Install Freezes, help please

[lifezoo53]

The only way I can get the live CD to boot is to boot in compatibility mode. Then when I try to install it freezes at Configuring Hardware.
Last thing in the /var/log/syslog is update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.5.0-17-generic

I tried Mint Cinnamon 14 x64, Mint Mate 14 x64, Mint KDE 14 x64 they all fail.

System Information:
Sager NP9170
i7-3630QM
Nvidia GeForce GTX 670MX Optimus
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300
16GB MEM
320GB HD

Clean install.

[lifezoo53]

I gave up on 14 and went back to 13 which installs and boots perfectly! I upgraded my kernel to 3.8, got skype, pidgin, vbox and Evolution all setup and wow I may never go back to a Windows host. I am impressed nice distro!!

[sunewbie]

Most of the time, the culprit is graphic card.

Each kernel version handles hardware differently. Also keep a note that sometimes 32 bit might work if your are getting skeptical

[lifezoo53]

I thought about that but I am a linux newbie and didn't take any time to research 32bit vs 64bit. I thought there would be a memory limitation and I see that PAE will go up to 64gb. Is there anything special that needs to be done to enable PAE in 32bit?

[sunewbie]

I thought about that but I am a linux newbie and didn't take any time to research 32bit vs 64bit. I thought there would be a memory limitation and I see that PAE will go up to 64gb. Is there anything special that needs to be done to enable PAE in 32bit?

Even I am an end user. I do not know any special way to enable PAE. It's about hardware that is PAE enabled. I think P4 does not have PAE support. With PAE enabled, you can add more than 4 GB RAM.

32 bit is generally stable, though many users are using 64 bit. You will need double RAM to operate 64 bit architecture. So you may need to enable PAE in 64 bit systems. In day-2-day work like browsing, surfing, listening music, creating docs, etc, I do not find any substantial increase in case of 64 bit architecture.

This link might be helpful to you.

Mint 13 MAya, 32 bit has non-PAE kernel, meaning it can run on older computers. Mint 14 Nadia has PAE-enabled kernel by default.

To check kernel version open terminal alt+ctrl+t (in cinnamon)

Code: Select all

uname -r

or type

Code: Select all

uname -a

for more details.

To check if PAE is enabled or not

Type

Code: Select all

cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i PAE

or

Code: Select all

grep --color=always -i PAE /proc/cpuinfo

Both works. It will show PAE in Red, meaning that your CPu supports PAE.

You can also find if PAE kernel is installed by opening synaptic and search for 'linux-headers-generic-pae'

[theanswriz42]

I have pretty much the same hardware as you, and get the same install issue you're experiencing. I ended up just installing Maya and tried to do a dist-upgrade to Nadia which just broke everything so I'm back to 13 until there's a good solution, or if Olivia solves the problem.

One thing I found to be a bit odd was that nvidia-detect returns "none" after installing the drivers on the x-swat PPA so I'm kind of at a loss for now.