Installing MX on my HP Laptop

[brolly]

as much as i decided use mint. The only downside is it doesn't have a MX LIve USB Maker is there an equivelent or clone of this?

[CrackMeUp]

Search for usb in Mint's XFCE whisker Menu ... they have an in-house-built usb maker ... the initial help screen that pops up after your boot gives you access to all things Mint ... forums, guides, etc. That is where you should be looking for your answers to simple Mint questions ... hope you don't have any more nightmares and good luck! (If anyone ever decides they need help with Win 10 on this forum, I'm gonna throw-up ... ) ... the bag is useful ... but before I stick my finger down my throat, I'd like to point out a couple of things about this thread and the OP that I find obvious and troubling-enough to label OP as a troll ... Consider this folks:

(1) The last post about an equivalent in Linux Mint to MX's Usb Maker ... for someone who claims to have had SOOO many problems creating an MX install via usb, now NEEDS to have something like it for the minty option ... smells funny, I dare say. Never mind looking for help in the wrong Forum for the successfull Linux flavor on that nightmarish HP ...

Furthermore, it's a total crock that the MX installation result on the HP in question was

Despite my best efforts i am greeted with a frozen desktop or in nomodeset the brightness control pops up multiple windows of desktop settings.

... WITW does THAT mean? Nope, doesn't cut it as something even remotely convincing. On top of it, with all the quasi-techie bluster about having 2 machines with MX installed, said-problem-machine once running Mint flawlessly, knowing ALL the different ways to use a boot-device ... yet user doesn't seem to know how to navigate the Menu to find his app!

(2) Here's the real kicker!

I made a live image of one of my working systems. I upgraded the kernel to "testing" 4.20 it worked but broke virtualbox to name a few apps

Huh? What apps? ... well shiver-me-timbers, OP said it WORKED ... except for the VB thingie that was broken ... this is what clued me as to why I call this a troll. The VB breakage using kernel 4.20 has been a long-standing bug, that, as far as I know, has been squashed(!?) ... point here is that the OP has been savvy enough to reiterate the long-past VB breakage when deciding to upgrade the kernel in the live-image attempt to install on the nightmare machine ... pretty sly manoeuvre based on out-dated info, then claiming it broke stuff! ... not getting past me, sorry ... Nope, something smells funny all 'round here as well ... kernel broke a few apps? ... Gimme a break!

Either the OP is a bona fide, certified, total Linux newbie or a very clever manipulator ... take your pick! I vote for the latter ... Better have some clever, nifty footwork squeezin' something past me OP ... try to be more creative next time! ... prove me wrong! If so, I apologize in advance and will remove the bag ...

[brolly]

Search for usb in Mint's XFCE whisker Menu ... they have an in-house-built usb maker ... the initial help screen that pops up after your boot gives you access to all things Mint ... forums, guides, etc. That is where you should be looking for your answers to simple Mint questions ... hope you don't have any more nightmares and good luck! (If anyone ever decides they need help with Win 10 on this forum, I'm gonna throw-up ... ) ... the bag is useful ... but before I stick my finger down my throat, I'd like to point out a couple of things about this thread and the OP that I find obvious and troubling-enough to label OP as a troll ... Consider this folks:

(1) The last post about an equivalent in Linux Mint to MX's Usb Maker ... for someone who claims to have had SOOO many problems creating an MX install via usb, now NEEDS to have something like it for the minty option ... smells funny, I dare say. Never mind looking for help in the wrong Forum for the successfull Linux flavor on that nightmarish HP ...

Furthermore, it's a total crock that the MX installation result on the HP in question was

Despite my best efforts i am greeted with a frozen desktop or in nomodeset the brightness control pops up multiple windows of desktop settings.

... WITW does THAT mean? Nope, doesn't cut it as something even remotely convincing. On top of it, with all the quasi-techie bluster about having 2 machines with MX installed, said-problem-machine once running Mint flawlessly, knowing ALL the different ways to use a boot-device ... yet user doesn't seem to know how to navigate the Menu to find his app!

(2) Here's the real kicker!

I made a live image of one of my working systems. I upgraded the kernel to "testing" 4.20 it worked but broke virtualbox to name a few apps

Huh? What apps? ... well shiver-me-timbers, OP said it WORKED ... except for the VB thingie that was broken ... this is what clued me as to why I call this a troll. The VB breakage using kernel 4.20 has been a long-standing bug, that, as far as I know, has been squashed(!?) ... point here is that the OP has been savvy enough to reiterate the long-past VB breakage when deciding to upgrade the kernel in the live-image attempt to install on the nightmare machine ... pretty sly manoeuvre based on out-dated info, then claiming it broke stuff! ... not getting past me, sorry ... Nope, something smells funny all 'round here as well ... kernel broke a few apps? ... Gimme a break!

