Installation fail UEFI/i5/HD4000 (ACER V3-771) - SOLVED

[nailed_barnacle]

This is similar but different from GekkoRoman's issue.

The laptop in question is a new Acer V3-771 with i5-3210M processor and incuded HD4000 graphics driving a 900x1600 screen (no other graphics system) with two hard disks one of which is full of Windows 8 (ugh) and one of which is empty.

I have had no joy installing pretty much anything on this system, with the sole exception of Fedora 18 Beta - my preferred option would have been Mint 14.1 which is what I started with.

- Mint 14.1: runs as a live USB but only on the alternate video mode and from a BIOS boot - not UEFI. Performs the installation but locks up forever partway through the hardware configuration. Won't boot from the disk if restarted which makes sense if there's no boot loader installed... any attempt to move to a terminal locks up with a black screen.

- Gentoo: won't even boot; or rather, it appears to be booting but no text or video output.

- Ubuntu 12.10: won't run as a live USB. Gives a different boot image (text if booted UEFI, graphical if booted BIOS) but both blackscreen a few seconds in. Use of nomodeset helps but it still blacks when it should change the video mode. nomodeset does at least show the boot messages going past but vga=771 has no apparent effect.

- Fedora 18 Beta runs as a live USB, installs - though it crashes after the second boot so I suspect something is not well - and thereafter runs. Gnome 3 is not to my taste, and the graphics are running in some strange non-accelerated mode, I think.

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bash-4.2$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev c4)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5209 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
07:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet (rev c0)


It looks rather as if the HD4000 sub-system isn't as fully VGA compatible as Intel would claim. I haven't yet investigated installing their drivers, but I suspect what needs to happen is that the 'official' driver finds its way into the next distribution update - I have exactly no idea how to go about doing that with an existing distribution... further googling suggests that there may be a need to go to a later kernel (also mentioned on these fora) and again, I can't see how to upgrade the kernel if I can't get the installation completed so the thing will boot...

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Neil

[viking777]

Don't you just love Uefi Although in your case it might be the HD4000 graphics. I have the HD 3000 version and they are fine with built in drivers. The reason for this post though is to warn you that for myself (and a handful of others) moving beyond kernel 3.5.0-19 results in a system that will not shut down any more unless you use the power button all the time.

It may not affect you, or it might? Another of the infinite variables that come with Uefi.

BTW I tried Fedora as well and I did get it to boot (eventually), but I also got that horrible unaccelerated graphics mode with it. The only thing that worked for me was Ubuntu 12.10, but you have already explored that avenue without success. Which shows how impossibly variable this whole mess is.

Uefi is like jumping into the deep end of a swimming pool before you know if you can swim

[nailed_barnacle]

In that I'm only getting sanity when I boot into BIOS, yes, there is a UEFI issue. But the main issue here is the graphics/text drivers, I'm sure.

[srs5694]

You've probably got two issues (and perhaps some others):

• A video driver difficulty. This has long been a common problem with brand-new hardware. On a desktop system, you could plug in another video card, but with a laptop you'll just have to wait until Xorg and/or the kernel catch up with the hardware. If that's unacceptable, you might want to consider returning the laptop to the store and getting something with less "bleeding-edge" video hardware.
• Secure Boot. You didn't mention it at all, and your symptoms are consistent with a computer that has Secure Boot active. (Namely, the latest Fedora 18 beta and Ubuntu 12.10 can both boot in UEFI mode, but other distributions can't.) The easiest way to deal with this now, especially with Mint, is to disable it; however, there are other approaches (as described elsewhere on the page to which I've just linked). Note that this isn't an issue with UEFI per se -- Secure Boot is just one optional UEFI feature, albeit one that's pretty much universal on new Windows 8 computers.

Personally, I think I'd either return the laptop or start experimenting with brand-new locally-compiled kernels and even locally-compiled X servers. Compiling software locally is well beyond the average Mint user's skill level, though.

[nailed_barnacle]

Your diagnosis agrees with mine.

I disabled the secure boot first thing. It's apparent that Ubuntu 12.10 is booting - it makes the bidunk sound - but the complete blankness of the screen renders this somewhat unhelpful. I've only got this booting through the legacy BIOS option (so if I want windows, I tell the BIOS to use UEFI).

At present, I've got Fedora 18 Beta running with Cinnamon, but the experience is not as good as on this machine (Mint 13); there are a number if issues which could be in either Mint or Fedora (hey, it's a Beta - I'm not complaining!); in particular, the desktop doesn't display either files placed in ~/Desktop nor mounted drives. I can't find a way to stop the start menu animating (fading) on appearance, nor a way to generate the four workspaces I prefer (having removed the hotspot and the compiz silly-mode floatywindow selection).

I think I prefer the Mint 13 Cinnamon to my brief experience of 14... but that's just me. The snag is that without something that will tell that damn HD4000 to behave as at least a VGA card, there's no way to complete the installation - or even start it. And even if just text modes work, there doesn't appear to be a text mode installation for Mint from which I could play with Xorg...

