newbie - booting from DVD freezes before reaching Installation menu

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post. What a great forum.

First, a little intro/thanks; my problem is described in the last paragraph. I’m pretty new to Linux and eager to learn more.

I have two Lenovo laptops: One is a T410 now running on openSUSE 11.4 with KDE 4. I got my wireless, keyboard languages/layouts, upgraded firefox… alll with the help of the info posted on this forum, many thanks. The other, a V570, is currently running Ubuntu 11.4 and I’d like to install openSUSE 11.4 on it.

Here is what I did. Downloaded openSUSE-11.4-DVD-x86_64.iso from software.opensuse.org: Download openSUSE 11.4 (Direct link). md5 checksum is good (compared to checksum posted by caf4926). Burned to DVD using Brasero. Installed openSUSE on the T410 (did the media check first from the installation menu - it was ok). Install went well and system is running fine. I’m happy with it :slight_smile:

This is the problem I’m having; tried it about 10 times now and every time it’s the same. Using the same DVD, trying to install openSUSE 11.4 on the V570 machine; after turning on, it boots from the DVD and I get the following 3 lines and then the cursor just sits at the fourth and does not continue :frowning:
ELILO boot: …
Loading kernel linux… done
Loading file initrd…done
_

Any help is greatly welcome,

ebramb

2

It might be worth trying a Live CD, you never know.

Or, I’m not sure if this still applies, but try it. As you boot, keep the shift key pressed (it used to take you to a text mode install avoiding the splash)

3

Thanks.

I created a Live DVD with kiwi and it worked… but I’m not sure how that helps me get the OS on my hard drive…

I also tried holding down the Shift key but that didn’t do anything… I guess it no longer applies.

4

Live media have installers

5

On 08/03/2011 08:36 AM, ebramb wrote:
>
> I created a Live DVD with kiwi and it worked… but I’m not sure how
> that helps me get the OS on my hard drive…

that is a little confusing as there is no openSUSE Live DVD, so i assume
you made a live CD of either KDE or Gnome…wait, you wrote “kiwi”! did
you make a live DVD of the linux distribution named Kiwi?

i’m pretty sure that caf was suggesting a live CD from here:
http://software.opensuse.org/

but, if you want to run Kiwi, that is fine we me–Linux is Linux, but
you will need to ask how to install it in the Kiwi forum…

but back to the hang during initial boot error you are seeing on the
Lenovo V570…

how long did you wait to see if it would proceed?

i looked around and found no one else having that problem (in fact i
found one using openSUSE on the V570 with complaints that the Fn keys do
not work
<http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/laptop/461364-lenovo-v570.html>
so, if that person can get though to initial boot then something is
wrong somewhere with yours…

things to try:

  • when it gets to that line and stops does the hard drive LED indicate
    the hard drive is being hit? i guess the machine doesn’t have LEDs for
    CapLock or NumLock huh? does anything happen when you press enter…or
    Esc, or Pause/Break, or Ctrl+Enter, or Ctrl+Alt+Esc or . . .

  • make sure you have not added smeared fingerprints of chocolate candy
    on to the install disk :slight_smile: [it can happen! or maybe a scratch…]

  • just for fun, run the Check Installation Media on the V570 also (yes,
    it should still be good if it was on the T410…but, maybe the
    problem is not the disk, but the reader in V570…i think if you get an
    error on the V570 but not the T410, we know it is not the disk, right?

  • if the disk checks ok, then i would go into the bios and have a look
    around…i do not know what i would be looking for…maybe someone has
    overclocked something…or ???

oh, and by the way: you say it is currently running Ubuntu’s latest
ok…so, one of my good ideas is: Use what works! and, maybe give 12.1
a try when it comes out…

–
DD
openSUSE®, the “German Engineered Automobiles” of operating systems!

6

If you can boot from a liveDVD (I confess I am not aware of such a liveDVD ‘beast’ ) then you should be able to go to YasT and in the YasT menu under miscellaneous ( ? ) at the bottom there should be an option for installation.

wrt the normal DVD, did you ever try to install with the boot code ‘nomodeset’ or with the Safe Settings selection ?

7

I used KIWI to make a DVD with an OS on it. See Portal:KIWI - openSUSE I thought that’s what caf meant by Live. But now I see that’s not what he meant.

Yes, I did see that someone else was successful with a V570 and openSUSE. Not sure how they did it though… maybe different bios?

After it freezes I waited half an hour. The HD light is not lit and the DVD/CD drive is not spinning. Nothing happens when I press the keys mentioned or any other keys.

I do have chocolate around… maybe that is the culprit… just kidding.

It is not possible to run the Check Installation Media from the V570 because it never gets to that menu (same thing with Safe Settings). The first thing it does right after the ELILO timer (~10 sec) is it loads the kernel. Which I thought was odd… because the T410 takes me straight to the initial installation menu within a second or two.

I have looked at the bios several times and cannot find anything odd in there… but I don’t really know what to look for.

I did visit software.opensuse.org: Download openSUSE 11.4 and searched for livecd and found openSUSE-release-livecd-kde-11.4-1.8.x86_64.rpm but I’m not sure what to do with that.

I’ll check to see if YasT has an install option

8

I feel so dumb… The solution seems so simple…

During the ELILO timer I hit Esc (as opposed to waiting or hitting Enter) and that took me to the Installation Menu

9

This is odd. The normal DVD should give you a boot splash menu before trying to load the kernel.

