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View Full Version : [ubuntu] [SOLVED] Ubuntu 8.04 cannot boot after installation with option acpi=off



tigerchan
May 4th, 2008, 03:06 AM
Hi all,
I installed Ubuntu 8.04 from hard disk with the alternative iso. For the first time the installation stopped after the following lines appeared:
"PNP: No PS/2 controller found. Probing ports directly."
"Serio: i8024 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1"
"Serio: i8024 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12"

I added the installation option "acpi=off" according to suggestions from the forum. With the option, the installation ended successfully. But when rebooting, whichever I chose normal or safe mode from the grub menu list, the booting process stopped immediately. An uppercased "F" appeared at the head of a line, together with a blue block with the width of a character in the middle.
The following are some info of my pc:
BIOS: DELL OptiPlex 320
CPU: Intel PentiumD 3G
RAM: 512M
Keyborad and Mouse: USB

Can anybody give a hand? Thanks.

xyphur
May 4th, 2008, 04:23 AM
Someone else correct me if I am wrong here, but I believe that if your machine required the acpi=off boot switch, you'll have to echo that switch in the /boot/grub/menu.lst file as well after installation... why the installer doesn't migrate the settings used to boot during installation is anyone's guess - if you ask me, it should.

The easiest method to do this is to boot up a LiveCD and edit the file from there. Alternatively, you could theoretically edit the file from a Windows machine with the Ext2 IFS driver installed enabling access to your Linux partition.

Again, this would be a non-issue had the installer passed the custom boot options/switches on to the menu.lst file after the install had finished successfully. Perhaps in the future we can hope for this to be fixed...

tigerchan
May 4th, 2008, 05:04 AM
Thank xyphur for your reply.
I tried to boot the new installed Hardy with option "acpi=off", once by pressing "E" on choosing the grub menu, and for another, by editing the /boot/grub/menu.lst file from another OS. Unfortunately, the result was the same.

And, is it possible that my display driver,which is ATI Radeon Xpress 1100, causes this problem?

xyphur
May 4th, 2008, 05:18 AM
...this is of course possible, especially if your installation is configured to use a different display driver. Unfortunately, I am not experienced in ATI hardware. I had an ATI Radeon Mobility M6 LY in my Dell laptop just long enough to search for an nVidia replacement on eBay. When it arrived, I swapped it out and continued hapily into 3D-accelerated linux, without issue.

I have heard though that ATI has spotty drivers under Linux and they cause more headaches, generally, than they are worth... of course, your mileage may vary, and truthfully as I said before, I'm not at all qualified to pass judgement on ATI drivers or products - I know enough to know that I wanted an nVidia card for this machine to evade any possible ATI driver issues I may have encountered under Linux - and in that regard, I suppose I succeeded :P

Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance... I'm sure someone else will pipe up and help you along to get this issue resolved. Best of luck.

zgoda
May 15th, 2008, 01:10 PM
I added the installation option "acpi=off" according to suggestions from the forum. With the option, the installation ended successfully. But when rebooting, whichever I chose normal or safe mode from the grub menu list, the booting process stopped immediately. An uppercased "F" appeared at the head of a line, together with a blue block with the width of a character in the middle.
The following are some info of my pc:
BIOS: DELL OptiPlex 320
CPU: Intel PentiumD 3G
RAM: 512M
Keyborad and Mouse: USB

Can anybody give a hand? Thanks.

Optiplex 320 are known to be hostile to linux. Use either grub2 or LILO as your boot loader (LILO is easier to set up). Try with various combinations of hpet=disable, pci=nomsi and acpi=off boot options. Generally, better stay away from these machines if you want use linux. I am sure you'll find detailed instructions on this forum.

tigerchan
May 17th, 2008, 01:27 AM
Thanks for zgoda's advice. I reinstalled Hardy with option "acpi=off", and skipped grub but installed lilo instead. Ubuntu boots successfully with the same boot option.
I just missed the keyword "OptiPlex 320" when searching the forum, and tried lots of bios options such as disabling the USB keyboard/mouse, and tried many others. Anyway, I am happy that ubuntu works at last. Much thanks to xyphur and zgoda!