Loading any distro on a Sony Vaio desktop
 

I have a Sony Vaio , desktop Model# PCV-2252

PROBLEM:
I have tried to load
Mint 7, Mint 8, SimplyMepis 8, PuppyLinux

They all get so far and won't load anymore. Puppy gets to the Keyboard selection, but won't let you choose one. Most of the others get quite a ways thru the process (all the text on the screen) and then just stop. Have used the same discs on other computers and know they work.

Apparently others have this problem with Sonys

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopi...t=vaio#p227700

TIA for any help

Pentium 4 CPU 3.20ghz
3.19 ghz, 512 MB Ram
Windows XP
DVD RW/ CD-RW
DVD Rom
17'' LCD monitor
Model# PCV-2252

What kind of HDD does that thing have ? I can't seem to find info on it. Is it SATA or IDE ?

hdd
 

If I read it right, it's an EIDE, similar to this one:




http://www.amazon.com/WD-Caviar-WD25...4974354&sr=8-1

What I would try is booting with various boot options to see if they stop the hanging. So, try one or more of the following as boot options:

noapic
noioapic
nolapic
acpi=off
pci=nomsi

The boot options can usually be specified at the 'boot:' prompt along with the name of the kernel, but it varies with each live CD. There's usually a key to press at the 'boot:' screen that will give you more info, like F1 or F2 or something.

I know it's a shotgun approach the problem, but there's not much info to go on.

If you could post any strange messages that come up during booting it would help.

Attached below are the results of Belarc on this machine. Hope that helps

Basic question, Is this a hardware problem, or software. I imagine it's hardware, and putting a fresh install of XP (I think this is the original proprietary software, XP, that came with the computer. I will eventually do this anyway, but I think at this time it wouldn't help the problem. Not a total noob, but not that far along. TIA




Computer Profile Summary




Operating System System Model
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3 (build 2600)
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (United States) Sony Corporation PCV-RS630G(UC) 28005830
System Serial Number: 3021672
Asset Tag: P12500000000E2C0F66CFEFC3EEB
Chassis Serial Number: R4484148
Enclosure Type: Desktop
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
3.20 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
16 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
Hyper-threaded (2 total) Board: ASUSTek Computer Inc. P4SD-VL
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 2001 04/09/2004
Drives Memory Modules c,d
243.61 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
227.01 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4082B [CD-ROM drive]
SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-616E [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

Sony UMH-U HS-CF USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 2
Sony UMH-U HS-MS USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 1
Sony UMH-U HS-SM USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 3
WDC WD2500BB-98FTA0 [Hard drive] (250.06 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WMAEP3121531, rev 15.05R15, SMART Status: Healthy 512 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM0' has 256 MB
Slot 'DIMM1' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM2' has 256 MB
Slot 'DIMM3' is Empty
Local Drive Volumes


c: (NTFS on drive 0) 243.61 GB 227.01 GB free
Network Drives
None detected


DISABLED Marks a disabled account; LOCKED OUT Marks a locked account

Amyuni PDF Converter 2.07 on LPT1:
Canon MP160 Printer on USB002
Lexmark 5200 Series on USB001
Controllers Display
Standard floppy disk controller
Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] RADEON 9200 [Display adapter]
Sony SDM-HS93 [Monitor] (19.1"vis, s/n 1707250, March 2004)
Bus Adapters Multimedia
Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D2
Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D4
Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D7
Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24DE
Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller Sony MPEG RealTime encoder board
SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio
Virus Protection [Back to Top] new Group Policies
No details available None discovered
Communications Other Devices
Agere Systems AC'97 Modem



Networking Dns Server: 192.168.1.1
NEC OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
Sony Memory Card Reader/Writer
USB Root Hub (5x)