Dual boot

[richyrich]

Hi starfleet70,
Your installation steps look okay.
This just about sounds like the dreaded Intel bug, that is plaguing the latest *buntu, Mandriva, etc. distros!
But . . . . there may already be a fix! Just need some more info.

Can you try to log into 'compatibility mode' ? ( at the GRUB boot screen ) If not, can you run the Live cd okay?

If so, once you are in Mint, open a terminal, and type:

Code: Select all

lspci

and paste back here. This will give us a look at your hardware, and is the starting point for troubleshooting your problem.

regards, Richard

[DJKnutsen]

Starfleet70.. I think I encountered the same sort of problem with my HP laptop and dual boot... but it only showed up when I was on battery... see .. http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=27977 .. if you press the enter key a BUNCH of times.. you may eventually see things progress.. and it will finish booting. if that is it, check out the above URL as it solved my boot issues.. good luck, Cheers.. Dave

[richyrich]

Hi,
it is ( L S P C I ) all in small caps.

ps: you don't have to type select all . . just lspci

[richyrich]

Well, good news is that your vga 'should' work, as in no Intel bugs.

Okay, when you start up without the disk, and get to the GRUB menu, choose recovery mode, when the recovery screen comes up, scroll down to xfix, then hit enter. It may go back to the recovery menu, then choose resume. Let me know what happens.

Richard

[richyrich]

hmmm . . . try a different direction. Sorry for the rigamaroll, just tryin' to help troubleshoot !

Go back into a Mint terminal and type : df -k

[richyrich]

sh**, sorry, my bad, can't do it from the live cd !

Go to the recovery console again, scroll down to 'root', enter your user password, then at the prompt type : df -k

sorry, Richard

[DJKnutsen]

Starfleet70.. Try the grub dual boot, and just let it run, then when it seems to die, start pressing the enter key... several dozen times.. and eventually you should get it to step through to the desk top... if that works, go back to the link I provided in my first post, and I think it will make it all right... again.. good luck... (even though there isn't any luck involved..) Dave

[richyrich]

DJ, do you think his desktop computer will have the same problem?

Starfleet,
I'm looking for the line with /home in it.
Can you write that one down, and post it here?

[richyrich]

Hey starfleet, just got home myself.

Okay, what I am looking for is the amount of HD space that is allocated for Mint, thus the ' df -k '

[richyrich]

Hey,
I think we found it. Not enough room in '/Home' to write the users desktop.
ps: Your swap size is okay.
The possible/probable reason is that Windows gets very fragmented, and will not release enough space to use for Mint.

Now you can try the 'free' option in the recovery console, but I think that will fail. As it will only try to release space in Mint.
Second, go into Windows, clean & defragment the hard drive, delete old files etc. Free up as much space as you can. Then it is time for a re-install of Mint! . . .
Sorry, but this may be the only way of getting Mint up and running.

You may want to wait around a while before biting the bullet, to see if someone else has an alternative.

Sorry for being the harbinger of bad news!

Richard
ps: In the Tutorial/How To section of this forum, you will find a great article from Fred, it is a long read, but WELL worth it. Link below:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=11872

[richyrich]

You should overwrite the old install. The link I gave you talks about using the manual partition editor during the install, but it should automatically allow you to replace/overwrite the Mint/Linux partition.
Don't forget to do as much cleanup as possible in Windows, even defragging more than once. Old downloads, temp files, Internet temp files, etc.

Best of luck, Richard

ps: I'll be monitoring the forum, so if you have some questions during install, just post back here.

[richyrich]

You want at least 12 - 15 Gb for Mint.

[ZekeMenuar]

I'm new to Linux, not to Windows.

I setup a 15gb partition dedicated to Linux Mint 64 RC. Left it unformatted.
The rest of my HD has a 30gb partition for Windows 7 RC and the other 250gb is for data. The setup disk gave me the option of installing to the largest free space. That's what I chose and Gloria finished the install with no drama. The dual-boot works just like it's supposed to.
If the OP has the space on his HD, that's the route I'd suggest.

FWIW, after trying 10? various Linux distros, this one is the best so far. I like it a lot. I run it in Virtual Box with Windows 7 as the host and as I wrote earlier, I put Gloria in my spare partition where Vista used to be.

[richyrich]

Okay, when you get to the part where it gives you the choice of 'Sharing HD with Windows', Use Whole HD, etc. (the Partition Editor), choose 'Manual'. It will open GParted, and show you a graphical representation of your disk. There will be a part (the bar along the top area), for Windows, and it will show the Linux part too, different colour. You want to delete the Mint/Linux partition, then when that shows 'free space, you are going to use your mouse to go to the end of the Windows partition (along the top bar part), and drag it to the left, to shrink the Windows partition a bit.
This will take a while, so be patient. Once it has been resized, you will be able to Install to the freed space.

I'm going to try to get a screenshot for you. Just that my setup will be different. so give me a short break, and I'll post back.

[richyrich]

Okay no screenshots, duh . . I'm booting from cd, no place to save . . .
When the first green screen comes up on booting the Live CD(counting down the seconds), hit the spacebar, and choose 'Start the Installer Only'
Step 4 will start up the Partitioner, you will see two bars, the top one is existing, the bottom one will allow changes, sooo, Click the radio button that states 'Use the largest continuous free space', then you should see a 'Slider' on the bottom bar, this is the one to shrink the Windows partition. Shrink til you get about 15 Gb. of free space (again, this may take quite a while to shrink the Win partition), then when it shows ready, just click, next, and it should do everything else for you.

I hope I haven't confused the he** out of you.

Richard

ps: the 'Install side by side' will show the slider too!

[richyrich]

What do you mean, it shows the first install?

[richyrich]

That is a good one. hmmmm . . . tried Boot-Up Manager - not! . . tried Startup-Manager - not!
This one may need some research, as it will mean editing the boot loader . . .

I think I'll get back to you on that one . . . getting late, talk to you tomorrow! I'll post back here, or get one of the Mint gurus to help.

HEY, at least you have Mint up and running!

regards, Richard

[richyrich]

Mornin'
Right click on the little speaker on the panel, is anything muted? Volume up?
Open a terminal and type: aplay -l and lspnp -v
paste it back here.

[richyrich]

Hi Starfleet,
Looks like you have two sound devices! The Intel onboard & the Ensoniq add on card. Am I correct?

[richyrich]

now that the pnp utilities have been installed, you can run the lspnp -v