Help with Installation - Locking Up

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I’m new to Linux - trying this as a sort of experiment. I have searched these forums and elsewhere but haven’t found a solution to my problem.

I am installing OpenSUSE 11.1 from DVD on a 64-bit AMD system (Phenom 9500; 4 gigs of RAM). During the installation process, at seemingly random times, the mouse and keyboard locked up. I then had to reboot and start the installation over.

I finally got it to install, and I can boot into OpenSUSE now, but within a few seconds (if not right at boot) the mouse and keyboard are locked again and I can’t do anything but reboot.

The computer is also running Vista, and I can still boot into that and operate with no problems.

Any idea on possible causes for this? It seems others are having locking issues, and people have hinted that it may be a hardware issue, but the checks I have done on my hardware don’t show any problems and, as I said above, I can run Vista with no problems. Also, if I boot into OpenSUSE 11.1 LiveCD it locks up from there as well, not just when booting from the hard drive install.

Thoughts?

Note, again, that I’ve seen the other threads, but to a large extent they go beyond my understanding of Linux, which is minimal, so I’m hoping for some newbie help for someone who is trying to switch off of Windows :slight_smile:

I installed the same DVD onto my HP Laptop and that works with no trouble at all (I am using it to type this message).

#2

Try adding

acpi=off

to the boot line kernel arguments

#3

Ok, thank you. I will try that.

#4

What does apci=off do, out of curiosity. Linux newb here.

#5

oops typo

acpi=off

Advanced Configuration and Power Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

#6

well simply put, it wont use all the advanced features of you bios/hardware but go back to a more basic level.

question, have you tried a usb and a ps/2 keyboard ? just a thought.

#7

No I haven’t tried both keyboards. Mine is USB, and so is my mouse. I think I have some older ones laying around, so I can give that a shot.

I have to say I am very pleased with OpenSUSE on my laptop. Probably going to just do a re-install and use the whole hard drive and get rid of Windows all together. I keep Windows around on my desktop for gaming.

I’m impressed with Linux (or at least with OpenSUSE). I looked at Linux 7 or 8 years ago when someone gave me a Gentoo CD to try out, and the installation was so arcane that I got nowhere. I tried another distro shortly thereafter and most of my hardware didn’t work right. OpenSUSE has everything working on my laptop. Very nice.