Hello.
I’m struggling to install OpenSuse (or at least any other nice distro) on mentioned Dell laptop (model 9Q23)
In both legacy and UEFI mode I can choose installation from menu, then “Loading Linux Kernel” starts. After that screen goes blank and stays like this forever.
Medium tried: 1GB SanDisk USB drive, 32 GB Adata c905 USB DRIVE, external USB DVD-Rom
Distros tried: OpenSuse: 13.1rc2 DVD; 13.1rc2 live KDE; 12.1 DVD; 11.4 Live; LinuxMint 15; Debian 7.2 DVD and CD;
Mint has same issue, but Debian installation has no problems.
Please help, I don’t want to be stuck with Debian! T_T
Oh, I can’t remember the exact CPU model right away and I already trashed my windows.
It’s Intel i5 mobile IvyBridge CPU, so it’s HD 4000 Graphics I guess. Integrated only.
Driver problem is probable I think, as even Live mode doesn’t work correct for OpenSuse with only cursor showing on desktop and no other enviroment (but live works with Mint)
cpu family : 6
model : 58
model name : Intel(R) Core™ i5-3337U CPU @ 1.80GHz
stepping : 9
microcode : 0x15
VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Dell Device 0589
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 45
Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4]
Memory at b0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256]
I/O ports at 2000 [size=64]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: i915
Regarding VGA problems - OpenSuse live KDE loads to a empty desktop with only a mouse pointer. After some idle time brightness decreases and brightness widget appears, so it’s not actually dead. When probably screensaver starts screen becames black and flashes with white artifacts.
But still - Mint runs live mode well, but install fails same as OpenSuse… =__='[/size][/size][/size]
You can probably install, and look into fixing the video later.
For an MBR boot, there’s a video option key (maybe F3 – look at the bottom of the boot screen) and choose “noKMS” or similar.
For a UEFI boot, you would have to hit “e” on the grub screen, and edit the boot command by adding “nomodeset” as a kernel option.
That should allow you to install, though you will have crappy graphics. You can switch to full graphics later (edit the grub2 boot menu to remove the “nomodeset”).
One of the problems with live media, is that they use a compressed file system which takes longer for everything to load. And perhaps it takes long enough to hit a screen dimming time out.
One problem that I do have with Intel graphics, is that screen dimming sometimes causes the system to freeze. I disable screen dimming (but allow the screen to be turned off) to avoid that.
openSUSE-13.1 RC2 that you noted should work. Did you try the failsafe/safesettings boot ?
If ‘nomodeset’ does not work as a boot code to allow a boot, you could also try to disable plymouth to see if that helps. You can disable plymouth either pressing < esc > shortly after the kernel loading message . Or another way to disable plymouth is in addition to the boot code ‘nomodeset’, enter the boot code ‘plymouth.enable=0’ (if my my memory serves me correct).
**nrickert **thank you, your grub solution with nomodeset worked!
There were no “noKMS” option on MBR boot, only choice of resolutions and text mode. I tried it but it didn’t work.
For some reason USB DVD-ROM doesn’t boot at UEFI at all: same pattern but even before grub shows up. So it took some time to recreate USB drive.
I’m going to test now if everything is fine on KDE.
After removing nomodeset laptop still flashes an artifact and goes black screen until KDE splash screen. Tiny problem is that I had an encrypted partition and I have to type password blind. Well for now I think of it as security advantage ^___^
Thanks again!