Hi,
I just joined this site today and am a newbie with linux. So hello to all
I have downloaded the live cds of Kubuntu 11.10, Ubuntu11.10 and Linux Mint 12 KDE and Gnome and have been using them successfully on my old Advent 9315 laptop with Vista.
However, the laptop has some problems with the fan and is over heating(nothing to do with using the live cds.)
I bought a new HP Pavilion g6 1325sa laptop (64bit) this week running Windows 7 with
AMD E2-3000M APU with Radeon HD Graphics 180GHz, dual core,and 3.48GB usable RAM.
The problem I have encountered is when I get the cd to boot from the cd/dvd boot drive I get the loading screen then it develops into a black screen while the cd is still running and I can't see the try/install screen option after that.
I read online to try booting from "nomodeset" option but when I tried that I did see the try/install option screen but when I clicked on try it opened up a screen with writing and prompts me to type something. I don't know what to type lol!!!!
Could it be that my new HP laptop isn't compatible for the above distros?
Or am I able to type something to prompt it to continue in trial mode?
I would just like to be able to run the live cds on my new laptop before I decide which version I would like to install.
Any advice or comments much appreciated (HELP )
Thank you for reading
Edi

ps. I'm not too technical with computer jargon so "dummy" explanations please

I had the problem with an HP laptop overheating. FYI they are set to shutdown when the internal temperature reaches 90 degrees Celsius. I don't know how to change that but I got rid of that laptop anyway. Thank goodness.

As for the screen going blank, this laptop I have now did that as well the very first time I wanted to wipe Windows out and install Linux completely.

So first, can you even get to the Live CD's menu to begin with? My advice is if you can, don't even bother with the Graphical side but rather get to a text command line.

If you can do this, type:

sudo gparted

as see what happens. If Gparted comes up, go up to the tabs at the top, click partition tab, then tell it to create a new partition table. It will prompt a warning, just click okay, exit Gparted. hit control alt delete and reboot. Then try to load the live CD. This is all assuming you want to completely wipe your bloatware Windows history which I suggest you do, but if you want both operating systems, please specify and we can go another route!

Regarding the heating problem, it can't hurt and might help, at least temporarily, to take a vacuum cleaner hose to the laptop vents (with the laptop turned off, natch).

Common Issues with Notebook Displays (by HP):
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...t=4036167#N634

Read the "black or blank screen" section there.

Looking on-line it looks like you moved from a 32 bit operating system to a 64 bit operating system. If so, you might need to download the ia64 or 64 bit iso/discs.

Thanks for posting and thanks all.

Be real, be sober.

HI,
Thanks for your reply. I have downloaded a 64bit version of kubuntu and burned a live cd and I still get a black screen after the Kubuntu 11.10 screen. I still can't see the try/install screen even although the cd is still running. Mb it's the AMD 6380g HD graphics card or driver?
I only want to run the live cds in the try option for now but I have read that people are having problems like mine even with the installation. Ho-hum I love a challenge(well sometimes )
Edi.

What does the text say?
Try vga=0x809 as a VESA mode...probably supported by your card. You'll have to fix up the graphics later, perhaps, but that might get you installed.

You might also try acpi_osi=
as a kernel option. (Nothing after the =)

That AMD 6380g chip was released four months before the 11.10 distro, so could be it doesn't have support. You could try a newer release. Running updates on that liveCD black screen session might give you an idea if support exists. Get into ctrl-alt F1, one of the virtual terminals, and run sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade, then switch back to the graphic terminal, F7(or maybe F8 terminal), ctrl-alt F7, where if it worked you would have a screen, but if not it could be you need to reboot which of course you can't do on a liveCD session.

I always install when I'm checking out a new distro because the liveCD's are clunky and you can't save changes with a liveCD, generally -I do use the liveCD for running Linux disc checks and for other system issues such as hardware tests. If you wanted to try an install to a second hard drive if the laptop supports it or a USB thumb/flash drive, the alternate CD release is exactly for when the liveCD's don't work, but it's only for installs(and updates). Flash drives are nice for laptop installs because it boots faster then a hard drive and uses less power -nice for a quick web search on the fly.

If you set your bios up to boot from the second drive or USB drive, and choose that drive during install -for the boot loader- and then run, update-grub, from the new Linux install, then you'll get the grub boot loader at boot with both operating systems, and your other drive/install will still work automatically(same as it ever was) even if you pull the Linux drive off. You could actually pull the hard drive out of the laptop during the install just to make sure you don't write grub to it which isn't huge issue, but it is an issue. -just be careful you don't zap the hard drive and making a image copy of the drive would be very helpful if something did happen -but you'd have have to have about as much free space on the back up drive as you're using on the commercial install. You can also play with partitions on one drive but it's not as clean a solution on a production machine if you ask me.

Always easier and less frustrating to learn on a second system. I used a KVM switch and set up a faster machine when I started using Linux. One thing I've noticed is that I don't think of an operating system as a house of cards as I did with the commercial OS. I have my data and I'm not too concerned about the install. I can always set up a new install.

AMD has been providing Linux support, even open source documentation, for years, but I think it's been a challenge because they came into a product line that didn't have support -great effort, tough job. Nvidia has had support for over a decade, but not open source, just providing a commercial Linux driver. I'm still afraid to run AMD graphics, don't feel as confident, but all my hardware is older stuff and I'm a linux newbee. AMD CPU's I do run however.

Thanks for posting and thanks all.

Try to boot with flag "nomodeset".

It does help sometimes with some nvidia fx cards.

Hello!

If you want to just run live cd's then might just use vesa boot option. Almost every video card and use the vesa specs. While not as good as running a true driver it will do fine for live cd use. Each disto has ways to select it. Sometimes just type vesa on boot line or have to read cheat code or boot flag options lists.

Consider running virtual machines also. A free virtual machine such as vmplayer or virtualbox would allow you to try many distro's on this system. (pretty sure it has VM support in it)