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Thread: Boot problems, attempting to upgrade

  1. #11
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    Mar 2013
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    Re: Boot problems, attempting to upgrade

    bcbc .... thanks for the further advice.

    I repeated the boot on the XP machine with nomodeset, and it seemed to work OK - it still reported the 'GPIO ininitialised', but not the two later messages.

    It then ran Ubuntu like a dog, which brings me onto the main lesson you have taught me - don't waste time shoe-horning modern software into obsolete hardware.

    In that spirit, this 'success' with XP encouraged me to try out the same boot disk on a Vista PC (Dell Inspiron 530), about half the age of the XP machine.
    .... it worked fine, with none of the three messages - I'll try (dual) installing it later.

    But I may also have a go at dualling Lubuntu or Xubuntu on the XP machine, as you suggested.

    Thanks again for all your help.

  2. #12
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    Mar 2013
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    Re: Boot problems, attempting to upgrade

    bcbc …. sorry for the delay in replying – I thought I’d replied earlier, but I must have missed the final click..??

    Anyway, thanks for the further advice.

    I tried the nomodeset option, (on try out, rather than install) on the XP-PC, and that seemed to work OK….
    …. it still gave the ‘space for GPIO uninitiated’ message, but not the later two messages
    …. and eventually it just left me with a ‘working’ Ubuntu desktop, but it ran very slowly

    Which comes back to the main lesson you have taught me….
    …. to avoid shoe-horn-ing too much modern s/w into effectively obsolete h/w.

    So I then ran the boot disk on a (Vista) Dell Inspiron 530 PC, which is about half the age of the XP-PC, and much bigger....
    .... it ran (the try out) OK, and without the need for the nomodeset option - I’ll try the dual-boot install later.

    I’m also following your other advice …. I’ve now made an iso disk image for Xubuntu, and I’ll have a go with that on the XP-PC.

    Many thanks again, for all your help.

  3. #13
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    Mar 2013
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    Re: Boot problems, attempting to upgrade

    ah, now I'm starting to get the hang of it - page 1 is followed by page 2..!!

  4. #14
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    Nov 2009
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    Edubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr

    Re: Boot problems, attempting to upgrade

    Great! It sounds like you've got it all figured out. If you install on the Vista machine you might want to shrink C: from Windows' disk management console. It's generally recommended. Here's a guide via a quick google search: http://www.liberiangeek.net/2010/02/...sta-windows-7/

    Burning a Vista repair CD (from Windows beforehand) is also a good idea.
    Good luck!

  5. #15
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    Mar 2013
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    Re: Boot problems, attempting to upgrade

    OK, thanks, but one more question....
    .... should I do the shrink C: before or after I do the LTS install...??
    .... as I thought that the LTS install in effect did the same thing, by splitting one into two...??

  6. #16
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    Nov 2009
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    Re: Boot problems, attempting to upgrade

    If you run the installer it will split C: as well. As I said, some people (including myself) tend to recommend manual partitioning for more control. It's definitely simpler to let the installer do it automatically. So if you already did it - then no prob.

  7. #17
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    Post Re: Boot problems, attempting to upgrade

    bcbc .... sorry, it's me again - some progress, but I've hit another snag.

    As part of my learning-curve, I'm trying (first) to complete the Xubuntu installation on the XP-PC.

    I've made several attempts, but they have all failed (after showing the desktop) with a 'crash' message - I've taken the 'report' option, but ..??

    Then I realised that I was not using the nomodeset option (I had been assuming that was only for Ubuntu..??)....
    .... so I started again, with that option, but realised when it came to the partitioning step that the size figures were going down, and the count of other partitions was going up - now to 5.

    So I quit, and now the 'Disk Management' (under 'Computer Management') is showing the following....

