Hello, I have a Dell Inspiron 17 5000 series laptop. I wanted to know what type of LInux would work for it? I tried to install Linux Mint 17.1 Rafaela edition, its either a bad download because the screen keeps freezing at the start but it could also mean that the Linux isn't compatible with my laptop. I prefer Linux Mint, but if there are better versions please let me know. Thanks!

I've run Linux on several Dell Inspirons without incident (except for having to take a few extra steps to get the Broadcom wireless working).

What are specs of that machine, including the video card?

Hi frankbell, thanks for your concern with this topic. I cant tell what specific laptop this is other than Dell Inspiron 17 5000 series, were do I look for the details. I just erased the drive because of a malware problem, the windows disk isn't the full program so any data that was in the hard drive is gone. Where can I find out what type of laptop I have? Thanks.

You are most welcome. LQ is here to help.

If you have access to another machine, try searching the Dell website with the precise model number or the Dell service tag number (that should be on a sticker on the bottom of the machine); in fact, searching by the service tag is your best bet. That should at least give you access to the specs for that machine.

I would suggest that you boot to a Live CD/DVD of something and use Linux tools for determining the information, but, since you have problems booting to the Mint disc, that might not be an option.

I think OP may need a nVidia driver. Base specs seen are 2.3 GHz and 8 GB RAM.

If you enter the menu for Mint rather than just leave it to boot, there are various options available. I think the one to try is the compatibility mode. If the problem is the Intel graphics, it should load and the correct driver will be set during the installation.

If that doesn't work, it's probably a bad disk. Both Dell computers and Linux Mint are so standard, that they should work happily together.

try another disk (cd/dvd) and see if the live version works, most install disks have a run as live system option in the splash menu.

fred.