Did you try a normal liveCD ?

10

On 08/05/2011 08:36 AM, ebramb wrote:
>
> I used KIWI to make a DVD with an OS on it.

ok…you made a DVD on a stick and you wrote “I created a Live DVD with
kiwi and it worked… but I’m not sure how that helps me get the OS on
my hard drive.” so, i guess you mean you booted from it–if so, did it
not show you this screen http://tinyurl.com/3qde66h ? if so, just click
first check the image with “Check Installation Media” and then select
“Installation”

> I did visit ‘software.opensuse.org: Download openSUSE 11.4’
> (http://software.opensuse.org/) and searched for livecd and found
> openSUSE-release-livecd-kde-11.4-1.8.x86_64.rpm but I’m not sure what to
> do with that.

i assume that is a typo, because all of the Live CD images end with .iso

and what you do with them is as you did before, so i suggest you use the
laptop with the functioning openSUSE to download, check and burn the
Live CD of your choice…my choice would be the 32 bit KDE version…but
you might want the 64 bit Gnome or KDE, i don’t know…

make sure the disk will boot and self test on the functioning laptop and
then try it on the other…and, if it does boot, still self test it on
the other (i’m still kinda thinking it might be a CD read head
malfunction or misalignment…or, the chocolate is a little too thick)

hmmmm…just an idea, before you go to the trouble of downloading a CD
etc: if you have an external DVD drive, and you can set the BIOS to boot
from it…try the DVD you have already in that way (if it works we
pretty much know there is a read problem with the built in drive)…

> I’ll check to see if YasT has an install option

wait a second, what does that mean? to check YaST you have to have
already booted up the installed system OR Live CD…

–
DD
openSUSE®, the “German Engineered Automobiles” of operating systems!

11

On 08/05/2011 09:06 AM, ebramb wrote:
>
> I feel so dumb… The solution seems so simple…

hmmmm…doubt you are dumb.

> During the ELILO timer I hit Esc (as opposed to waiting or hitting
> Enter) and that took me to the Installation Menu

for my own education, please tell me about that ELILO timer, what does
the screen look like when it is running…how long does it run, is the
BIOS running it…or what…

sorry, i’m totally unfamiliar with an “ELILO timer”, is that a Lenovo
‘thing’…is yours of those new laptops that can “instant boot” to a
reduced OS and also to a bloated OS?

do you always have to hit Esc to get it to do what you expect? or does
that happen only when booting from an openSUSE DVD? if so, then there
seems to be a need to log a bug!! (you said you had already installed
Ubuntu, right? it didn’t do that, did it?)

–
DD
Caveat-Hardware-Software
openSUSE®, the “German Engineered Automobiles” of operating systems!

12

Yes, I thought this was odd too. But I was able to Esc out of the ELILO sequence and do a normal install. All is well now.

Thanks for the help.

13

After the bios I can here the DVD drive start to spin up. The screen goes black and in large while letters at the top left it says “ELILO boot:” and a period would appear about every second. So, after 10 seconds it would look like this “ELILO boot: …” the cursor would then go to the next line (kernel, less than 1 sec) and then the third line (initrd, about 5 seconds) see my first post… and then it would freeze on the fourth line.

I’m not sure what instant boot or reduced OS or bloated OS are…

When I installed Ubuntu I did not have to hit Esc to get to the menu. But I do have to hit Esc with the openSUSE DVD each time.

The install went well. The machine is now on openSUSE.

14

Good news ! Glad to read its working!

And welcome to openSUSE !

15

I followed this thread this morning, I had the same problem, same v570 laptop. The esc solution worked to get it installed even. The 2 problems I have NOW are the wireless, and a slightly glitched right click menu “kinda transparent with whitespots”. I’m very new to linux, upon installing ubuntu on this laptop I had to reinstall the bios due to wireless card problems it caused, on a hunch I felt like going with opensuse next. Any help is appreciate.

16

What video card/chip and what Wifi card/chip?

17

I don’t know how to get into specifics, but in device manager I have Intel Centrino Wireless n 6150 with 2 microsoft virtual wifi miniport adapters

for the video card it says I have an intel HD Graphics Family, if you are looking for something more specific, I can probably find it on a vague description.

18

Open a terminal post result of

/sbin/lspci -nnk
19

/sbin/lspci -nnk
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller [8086:0104] (rev 09)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0116] (rev 09)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
Kernel driver in use: i915
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 [8086:1c3a] (rev 04)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 [8086:1c2d] (rev 05)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller [8086:1c20] (rev 05)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:1c10] (rev b5)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 [8086:1c12] (rev b5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 [8086:1c16] (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 [8086:1c26] (rev 05)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller [8086:1c49] (rev 05)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller [8086:1c03] (rev 05)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 6 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller [8086:1c22] (rev 05)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N + WiMAX 6150 [8086:0886] (rev 67)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N + WiMAX 6150 BGN [8086:1315]
Kernel driver in use: iwlagn
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8168] (rev 06)
Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
Kernel driver in use: r8169

20

This is your wireless, I’m not familiar with it

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N + WiMAX 6150 [8086:0886] (rev 67)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N + WiMAX 6150 BGN [8086:1315]
        Kernel driver in use: iwlagn

But you can see the iwlagn driver in place.
Might be worth googling the device in Linux
Also check ThinkWiki