Installing MX on my HP Laptop

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#1 Post by **brolly** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 10:53 am

Hi Guys

The issue i am facing is that i am trying to install MX from a USB stick. When I boot into the OS the desktop freezes. I have tried Secure and Legacy boots. No joy. I wrote the ISO to USB using Rufus in GPT and MBR modes. I have also tried the default and advanced/failsafe boot without joy. I have fiddled with boot parameters in the boot menu on standard and advanced mode. The boot parameters I have tried are the default setting, quiet slash and nomodeset. Despite my best efforts i am greeted with a frozen desktop or in nomodeset the brightness control pops up multiple windows of desktop settings. Your support is highly appreciated.

My specs are as follows:

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
[/quote]

#2 Post by **fehlix** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 11:10 am

brolly wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 10:52 am HP Laptop 15-Bw036na

If you want to get help, please avoid such thread titles like the one you have chosen.
Suggest to formulate it more relaxed ;=)
Furhter this model is know to have a firmware bug. So either upgrade to latest firmware.
Or alternatively try first to boot with antiX ISO which comes with 4.9 kernel, to see whether this would make a difference.
Thanks

#3 Post by **penguin** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 11:40 am

Man. Are you sure that iso you have downloaded is OK ? Have you verified it ?

Personally I try systematically many Linux distros. Never or maybe on few occasions I have failed. Almost Never. When I see people here struggling with this problems...

My advice:

1- Be sure that you have a good machine. A good machine, means ... non defective hdd, ram or any other part.
2- Update your BIOS.
3- Download the ISO from an official source and verify HASH.
4- Use an 2.0 USB ( I use and 5 or 6 aged Sandisk USB 2.0 - 4 GB )
5- In Windows use Rufus, Universal USB Installer or Unetbootin. In Linux use Suse Studio Image Writer, Rosa USB Writer, Mint USB, SparkyLinux or MX Linux USB Creator.
6- If possible stick with Legacy and non UEFI.

And ... stay quite. Have luck.

#4 Post by **masterpeace** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 11:43 am

Eh , you're not using UEFI ? And it's HP laptop to boot , it's guaranteed to work since HP support is included in Linux Kernel . So 98% Kernel is not the problem . According to my friend who recommend me MX , most cases of this kind of error stems to 3 things , incorrect MD5 or false GB flash drive or Kernel . On my case it's actually false-GB USB Flash Drive , i used them nearly on daily basis i had no idea until now that it's a fake-GB USB Flash Drive . When i tore it open 'physically' i found that it's only a 128 MB instead of 8GB .

Well it's not always false-GB-FD , but your fd just might be broken or what do you call it ? bad sector ? Or even maybe your RAM have some trouble , so definitely do Memory Test .

Another way is to use SSH like my friend . He was installing MX for his laptop from my laptop , for some reason his Macbook Black refuses to load Live Environment and just freeze , he tried everything possible , but no work , so he use grub loader and manually Install it like how you install Arch Linux , or Linux from Scratch he said . But that is if you have 2 laptops connected in the same network . I don't even understand anything he said , the one thing i recall verbatim he said he "used SSH to Install every Distro available" .

Hope this helps even if this is 2nd-hand knowledge .

Godspeed .

#5 Post by **GuiGuy** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 1:50 pm

brolly, I suggest you try booting your laptop from a bootable usb stick which you know is functional.

If you cannot do that, try a different computer.

#6 Post by **brolly** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 2:00 pm

penguin wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 11:40 am Man. Are you sure that iso you have downloaded is OK ? Have you verified it ?

Personally I try systematically many Linux distros. Never or maybe on few occasions I have failed. Almost Never. When I see people here struggling with this problems...

My advice:

1- Be sure that you have a good machine. A good machine, means ... non defective hdd, ram or any other part.
2- Update your BIOS.
3- Download the ISO from an official source and verify HASH.
4- Use an 2.0 USB ( I use and 5 or 6 aged Sandisk USB 2.0 - 4 GB )
5- In Windows use Rufus, Universal USB Installer or Unetbootin. In Linux use Suse Studio Image Writer, Rosa USB Writer, Mint USB, SparkyLinux or MX Linux USB Creator.
6- If possible stick with Legacy and non UEFI.

And ... stay quite. Have luck.

Thanks. I tried exactly what you mentioned prior to my attempt to install MX. All my gadgets are close to brand new.

#7 Post by **brolly** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 2:02 pm

GuiGuy wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 1:50 pm brolly, I suggest you try booting your laptop from a bootable usb stick which you know is functional.

If you cannot do that, try a different computer.

All my gadgets are functional and new. MX installed on two of other laptops 1) Lenovo 2) HP flawlessly. It's the third HP that's giving me headaches. I was trying to stay away from Mint. I might have to go back to it

#8 Post by **brolly** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 2:04 pm

masterpeace wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 11:43 am Eh , you're not using UEFI ? And it's HP laptop to boot , it's guaranteed to work since HP support is included in Linux Kernel . So 98% Kernel is not the problem . According to my friend who recommend me MX , most cases of this kind of error stems to 3 things , incorrect MD5 or false GB flash drive or Kernel . On my case it's actually false-GB USB Flash Drive , i used them nearly on daily basis i had no idea until now that it's a fake-GB USB Flash Drive . When i tore it open 'physically' i found that it's only a 128 MB instead of 8GB .

Well it's not always false-GB-FD , but your fd just might be broken or what do you call it ? bad sector ? Or even maybe your RAM have some trouble , so definitely do Memory Test .

Another way is to use SSH like my friend . He was installing MX for his laptop from my laptop , for some reason his Macbook Black refuses to load Live Environment and just freeze , he tried everything possible , but no work , so he use grub loader and manually Install it like how you install Arch Linux , or Linux from Scratch he said . But that is if you have 2 laptops connected in the same network . I don't even understand anything he said , the one thing i recall verbatim he said he "used SSH to Install every Distro available" .

Hope this helps even if this is 2nd-hand knowledge .

Godspeed .

THe USB drive thing was mentioned in previous threads. I bought mine bought directly from the official Sandisk website. The oldest is 2 months old and the newest is a week old.

#9 Post by **brolly** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 2:08 pm

fehlix wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 11:10 am
brolly wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 10:52 am HP Laptop 15-Bw036na
If you want to get help, please avoid such thread titles like the one you have chosen.
Suggest to formulate it more relaxed ;=)
Furhter this model is know to have a firmware bug. So either upgrade to latest firmware.
Or alternatively try first to boot with antiX ISO which comes with 4.9 kernel, to see whether this would make a difference.
Thanks

I didn't realise "nightmare" was an unsavoury word. It was used in the context of how the experience was...a simple nightmare in this occasion. How does that break forums rules? I wpould understand if i had described MX as a nightmare.

#10 Post by **KBD** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 2:16 pm

For Linux iso's with Rufus on Windows I use the dd mode and it has never failed me.

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