Need help loading 12.04 on Compaq laptop

[Curbuntu]

After standing off on the sidelines during 11.04 and 11.10, wondering how things were going to shake out, I have jumped into 12.04 with both feet. Mark and the team have really pulled off an interface-design coup. Kudos to all. I have upgraded two machines to Ubuntu 12.04 and want to do our remaining four.

The problem I'm encountering is on a Compaq Presario R3399CL laptop (AMD 64 3200+ processor, 2 Gb RAM, 120 Gb HDD), which has been running 10.04 for almost two years. I can't get the installation CD to boot. I tried a different download (in case the file was corrupted) and tried burning a CD on a different machine. No go. I've tried booting from a USB drive. Same story. In each case, the boot process works part way through, then hangs. I've even tried the alternative CD, which gets as far as the initial menu; but when I try to check the disk or test the memory from that menu, everything fails.

The machine seems to check out okay with other diagnostics, so I don't think it's a hardware issue. Any guidance would be appreciated.

[dino99]

add some boot option, like nomodeset or noacpi, see community/help

[Curbuntu]

add some boot option, like nomodeset or noacpi, see community/help

Dino99 -- Are you talking about the options available on the alternative-install CD?

[sudodus]

Excuse me for intercepting this question, but I think the boot option issue is independent of installer, and if you need a boot option trying in a live session, you are likely to need it also in the installed system. See this link

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

Good luck

[Curbuntu]

Okay, I've read the pertinent page, but I'm not pretending I understand what the options do; that makes me hesitant to proceed, because it feels like "shooting in the dark."

Reading the page you linked to reminds me that of all our Ubuntu computers, this is the one machine that has never displayed a GRUB menu of any sort at boot up. I don't know if that has any correlation to the problem at hand or not...

[mastablasta]

reading the page, reading... just read it. you will see that these options might help. especially nomodeset and acpi=off.

i never get grub displayed unless i make it display. why should it display?

what is your graphics card?

[sudodus]

Okay, I've read the pertinent page, but I'm not pretending I understand what the options do; that makes me hesitant to proceed, because it feels like "shooting in the dark."

Reading the page you linked to reminds me that of all our Ubuntu computers, this is the one machine that has never displayed a GRUB menu of any sort at boot up. I don't know if that has any correlation to the problem at hand or not...

I have tested linux distros hundreds of times. Only once, using the micro-linux distro DSL, I bricked a graphics card in an ancient computer, but that was not using boot options. I think you dare try

[Curbuntu]

mastablasa & sudodus,

Thanks for your patience. The video chip is an older nVidia GeForce4 440 Go 64 M(b), fwiw.

At this point, using the alternative-install CD (32 bit), I can set things like nomodeset and various permutations of acpi; but once I've escaped from the menu and hit Enter, the CD spins up, the screen goes blank, and that's the state in which things remain until I do a hard re-boot on the machine.

Perhaps this machine is too "old" to run 12.04? Not knowing, I'd still like to keep trying until we're certain that's so.

[mastablasta]

Uf an old GPU. but should be supported by opensoruce drivers at least. important to note here that Ubuntu now uses 3D hardware acceleration by defaul. but you should at leats get some fall back session. you could try to search if there was a bug reported with that chip.

At this point, using the alternative-install CD (32 bit), I can set things like nomodeset and various permutations of acpi; but once I've escaped from the menu and hit Enter, the CD spins up, the screen goes blank, and that's the state in which things remain until I do a hard re-boot on the machine.

Alternative CD is not a live CD (as far as i know). It just provides a text based installer. so it shouldn't boot to any OS. you need to get grub when you boot live CD.

hmm... the latest image does include the PAE kernel, but your CPU should support it nicely. Try a lubuntu liveCD/USB (i think they have a bit modified kernel so it is more suitable for older computers. if it works you can then install Ubutnu (unity/gnome) dekstop on it.

Perhaps this machine is too "old" to run 12.04? Not knowing, I'd still like to keep trying until we're certain that's so.

no it's not too old. i have a desktop (with similar specs but stronger graphics card) and can run the latest versions just fine.

edit: as mentioned try a different desktop. it seems this card should later use proprietary driver to get 3d hardware acceleration.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...73/+bug/948053
I also found a post about slow reposne using Kubuntu but it does seem it work there as well. so try Lubuntu/Xubuntu/Kubuntu to see if any of them works (suggest you use USB to try it out as it iwll save you a couple of CD, if you have trouble botoing from usb you can use plop boot manager).

[Curbuntu]

mastablasta,

The Lubuntu Live CD sounded like a good idea. I downloaded the ISO, and checked it against MD5 and SHA256, so it's a known good copy. The CD also passes its own menu-option self-check.

The CD boots successfully, obviously; but starting the "try" option causes the process to hang after a bit. On a hard re-boot, I set nomodeset, acpi off, and, for good measure, removed splash and quiet from the command line. That combo gave me a visual window on the place the process hangs up -- apparently right after the message which says:

Starting CUPS printing spooler/server    [OK]

I say, "right after" because nothing else appears. From that point, the fan whines like the processor's working hard, but "nobody's home."