Help Installing Ubuntu on Dell Inspiron 15R Special Edition

[AlwaysDroid]

Hi all,

I have a Dell Inspiron 15r Special Edition. It has Core i-7 (64bit), 8gb ram , 32GB SSD and TB HHD.. I bought it from dell and have not done any mods.

I am having a hard time installing ubuntu on it (64bit 12.10 desktop). (Md5 OK). It boots up from the disk image I burned (chose "install ubuntu" from grub), past connecting to wifi and then comes up with this:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zyjf6zo68zx5njp/ZF_iwqA--V

All pictures are there ^^^^^^

I tried the 32 bit version on my desktop computer (Single HHD, Pentium 4, 1gb ram, 32 bit ) and it came up asking if i wanted to install along side or replace windows. I never got that on my laptop. I think it is a problem with the set up off the SSD, can anyone help me?

Ps: The layout of the SSD is just plain wierd, I added a picture of it to the dropbox. There is a 35 Gb SSd, that is showing up as a partition on the primary TB drive. I dont get it :/

[oldfred]

Welcome to the forums.

Is this Intel SRT? That uses RAID which the Desktop installer does not have drivers for. Most turn off the SRT and then install. Some have totally disabled SRT and installed Ubuntu's / (root) to SSD with /home on rotating drive. Others install Ubuntu to rotating drive and then turn SRT back on.

Also is this a new Windows 8 pre-installed system? If so you also have secure boot.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/18714...le-with-ubuntu

Intel Smart Response Technology
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support...ts/chpsts/imsm
Some general info in post #3
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2071242
ubuntu 12.10 & Windows 8 oem Sony T & Intel SRT
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2090605
Intel SRT - Dell XPS
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2038121
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2036204
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2020155
Dell XPS Intel RST issue on hibernating post #25
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1932965
Some info on re-instating
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2038121
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2070491

Disable the RAID, for me it was using the Intel rapid management thingy and telling it to disable the acceleration or the use of the SSD. If you have a different system, just disable the RAID system then install Ubuntu. Once installed you can then re-enable it.

You will need to use the dmraid command prior to running the Ubuntu Installer so that it will be able to see the partitions on the drive because otherwise with the raid metadata in place it will see the drive as part of a raid set and ignore its partitions.

Different model but Dell.

Dell XPS 8500, desktop. Win 8 eventually worked (Ignore sidetrack to EasyBCD)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2086383

Systems need quick boot or fast boot turned off in UEFI settings.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI

[centaurusa]

Ps: The layout of the SSD is just plain wierd, I added a picture of it to the dropbox. There is a 35 Gb SSd, that is showing up as a partition on the primary TB drive. I dont get it :/

I suspect what you have is a 35 GB SSD being used as cache for the 1 TB hard drive. Intel software tells the operating system to use both disks as a "single" drive. Frequently-used files are stored on the SSD so that accessing these is very fast.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Response_Technology

[AlwaysDroid]

Thanks for the responses guys. And I'm not sure about the raid set-up, i will check though. It is windows 7 home premium, and secure boot is off.

As for the cache, i will check into that also and reply back if find anything, or cant get it to work.

Thanks again!

EDIT: Yes, it uses intel rapid store technology. I will disable it and then install ubuntu to the rotating disk. Will probably make things alot easier than putting ubuntu on the SSD and then using the rotating for /home. Unless it is, and then tell me!

Also, if i turn off the intel rapid storage, can i turn it back on after installing ubuntu? Basically I would like windows to be set up exactly as it is now (rapid storage on) and have ubuntu along side somewhere.



Edit 2: It was late last night when i wrote this and i was tired, i actually have a 32 gb sata SSD not 35gb haha. My bad, not like it matters though.

[oldfred]

Do not know details on Intel SRT, but a couple of users posted in the threads I linked to on turning it back on.

[AlwaysDroid]

Do not know details on Intel SRT, but a couple of users posted in the threads I linked to on turning it back on.

Thanks, will go and read them all

[AlwaysDroid]

Hey, i used the method here: scroll down to asymptoticFault's long post. (also used his other one a bit down from long one)


http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2038121

I successfully installed it using sudo dmraid -E -r to find the disks.
i rebooted, re-enabled SRT and rebooted.

no grub, windows ran chkdsk and booted. SRT works. No ubuntu though

Edit: going to use boot repair. I installed from terminal, just posted in the thread.