Either the OP is a bona fide, certified, total Linux newbie or a very clever manipulator ... take your pick! I vote for the latter ... Better have some clever, nifty footwork squeezin' something past me OP ... try to be more creative next time! ... prove me wrong! If so, I apologize in advance and will remove the bag ...

You have so much time on your hands.The world has so many exciting things to do other than trolling. asking questions doesn't make me a noob. I am only new to MX not Linux. There are palitable ways of responding people.

[Eadwine Rose]

Mod note: Just a reminder, before you post ask yourself: does your post KNIT?

Is it Kind?
Is it Necessary?
Is it Informative?
Is it True?

Treat each other with respect, being condescending doesn't earn you points.

[JayM]

as much as i decided use mint. The only downside is it doesn't have a MX LIve USB Maker is there an equivelent or clone of this?

See here:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=50558
It's available on GitHub for download.

[CrackMeUp]

@brolly
Add one or the other of these boot parameters from your MX install stick and give it another shot ...

Code: Select all

amd_iommu=off

OR

Code: Select all

amd_iommu=soft

... let us know ... helps a lot to provide screenshots of your desktop/boot read-out woes, error reports, etc., and, of course, inxi -F in order to properly identify your hardware and hiccups ... You under-published the results of all your experiments ... please be more forthcoming and elaborate as fully as you can.

The closest troubleshooter, in your case, has been fehlix viewtopic.php?p=512913#p512913 ...

... this model is know to have a firmware bug...

hence, my boot-parameter suggestion ... give them a shot!

Others have tried to help as well with basic, well-thought-out advice regarding your medium problems ... cheers to all!

[fehlix]

Add one or the other of these boot parameters

Code: Select all

amd_iommu=off

OR

Code: Select all

amd_iommu=soft

... let us know ...

Please explain, why you think the OP shall use those parameters, what are those parameters for?
Also, you might consider to provide the source of this recommendation and perhaps review the 2nd parameter of your proposal.

[megatotoro]

I think the nightmarish experience of the OP is totally legitimate. I had a very similar experience with an HP laptop. At the end, antiX was the only distro that worked. Here is the thread about my own issues:

viewtopic.php?f=104&t=47678&p=477612#p477612

If the OP is interested in MX USB maker, antiX is worth a try.

[CrackMeUp]

Hello fehlix ... the OP's hardware from the description given

HP Laptop 15-Bw036na
AMD A12-9720P / 2.7 GHz Max Turbo Speed 3.6 GHz Quad Core Processor
16GB RAM, 2TB HDD
15.6 HD Display (1366 x 768) Resolution
Integrated AMD Radeon R7 Graphics

surely points to specific boot-options the OP hasn't tried ... the options I suggested are simply more hardware-specific (AMD) parameters that the OP could attempt as an alternative to the often-used nomodeset command, but NOT totally disabling the GPU as per my second suggestion

Code: Select all

amd_iommu=soft

(which I would recommend as a first attempt) ...

You could take a peek at my reference here https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentatio ... ptions.txt ... I keep a hard-copy handy for troublesome AMDs ... the OP's, in particular ... what really bothers me the most is that Linux Mint works fine on the hardware ... but then again, their kernel is 4.15 while the MX is 4.19 and the OP's attempt with 4.20 seems to have broken things (I'm still highly suspicious of the claim). Hope you have enough info as to why I suggest this ... no harm for the OP to try out ...

To tell you the truth, I'd have MX up-and-running on this machine in shorter time than it takes to write down the posts I've made on this thread ... nothing like having the hardware right in front of you!

Cheers ...

[JayM]

Brolly, if you want to try MX again and if you have another computer available that will boot from the live USB I suggest you boot with persistence enabled, install the Debian 4.9 kernel, and use the Live Kernel Updater to change the kernel the USB boots with to 4.9. It will guide you through remastering the USB: when it does, don't choose LZH compression or it will just tell you that the 4.9 kernel doesn't support an LZH-squashed file system and prompt you to remaster again. Once that's finished, try booting your HP from it.

Or you could try the MX 14.4 or 14.5 kernel I suppose, but 4.9 would (probably) be sure to work and get you booted up, then if you want to install MX you can always install and test other kernels much more easily, to find the newest one that still works on the HP. Heck, maybe 4.19 will even work at that point once you're booting from grub on an installed system, who knows?