Re: Looking for THE laptop expert (SOLVED!)

[Just17]

1-Linux (as pre-installed) works. There is just no DE installed.

I understood from a previous post that Linpus is pre-installed .......  which does have a DE.

http://www.linpus.com/

Come on just18. I use Linux for 14 year now and I really do recognize a desktop, really. 

On a funny note, I went this morning to a shop where they sell laptops with Linux pre-installed.
Asked the sales man: "what is that about Linux"?  Answer: It is "Boot-up-Linux" Sir"   
Strange answer maybe but it does tell a story......

I wasn't implying anything about you recognising a DE   

From what that salesman said .....  it is not a true Linpus install .....  just a boot-up Linux ...... based on Linpus ..... which is a bit different from what I understood it to mean 

 It might have been interesting if he had demonstrated the OS 

[horusfalcon]

1-Linux (as pre-installed) works. There is just no DE installed.

I understood from a previous post that Linpus is pre-installed .......  which does have a DE.

http://www.linpus.com/

Come on just18. I use Linux for 14 year now and I really do recognize a desktop, really. 

On a funny note, I went this morning to a shop where they sell laptops with Linux pre-installed.
Asked the sales man: "what is that about Linux"?  Answer: It is "Boot-up-Linux" Sir"   
Strange answer maybe but it does tell a story......

Heh... those wacky guys in sales!  What are ya gonna do with 'em, huh?
(Hang 'em up by their thumbs in the hot sun for a while if I had my 'druthers...  I generally tell sales people to get lost until I'm ready to buy what I want.)

Once in a while, though, it looks like you can get useful data from them - about what not to buy! 

Later On,
D

[Crow]

In my experience sales guys has proven to be useful, they can call the sales manager and back me up when I ask for permission to reboot a computer with a USB memory stick  

Phone sales guys...  dealt with them a couple of times and it was just wasted time  

[glamdring]

Sounds like your best bet is to wait it out for better support, just keep an eye out for updates.

Few crazy ideas, be in mind I'm assuming nothing important is on it and your not afraid of breaking your install. When an issue like this seems unsolvable, I'm all for trying everything and setting aside the rules of not installing out of repo.

Try the new kernels. (newest is 3.4.4 and 3.5-rc5) (Repo 3.2.18): http://www.kernel.org/
Try a newer version of mesa. (newest 8.0.3) (Repo 7.11.2): http://mesa3d.org/
Try the newest AMD drivers (I see you tried this once already). (newest 12.6) (Repo unsure, but fglrx points to 12.4 info): http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/linux/Pages/radeon_linux.aspx?type=2.4.1&product=2.4.1.3.42&lang=English
Try newest X11, including beta. (newest R7.7) (Repo unknown, for all I know it's possible we are running latest but I was under the impression it was 7.4): http://www.x.org/wiki/

One useful place for AMD info: http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Main_Page

Lastly, please people do not get mad at me for this, if possible install another distro and go to them for help. Some of these other big distros may find the answer with their extensive user base, which most likely will easily be engineered to work on your favorite PCLinuxOS distro. Also you could give Red Hat a go, if you can't get it to work contact support and if they can't there probably isn't support available for it yet.

Oh and give freebsd a try, lots of information online about those laptop variations talked about freebsd.

[horusfalcon]

I'll second what Glamdring is saying here about the use of information gleaned from using other distributions to solve problems in PCLinuxOS.  All distributions spring from a common heritage, so there are many times and occasions where what works for one will work for another.  There's nothing at all wrong with such an approach, especially when more "conventional" approaches have failed (as seems to be the case here).

As with all such endeavors, though, be prepared to break a few eggs in the making of this particular omelet.

Later On,
D

[deck99]

here is my story...

I use Full Monty version for about a year...  PCLinuxOS became my linus of choice...  After trying about a dozen different.

Over a year ago I was unable to update the nvidia driver.  System would crash on boot.. So I continued without the update.  Unfortunately a hard drive failure without back up at the time force me to leave PCLinusOS.   I could not boot the live CD.  it would freeze..

I am dual boot, at the time I did not realize that when I could not upgrade the linus nvidia driver I started having random crashes on vista which I now find was related.   With the latest nvidia drivers the random crashes became crazy 5 to ten min.
I started to investigate..

Having a high performance laptop I found a forum dedicated to it.  HP HDX9494nr of the HDX9000 series.  The techs who used the laptop discovered over year and half ago that Nvidia broke the windows driver.  The last completely useful driver was two years ago. After installing the 257.21, from two years ago,  not one crash in a month..  They broke the power miser settings.  It is so wonderful to have my computer back again..  After spending many hours trying to correct the random crashes and to find out that Nvidia caused the problem and the many techs informed NVidia techs about the problem and nothing was done..  I then realized that this was my problem with all the the LInux distros that would not boot.

IMHO it was done on purpose...  You linux people who refuse to use Micrsoft forget about the other two parts of the big three.  Nvidia and Intel...   "They can't make no damn money if u if people keep on using those older computers..."

All old chipsets are being phase out...  just good business... they do not care about the user....

