Ubuntu 9.10 on Compaq 610

[m.kristian]

when I type $ gksudo gedit /media/UID-XXXXXX/boot/grub/grub.cfg I see an empty file. I am installing ubuntu 9.10 amd64, maybe the adress is diferent.

please replace UID-XXXXX with whatever you find in the /media directory. it should be your hard disc. in case you have more then one hard disc use the one which has a "boot" directory.

from the command line it is easy to complete it by starting with

$ gksudo gedit /media/
and hit TAB twice which will complete the it if there is only one possibility or gives you the list of possibilities. but in any case you need to mount your hard drive first !! go to "Places => Computer" there you see all hard disks mounted or unmounted.

[BigEdu]

Thanks, still cant do it because i cant save the file (it apears a mesaje whit "read only")

[m.kristian]

gksudo chmod u+w /media/UID-xxxxx/boot/grub/grub.cfg

gives you write access for the superuser.

[BigEdu]

Thanks you all, finally did it.

[wgarciamachmar]

I've just installed the OS last week and worked perfectly. Boot time improved by 20 secs, compared to 9.04.

Everything works, WiFi, camera, sound, video (though i think i'm only working with one of the machine's speakers, but the headphone output works just fine).

[pieterkirsten]

I downloaded Ubuntu Desktop 9.10 (64 bit) ISO image and installed.

My wireless did not seem to work. It was a while before I figured out that the Wireless was actually not working at all.
As the Compaq 610 can only have a Intel or a Broadcom wireless chip in, I guessed that I must have a Broadcom. The Intel one would probably work fine.

Found the following drivers from Broadcom: 802.11 Linux STA driver:
http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php

Just follow the instructions in the readme file:
http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/README.txt

[wgarciamachmar]

Got the Compaq 610 with Interl Core 2 Duo, 3 GB RAM and a 160 HDD. Installed 9.04 and worked just fine, except for the sound, and then made a clean install with 9.10 (so I can get the most of the ext4 file system) and worked fine as well, no sound bug.

Of course, I'm not using the video card to the most of its capacity. Besides, some games just get the system to crash like FreeDM, and sauerbraten.

[pwebster25]

[QUOTE=m.kristian;8362484]
$ gksudo gedit /media/UID-XXXXXX/boot/grub/grub.cfg

here you need to change the following menu entry by adding "nomodeset" - see the line starting with "linux"

menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5c7c29e4-f877-4e6d-8b20-aed6eacd5ad3
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=5c7c29e4-f877-4e6d-8b20-aed6eacd5ad3 ro nomodeset quiet splash nomodeset
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}

m.kristian and Others-
Thanks for your help. I think I've got it up and running now. Do I need to modify the lines starting with linux also in the sections for recovery and for the earlier kernals (2.6.31.14 etc)?

[crazedidiot]

Yeah I was confused by UID-XXXXXX aswell. This is actually some sort of ID for your harddrive but I didn't use that. Your harddrive will most likely be hda1 for PATA or sda1 if it's a SATA drive (mine was SATA)

sudo mkdir /media/hdd // make a directory to mount your harddrive to
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/hdd // mount it there
sudo gedit /media/hdd/boot/grub/grub.cfg // edit the file

I found that grub.cfg was read only as was the directory that contained it but in any case after making it writable (sudo chmod +w grub.cfg) and editing it the system still booted to a blank screen.

In this case during startup hit ESC to enter the grub menu then use the edit keys listed to add the nomodeset as before. This will allow you to boot up with a writable harddrive. You can then edit the file as described before.

sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg // note the new path as the harddrive is now mounted at /
Hope this helps.
Also this problem is not confined to compaq 610 laptops, I had it on a desktop machine with asus motherboard and nvidia GEforce 5200 graphics card.

[netlaptop]

Thanks much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been looking for this nearly 4 months!

This way also works for me:

1- Live CD F6, add nomodeset... like #9 post

In Ubuntu, active driver in System/Administrator/Hardware Drivers (to prevent Broadcom STA wireless driver problem for my dell studio)

then Install Ubuntu to HDD.

2- When Ubuntu is installed, restart as it asks. At boot menu, let press "e" to edit grub at boot and add nomodeset
like:
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-19-generic root=UUID=a6850822-f08e-4f11-8cd3-4ce83a864b8a ro nomodeset quiet splash nomodeset

3- In Ubuntu just edit:

gksudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg

(It helps us pass "mount" or find UID-XXX-XXX-XXX step)

then do as #9 post

you need to change the following menu entry by adding "nomodeset" - see the line starting with "linux"

menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5c7c29e4-f877-4e6d-8b20-aed6eacd5ad3
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=5c7c29e4-f877-4e6d-8b20-aed6eacd5ad3 ro nomodeset quiet splash nomodeset
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
now reboot. we are almost there !!!

after rebooting the system, we again open the terminal and edit the grub default

$ gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

here there a two changes which added the "nomodeset":

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="nomodeset"

after saving the changes execute

$ sudo update-grub

Thanks much!