Compaq CQ58 compatibility query

[HappyLinux]

This will be a bit of a read.I apologise. So please bear with me. I eventually get to the point.

I have a "Compaq CQ58" laptop which I've had for a couple of years, but now having problems with it.

I don't know if it's Microsoft forcing Windows 8.1 to become a pain to use each time new WinUpdates are installed, or something else. (I'm not going to argue over it.) I use to love using the laptop with Win8.1, but now it's a nightmare.

Unresponsive programs. Slow to load into Windows. Etc.

I could reinstall Windows from the recovery disk, but then I would have the nightmare of installing all those WinUpdates that are extremely slow to download. (No thanks to MS decreasing the servers for Win8.1 updates.)

All I want now is to give the laptop a new lease of life by putting Linux on it. However, I can't find if all of the hardware is compatible or not. Believe me, I've searched. I either get inconclusive results from 2012, or results for different hardware.

The attached screenshot gives you an idea of the hardware. However, the screenshot doesn't tell you what the Network and Audio adapter are installed.

Network
WiFi - Ralink RT5390R 802.11bgn

As for Audio, the best I can find is that it's "Realtek HD". It also says there is an "Intel Display Audio". Whatever that means.

There is also an unknown buit-in webcam.

Here is the complete hardware list.

Intel Core i3-2330M 2.20GHz -obviously compatible.
Intel HM75 Chipset -I don't know compatible.
Intel HD3000 Graphics - Mixed results on compatibility. Old forum posts though.
Ralink RT5390R 802.11bgn - No idea on compatibility.
LAN adapter - I don't know.
SD Card reader (built-in) - No clue what brand etc.
500GB Hitachi HTS545050A7E380 (SATA) - Obviously compatible.
HP DVD A DS8A9SH - Bound to work.
Realtek HD Audio - No clue which chipset.
Unknown Buit-In webcam.

Can anyone advise me on whether the hardware will be compatible, or how to find out what the unknown hardware is? Also, I need to find out if it's possible to install Linux on the laptop due to any possible BIOS blocks etc.

Speccy Grab.jpg

[HappyLinux]

Did I say something wrong? Post in the wrong area of the forum? Something?

[jimallyn]

No, you didn't say or do anything wrong, but sometimes it takes a while to get an answer. You waited less than 12 hours before posting again. Maybe the person that knows the answers to your questions is at work now. Or maybe he or she is in a different time zone and is sleeping now. So, be patient.

I think the best answer to your questions would be for you to download Linux Mint, burn it to a DVD, and boot from the DVD. Mint is a "live" DVD, meaning it can be run from the DVD without actually installing it to the hard drive. It's a bit slower that way, but it will give you a chance to make sure everything will work. And if there's anything that doesn't work, you can ask here on the forums and somebody will likely know how to make it work.

It's unlikely that there is anything in your BIOS that would prevent you from running Mint. If the computer came with Win8, it likely uses UEFI rather than BIOS, which does add another step or two to the install process, but there is a good tutorial on the forums to help you through.

Did you know you can "dual boot" your computer, that is, have both Linux and Windows on it? Many Linux users start out dual booting until they get everything figured out in Mint.

Do you know how to burn an image file to a DVD? The Mint installer that you download will be a .iso file, which is a disk image. Somewhere in your burning software there should be an option to "Burn as Image" or something like that. That's the option you want. If you finish doing the burn and find that there is only one file on the desk, and it ends with .iso, then you didn't do it right.

Holler if you have more questions.

P.S. I didn't notice until I finished posting that you have been on the forums for a while, so if I treated you like a total newbie, I apologize.

[HappyLinux]

No, you didn't say or do anything wrong, but sometimes it takes a while to get an answer. You waited less than 12 hours before posting again. Maybe the person that knows the answers to your questions is at work now. Or maybe he or she is in a different time zone and is sleeping now. So, be patient.

I think the best answer to your questions would be for you to download Linux Mint, burn it to a DVD, and boot from the DVD. Mint is a "live" DVD, meaning it can be run from the DVD without actually installing it to the hard drive. It's a bit slower that way, but it will give you a chance to make sure everything will work. And if there's anything that doesn't work, you can ask here on the forums and somebody will likely know how to make it work.

It's unlikely that there is anything in your BIOS that would prevent you from running Mint. If the computer came with Win8, it likely uses UEFI rather than BIOS, which does add another step or two to the install process, but there is a good tutorial on the forums to help you through.

Did you know you can "dual boot" your computer, that is, have both Linux and Windows on it? Many Linux users start out dual booting until they get everything figured out in Mint.

Do you know how to burn an image file to a DVD? The Mint installer that you download will be a .iso file, which is a disk image. Somewhere in your burning software there should be an option to "Burn as Image" or something like that. That's the option you want. If you finish doing the burn and find that there is only one file on the desk, and it ends with .iso, then you didn't do it right.