Using the lastest nvidia drivers loses compatibility with many computers over three years old...

I have now had to Move to Kubuntu as my linux...  I am a KDE guy because of PCLinusOS.  Kubuntu boots with the Nouveau drivers.  I still can not upgrade to nvidia drivers in their resositories.  Nouveau drivers are fully functional for everyday use.   Surfing, youtube no problem.... even some games.  I will be compiling the nvidia driver 256.23 next week in to the OS.  The 260 driver began the problems..  Two years ago..  I had installed PCLinuxOS in 2010...

the big problem with the boot is the video driver for nvidia.. had no problems on my new AMD/ATI laptop..

I will miss PCLinusOS and the Full Monty, was a good run...  I will be checking back regularly though...

thanks tex...  great OS.....  Deck

[Just17]

deck99,
               boot live with the Vesa driver, and then change to the Nouveau driver .....   

[Crow]

deck99 what you say makes sense for me, I've been having problems since an update of the Nvidia drivers in my Acer nettop, It uses the ION LE was great and suddenly it doesn't give me the right resolution for my HP w2007 monitor.

Where do I find the 256.23 drivers?  will you make an RPM?  if that was the case, would you share? 

[glamdring]

deck99 what you say makes sense for me, I've been having problems since an update of the Nvidia drivers in my Acer nettop, It uses the ION LE was great and suddenly it doesn't give me the right resolution for my HP w2007 monitor.

Where do I find the 256.23 drivers?  will you make an RPM?  if that was the case, would you share?  

They can be downloaded at the Nvidia site by click beta and older drivers link below download area.


You can download legacy Unix drivers here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html
If you unsure what ones you need or if your GPU has been phased out Nvidia provides the information here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_32667.html



With this in mind, have you tried installing one of the older drivers? You can get the old drivers for your laptop at: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/linux/previous/Pages/radeon_linux.aspx

[Crow]

Thank you glamdring

[bicol_willem]

Yes guys, I think glamding comes up with some useful conclusions here. However in my case the grafics are AMD/ATI

VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Wrestler [Radeon HD 6320]

No nvidia solution will save my ass here.  Good info and thinking though.

[glamdring]

Yes guys, I think glamding comes up with some useful conclusions here. However in my case the grafics are AMD/ATI

VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Wrestler [Radeon HD 6320]

No nvidia solution will save my ass here.  Good info and thinking though.

Did you check the last link? Those are AMD drivers, however I didn't look up compatibly info for your chip. I'm unsure of were AMD stores this info, if they do. They have drivers dating back to 08, perhaps giving an old one a go might help? I was searching the internet like crazy, I thought for sure someone else would have this problem but haven't found another yet.

Repost link incase you didn't see it: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/linux/previous/Pages/radeon_linux.aspx

[deck99]

just18,  I will give that a try... but that also means an internet connection, which should not be a problem.  

willem,  I have the lenovo 205s,  amd e-350, radeon 6310... no problems installing and booting.  

you could try this, set ur boot time to 45 sec or 1min...  It may have to do with apic..  
I have had this problem with all linux version, I believe I suffered the same problem with PCLinuxOS..
this is was and intel chipset... but it could be ur problem..  when I increase the boot time I could successfully cold boot 8 of ten times..  after digging in the forums I realized it had to do with the apic...  

for the life of me I cannot remember where I found the fix.. two tears ago... I had to include "hpet=force nolapic" in the boot commands.  Now, absolutely no problems with boot.  This has to be done with all linux versions I tried.

Good Luck...    Deck

[bicol_willem]

just18,  I will give that a try... but that also means an internet connection, which should not be a problem.  

willem,  I have the lenovo 205s,  amd e-350, radeon 6310... no problems installing and booting.  

you could try this, set ur boot time to 45 sec or 1min...  It may have to do with apic..  
I have had this problem with all linux version, I believe I suffered the same problem with PCLinuxOS..
this is was and intel chipset... but it could be ur problem..  when I increase the boot time I could successfully cold boot 8 of ten times..  after digging in the forums I realized it had to do with the apic...  

for the life of me I cannot remember where I found the fix.. two tears ago... I had to include "hpet=force nolapic" in the boot commands.  Now, absolutely no problems with boot.  This has to be done with all linux versions I tried.

Good Luck...    Deck

A longer delay before boot takes on the job is what you mean I think..... (correct me when I am wrong here).
That I am going to try for sure!  I am thinking already that this whole problem could be connected with some temperature thing....or a (pre-)"charge" something somewhere. Booting up Windows and then reboot must have a warming effect here or there or has something being charged. (Yes, I am just guessing now as I ran out of ideas long time ago).
Then the second suggestion. Well, Mrs. is at school today WITH the laptop but at my first option I am going to try all this. Thanks.

EDIT:
IF I understood well what you meant with "set your boot time to 45 sec. or 1 min..." then that didn't work.
Using the option "hpet=force nolapic" leads to no boot at all. (End up in a bash).
So, a solution didn't pass by yet but thanks for the thinking done. 

[bicol_willem]

Solution given here: http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,109738.0.html  by loudog

Here is HAPPY!!!