Blank screen, blinking cursor on Mint 13 install with Win 7

[fizzog]

I am totally new to this Linux thing and am rather at sea, I'm afraid. I have a new Lenovo L520 with Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.

I've burnt Mint 13 MATE 64bit ISO to a disk (Verbatim DVD+R). The disk drive clunked a bit, but I managed to get Mint running and install it on a new partition on my HD, alongside Win 7.

Trouble is, I can't get any further than a black screen with blinking cursor when I boot it. The black screen lasts minutes and doesn't change. I've tried safe mode, and I get a string of commands and then the blinking cursor again.

I've tried installing NeoSmart EasyBCD under Windows and have added an entry to the correct partition with GRUB 2 selected, but I don't really understand what I'm about here.

Here's what happens. Start laptop, enter Lenovo master and hard disk passwords. Screen appears, asking me to choose which partition. If I go to Mint, black screen. If Mint recovery mode, a series of commands and then blank screen. If I go to Win 7, a (EasyBCD) menu comes up. If I choose Win 7 on it, all is well and that boots up. If I choose Mint, it takes me back to the first screen after boot, asking me to choose partition.

I only wanted to install a strong operating system next to Windows 7! I'm very confused.

If I want to reinstall Mint to HD to see if that changes anything, is it safe to do so on top of the install I've already done? How do I decide how big the partition should be, second time round? Will it use the same partition I created earlier? I don't want to foul up the HD!

I've read something about b43 drivers, but I dcon't think that applies to me. The problem I have looks similar, though.

Thanks for reading this long newbie post!

Any solutions to this problem, please?

[oobetimer]

A nomodeset issue?

http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=1614

http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2010/05/06/ ... orkaround/

"Workaround for LMDE 201012 32-bit users:

If you downloaded LMDE 201012 32-bit and all you're getting is a black screen, you might just be a kernel argument away from a successful boot. The solution is to download 201101, but you can save 1GB of download and a new DVD by using the following arguments:

* For ATI chipsets: radeon.modeset=0
* For nVidia chipsets: xforcevesa or nomodeset
* For GeForce and Generic: nouveau.modeset=0
* For Intel: i915.modeset=0

This should give you a live session in low resolution. Since the embedded kernel is already up-to-date, you don't need to configure anything post-installation and your system should then boot in high resolution."

[fizzog]

Thank you, but how do I go about deploying this nomodeset argument, please? On HD? On LiveCD?

Many thanks for all your help!

[oobetimer]

Thank you, but how do I go about deploying this nomodeset argument, please? On HD? On LiveCD?

Many thanks for all your help!

When you have installed already, you need to edit the booting parameters on the boot menu, adding a nomodeset-thing to the line. E-key should keep you to edit.

When Mint has booted up, you need to edit /etc/default/grub file, adding the nomodeset thing to the right place.

An example:

gksudo pluma /etc/default/grub

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"

Save and quit and run update-grub

sudo update-grub

If you have installed EasyBCD or NeoGrub to Windows, I´m not sure how it works with these edits ..

[fizzog]

Thanks. Before I read this, I found another way to do it. In fact, I tried deleting "quiet splash" in GRUB and replacing it with "nomodeset", but that didn't work on its own.

I did it the following way, in case it helps others.

1. On startup, in BIOS menu, highlight Mint and press 3 to enter GRUB.
2. Replace "quiet splash" with "noacpi noapic nomodeset" and hit f10 to boot.
3. When Mint is running, download Daniel Richter's grub-customizer, so as to edit GRUB.
4. In Preferences, replace "quiet splash" with "noacpi noapic nomodeset".
5. Exit and restart. Worked a treat.

No idea why this worked. Perhaps someone could spend a moment telling me why I needed all three arguments to replace "quiet splash".

Thanks for all the help!