    Healthy (EISA) 39MB 87% free (FAT)
    Healthy (Unknown Partition) 7.74GB 100% free
    Healthy (Unknown Partition) 8.89GB 100% free
    Healthy (Unknown Partition) 6.97GB 100% free
    Healthy (Unknown Partition) 509MB 100% free
    Healthy (System) 31.64GB 16% free (NTFS)

    Maybe my abortive attempts are adding in more partitions, before crashing..??
    .... perhaps the top 3 Unknowns (6~9 GB each) came about that way..??
    .... and maybe the smaller one (509MB) is a relic of the earlier Wubi installation..??

    And maybe the existence of all this detritus is what is now preventing the installation finishing correctly..??

    BTW, in the meantime....
    ... I've corrected the BAT.INI, as you suggested, and that now boots OK - ie straight into XP
    ... and I've removed the remnants of (Wubi?) Unbuntu from the Apps List in Control Panel - I recall that removal of that didn't end cleanly

    Would you advise me now to....
    .... delete the four Unknown Partitions, using Disk Management (all 100% free)
    .... try the Xubuntu installation again - setting nomodeset

  8. #18
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    Nov 2009
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    Edubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr

    Re: Boot problems, attempting to upgrade

    Yes it's been splitting your XP partition and adding a swap and root partition each time. Or maybe it split the XP partition once and now it's splitting the Ubuntu root each time... either way not good.

    From Windows they appear as unknown / free but they are not. The 509MB partition is almost certainly a swap partition. Not left over from Wubi because Wubi doesn't create any partitions.

    So... I would advise deleting the partitions and reinstalling. Make sure your C: drive is big enough if it's been shrunk too much (you could resize it if not). You can do all this from the installer - choose "Something else" and then delete those partitions and create two new ones in their place. One for root (/) as EXT4 and one for swap. Swap can be 500MB-1GB but if you intend to hibernate it should be larger than the RAM.

    Just be careful that you don't accidentally delete the XP partition now. There is always a small risk when partitioning, and that risk gets bigger if you're not experienced with it. So maybe it will be easier to delete the partitions from Windows. Then when you run the installer, make sure it's installing into that free space.

    And use nomodeset.

    If you have questions just ask.

  9. #19
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    Mar 2013
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    Re: Boot problems, attempting to upgrade

    bcbc .... thanks again - progress report....

    I deleted all 4 partitions OK, using Windows....
    .... it created 24Gb of 'free space'

    I ran the reinstall, from the Xubuntu disk - which BTW I had checked OK from the F6 menu....
    .... with nomodeset option on
    .... it ran without saying/showing anything about partitioning
    .... the desktop came up OK
    .... it finally crashed as usual, message top-right, and notification icon
    .... the listed details showed the same old 'packages' fault

    I went back into XP and checked the partitions config....
    .... it had grabbed the whole 24Gb, 510Mb (for the swap?) and 23.?Gb (for the root?)
    .... I deleted them both - back to 24Gb of free space

    I repeated the installation, but this time omitting the 3rd party s/w option - just in case that was a problem....
    .... exactly the same procedure and result
    .... I went back into XP and deleted the same two new partitions, so back to 24Gb of free space, again

    I suppose the good news is twofold....
    .... at least it is consistent
    .... I now seem to be able to inspect and delete partitions

    Any ideas on next move, please..??

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    North Vancouver
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    Edubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr

    Re: Boot problems, attempting to upgrade

    Yes... you're becoming a partitioning expert now So there's the silver lining.

    Okay. So in summary, you got Ubuntu installed okay (using nomodeset), but it was sluggish. Or maybe that was just running off a live CD?. Either way...
    And now you're trying to install Xubuntu but it's giving the same error as before (graphics failure)? And the install doesn't complete.

    Doesn't sound very promising. Xubuntu and Lubuntu run lighter desktop environments but I guess it depends on what sort of graphics failure it is. If not related to the desktop environment i.e. greater demands of Unity (used by Ubuntu) then it may not be any help to use Lubuntu/Xubuntu (I might be wrong but I guess they use the same underlying graphics stack).

    So I'm not sure what to suggest. There was something I read about 12.04.2 having an updated graphics stack for newer computers. But I'm not sure where to find the older 12.04 or 12.04.1 ISOs.
    The other thing you can try is to use the alternate installer.

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