Change kernel version during install? [SOLVED]

[fatso]

Hi folks. Hopefully this isn't a stupid question. Is it possible to select a different kernel version than the default during LM 20.1 installation? The reason I ask is because I'm having issues with the LM Edge edition. I still have a few things to try to rectify those issues first, but I'm just thinking ahead here. Since the standard LM 20.1 install hangs on a fancy new gaming laptop, I'm just wondering if maybe installing that with a newer kernel (5.8 or higher) might do the job.
BTW: this laptop has a Ryzen 7 processor, which (I think) might be at the centre of the problem with installing standard LM editions.

[Pjotr]

BTW: this laptop has a Ryzen 7 processor

I'm expecting the delivery of a new Ryzen 7 powered laptop myself today (though not a gaming one).... So maybe I'll be able to help you tomorrow.

[fatso]

BTW: this laptop has a Ryzen 7 processor

I'm expecting the delivery of a new Ryzen 7 powered laptop myself today (though not a gaming one).... So maybe I'll be able to help you tomorrow.

Cool. I hope it goes well for you.

[spamegg]

I don't think it's possible to change kernel during install, otherwise there would be no need for a separate Edge ISO (with 5.8 ) different than the usual ISO (with 5.4). The kernel is baked into the ISO. I guess you could ask the Mint devs on how to create your own custom ISO with your preferred kernel. You would have to get all the source files from Github, throw in your preferred kernel, and follow the ISO building instructions. This would be probably very difficult.

[fatso]

I don't think it's possible to change kernel during install, otherwise there would be no need for a separate Edge ISO (with 5.8 ) different than the usual ISO (with 5.4). The kernel is baked into the ISO. I guess you could ask the Mint devs on how to create your own custom ISO with your preferred kernel. You would have to get all the source files from Github, throw in your preferred kernel, and follow the ISO building instructions. This would be probably very difficult.

I suspected as much. Thanks for the info.

[Pjotr]

OK, here goes:

Got my new Ryzen 7 laptop within minutes after posting about it. Yay!

This is its CPU:
Info: Quad Core model: AMD Ryzen 7 3700U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx

This is its integrated graphics:
Device-1: AMD Picasso vendor: Lenovo driver: amdgpu v: kernel

The successful approach was quite simple and straightforward. First I disabled "Fast startup" in the pre-installed Windows, then I updated the BIOS from within Windows, then I disabled Secure Boot in the BIOS.

Then I downloaded the Edge iso from Mint 20.1, which runs on the 5.8.x kernel by default. Installation alongside Windows was a cinch.

It appeared to work fine on the 5.8.x kernel, but because of the newness of the hardware I thought a newer kernel series would be even better for it. So after installation I installed the latest 5.11.x kernel from the reliable Canonical Kernel Team PPA:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... t.html#ID8
(item 8 )

And with that, Bob's pretty much your uncle.... At least on this Ryzen 7 machine. Hope this helps for you, as well.

[fatso]

Thanks, Pjotr. I followed the link you provided, and there's a big notice about proprietary Nvidia drivers possibly causing issues. I'm real nervous about that (got plenty of issues already), so I didn't add the PPA. There's something very strange going on with the laptop, because if I try to install Mate desktop via synaptic, I keep getting messages about held packages, but nothing I've tried from advice online even shows any held packages, let alone fixes them.
In short, synaptic says there are held pkgs., but the system (terminal commands) doesn't find any. I spent over an hour running various commands to detect/fix that problem, but I get no joy.
This is so frustrating.

[Pjotr]

I recommend to try my method, up to and including the BIOS update (when available). Start from scratch, i.e. nuke your current Mint by overwriting it. A fresh installation should give you a predictable system.

Before you install the 5.11.x kernel like I did, create a manual Timeshift snapshot for easy reversing if things would go south.

[fatso]

I recommend to try my method, up to and including the BIOS update (when available). Start from scratch, i.e. nuke your current Mint by overwriting it. A fresh installation should give you a predictable system.

Before you install the 5.11.x kernel like I did, create a manual Timeshift snapshot for easy reversing if things would go south.

I think I'll give it a try after school is done (end of this week), as it's all online and I don't want to risk downtime until then. Thanks for the advice, Pjotr, very much appreciated!

[deepakdeshp]

OK, here goes:

Got my new Ryzen 7 laptop within minutes after posting about it. Yay!

This is its CPU:
Info: Quad Core model: AMD Ryzen 7 3700U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx

This is its integrated graphics:
Device-1: AMD Picasso vendor: Lenovo driver: amdgpu v: kernel

The successful approach was quite simple and straightforward. First I disabled "Fast startup" in the pre-installed Windows, then I updated the BIOS from within Windows, then I disabled Secure Boot in the BIOS.

Then I downloaded the Edge iso from Mint 20.1, which runs on the 5.8.x kernel by default. Installation alongside Windows was a cinch.

