhaps the download was not good so I tried again using a different mirror site. It did the same thing again. I attempted to write out what the writing said on my first thread here. I also tried the same thing with a DVD and it didn't work either. I did the same thing with Ubuntu thinking maybe it would do differently but no it did the same thing. One thing I didn't mention was on Mint a couple of times when I pressed the ESC key I got the mint logo but it never got to the continuing in 8 minutes or whatever it is that comes up right before the desktop appears. I thought I must be doing something wrong causing this to happen so I talked with the tech and he said he could install Mint for me no problem! He got farther than I did but still ended up ditching it b/c of the Acer msg. I didn't get to that point but I wasn't trying to install it only run it from usb. Sorry I am so new at this I have to honestly say all that black screen white letter stuff is scary to me and I really don't know what I am looking or what I should be looking for. I haven't seen anything in my manual about booting from usb but will search again.

Ztcoracat

09-18-2015 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by katnapper57 (Post 5422192)

I looked up the specifications.
https://datacomp.sk/img.asp?attid=252571
http://www.cnet.com/products/acer-as...-gb-hdd/specs/

From what I can tell your Acer doesn't have UEFI BIOS-

Ztcoracat

09-18-2015 10:56 PM

Quote:

all I got after that was some strings of white lettering on black screen and then it seemed to just lock up and sit there none of the keyboard keys would do anything

This sounds like it might be a graphics issue.

Other folks that have installed Mint have had similar issue's-

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=176732
http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/842

Another alternative maybe try a different distribution.

katnapper57

09-19-2015 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ztcoracat (Post 5422559)

Another alternative maybe try a different distribution.

I decided to give ubuntu another go so downloaded the Ubuntu ISO 14.04.3 to a usb flash drive via Pendrivelinux. When rebooted and chose to run without installing it came up to the purple screen with the Ubuntu logo with 5 dots below the logo appearing as though it was loading. But it never did come up to anything else it was just stuck on that purple screen. I tried using the directions found for resolving an issue similar to this involving black screen. It said to go to the boot screen of GRUB and the line starting with the word Linux and ending with the words: quiet splash and add the parameter related to the brand or chipset of my video card. My card is Radeon so I added radeon.modeset=0. There were two dashes -- after the word splash so I entered the parameter after the -- typing one space before it as directed. When I rebooted a msg came up on black screen saying something about a radeon error. But above that it said something about unable to enable ACPI. I tried the directions for Desperate Mode trying to add a second video mode parameter. I tried grub_gfxmode=1024x768x16 that didn't work so tried grub_gfxmode=vesa that didn't work either. I noticed that when I hit ctrlt+alt+del from one of the screens, the screen that comes up before going to the purple screen with logo I think it was, it says this /initiline7:can't open/dev/sr0:No medium found. The screen that says GNU Grub reads like this before adding the suggested parameters: Setparams 'Try Ubuntu without installing'
linux /casper/vmlinuz.efi file=/cdrom/ preseed/ubuntu.seed cdrom-detect/try-usb=true noprompt floppy.allo\ wed_drive_mask=0 ignore_uuid boot=casper quiet splash-- initrd /casper/initrd.lz I don't know what any of this means but I am trying to search out the answer.

Ztcoracat

09-19-2015 09:22 PM

I think you need nomodset-

Quote:

On some hardware configurations, you need to set some kernel parameters for ubuntu to boot or work properly. A common one is nomodeset, which is needed for some graphic cards that otherwise boot in to a black screen or corrupted splash, acpi_osi= to fix lcd backlight and other problems, and noapic and nolapic to work around various ACPI BIOS issues.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1613132

rokytnji

09-19-2015 10:41 PM

Shoot. Posting from a UEFI Dell computer on a 32 bit operating system with a pae kernel to see all 8 gig of ram.
Just hit Legacy button in bios and let the free flag fly.
F12 to boot from cd or usb. Off to the races.

