[Closed] Linux Lite 2.0 installation freezing

[NealCruco]

Sorry everyone; the laptop's toast. Yes, it had only 256 MB of RAM. But my friend and I had little prior experience with disassembling laptops, and we didn't even recognize the empty RAM bank underneath the memory cover as a RAM bank. As a result, we disassembled the laptop from the wrong side (bottom instead of keyboard), and eventually ended up with a screw that turned just fine, but wouldn't leave its hole. So after quite a while of struggling, we gave up on trying to keep the laptop workable and just tore it apart, trying to salvage what we could. (And we did end up recovering a lot of parts that could work in other laptops.) The disassembly, though, did teach us a great deal, and the laptop, as said before, was a very old one (10 years) that we could afford to destroy. We even recovered the installation CD from the CD drive, which I stupidly didn't open before starting to disassemble the laptop. Thanks to everyone for their assistance and advice. I will be doing more of this (installing LL on old laptops) in the future, and if I run into problems with Linux Lite, I'll know where to go for help.

[gold_finger]

Maybe I should have said this earlier, but when that black screen comes up, the CD drive keeps making a lot of noise, the kind of noise I hear when I'm playing a DVD and navigating the menu. Does that noise means the CD drive is jumping between locations on the CD? If so, it's doing that constantly when the black screen is up.

On older system like that it will take quite a bit of time for the CD to load and it will sound like it's jumping around reading from different sections of disk.  How long did you wait for it to load?  It may take up to 5-10 minutes, especially with limited RAM.  Try again if you only waited a minute or two.

It may also be that the CPU requires a non-PAE kernel, which is not what's on LL.  You can try to get around that by appending "forcepae" to the boot parameters.  Boot with DVD again, when you see the boot menu hit the <TAB> key to edit the boot arguments.  Hit the spacebar once, then type "forcepae" (without the quotes).  Then hit <ENTER> key.

If none of above work, then it's likely that you really do only have 256MB of RAM.  That's not enough for LL to work with, but another distro that should work is AntiX.  Download AntiX-15 from here and make a live CD.  It's a very lightweight distro and should work fine on that computer.  At the very least you can use it to find out the exact specs of the system and post them here for us to see.  Just open a terminal once you've booted into the desktop and enter this command:

Code: [Select]

inxi -Fxz
Copy the results and paste them back here for us to see.  (Just use Iceweasel browser in AntiX to login to forum and post while still running from there.)

[torreydale]

You can get a single 1GB memory module for that machine for as little as $6, including shipping, online at ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&LH_BIN=1&_dcat=170083&Capacity%2520per%2520Module=1GB&_nkw=pc2700+sodimm+1gb&_sop=15

[avj]

According to the image at: http://i.imgur.com/RT6GIGj.jpg
only 191 mb of the system memory is being used.  191+64MB for graphics = 255 MB
according to the specs that where posted I believe you should find a memory upgrade for the machine before continuing. The specs stated that the machine is:
Configured with 256MB SDRAM
•
256MB (Min)/1280MB (Max), 256MB on-board memory with 1
available memory slot for 256MB, 512MB, or 1024MB PC2700
DDR 333MHz SDRAM 2.5V SODIMM memory modules

If there is an open memory slot it most likely only has the 256 MB that came installed.

[NealCruco]

If what paul1149 shared is based on your image that I can't see yet, then 256MB of memory is going to be problematic, especially if what rokytnji and I suggested aren't helping.

Yep, I'm thinking that the memory is just 256 MB. I can't confirm that, though, because I can't find a screwdriver that will unscrew the screw for the memory cover. That probably seems stupid to you, but trust me, I have a good reason to be in this situation. I'll have to either see if I can borrow from someone nearby or wait a week for a screwdriver set (which I just ordered) to be delivered. In the end, I think I'll either have to give up on this or buy more memory for the computer, assuming that's even possible and reasonable. If it turns out that the computer actually does have 512 MB or more, then I'll come back with that news. Thanks a lot for the help, rokytnji, torreydale, and paul1149.

By the way, since you are a Windows fan, boot your Windows machine to this CD.  What you'll see BEFORE INSTALLING ANYTHING is a fully functional desktop.  In Linux, this is what is called a Live CD or Live Media.  You can browse the Internet from that desktop environment and even see and open the files on your Windows hard drive.  Again, this is before you even click on the desktop icon that says Install Linux Lite.

That is why I said your not having Linux Lite installed yet isn't the problem. 

Are you saying that Linux Lite can run from my installation CD just as if it were installed on the hard drive? That's neat. I've actually contemplated installing Linux Lite alongside Windows...maybe I will, if I ever have time and energy for something like that.

[torreydale]

By the way, since you are a Windows fan, boot your Windows machine to this CD.  What you'll see BEFORE INSTALLING ANYTHING is a fully functional desktop.  In Linux, this is what is called a Live CD or Live Media.  You can browse the Internet from that desktop environment and even see and open the files on your Windows hard drive.  Again, this is before you even click on the desktop icon that says Install Linux Lite.

