On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 18:02:38 +0100, Maurice Batey wrote:

> Contemplating installing Mandriva 2007 to dual boot with Vista (Bus.) on
> a Toshiba laptop, I'm just wondering if there is now a Linux solution to
> the 'software' modem problem, as this laptop has a s/w modem.
>
> With my desktop PC I've always used an external modem by preference, but
> do not fancy carting an external modem around with the laptop. On the
> other hand I do not fancy using Vista alone on it.
>
> [Non sequitor: MS now seem to acknowledge that other operating systems
> might be installed alongside Windows. In the Vista booklet that came
> with the laptop:
> "Partitions allow you to install more than one operating system on
> your
> computer."!]


You might want to start here:

http://www.linux-laptop.net/

http://tuxmobil.org/index.html

http://www.linmodems.org/

http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/packages/

http://start.at/modem/

http://www.linuxant.com/company/index.php

George Czerw writes:

>On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 18:02:38 +0100, Maurice Batey wrote:

>> Contemplating installing Mandriva 2007 to dual boot with Vista (Bus.) on
>> a Toshiba laptop, I'm just wondering if there is now a Linux solution to
>> the 'software' modem problem, as this laptop has a s/w modem.

There is no "software" modem problem, there are "software"modem problems.
Ie, it depends entirely on what your soft modem is.

www.linmodems.org

>>
>> With my desktop PC I've always used an external modem by preference, but
>> do not fancy carting an external modem around with the laptop. On the
>> other hand I do not fancy using Vista alone on it.
>>
>> [Non sequitor: MS now seem to acknowledge that other operating systems
>> might be installed alongside Windows. In the Vista booklet that came
>> with the laptop:
>> "Partitions allow you to install more than one operating system on
>> your
>> computer."!]

Nope. They mean DOS, Windows XP, Windows 2000 stuff like that.

On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 18:02:38 +0100, I wrote:

> Contemplating installing Mandriva 2007 to dual boot with Vista (Bus.) on a
> Toshiba laptop,

Looks as though I shall have to abandon that aim, as Mandriva 2007 will
not boot on the Toshiba laptop (Satellite Pro A120-185).

(Nor will Knoppix 5.1.0 - which I have been using for system backup -
though the *ubuntu family does.)

--
Maurice Batey
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On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:56:45 +0100, I wrote:

> Mandriva 2007.0 Free will
> not boot on the Toshiba laptop (Satellite Pro A120-185).
>
> (Nor will Knoppix 5.1.0 - which I have been using for system backup -
> though the *ubuntu family does.)

The problem appears to be that this laptop has a SATA hard drive.

Anyone know if there is a later version of Mandriva that boots on a PC
that has a SATA drive?

--
Maurice Batey
(Retired in Surrey, UK)
(Remove 'removethis.' to reply by email)

Maurice Batey wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:56:45 +0100, I wrote:
>
>> Mandriva 2007.0 Free will
>> not boot on the Toshiba laptop (Satellite Pro A120-185).
>> (Nor will Knoppix 5.1.0 - which I have been using for system backup -
>> though the *ubuntu family does.)
>
> The problem appears to be that this laptop has a SATA hard drive.
>
> Anyone know if there is a later version of Mandriva that boots on a PC
> that has a SATA drive?

Maurice,

Mandriva Spring 2007.1 installed and boots fine on my Microtel 64-bit
AMD machine with SATA hard drives (once I changed the BIOS to support
a USB keyboard and boot first from the DVD/CD drive rather than from
the hard drive).

There are several reasons an install can fail, or an installed OS fail
to boot. The problem may be in BIOS settings, configuration settings,
or elsewhere.

Please tell us exactly what you have done, and what happened, and
someone may be able to recognize your problem and tell you how to
deal with it.

Cheers!

jim b.


--
UNIX is not user-unfriendly; it merely
expects users to be computer-friendly.

On Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:25:42 +0100
Maurice Batey wrote:

> On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:56:45 +0100, I wrote:
>
> > Mandriva 2007.0 Free will
> > not boot on the Toshiba laptop (Satellite Pro A120-185).
> >
> > (Nor will Knoppix 5.1.0 - which I have been using for system
> > backup - though the *ubuntu family does.)
>
> The problem appears to be that this laptop has a SATA hard drive.
>
> Anyone know if there is a later version of Mandriva that boots on a PC
> that has a SATA drive?
>
Both 2006 and 2007 did.

