Can't install Ubuntu 12.04 in MSI X320

[serwwweb]

Hi friends, i'm having a problem that i can't resolve trying to install Ubuntu 12.04 on a MSI X320.
Booting to a live session or trying to install directly gives me the following error:
mmc0: controller never released inhibit bit (s) and then only a black screen.
I tried the following distros: fedora, mint y opensuse (the latests versions), with the same result as ubuntu. The only ones that works were Puppy y PCLinuxOS also the latests versions, and Ubuntu 10.04, that already worked, but after upgrading to 12.04 gave the same problem.

Apparently the problems are associated to the hardware, and/or the kernel.
SD/SDHC/MMC card reader seems to be a problem, also the sata controller sis 3531, or chipset Intel® US15W (Poulsbo) with video Intel GMA 500.
I come to you as a last resort before getting rid of the machine, which is very comfortable to work.
Thak you very much, and sorry, my english is horrible, i hope you understand.

[darincb77]

Hi,

I have also suffered with this machine for a while. When attempting to install a distro, I normally would avoid the many errors due to the SD card reader by blacklisting at boot, adding to the boot parameters:

sdhci.blacklist=yes sdhci_pci.blacklist=yes sdhci-pci.blacklist=yes mmc0.blacklist=yes mmc_core.blacklist=yes mmc-core.blacklist=yes

Apologies - I do not know if the correct syntax is '-' or '_' so I use both above. Similar, when it is installed, I add to the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf:

blacklist sdhci
blacklist mmc0
blacklist sdhci_pci
blacklist mmc_core
blacklist sdhci-pci
blacklist mmc-core

HOWEVER, I have never gotten 12.04 to work. I get a black screen and can't get a tty or anything after it. I've never diagnose the problem. I've never gotten a distro based after 11.04 to work. I typically use Zorin OS and the EMGD driver ( https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PoulsboObsoleteDrivers ).

Cheers,
Darin

[serwwweb]

Hi,

I have also suffered with this machine for a while. When attempting to install a distro, I normally would avoid the many errors due to the SD card reader by blacklisting at boot, adding to the boot parameters:

sdhci.blacklist=yes sdhci_pci.blacklist=yes sdhci-pci.blacklist=yes mmc0.blacklist=yes mmc_core.blacklist=yes mmc-core.blacklist=yes

Apologies - I do not know if the correct syntax is '-' or '_' so I use both above. Similar, when it is installed, I add to the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf:

blacklist sdhci
blacklist mmc0
blacklist sdhci_pci
blacklist mmc_core
blacklist sdhci-pci
blacklist mmc-core

HOWEVER, I have never gotten 12.04 to work. I get a black screen and can't get a tty or anything after it. I've never diagnose the problem. I've never gotten a distro based after 11.04 to work. I typically use Zorin OS and the EMGD driver ( https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PoulsboObsoleteDrivers ).

Cheers,
Darin

I've made the changes that you suggest to booting from live with no luck. The same black screen comes in the end. I thought that the video driver is the main problem, because while booting it says that the sdhci is blacklisted. So i'm running out of options i think. Probably i should stick with 10.04 or try the 11.04 instead.

[darincb77]

Yes, I can never get around the black screen problem.

It is well known that there is a black screen problem, especially with gma500 machines, but I can never get the standard solutions to work.

I have found a site: http://blog.bodhizazen.net/linux/ubu...-boot-options/ with some ideas and I will try some of their suggestions.

[darincb77]

I can use the method below to boot the live usb.

Modify the boot options:

Remove:

quiet splash

Add:

sdhci.blacklist=yes sdhci_pci.blacklist=yes sdhci-pci.blacklist=yes mmc0.blacklist=yes mmc_core.blacklist=yes mmc-core.blacklist=yes console=tty1 acpi_backlight=vendor noplymouth psb_gfx.blacklist=yes

Takes a few minutes to get to the live screen. Screen will glitch and go black with backlight for a few moments but then goes to live screen with bad resolution.

Note that this disables the new fancy gma500 pdb_gfx driver. I have no idea which of those above are necessary and which aren't - when your screen doesn't turn on it's hard to diagnose a problem.

Perhaps after install psb_gfx can be replaced with emgd. I will try an install and see what happens.

[serwwweb]

Excellent news!!!
I will try what you said later when i get home and i will post the results.

