Compaq Presario F500

[ErusGuleilmus]

At first I couldn't get this too boot Ubuntu, but I found out that it was because of the Graphics. For this to successfully boot, I need to add these to things to the script by pushing "e" on the boot kernel: "vga=792" & "noapic". It is a minor pain in the butt because every time I reboot I have to re-add these things in. Is there a way for me to permanently add them so I never have to do it again? Thank you for all the support these forums are famous for!

[LaGzo]

What version of ubuntu are you running? I have the same laptop and it wont boot into ubuntu...

[zoid15]

hi,

i have an F500 as well and managed to get it to install and boot fine once i used the noapic and nolapic commands when booting off the downloaded CD image. #

Now if only I could get the wireless working its goodbye microsoft!!

[zwies]

I have been trying to install some form of linux on my compaq presario f500 for the last few days and have not been able to.

Would one be able to say how they were able to get it on their system. have been trying to use ubuntu 5.04. and it is having problems detecting the hardware. the live CD reckons there is no screen attached thus failing to start the x server. and the install disk with that for some reason can not detect the hard drive.

i could probably guess that getting the latest version would fix some of the issues.

[zoid15]

All I had to do to get the CD to boot was type the "noapic nolapic" in the install with additional command screen you get by pressing F something...

Sorry I cant be more specifiic

[bpierce815@yahoo.com]

OK. Here are the steps that I had to use to get anything installed on this system. This is going from memory. Not difficult, just had to know the commands.

I used the x86_64 version of Fedora7, but this should work for any modern linux distribution using grub boot loader.

When the CD boots to the grub menu, hit "e", then on the line that start with "kernel", hit "e" again and append the following to that line:

 noapic irqpoll acpi=off

Hit enter to apply the changes and then "b" to boot with them.

Once the operating system is installed, and the computer reboots to the installed grub menu, follow the same procedures again on that grub menu. This will mess with the irqs a little and the wireless card will be trying to associate to irq-0 which will not work, but we are going to fix that.

Disable the service "cpuspeed" according to you distributions instructions.

Then edit the grub.conf file by typing:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf

Append the following to the end of the line that starts with "kernel":

noapic irqpoll

Save the file and reboot. *NOTE: acpi=off is no longer needed because we have turned off cpuspeed and turning acpi off completely causes other problems.*

Everything should run smoothly from here. To get the wireless working, install ndiswrapper according to your specific distribution, and search google for bcmwl5.inf with bcmwl5.sys(for i386 installations) and bcmwl5.inf with bcmwl564.sys(for x86_64 installations).

Hope this helps

[marc66thomas]

Originally Posted by bpierce815@yahoo.com OK. Here are the steps that I had to use to get anything installed on this system. This is going from memory. Not difficult, just had to know the commands. I used the x86_64 version of Fedora7, but this should work for any modern linux distribution using grub boot loader. When the CD boots to the grub menu, hit "e", then on the line that start with "kernel", hit "e" again and append the following to that line: noapic irqpoll acpi=off Hit enter to apply the changes and then "b" to boot with them. Once the operating system is installed, and the computer reboots to the installed grub menu, follow the same procedures again on that grub menu. This will mess with the irqs a little and the wireless card will be trying to associate to irq-0 which will not work, but we are going to fix that. Disable the service "cpuspeed" according to you distributions instructions. Then edit the grub.conf file by typing: sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf Append the following to the end of the line that starts with "kernel": noapic irqpoll Save the file and reboot. *NOTE: acpi=off is no longer needed because we have turned off cpuspeed and turning acpi off completely causes other problems.* Everything should run smoothly from here. To get the wireless working, install ndiswrapper according to your specific distribution, and search google for bcmwl5.inf with bcmwl5.sys(for i386 installations) and bcmwl5.inf with bcmwl564.sys(for x86_64 installations). Hope this helps

Where are you finding "Disable the service 'cpuspeed' according to you distributions instructions" I'm going to install From 7.04 as a dual boot with Vista already installed. Are there any other "gotchas" on this machine since with Vista , Again it's already installed. and CD iso in hand.

[tim1980]

Thanks for the information in here guys

I just bought a new Compaq Presario F500 with AMD Athlon 64x2 1700Mhz and went to show a friend Ubuntu booting on it for the first time as I had not tested first and was embarrassed when it failed.

It's booted now though and installing

[tim1980]

Im very disappointed that this new laptop does not work correctly on any Ubuntu based Distro.

I have tested it on 7.1 a5 and it still cannot boot into the GUI, when the GUI should come up it fails to work and the screen goes crazy.

Yes the above workaround works, but then the system is without Power Management so cannot turn the laptop off without pressing the off button...

Also the wireless is not working, OMG so annoying

[tim1980]

PCLinuxOS 2007 works on this laptop