It appeared to work fine on the 5.8.x kernel, but because of the newness of the hardware I thought a newer kernel series would be even better for it. So after installation I installed the latest 5.11.x kernel from the reliable Canonical Kernel Team PPA:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... t.html#ID8
(item 8 )

And with that, Bob's pretty much your uncle.... At least on this Ryzen 7 machine. Hope this helps for you, as well.

Awesome hardware. Enjoy your new machine. I have a Ryzen 3500U, primitive in comparison.

[Pjotr]

Awesome hardware. Enjoy your new machine.

Thanks!

[fatso]

Awesome hardware. Enjoy your new machine.

Thanks!

Yep. You're going to love it. Glitches aside, my son's laptop rocks! I'm actually quite jealous.

[deepakdeshp]

Awesome hardware. Enjoy your new machine.

Thanks!

Are you a gamer? Curious what will you do with this powerhouse?

[Pjotr]

Are you a gamer? Curious what will you do with this powerhouse?

Well, it's currently a middle segment machine, with "only" 8 GB RAM and integrated graphics that uses part of the RAM (no separate graphics card):

Code: Select all

pjotr@IdeaPad-3-14ADA05:~$ sudo inxi -m
[sudo] wachtwoord voor pjotr:     
Memory:    RAM: total: 5.74 GiB used: 1.67 GiB (29.0%) 
           Array-1: capacity: 12 GiB slots: 2 EC: None 
           Device-1: DIMM 0 size: 4 GiB speed: 2400 MT/s 
           Device-2: DIMM 0 size: 4 GiB speed: 2400 MT/s

Code: Select all

pjotr@IdeaPad-3-14ADA05:~$ inxi -Fxmprz
System:    Kernel: 5.11.0-20-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.2 
           Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 81W0 v: IdeaPad 3 14ADA05 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: LENOVO model: LNVNB161216 v: SDK0J40709WIN serial: <filter> UEFI: LENOVO v: E8CN27WW date: 01/15/2021 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 33.1 Wh (93.2%) condition: 35.5/35.3 Wh (100.7%) volts: 8.3 min: 7.6 model: CPT-COS L16C2PB1 
           status: Discharging 
Memory:    RAM: total: 5.74 GiB used: 1.69 GiB (29.4%) 
           RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
CPU:       Info: Quad Core model: AMD Ryzen 7 3700U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen/Zen+ 
           note: check rev: 1 cache: L2: 2 MiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 36729 
           Speed: 1245 MHz min/max: 1400/2300 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1245 2: 1232 3: 1528 4: 1223 5: 1219 
           6: 1223 7: 1222 8: 1222 
Graphics:  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Picasso vendor: Lenovo driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.0 
           Device-2: Syntek USB2.0 Hub type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 3-1.1:4 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: loaded: amdgpu,ati unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa 
           resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD RAVEN (DRM 3.40.0 5.11.0-20-generic LLVM 11.0.0) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.2.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio vendor: Lenovo 
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.1 
           Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor vendor: Lenovo 
           driver: snd_pci_acp3x v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.5 
           Device-3: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus-ID: 03:00.6 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.11.0-20-generic running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 13.99.1 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Lenovo driver: rtw_8822ce v: N/A 
           port: 2000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Bluetooth: Device-1: Realtek Bluetooth Radio type: USB driver: N/A bus-ID: 3-2:3 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 11 GiB (2.3%)

It's only meant for average use (which is blazing fast now!) and in the near future for running some virtual machines with VirtualBox. A big improvement for me, as I usually buy very cheap low-end machines.

[SMG]

I recommend to try my method, up to and including the BIOS update (when available). Start from scratch, i.e. nuke your current Mint by overwriting it. A fresh installation should give you a predictable system.

Before you install the 5.11.x kernel like I did, create a manual Timeshift snapshot for easy reversing if things would go south.

I think I'll give it a try after school is done (end of this week), as it's all online and I don't want to risk downtime until then. Thanks for the advice, Pjotr, very much appreciated!

Tonight I noticed the 5.11.0-22 kernel available in my Update Manager, so you would not need to add a PPA to get it. You can get it from Update Manager.

To install from Update Manager, open Update Manager. Select View > Linux Kernels and click Continue. Make sure 5.11 is selected on the left panel and then click the top-most option on the right panel. An "Install" button will appear. Install the kernel and then reboot for it to become active.

I did not see where you listed the actual processor. Here are general recommendations for laptop APUs.

• The gen 3 Ryzens (Picasso) like Pjotr has will boot with 5.4, but there were upgrades specifically for that gen in the 5.8 kernel, so we generally recommend using the 5.8 kernel with them.

• Gen 4 Ryzens (Renoir) need at least the 5.8 kernel to get graphics.

• Gen 5 Ryzens (Cezanne) need the 5.11 kernel in order to get graphics (but a 5.10-oem kernel with the addition of Green Sardine firmware worked for a 5800H that was using Nvidia graphics instead of the APU)

.