Code:

$ inxi -Fxz

System:    Host: biker Kernel: 3.17-7.dmz.2-liquorix-686-pae i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.8.3)

          Desktop: Fluxbox 1.3.5

          Distro: antiX-15-V_386-full Killah P 30 June 2015

Machine:  System: Dell (portable) product: Latitude E4310 v: 0001

          Mobo: Dell model: 0T6M8G v: A01 Bios: Dell v: A03 date: 07/08/2010

CPU:      Dual core Intel Core i5 M 520 (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB

          flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9576

          clock speeds: max: 2400 MHz 1: 1199 MHz 2: 1466 MHz 3: 1999 MHz

          4: 1733 MHz

Graphics:  Card: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller

          bus-ID: 00:02.0

          Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)

          Resolution: 1366x768@60.00hz

          GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ironlake Mobile x86/MMX/SSE2

          GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 10.3.2 Direct Rendering: Yes

Audio:    Card Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio

          driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0

          Sound: ALSA v: k3.17-7.dmz.2-liquorix-686-pae

Network:  Card-1: Intel 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection

          driver: e1000e v: 2.3.2-k port: 6040 bus-ID: 00:19.0

          IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>

          Card-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200

          driver: iwlwifi v: in-tree: bus-ID: 02:00.0

          IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>

Drives:    HDD Total Size: 60.0GB (5.6 used)

          ID-1: /dev/sda model: KINGSTON_SV300S3 size: 60.0GB

Partition: ID-1: / size: 7.6G used: 3.0G (42%) fs: ext3 dev: /dev/sda2

          ID-2: /home size: 48G used: 133M (1%) fs: ext3 dev: /dev/sda1

Sensors:  System Temperatures: cpu: 55.0C mobo: N/A

          Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A

Info:      Processes: 161 Uptime: 1:24 Memory: 380.1/8045.2MB

          Init: SysVinit runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 4.9.2

          Client: Shell (bash 4.3.301) inxi: 2.2.28

Boots in seconds on ssd. Computer tech I am not. Just a scooter tramp.

katnapper57

09-20-2015 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ztcoracat (Post 5422911)

I think you need nomodset-

I read the articles suggested and attempted numerous times to add nomodeset but it still only shows the purple screen with Ubuntu logo. When I reboot after adding nomodeset after quiet splash the screen says something about Radeon error no UMS support. It goes by so fast I can't read the complete msg. and ends up on the purple screen again and just hangs there. With any button I press I either get the grub screen where I added nomodeset after quiet splash or the screen with this /initiline7:can't open/dev/sr0:No medium found. None of the buttons take me to a menu where I can set kernel options as the article discussed. I am terribly confused seems I'm at a deadend. Surely Ubuntu is not this difficult once you get into it. I had hoped I would be able to try Ubuntu out from the USB drive before installing, but not being able to run it from the USB drive makes me scared to try to install it, maybe the tech was right, Acer has me locked in to use of Windows, I had hoped not! I feel as though I don't even own my computer. I should be allowed to run whatever OS I want without any manufacturer's authorization. I will continue to keep searching and reading though b/c I don't give up easily. Thank you for your help I appreciate your patience.

Ztcoracat

09-20-2015 07:53 PM

If I'm not misktaken this message is referring to looking in the cd or dvd for a medium.

Code:

:can't open/dev/sr0:

Your .iso image of Ubuntu is on a usb stick so it should be looking there.

Go in your BIOS and ensure that your boot priority is set to usb as the first choice.

Since nomodset isn't working you may as well remove it from the kernel line.
Installing the driver for your Radeon card might help.
Which Radeon card do you have?

Run lspci | grep -i VGA to find out--

This was the only article I could find with the Radeon Error no UMS Support.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=166037

Here's confirmation that this type of behavior is lack of information being set to the Graphic's card.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/BlankScreen

Ztcoracat

09-20-2015 07:54 PM

rokytnji:

Could it be that the kernel doesn't provide support for op radeon card and that's why nomodeset isn't helping?

rokytnji

09-20-2015 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ztcoracat (Post 5423200)

rokytnji:

Could it be that the kernel doesn't provide support for op radeon card and that's why nomodeset isn't helping?

Mint is pretty good about supporting ati with their kernels. My graphics are modern intel. So easy peasy for me.

Linky

Ztcoracat

09-20-2015 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji (Post 5423203)

Mint is pretty good about supporting ati with their kernels. My graphics are modern intel. So easy peasy for me.

Linky

Thanks;)

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