[SOLVED - sort of!] Booting Mageia on Samsung laptop

[laptopray]

Hi.

I recently successfully installed Mageia 2 on my Asus laptop with virtually no problems, although I suppose the fact that I was replacing another Linux distro helped!

I have now just acquired a Samsung NP-305E7A-S01 on which Windows 7 was already installed (it was a good price - wouldn't have bought it otherwise!), but I am having problems adjusting the BIOS in order to boot my Mageia live install disk (it came with a magazine!), with the intention of installing it later. It has an AMD processor (Quad Core A6, 3420M APU), with an AMD dedicated graphics card (seems to be an HD6470M gDDR3). The BIOS is Samsung BIOS Team U5.4 c2.11.1210., which behaves in a different way to BIOS's I've used before - most are not very intuitive, but this one seems even less so! It also gives me the choice of using UEFI, which I have declined.

After adjusting the BIOS to boot from DVD, the boot process from the live disk begins, but halts once the cauldron has emitted two "bubbles". A mainly blank screen then appears, headed by "OK", and with a flashing cursor. I assumed that this would be for a username and password but, as I had disabled the need for either in BIOS, I just pressed enter. The same same screen then re-appeared. I pressed enter again and this time nothing happened, and I was unable to proceed.

I've checked BIOS again and again, but cannot see what the problem might be. I there anyone out there who could give me ideas on how to proceed? All help gratefully received!

Ray.

[the0loko]

Hi!
You can disable the cauldron image in order to see the logs and the possible error:
In the boot menu of the LiveCD, press F6 (Kernel Option), then Default. You will see a line with all the Kernel options, just add this at the end of it:

Code: Select all

splash=verbose

Now it will boot without image, but you'll see all the messages. Every line should end with [OK].
If you get any error post it here.
If you don't get any error, but the installation gets stuck again, post here the last lines. This will help us determine the problem

[laptopray]

Hi.

Many thanks for your reply.

I could not do as you suggested. The boot menu consisted of a list of 8 different distros, including Mageia 2. I selected Mageia, tried 'F6', but nothing changed, or was added or subtracted from the screen, so I could not then choose 'default'. I then tried the only other course open to me: 'display information'. This showed some of the boot code, including 'splash', but I was unable to move a curser to it to add anything to the code. (On my Asus, I would press 'e' to find that, and be able to change it.)

It then occured to me that, the Samsung being a new machine, Windows might not be fully installed, and that this could be the problem. After Windows was fully installed, I tried again. It turned out that it wasn't an issue after all, and ended up with the same problem as before. There was no read-out when I turned the computer off.

At the moment, I remain convinced that it is a BIOS settings problem, but I do not know which settings to change, apart from 'Bootloader priority'. However, I think that all avenues are worth exploring, so if anyone at all has any other ideas, they will be welcome, and I will try them.

Thanks for your help.

[the0loko]

The menu I said is the LiveCD one, this:
http://docteam.mageia.nl/es/installer/c ... elcome.png
You should have just these options.

[laptopray]

Hi.

Thanks again for your reply, the0loko.

With disk I have, I do not get that menu; all I get is the list of distros. When I select it, it then goes straight to the cauldron, without any more text. Obviously, Linux Format must have 'fiddled' around with it.

It seems as though I might have to obtain another disk, just with Mageia 2 on it.

Thanks again.

[the0loko]

Hi.

Thanks again for your reply, the0loko.

With disk I have, I do not get that menu; all I get is the list of distros. When I select it, it then goes straight to the cauldron, without any more text. Obviously, Linux Format must have 'fiddled' around with it.

It seems as though I might have to obtain another disk, just with Mageia 2 on it.

Thanks again.

But you have already installed Mageia or not?

[laptopray]

Yes. I installed it on an Asus laptop (from the magazine disk) to replace the Linux distro which I used to have on that computer, and there was no problem at all. (nVidia graphics, Intel Core 2 Duo CPU)

However, the problem I have now is using the same disk to install Mageia on a new Samsung laptop instead of the pre-installed Windows 7 (AMD A6 CPU, AMD HD Radeon dedicated graphics). I just cannot get the disk to load on it at all.

I am now looking for places where I can buy a 64 bit installation disk rather than a live disk. Hopefully, that might work for me.

[the0loko]

So if Mageia isn't installed, the LiveCD boot menu should be like the image one.
Also, you can try with the DVD installation disc.

[laptopray]

I finally managed to get a Linux distro on the laptop but, unfortunately, not Mageia.

I remembered that I have an Debian 6 (Gnome) install disk (not a live disk), so I tried that and it worked - except that I could not get it to recognise the laptop's resolution (1600 x 900).

As Debian would have required a lot of updating, I decided to try another live disk: Sabayon. It installed, but I again had trouble with the resolution. After that I tried many other distros but most had trouble with the resolution. Mageia, together with most other KDE distros, were the exceptions - they just had the same problem as when the computer was still on Windows.

Eventually, I tried Linux Mint 13 (Cinnamon) and had, and still have, success. It just works, like Mageia does on my soon-be-redundant other laptop, and is the correct resolution.

The common thread for failure to load/install seems to be KDE - is it possible that it is not really compatible with the AMD graphics chip. Distros using Openbox, Gnome and Cinnamon all worked to a greater or lesser degree. At some time in the future, I shall have to try Linux Mint (KDE) to see how that fares. In the meantime, I think that I'll wait for Mageia 3 before having another go. I'll be back; I like the Mageia.

Thanks for help, the0loko. Sorry it did not work out this time, but I appreciate your input.

Ray.