[fatso]

I recommend to try my method, up to and including the BIOS update (when available). Start from scratch, i.e. nuke your current Mint by overwriting it. A fresh installation should give you a predictable system.

Before you install the 5.11.x kernel like I did, create a manual Timeshift snapshot for easy reversing if things would go south.

I think I'll give it a try after school is done (end of this week), as it's all online and I don't want to risk downtime until then. Thanks for the advice, Pjotr, very much appreciated!

Tonight I noticed the 5.11.0-22 kernel available in my Update Manager, so you would not need to add a PPA to get it. You can get it from Update Manager.

To install from Update Manager, open Update Manager. Select View > Linux Kernels and click Continue. Make sure 5.11 is selected on the left panel and then click the top-most option on the right panel. An "Install" button will appear. Install the kernel and then reboot for it to become active.

I did not see where you listed the actual processor. Here are general recommendations for laptop APUs.

• The gen 3 Ryzens (Picasso) like Pjotr has will boot with 5.4, but there were upgrades specifically for that gen in the 5.8 kernel, so we generally recommend using the 5.8 kernel with them.

• Gen 4 Ryzens (Renoir) need at least the 5.8 kernel to get graphics.

• Gen 5 Ryzens (Cezanne) need the 5.11 kernel in order to get graphics (but a 5.10-oem kernel with the addition of Green Sardine firmware worked for a 5800H that was using Nvidia graphics instead of the APU)

.

WOW, thanks for all the info! This machine is a Ryzen 7, so I guess the latest 5.x would be the best choice? (Nvidia graphics, dedicated memory, separate GPU)

[Pjotr]

Interestingly, Kadaitcha Man has shared with us how to get the 5.13.x kernel, by means of the semi-official Canonical Kernel Team PPA:
viewtopic.php?p=2029947#p2029947

I must say: wow. That's mighty cool. I'm not tempted to try the 5.13.x myself, as my machine is running fine on the official 5.11.x, but for you that might be different.

[SMG]

WOW, thanks for all the info! This machine is a Ryzen 7, so I guess the latest 5.x would be the best choice? (Nvidia graphics, dedicated memory, separate GPU)

Just saying it is a Ryzen 7 does not really have meaning with regards to which kernel to use. Each of the series I mentioned have Ryzen 3, 5, and 7 versions (and some series have a Ryzen 9 version). What model cpu version does the computer have? That would determine which one to use.

If you provide at least a make/model number for the computer, we might be able to help you determine which cpu is has.

[fatso]

WOW, thanks for all the info! This machine is a Ryzen 7, so I guess the latest 5.x would be the best choice? (Nvidia graphics, dedicated memory, separate GPU)

Just saying it is a Ryzen 7 does not really have meaning with regards to which kernel to use. Each of the series I mentioned have Ryzen 3, 5, and 7 versions (and some series have a Ryzen 9 version). What model cpu version does the computer have? That would determine which one to use.

If you provide at least a make/model number for the computer, we might be able to help you determine which cpu is has.

Sorry, my bad. I (usually) know better. Anyway, this is the laptop:

ASUS TUF 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Model# TUF506IU-BS71-CB
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H with GeForce GTX 1660Ti GPU

Hope that's what you're looking for. If not, please let me know.
BTW: when updating to the 5.11 kernel, my son said there were messages relating to firmware not being used or initialized. I can't tell you the exact messages, as I never saw them and I'm getting the info from a 12 year old.
I also saw mention earlier about the Phoronix article regarding the green sardine firmware, and have that open in my browser, but have not proceeded as that relates to Ryzen 9 5900HX.

[SMG]

ASUS TUF 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Model# TUF506IU-BS71-CB
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H with GeForce GTX 1660Ti GPU

I refer to that as a 4th gen Ryzen. You would want at least the 5.8 kernel for it. Since the 5.11 is newer, I would expect that should work.

I did find this older thread [SOLVED] Mint 20.1: I can't get my GTX 1660 Ti to display on the laptop's display which looks like it might be the same laptop (or very similar if not exactly the same). I did a search on this forum for ASUS 4800H to find it. Keep in mind that for some of the threads you may find that kernels and other files have been updated since the threads were posted.

BTW: when updating to the 5.11 kernel, my son said there were messages relating to firmware not being used or initialized. I can't tell you the exact messages, as I never saw them and I'm getting the info from a 12 year old.

That may be possible. Not all the firmware which is included in the kernel will apply to your specific processor, so, depending on the exact message, it may be logical that it is not used or initialized.

I also saw mention earlier about the Phoronix article regarding the green sardine firmware, and have that open in my browser, but have not proceeded as that relates to Ryzen 9 5900HX.

Green sardine does not apply to the 4800H (4th gen). Green Sardine is for 5th gen APUs.

It's my understanding the firmware which applies to the 5.8 kernel should be the appropriate ones for your son's computer. Based on your description, I think that would have already been installed. If you/your son have specific concerns because there are problems with the system, knowing the exact message would help.