Holler if you have more questions.

P.S. I didn't notice until I finished posting that you have been on the forums for a while, so if I treated you like a total newbie, I apologize.

Don't worry about treating like a newbie. I may have been using Linux for several years now, but I still class myself as a Novice. Anything beyond the basics and I tend to cry for help.

I'm currently waiting on Mint 18 Cinnamon. I currently have Win10 on my Desktop, and tried dual-boot with the latest Ubuntu (all models. KDE, Gnome, xfce etc. None would recognise that Win10 was on the hard drive so dual-boot was harder to setup. Also all of them had difficulties even LiveBooting.) But that's another story.

I'm not wanting to dual-boot on my laptop, because MS has rendered Win8.1 increasingly unusable with every update.

I checked back for any responses in such short time because I'm kinder desperate and want to return to using my laptop for what I bought it for - writing books.

[HappyLinux]

OK, here's an update.

I did a LiveDVD boot of Mint 17.3 64bit Cinnamon on the laptop. After it took nearly half an hour to load to desktop, I ran tests. Loaded programs, checked the sound, checked the internet etc.

Everything was working fine, except for 1 problem.

The WiFi adaptor.

While connected to my router through WiFi, I found browsing the internet to be very sluggish. Loading Googles front page took almost 2 minutes for starters. So I ran more tests. Thinking I needed to reboot my router, I checked my internet speed with http://www.speedtest.net on my desktop. It was hitting 50mbps.

Then I ran the same speed test on the laptop. It barely got past 3mbps. So I turned off the WiFi and plugged it directly into the router with a LAN cable before running the speedtest. This time, it was hitting 50mbps like it should be.

The WiFi adaptor is 802.11bgn. Is it possible that it's forcing usage at "b" speeds instead of "n"?

This appears to be the only problem.

[AlbertP]

Forcing a slower connection speed should not happen, wifi issues usually exist elsewhere. Most common is driver bugs, we can try upgrading the driver or installing another one.

If you want help with wifi, please open Terminal from the menu, type the following command and press Enter:

Code: Select all

inxi -Nnz

Then please post the output here. It will show some data we need to know about your hardware.

[HappyLinux]

Forcing a slower connection speed should not happen, wifi issues usually exist elsewhere. Most common is driver bugs, we can try upgrading the driver or installing another one.

If you want help with wifi, please open Terminal from the menu, type the following command and press Enter:

Code: Select all

inxi -Nnz

Then please post the output here. It will show some data we need to know about your hardware.

As I haven't actually installed Mint on the laptop yet due to me waiting on Mint 18 to be released, upgrading or installing a different driver is a little irrelevant right now. However, I have attached screenshots of the "inxi" as requested, and the internet speed when connected through wifi and LAN cable. I had to heavily shrink the speed screenshots in order for the forum to accept them.

inxi.jpg

WiFi speed resize.jpg

Speed LAN resize.jpg

[AlbertP]

This device is supposed to work. It did work fine in Windows?

If you don't want to install Mint yet, you could try the Mint 18 beta version to see if there is any improvement. It should be easy to upgrade it to the final release once that one is released.

[HappyLinux]

This device is supposed to work. It did work fine in Windows?

If you don't want to install Mint yet, you could try the Mint 18 beta version to see if there is any improvement. It should be easy to upgrade it to the final release once that one is released.

Yes, it works fine in Windows.

For one reason or another, I'm not exactly comfortable using Beta versions. I also don't like using upgrades when it comes to operating systems, preferring to do clean installs. I'll wait until the full release.

[HappyLinux]

This morning I decided to try the Beta to see anyway. Went to the Mint website and found the full release of Mint 18. So I downloaded it, burned to DVD and after several attempts, managed to get it to boot on the laptop.

However, upon checking the WiFi, I found the same problem as with Mint 17.3. The WiFi hardware is detected. It connects to the network, but loading websites is a crawl at best. Even to the point that it times out. I couldn't even run a speedtest as the website wouldn't work on such slow speed or something. However, upon connecting through LAN cable, the internet use is fine.

What can I do before I choose to install Mint 18?

inxi Mint 18.png

[AlbertP]

There was an official driver available for this card, I can't find it anymore on the website of Mediatek. There are a few copies still around on GitHub, such as this one. I'm not sure if it still installs on Mint 18, though.

[HappyLinux]

There was an official driver available for this card, I can't find it anymore on the website of Mediatek. There are a few copies still around on GitHub, such as this one. I'm not sure if it still installs on Mint 18, though.

Sadly, I don't know either. Using anything command line in Linux is extremely difficult for me. It gets confusing extremely fast. I did a quick search myself for drivers but didn't get very far. People complaining in forums about the same problem I'm having as far back as 2010 (must be an old wireless adapter for sure) and no success.

Maybe I should just get a new basic laptop???