[serwwweb]

Hi, i tried what you post, and i can say that boots flawlessly.
Tried different variations and i realise that just with the addition of

psb_gfx.blacklist=yes

boots into live and let me use everything, including network right out of the box. The only thing that it seems to not work correctly is wireless lan. It detects wireless networks but won't let me connect to none of them.
I will try to install and see what happens.

[darincb77]

I think I might know how to fix the wireless, but I am focusing on the screen resolution for the moment.

Here is my roundabout means of installation. psb_gfx still needs blacklisting, hopefully we can find a workaround.

here are the full details of installation:

I can use the method below to boot the live usb.

Modify the boot options:

Remove:

quiet splash

Add:

sdhci.blacklist=yes sdhci_pci.blacklist=yes sdhci-pci.blacklist=yes mmc0.blacklist=yes mmc_core.blacklist=yes mmc-core.blacklist=yes console=tty1 acpi_backlight=vendor noplymouth psb_gfx.blacklist=yes

Takes a few minutes to get to the live screen. Screen will glitch and go black with backlight for a few moments but then goes to live screen with bad resolution.

Note that this disables the new fancy gma500 pdb_gfx driver. I have no idea which of those above are necessary and which aren't - when your screen doesn't turn on it's hard to diagnose a problem.




For the install - seems a little slow and clunky but it will work. I turned off the wifi hardware switch and connected to LAN to download updates while installing. I installed on the whole disk.

DO NOT RESTART AFTER INSTALL - do the following first.

Then i open the home folder from the left hand unity menu. Under "Devices" in the top left, click on your hard drive to mount it.

Open a terminal and do:

cd /media/NAME_OF_YOUR_HARDDRIVE

Then I do:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Find the line that looks like "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="[some options here]" "

Remove the following:

quiet splash

And add the following:

sdhci.blacklist=yes sdhci_pci.blacklist=yes sdhci-pci.blacklist=yes mmc0.blacklist=yes mmc_core.blacklist=yes mmc-core.blacklist=yes console=tty1 acpi_backlight=vendor noplymouth psb_gfx.blacklist=yes

Shut down and restart.

For the first boot you will need to hit 'tab' at the purple screen and edit the boot options just as you did above (remove quite splash and add all the other things), then when it boots you need to do:

sudo update-grub

Run update manager then restart to make sure everything is OK until this point. This should include an update of the linux kernel. While restarting you will probably need to change the boot parameters by hand again, I'm not sure why.

Now we will fix that. Do the following:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

And add the following:

blacklist sdhci
blacklist sdhci-pci
blacklist sdhci_pci
blacklist mmc0
blacklist mmc_core
blacklist mmc_core
blacklist psb_gfx

And to make sure these blacklists work in the future, do:

sudo update-initramfs -u

Then once again do this (I'm not sure why it didn't stick the first time):


Then I do:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Find the line that looks like "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="[some options here]" "

Remove the following:

quiet splash

And add the following:

sdhci.blacklist=yes sdhci_pci.blacklist=yes sdhci-pci.blacklist=yes mmc0.blacklist=yes mmc_core.blacklist=yes mmc-core.blacklist=yes console=tty1 acpi_backlight=vendor noplymouth

And do:

sudo update-grub

Now you should finally be able to do a clean restart.

Note that we don't yet have the correct resolution. I am pretty sure the bug affecting us is: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ux/+bug/944929

You can try to see this with "sudo modprobe psb_gfx" - that will cause the screen to go black.

[serwwweb]

Thank you, i did all that you said and works perfectly! including wireless lan
Tomorrow i will begin to try to get acceleration and/or the proper resolution from one of the sites that you told:

http://blog.bodhizazen.net/linux/ubu...-boot-options/

and from here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...ma500&page=541

and here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupp...Poulsbo#A12.04

and here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1984236&page=5

Thank you so much
Regards

PD: Tomorrow i will post the results of my tests.

[serwwweb]

Well, i tried a few workarounds with no success. The video resolution is still the same.

Tried the 915 Resolution thing and even to installing the kernel 3.4.4, that leaves me with a black screen no matter what i did, and tried all the steps that worked with the default kernel of 12.04.
Now i am back with the default kernel and uninstalled the 3.4.4.
I will keep searching options.