--
Neil
Reverse ie and delete l for email.

Neil Ellwood wrote:

> On Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:25:42 +0100
> Maurice Batey wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:56:45 +0100, I wrote:
>>
>> > Mandriva 2007.0 Free will
>> > not boot on the Toshiba laptop (Satellite Pro A120-185).
>> >
>> > (Nor will Knoppix 5.1.0 - which I have been using for system
>> > backup - though the *ubuntu family does.)
>>
>> The problem appears to be that this laptop has a SATA hard drive.
>>
>> Anyone know if there is a later version of Mandriva that boots on a PC
>> that has a SATA drive?
>>
> Both 2006 and 2007 did.
>

Does the disk not offer options at the bottom? If so, try
noapic when booting. That helped me with earlier Mandriva
versions.

Alan

on Saturday 23 June 2007 01:25
in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva
Maurice Batey wrote:

> On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:56:45 +0100, I wrote:
>
>> Mandriva 2007.0 Free will
>> not boot on the Toshiba laptop (Satellite Pro A120-185).
[snip]
> The problem appears to be that this laptop has a SATA hard drive.

SATA has been supported for a long time, BUT some SATA controller
chips are a problem.

> Anyone know if there is a later version of Mandriva that boots on a PC
> that has a SATA drive?

2007.1 (a.k.a. "Spring") exists. Cooker is newer again, but if you
have to ask what that is then it is not for you, it is for developers
only.

One of my motherboards has a SATA controller that is recognized by
both 2007 and 2007.1. Another motherboard has a SATA controller
that is not recognized by either.

How far did you get?


--
sig goes here...
Peter D.

On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:56:56 +1000, Peter D. wrote:

> How far did you get?

On booting from the Mandriva 2007.0 Free DVD, I saw the initial screen,
then nothing else happened (except that the laptop's fan came on!).

--
Maurice Batey
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Maurice Batey wrote:
> On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:56:56 +1000, Peter D. wrote:
>
>> How far did you get?
>
> On booting from the Mandriva 2007.0 Free DVD, I saw the initial screen,
> then nothing else happened (except that the laptop's fan came on!).

Does this initial screen ask if you want to install Mandriva, go to rescue
mode, etc?

If you made it that far and no farther, and the keyboard and mouse do not
work, you may need to change the settings in your bios to match your
hardware.

Is your keyboard and mouse USB or PS/2? What are the settings in your BIOS
for keyboard and mouse?

Cheers!

jim b.

--
UNIX is not user-unfriendly; it merely
expects users to be computer-friendly.

on Sunday 24 June 2007 02:45
in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva
Maurice Batey wrote:

> On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:56:56 +1000, Peter D. wrote:
>
>> How far did you get?
>
> On booting from the Mandriva 2007.0 Free DVD, I saw the initial screen,
> then nothing else happened (except that the laptop's fan came on!).

That looks like either a hardware problem (bad DVD, all sorts of
computer problems) or a serious incompatibility problem.

If you can work out how to check the correctness of your DVD
do it. Start by checking the md5sum of the downloaded iso.
If it fails, the iso can be fixed with rsync or bittorrent
rather than re-downloading the whole thing.
If the iso checks out OK then it is desirable to check the
burnt DVD - but that is a bit harder to do.

Failing that, you will have to try a newer and/or different
version. 2007.1 (Spring) exists but it is substantially a bug
fixed version of 2007.0, they both use kernel 2.6.17.

If you can find out the details of your computer and what is
inside it google for Linux compatibility.


--
sig goes here...
Peter D.

On Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:44:23 +0000, Jim Beard wrote:

> Mandriva Spring 2007.1 installed and boots fine on my Microtel 64-bit AMD
> machine with SATA hard drives

Just tried M. Spring Free - same result: Says "Installing kernel",
progress bar goes up to 100%, DVD drive light flickers for a few
seconds, then no further action anywhere - except that the laptop's fan
comes on full blast...

(Ubuntu 7.04 and SimplyMepis 6.5 on same DVD boot up OK.)

>(once I changed the BIOS to support a USB keyboard)

Don't understand the significance of what you are saying here.
(If your keyboard is USB then why wouldn't the BIOS already be set up
for that?)

My laptop's keyboard is presumably not USB.