Let me stress: this is emphatically *not* a complaint. But I do think that this combination of chips is going to appear more and more often, and to be honest the last time I had this sort of problem getting an installation up and running was on a 75MHz pentium with 32M of ram... it does need attention!

[srs5694]

I do think that this combination of chips is going to appear more and more often, and to be honest the last time I had this sort of problem getting an installation up and running was on a 75MHz pentium with 32M of ram... it does need attention!

Problems with video (or other) hardware that doesn't work correctly almost always appear as soon as any really new video hardware hits the store shelves. That's just the way it is with open source -- hardware manufacturers seldom deliver pre-release hardware samples to open source developers or hire sufficient open source developers to ensure that the drivers are available in time for the release of the hardware. Even in those cases when the manufacturers do get the drivers written, it takes time for them to "trickle down" to the distribution level. This is even more of an issue with Mint than with others, since Mint is based off of Ubuntu, which adds a further delay. The Fedora 18 beta may be working better than the others because it's the newest of them, so it may have an early version of the driver changes required to get it working.

As to the UEFI issues, it's conceivable you'll get better video results (up to the level of the BIOS performance) by going into your firmware and looking for options related to the Compatibility Support Module (CSM). This is what provides the BIOS-boot option, but on some systems, you can set the firmware to provide CSM support to EFI-mode boots. This may help the Linux video drivers initialize the hardware in EFI mode. This really shouldn't be required, but apparently some drivers are built on an assumption of access to BIOS-style interfaces to do some of the low-level initialization.

[mokeydave]

I also have the Acer V3-771 with i5-3210M processor and incuded HD4000 graphics driving a 900x1600 screen. I have a liveusb stick with LInux Mint 14.1 Nadia, when it boots up the screen is black but the brightness is turned all the way down! I dont think I would have noticed if I wasnt sitting at a wide angle to the laptop when it booted. I am now dual booting Windows 8 and Linux Mint using rEFInd. I have UEFI enabled in the bios but secure boot disabled.

[nailed_barnacle]

Aha, that's interesting information... though mine runs fine on the mint 14.1 live usb, it locks up somewhere on the hardware configuration. It came up at full brightness, though

Is yours on a separate disk, as mine, or did you squeeze the c drive up a bit?

At the moment, I'm playing with Gentoo and the 3.6.11 kernel. I don't know why it wouldn't boot for me earlier; it will boot in either normal or nofb mode. The dual disc is complicating following the instructions (I haven't built a core in ten or fifteen years!) so I'm on my third attempt: so far one working version but I forgot to include the network driver... doh.

What's the current mint kernel?

[nailed_barnacle]

Mokeydave, you deserve a pint and my thanks.

I now have a working mint 14.1 on the Acer V3-771.

0) I fitted a 320G SATA disk in the spare slot to install the linux on and left the Win8 disk unchanged.
1) download and burn the 14.1 iso to a USB
2) disable the secure boot function in the Acer bios, but keep the UEFI selected. Ensure that the USB is at the top of the boot order; the bios does odd things with the order as you change between UEFI and BIOS boot.
3) boot from the USB - the screen will go solid black. Use the Fn-right cursor to bring the brightness back up.
4) Install mint. Choose 'other' from the options, and format the second disc: mine is

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   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            2048     1075199      536576   83  Linux  /boot
/dev/sdb2         1075200    16699391     7812096   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb3        16701438   625141759   304220161    5  Extended
/dev/sdb5        16701440   114356223    48827392   83  Linux  /
/dev/sdb6       114358272   625141759   255391744   83  Linux  /home


and also the windows ntfs partition as /windows.

5) reboot, not forgetting to remove the USB stick.

It now boots in UEFI straight to the linux grub text menu. I haven't yet investigated rEFInd but probably should; I may yet need windows for the odd thing...

The boot of the installed system still occurs with the backlight turned off; the control works fine but I'm sure that's why I was convinced the system was off previously. If I knew where to look I'd have a go at fixing it; until then, thanks to all for one of the few remaining sane user interfaces (er, once all the eye candy animation's turned off, but maybe that's just me!)

Neil

[YeeP]

I also have the Acer V3-771 with i5-3210M processor and incuded HD4000 graphics driving a 900x1600 screen. I have a liveusb stick with LInux Mint 14.1 Nadia, when it boots up the screen is black but the brightness is turned all the way down! I dont think I would have noticed if I wasnt sitting at a wide angle to the laptop when it booted. I am now dual booting Windows 8 and Linux Mint using rEFInd. I have UEFI enabled in the bios but secure boot disabled.

Monkey Dave, please give some more info on how you created a liveusb stick that is UEFI compatable. Or to help others, can you please make an entry on this post? http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=121650

I am trying to collect as much info as possible to help others (and myself).

[mokeydave]

Apologies for abandoning the thread, I haven't been well.

Sounds like you have it sorted it yourself. Just for future info I shrank my windows install and installed mint on the free space.

I have also fixed the brightness issue by
inserting the following line into /etc/rc.local before the exit 0 line

echo 4 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness

I tried ubuntu 12.10 and it has the same brightness issue, I will need to file a bug report somewhere for it but that can wait till another day!

@YeeP I followed https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick this is good tutorial for making bootable usb sticks.