[SOLVED] Trying to install Mageia 5 on my new laptop: Touchp

[Gelsenbury]

By now, I have installed Mageia 5 from the DVD on many different machines, and never had a problem. Until now.

I'm trying to install Mageia 5 on my new laptop, an Asus X540SA (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HIWOK5I). I've set up the BIOS to boot from the DVD drive rather than the Windows 10 boot manager. The DVD boots up, I select the option to install Mageia 5 from the DVD, and I get as far as the first screen in the installation process, where I'm asked to select my language.

This is where I realise that the touchpad is unresponsive. I just can't get the cursor to move. It may or may not be the same problem as mentioned in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=10927&p=63518&hilit=touchpad#p63518 - I'm only highlighting this because the contributor also mentions the touchpad on an Asus machine.

Is there something that can be done? I don't want to use Windows 10, so if there's no way to install Mageia I'll have to return the hardware.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give.

[Lebarhon]

Hello,
Did you try Mageia 5.1 or only Mageia 5?

[Gelsenbury]

Thank you for the reply. The name of my image is Mageia-5-x86_64-DVD.iso. It's probably Mageia 5.0. I never downloaded a more recent image (a) because I wasn't aware that there was one, and (b) because it had always worked for me on all hardware.

I'm downloading version 5.1 now. Perhaps that's the solution.

[doktor5000]

You don't need to test a 5.1 image for a new installation, if you have all updates on your Mageia 5 installations those are Mageia 5.1.

[filip]

You don't need to test a 5.1 image for a new installation, if you have all updates on your Mageia 5 installations those are Mageia 5.1.

Well the kernel and other relevant packages might be newer on install media so it might help.

[doktor5000]

Newer then what is released for Mageia 5 as updates?

[richardwest]

The OP can't install, so can't update.

[Gelsenbury]

Unfortunately the version 5.1 DVD wasn't the solution. I checked the md5sums and made two copies of the DVD, so I have faith in the installation media. But the issue is still the same: I get as far as the language selection screen, and the touchpad doesn't respond. I can scroll up and down the list of languages using the keyboard, but can't proceed from there. In any case, I want to know that the touchpad will work - otherwise I'd rather just return the hardware with the contents of the HDD untouched.

This happens regardless of whether I try the UEFI installation or the old-fashioned way.

Incidentally, I also discovered that the optical drive can't be opened at this stage. This may be intended behaviour, but if it isn't then perhaps it points to a wider issue.

What do you think? Is there a fix, or shall I return the laptop while I can and buy a different model?

[jiml8]

If I were you, I would plug in a mouse and use the mouse for the initial setup. Evidently the touchpad driver isn't loaded at the beginning, at least with the DVD iso.

For myself, I tried to install Mageia on a laptop I built from an MSI barebones kit about 20 months ago, and I had a lot of trouble. I wanted Mageia, but I wanted the laptop up and running more. So I installed OpenSUSE. I'm not wild about OpenSUSE; I like Mageia better. But OpenSUSE went right in and everything worked immediately.

[doktor5000]

Use one of the live media for testing instead, as installer works slightly different compared to a regular installed system. And if not everything works out of the box when testing before buying, then get another model.
In your specific case, seems the touchpad is just too new and not completely supported yet even by the latest kernels: http://askubuntu.com/questions/823068/t ... sus-x540sa
So using a recent 4.x kernel you should at least get it to work in mouse mode. Or you could try the driver: https://github.com/vlasenko/hid-asus-dkms

[Gelsenbury]

Danke sehr, doktor5000. That's exactly the sort of advice I needed. I feel a bit stupid, but I had forgotten all about the Live DVD - precisely because the installer DVD had always worked for me.

What I find extraordinary is that the touchpad responds when using the Live DVD. I can complete the initial settings, I can use the KDE desktop, and I can even use the KDE system settings to enable fancy touchpad options. Two-finger scrolling, tapping - it all works from the Live DVD. Connecting to the internet was straightforward too - I'm typing this from the Live DVD!

You mentioned that the behaviour of the Live DVD is somewhat different from that of the installer. Obviously the touchpad is one of the differences. Is it safe to assume now that the touchpad will keep working when I install to the hard drive from the Live DVD?

[filip]

You don't need to test a 5.1 image for a new installation, if you have all updates on your Mageia 5 installations those are Mageia 5.1.

Well the kernel and other relevant packages might be newer on install media so it might help.

Newer then what is released for Mageia 5 as updates?

Install media for mga5.1 runs from newer kernel (4.4.30) than mga5 (3.19), coreutils and possibly other HW support involved packages are probably newer too.
So there's a real possibility that 5.1 will run on newer HW that 5 didn't. In places without web access such situation can be even emphasized.
Tough such possibility is probably slim.

[wintpe]

I had this when i got my asus ux31a at around the time mga2 was about.
once up and running I had very basic mouse support, only one button.

I tried several things and eventually got to two buttons.

what I can report is subsequent mageia versions, improved the mouse uptill mga5 where it works 100% as it should.

mines the elantech

im guessing if you follow the advice of a previous poster to install with a conventional mouse, you may have a better experience once its updated, and then a few tweaks are available to improve it.

while this artical I wrote about my experience is way out of date, it might point you in the right direction,

http://www.linuxpc.co.uk/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=54

and there were a few posts from me, during the last few pre releases of mga5 on how to get things like bluetooth and power management working that may also be helpfull.

regards peter

[Gelsenbury]

OK, I have learnt that the Live DVDs work differently from the installer DVDs. In this case, the touchpad worked just fine with Mageia 5 Live. Thank you for your help.

In the end, I returned the laptop for an unrelated reason: The keyboard was no good for my purposes, and I wouldn't have been happy to spend years typing on it.

I have got a refund and bought another laptop, with which I'm unfortunately experiencing another problem. But that's for a separate thread. I'm marking this one as solved.