(Suspect previous response from me has gone astray...)

--
Maurice
(Remove 'removethis.' to reply by email)

Maurice Batey wrote:
> On Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:44:23 +0000, Jim Beard wrote:
>
>> Mandriva Spring 2007.1 installed and boots fine on my Microtel 64-bit AMD
>> machine with SATA hard drives
>
> Just tried M. Spring Free - same result: Says "Installing kernel",
> progress bar goes up to 100%, DVD drive light flickers for a few
> seconds, then no further action anywhere - except that the laptop's fan
> comes on full blast...
>
> (Ubuntu 7.04 and SimplyMepis 6.5 on same DVD boot up OK.)
>
>> (once I changed the BIOS to support a USB keyboard)
>
> Don't understand the significance of what you are saying here.
> (If your keyboard is USB then why wouldn't the BIOS already be set up
> for that?)

My BIOS was set for PS/2 keyboard and mouse, despite being delivered
with USB keyboard and mouse. It also had Winblows XP pre-installed,
and that would boot from the hard drive automatically and load the
USB drivers it needed. I had to go into the BIOS to stop it from
automatically booting from the hard drive and change the setting to
USB keyboard before I could select "Install Linux" and hit .

> My laptop's keyboard is presumably not USB.

Look at the connector that goes into your computer. If round, it
is most likely a PS/2. If a rectangle, it is likely USB.
>
> (Suspect previous response from me has gone astray...)

My apologies for lack of timeliness in replies. I spend time
at the computer when convenient, and do not always get back in
timely fashion even when I have joined a thread.

Cheers!

jim b.

--
UNIX is not user-unfriendly; it merely
expects users to be computer-friendly.

On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:30:33 GMT, Jim Beard
wrote:


>
>> My laptop's keyboard is presumably not USB.
>
>Look at the connector that goes into your computer. If round, it
>is most likely a PS/2. If a rectangle, it is likely USB.

Jim, I don't think he is using an external keyboard and mouse on his
laptop.

Harv




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On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:45:00 -0400, Harvie Powis wrote:

> I don't think he is using an external keyboard and mouse on his
> laptop.

Correct!

(Actually, I do have an exterbal USB mouse, but didn't use it for
these trial installations.)

--
Maurice
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On Fri, 22 Jun 2007 22:34:29 +0100, Alan Secker wrote:

> try noapic when booting.

Tried that - same problem.

--
Maurice
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On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:10:41 +1000, Peter D. wrote:

> That looks like either a hardware problem (bad DVD, all sorts of computer
> problems) or a serious incompatibility problem.

But Ubuntu & SimplyMepis boot fine...

> If you can work out how to check the correctness of your DVD do it. Start
> by checking the md5sum of the downloaded iso. If it fails, the iso can be
> fixed with rsync or bittorrent rather than re-downloading the whole thing.
> If the iso checks out OK then it is desirable to check the burnt DVD - but
> that is a bit harder to do.

Same problem off 2 different DVDs.

> Failing that, you will have to try a newer and/or different version.
> 2007.1 (Spring) exists but it is substantially a bug fixed version of
> 2007.0, they both use kernel 2.6.17.

Tried Spring. Same problem with 2007.1.

--
Maurice
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Maurice Batey wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:45:00 -0400, Harvie Powis wrote:
>
>> I don't think he is using an external keyboard and mouse on his
>> laptop.
>
> Correct!
>
> (Actually, I do have an exterbal USB mouse, but didn't use it for
> these trial installations.)

Call me blind and excuse my stupidity. I apologize.

Cheers!

jim b.

--
UNIX is not user-unfriendly; it merely
expects users to be computer-friendly.

On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:38:53 +0000, Jim Beard wrote:

> I apologize.

's OK! You were trying to help, and I do appreciate that.

Actually, someone at mandriva.com has pointed me to a trial installer
with a later version of the kernel. This does boot, but is not meant to
do so in a LiveDVD manner, which is what I was aiming for initially
(to check that Mandriva works on the laptop before installing to disk),
so I am no further on - yet.

I think this proves my contention that the reason Mandriva 2007 will not
boot on this SATA laptop is that the kernel is down level.

In the July Linux Format magazine I see that whereas Ubuntu (which does
boot) has the 2.6.20.15 kernel, Mandriva (which does not boot) has only
2.6.17.3.

--
Maurice
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