That is why I said your not having Linux Lite installed yet isn't the problem. 

[torreydale]

If what paul1149 shared is based on your image that I can't see yet, then 256MB of memory is going to be problematic, especially if what rokytnji and I suggested aren't helping.

[NealCruco]

I can't view the picture at the moment.  So I'm assuming the reason we're continuing is because the memory is indeed at or above 512MB.

When you tried the solution rokytnji suggested, did you use the right or left shift key?  If you tried with the right, try with the left.

If that solution doesn't lead to anything, try this: https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/installing-linux-lite/installation/msg16328/#msg16328

Actually, I have no idea if the memory is at or above 512 MB. And now I think I misread the info in the picture, and it's not what I thought it was. So forget that.
I first tried rokytnji's solution with the left Shift key. I tried again with the right, and got the same "boot: " prompt. It looks like that prompt is looking for a kernel image, so I'm not sure how useful it will be.
I then tried the instructions in the linked post, and that doesn't seem to have had any effect. The black screen appeared and didn't leave. Maybe I should have said this earlier, but when that black screen comes up, the CD drive keeps making a lot of noise, the kind of noise I hear when I'm playing a DVD and navigating the menu. Does that noise means the CD drive is jumping between locations on the CD? If so, it's doing that constantly when the black screen is up.
Additionally, I can't open the computer and look under the memory cover, because I can't find a screwdriver that can do that. I'm not used to working on hardware, and the only screwdriver I found that could fit in the screw couldn't get a grip on it. I think I should just go and buy one that works.

I'm not sure what LL's requirements are, but it appears you only have a 256mb stick of ram in the machine, and a decent part of that is being reserved by the MB. I would think this would be a problem when it comes to loading the video drivers.

Good point. If I can get the memory cover off, I might be able to confirm that. If it really only has 256 MB, then it looks like it can't run Linux Lite. That's a problem. It may not be possible to buy more RAM for the machine at a reasonable price- that's something else I know nothing about.

[paul1149]

I'm not sure what LL's requirements are, but it appears you only have a 256mb stick of ram in the machine, and a decent part of that is being reserved by the MB. I would think this would be a problem when it comes to loading the video drivers.

[torreydale]

I can't view the picture at the moment.  So I'm assuming the reason we're continuing is because the memory is indeed at or above 512MB.

When you tried the solution rokytnji suggested, did you use the right or left shift key?  If you tried with the right, try with the left.

If that solution doesn't lead to anything, try this: https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/installing-linux-lite/installation/msg16328/#msg16328

[NealCruco]

I'm rather confident what you wrote in the quote below isn't the issue.

I think one of the issues with troubleshooting this is that Linux Lite isn't installed on the machine yet. It's still running off a CD. Therefore, I don't think I have the full LL installation to play around with.

Ok then. I'll take your word for it, since I was just guessing.

On the memory:
1) Does it still boot to XP?  If so, you can check the memory there.
2) If it doesn't boot to XP, you can turn the computer off, remove the battery, and flip the computer over to remove the memory cover at http://www.manualslib.com/manual/329272/Toshiba-Satellite-A85-S1072.html?page=9#manual, to see if there's anything printed on the memory module to signify how much memory you actually have.

No, it does not still boot to XP. If the picture I posted in my previous post doesn't help, I can try #2.

[torreydale]

I'm rather confident what you wrote in the quote below isn't the issue.

I think one of the issues with troubleshooting this is that Linux Lite isn't installed on the machine yet. It's still running off a CD. Therefore, I don't think I have the full LL installation to play around with.

On the memory:
1) Does it still boot to XP?  If so, you can check the memory there.
2) If it doesn't boot to XP, you can turn the computer off, remove the battery, and flip the computer over to remove the memory cover at http://www.manualslib.com/manual/329272/Toshiba-Satellite-A85-S1072.html?page=9#manual, to see if there's anything printed on the memory module to signify how much memory you actually have.

[NealCruco]

(double post snipped out)

[NealCruco]

1)  Is the installation CD for 32-bit Linux Lite?
2)  How much memory does the machine have?  What you sent in terms of specs showed the machine was configured with 256MB of RAM, but can hold as much as 1GB.  The minimum requirements are 512MB of RAM.

https://www.linuxliteos.com/download.html

Yes, the CD is for 32-bit Linux Lite, according to its label.
I don't know how to find the amount of RAM installed. As I said, the computer can't boot to anything except the CD. I went into the BIOS, hoping to find the answer there, but I didn't. The only things pertaining to memory there were "System Memory: 640 KB" and "Extended Memory: 190 MB", and neither of those values looks like what you want.
Edit: I realized that the memory tester on the CD might show the amount of RAM. These values look more promising- do they help?

[torreydale]

1)  Is the installation CD for 32-bit Linux Lite?
2)  How much memory does the machine have?  What you sent in terms of specs showed the machine was configured with 256MB of RAM, but can hold as much as 1GB.  The minimum requirements are 512GB of RAM.

https://www.linuxliteos.com/download.html