My laptop is FX63VD (i7-7700HQ, Geforce GTX 1050), and I installed 14.2 on it. Because there exists some issues of the 14.2 for this laptop, such as:
- Intel Wireless-AC 8256 not supported by the kernel (4.4.14)
- Cannot resume from sleep state
Then I decided to try some new kernels.

But by far, I've not yet managed to find a kernel version above 4.4.14 working for the laptop. Below are a summary of my test:
- 4.14.47 (the -current of slack): not boot, immediately reset;
- 4.16.13 (latest stable from kernel.org): not boot, immediately reset;
- 4.9.105 (latest of 4.9.x): it boots, and the login prompt appeared, but the keyboard has no response at all, so I cannot even login.

Expect for the 4.14.47, which I also tried to build with the SlackBuild scripts in the -current source tree, all the above kernels were built using below steps:

- boot into the working 4.4.14
- zcat /proc/config.gz > .config
- make olddefconfig
- make -j9 bzImage
- make -j9 modules
- make -j9 modules_install (rm /lib/modules/xxx when necessary)
*Note* Below two steps are because I am using UEFI boot loader in my BIOS, which will load the Slack's elilo boot loader. And my ESP root is /boot/efi.
- cp arch/x86_64/boot/bzImage /boot/efi/EFI/Slackware/vmlinuz-huge-xxx
- edit /boot/efi/EFI/Slackware/elilo.conf to add an new entry for the new kernel.

So, what I cannot understand are:
- Why 4.14/4.16 totally no boot?
- Why 4.9.105 boot but no keyboard?

Are there someone give me a hint? Maybe I did something wrong in the steps described above, but I don't know where is it.

BTW: If my laptop is really not so compatible to Linux, where should I submit the hardware information so the further version of Linux can get a chance to improve?

Thanks in advance.
Woody

Can you try a different distro?

I like to report: 2.6.7 works! This working kernel confirmed that my operations should be right and there must be something broken in 2.14/2.16 branches, right? And, I still need to try a higher version of kernel tomorrow, maybe 2.7.x, since the resuming from sleep still not work, any suggestion?

Thanks.

On this new laptop (I bought it one week ago), the first I tried is Ubuntu, but the installation DVD even cannot boot, it reported something like "watchdog detected a hard lockup on cpu2 (or cpu1)". I tried the newest 18 version and the older 16 version of installation disks, the result are all the same.

You can write a bug report on www.kernel.org: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/

While Ubuntu may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, I'd take a hard look at as serious an error message as "cpu hard lockup". My first question on that is
"Are you overclocking?" Secondly, do you have the means to view mobo temperatures? Note: The view in BIOS is a good start but under running conditions would be more useful.
If so, I suggest dial that down or go to stock speeds until after you have a properly running system.
If not I'd try LiveSlak preferably starting with 14.2 and whatever desktop you prefer. Then I'd try Live Current. With proper BIOS/UEFI settings both of those should work.
If they don't then I'd spend serious time going over BIOS settings and/or using a Utility Live CD like Hirens 15.2 and run Memtest to look for any manner of hardware fails.

In short there is a likelihood of some hardware issue that should be identified and fixed before you just flail around searching for a software magic bullet.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks the reminds. I will run liveslak and Live Current to see if there is any change. On the other hand, I feel there is no sign that the "hard lockup" message was due to hardware issue. The laptop is new, I did not overclock it, I even loaded the default setup parameters from BIOS before I met the issue. The laptop also installed with a Windows 10, in which I played with applications for several days without notifying any problem. Talking the temperature, in BIOS, it's about 39 degree, and in normal usage in Windows, it's about 40 to 45 degree. If I run something really heavy, such as a benchmark testing program, the temperature could go as high as 65 to 70 degree, but I think it's because the ready heavy jobs. Do you feel it's normal?

Thanks.
-Woody

Looks like you forgot to build an initrd for your custom kernel.

https://docs.slackware.com/slackware...generic_kernel

Only generic kernel needs initrd, right? I think what I built are huge kernels because I made them using existed configs from the running system by zcat /proc/config.gz, and I saw the kernels I built are 7.x to 8.x MB. A generic kernel only sizes 4.x to 5.x MB as I knew.

I'm assuming the config in /proc/config.gz is the config for the current running kernel, so assuming you were running the huge kernel at the time, then I think you are correct. I would probably copy one of the configs from /boot instead just to be sure.

Because I was building a lot of versions of kernels for the issue, then the configs in /boot may be messed, and the /proc/config.gz must be a dynamically correct one that matching the current kernel. In this sense, I think /proc/config.gz is safer to choose. Please fix me if this understanding is incorrect.

I have two related questions: How do I one hundred percent sure that my current running kernel is a huge version? What exact config line in the config file that determines it's huge or generic?

Thanks.

I don't think there is a single line that will tell you. A "huge" kernel will have most things built directly into the kernel, whereas a generic kernel will have many things built as modules (CONFIG_WHATEVER=m as opposed to CONFIG_WHATEVER=y). However, comparing Pat's generic and huge configs, I see that even the huge kernel has some things built as modules, but not as many as the generic kernel. So I'm not quite certain what determines when an initrd is required and when it is not. Personally, when I build custom kernels, I normally start with one of Pat's generic configs and create an initrd.

Thanks. I also leared the same after read your post, now I can say what I built the huge kernels are indeed huge ones because a lot of block device drivers and file system drivers were buit with ‘y’.

After this self confirmation of what I run huge are really huge, I also found an interesting thing. While the huge 4.14.47 from the -current cannot boot, the generic one of the same version kernel boot normally on my laptop. I cannot understand this result and I am going to check if that is also the same for an even higher version such as 4.16.13

There should not be a difference between a kernel with many modules and a monolithic kernel.

I had installed Gentoo a while ago on my computer and with the exception of sound drivers all was compiled into the kernel.

I am a thermal nutcase and those temps sound quite admirable for a laptop to me. As for the "hard lockup" while it is certainly possible that could've been caused by a borked iso download (assuming you don't always run a checksum) but combined with other fairly uncommon problems I wouldn't be able to let it go. I'd have to check but your trust in New may well be justified. That it ran Windows isn't actually impressive as MS works hard to have a workable OpSys "one size fits all" so it will commonly run on some really crap hardware that higher performance systems will reject. However that you have run some heavy Benchmarks gives me some confidence as well that your hardware may be fine. I'll keep looking in from time to time to see your progress and wish you Good Fortune.