Dell Inpsiron 4100 Laptop Freezes 10.3

Just installed openSuSE 10.3 on my Dell Inspiron 4100 and I'm having some problems. First, the wireless card (external - DLink DWL-650+) isn't detected, so it doesn't function. But that's not my main issue.

The installation of 10.3 appeared to go fine. However, on bootup, when the unit appears to attempt to a desktop, the screen shows garbled graphics, aside from a normal round cursor, the startup sound plays, then the unit completely freezes.

I have not found anyone else running a Dell Inspiron 4100, nor any such reports.

As I'm new to openSuSE, and haven't used Linux for some time, I could use some help.

Thanks.

I have not found anyone else running a Dell Inspiron 4100, nor any such reports.[/b]

Gosh. There are many many many Linux reports on the 4100. Just none on openSUSE-10.3.
http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/dell.html
http://tuxmobil.org/dell.html

This is an old computer ... can you tell us more about it ? From what I could gather from surfing, the processor can be from 866MHz to 1.2GHz, and memory from 128MB to 1GByte. The graphic card could be an ATI Radeon M6 or an nVidia GeForce2 Go. What configuration do you have? This is important in some cases, especially if one is having problems getting the GUI configured properly.

Its not clear to me how far you got in the install. Is this after the first boot (before root and users established) or after the second boot (after everything is configured).

If immediately after the1st boot (and before the second boot, ie before root and user accounts setup) I recommend you try a re-install with each of the alternative installation methods, until you find one that works ... ie "Installation-ACPI Disabled" or "Installation - APIC disabled" or "Installation - Safe Setting" ... failing that, at the installation menu, you could try pressing F3 and go for a VESA or Tex mode install.

If the 1st boot was successful, and this problem is immediately after the 2nd boot, did you try the "fail safe" boot option?

When it appeared to "freeze" did you try <CTRL><ALT><F1>, <CTRL><ALT><F2>, <CTRL><ALT><F3>. to get more error information, or <CTRL><ALT><Back Space> to try and exit the failed X server?

Edit: ... and before I forget, ... WELCOME to suselinuxsupport.de.

Gosh. There are many many many Linux reports on the 4100. Just none on openSUSE-10.3.

[/b]

Yes, many Linux distros and versions have been reported on the Dell Inspiron 4100. My statement above was probably "poor" since what I meant was that I have not found any reports with openSUSE 10.3 running on Dell Inspiron 4100, or even any such issues with the Dell Inspiron 4100.

This is an old computer ... can you tell us more about it ? From what I could gather from surfing, the processor can be from 866MHz to 1.2GHz, and memory from 128MB to 1GByte. The graphic card could be an ATI Radeon M6 or an nVidia GeForce2 Go. What configuration do you have? This is important in some cases, especially if one is having problems getting the GUI configured properly.[/b]

Yes, a bit old, but should not be too old for Linux It's actually a 1.13Ghz, 512MB RAM and an ATI Radeon 16MB video card.

Its not clear to me how far you got in the install. Is this after the first boot (before root and users established) or after the second boot (after everything is configured).
[/b]

Installation was completed. No issues with installation. The graphics during the installation was fine. It was when the system attempted to start x did the video become corrupt, and then freeze the machine. Rebooting the machine, once x starts, results in the same issue. Video corruption (garbed video output) where the desktop should appear, then comes a total system freeze (keyboard and mouse freeze).

When it appeared to "freeze" did you try <CTRL><ALT><F1>, <CTRL><ALT><F2>, <CTRL><ALT><F3>. to get more error information, or <CTRL><ALT><Back Space> to try and exit the failed X server?
[/b]

The system totally freezes (keyboard and mouse) when this happens, making this difficult.

Yes, a bit old, but should not be too old for Linux It's actually a 1.13Ghz, 512MB RAM and an ATI Radeon 16MB video card.[/b]

OK, thats EXACTLY what we needed to know.

This is quite common with older (and newer) ATI graphics.

Try booting as a regular user, and type "3" in the options line of the grub menu. That will boot you to run level 3 (see page 184/185 of the openSUSE-10.3 reference manual for an explanation of run levels).

By run level 3, I mean that will boot you to an ascii prompt (ie full multi-user mode with network but no graphical desktop).

Lot in as a regular user (use regular user password). Then type "su" to get root permissions (and type root password).

Then type one of the following (I don't know which will work) [note that is zero equals radeonold]

and one of those should configure your graphics for you. Select a conservative graphical setting (if given the choice). You can always optimize this later. Test the graphics if given a chance. Then exit sax2.

Then type "exit" to get rid of root permissions. Type "whoami" to confirm you are no longer root. If still root, type "exit" again.

Once back to a regular user, type "startx". Does that start your X Windows? If so, exit immediately back to an ascii prompt (ie back to run level 3). Then type "su" to get root permissions (enter root password) followed by "shutdown -r now" to reboot.

When rebooting this time, do NOT enter "3" in the grub menu.