Black screen

Hello

I am trying to leave windows XP but having no joy.

Attempts at Linux so far.
I have an elderly Dell Inspiron 1100. The processor is a 2.40 gig Intel Celeron and the graphics card is Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller. It has a 20gig hard disk and 1024 Ram. It ran windows XP service pack two (slowly) as about 18 of its 20 gig was full.

I chose Mint Maya Mate for my first attempt. As it is allegedly for newbies. Ho Ho.

Downloaded Md5 summed and burnt ISO.
The live disk ran full screen but so slow it was difficult to use.
Started installation and gave it the whole 20gig. A slide show turned up and I pressed forward, the installation bar stopped and nothing happened for ages.
Switched off and started again.
Did not press the slide show and it installed.
Removed disc and restarted. Black screen. Switched off and tried again small screen in the upper left of the display.
Did some research and found the slide show is a known problem – marvellous! Tried changing grub and fiddling about in terminal. Result sometimes the small screen sometimes the black one. Gave up on Mint.

Tried Zorin.

Downloaded Md5 summed and burnt ISO.
The live disc gave a nice blue screen with swirly thing then nothing else I assumed as I had given Mint the whole disc it had nowhere to run so tried the memory check.
It passed, so I installed it as the sole system. It asked me the correct questions and then played some sound and pictures for a little while then the sound went a bit odd and then the screen went blank. I waited as the hard disk light was still flashing and eventually I got the message Zorin is installed restart your machine.
I removed the ISO and pressed restart. Nothing happened for about 10 minutes so I turned it off and then restarted.
The Dell screen turned up and a screen with some options on it that disappeared before I could read it. The hard drive light did a lot of flashing then stopped and I had a black screen that looked just like the Mint version.
Has it installed or what? What do I try next?

I have had suggestions for numerous other distros but why won't anything run?
It all seems rather hopeless. I just want something to replace XP, it doesn't have to run like greased lightning I don't do games or anything like that. I have been using Thunderbird, Firefox and Open Office for years so I thought the transition from windows should be easy. WRONG!

P.S. My husband installed Mint as a dual boot on his much newer Compaq laptop with minimal fuss, replacing Libre with open office was a bit of a faff but it works.

Margaret (middle aged greying technophobe)

Hi Margret,

when you boot, can you see a menu that has a 2nd line which can lead you to the recovery menu?, you might have to press escape (Esc) if Zorin is the only system installed and select the recovery option!!.

Make sure your PC is connected to the network via a network cable (not WiFi) and select the option "Network" and then "Dpkg" and say yes whenever asked and once it is done, restart your PC using Ctrl + Alt +Del, do not click on "Resume". (See update link below)

Maybe your PC isn't strong enough for Zorin 6 or 7, which version are you trying out??.

Zorin Lite might be the way to go for you:

http://zorin-os.com/lite.html

as it isn't a resource hog!!.

See the update and post install guides too:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2247

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2054

The above guide isn't really suited for Zorin Lite but it will give you and idea of one or two things.

Let us know how you get on.

Regards Wolfman

Hello Wolfman

Thank you for your reply.

I selected the second line and chose network. Lots of stuff scrolled past but it never offered the Dpkg option again. I saw it on the first screen above network should I have clicked on both? One of the black screens of white lettering did say fail against the graphics. It then said something about graphics possibly not working right on boot and having to boot again OK. I said yes and it restarted so I never got the chance to do the CTRL +ALT+DEL It came on with a small system in the middle of the screen that flickered and basically did not work.

Should I try this again but pick Dpkg this time? Or is the laptop just to old.

When we first tried the Mint ISO everything appeared to work albeit slowly, how if the machine hasn't got the necessary graphics?

I have always been able to so pictures and videos why does Linux need more posh graphics than XP?

Margaret

Hi Margaret,

do this as posted above:

Make sure your PC is connected to the network via a network cable (not WiFi) and select the option "Network" and then "Dpkg" and say yes whenever asked and once it is done, restart your PC using Ctrl + Alt +Del, do not click on "Resume". (See update link below)

as both swarf and I have suggested, if the above doesn't work, opt for Zorin Lite and see how you get on, try the above first though!!.

Regards Wolfman

Hello Wolfman & Swarf

As I said I tried to follow your instructions but after the "Network" choice the "Dpkg" did not show up. My husband tried and selected "Dpkg" instead of "Network" (as it has perhaps done that bit now?) on the first menu, it did a lot of black screen things and after saying yes several times, and being offered "Resume" he did CTRL+ALT+DEL.

Switched on and got a full Zorin pretty blue screen with swirly thing. After a while the thing stopped swirling and that was that. Nowt.
Switched off and then switched on again and got a small stripy flickery screen that wouldn't work. It would not shut so we had to power down.

Is there any guarantee Lite would work? If Celerons can't do Linux for goodness sake say so somewhere in the specifications!

Margaret & Pete

Sorry I am getting grumpy now.

Hi,

you should have a recovery window like this (ignore the fact that "root" is highlighted in the pic!!):



first active "Network" and press "Enter" and let it do its thing, press enter when asked if you want to continue, then click on "Dpkg" and say "Y" (yes) if and when asked!!.
IF YOU DO NOT ACTIVATE THE NETWORK FIRST USING A CABLE CONNECTION, IT WILL NOT WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Restart with "Ctrl + Alt+ Del" NOT RESUME!!!!!.

Zorin devs can not say on which of all of the thousands of PC types available out there, whether it will work or not, is your PC a bit 32 Bit and are you trying to run a 64 Bit version of Zorin on it?.

Regards Wolfman

Hello Wolfman

Thank you for your patience we got that screen and did the network bit but it never came back to that screen after it had done its thing so we couldn't pick dpkg. We will try again tomorrow. I am computed out for today. We did select the 32 bit version.
P.S. I looked at the Zorin and Lite versions and they both want the same amount of graphics so would Lite make any difference?

Bye for now Margaret & Pete

Hi Margaret,

do us a favour and boot the Zorin Live CD and once fully booted, open a terminal and paste this command:

lshw

ignore the warning about running as root should it show up, copy and paste the entire contents in a new post on this forum please. You will have something like the following:

wolfman@fred:~$ lshw
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
fred
description: Computer
width: 64 bits
capabilities: vsyscall32
*-core
description: Motherboard
physical id: 0
*-memory:0
description: System memory
physical id: 3
size: 3954MiB
*-cpu
product: AMD Athlon(tm) II X3 425 Processor
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 6
bus info: cpu@0
size: 800MHz
capacity: 800MHz
width: 64 bits
capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp x86-64 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt hw_pstate npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save cpufreq
*-memory:1 UNCLAIMED
description: RAM memory
product: MCP61 Memory Controller
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
version: a1
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz (15.2ns)
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-isa
description: ISA bridge
product: MCP61 LPC Bridge
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: isa bus_master
configuration: latency=0
resources: ioport:4f00(size=256)
*-serial
description: SMBus
product: MCP61 SMBus
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 1.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.1
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: cap_list
configuration: driver=nForce2_smbus latency=0
resources: irq:11 ioport:4900(size=64) ioport:4d00(size=64) ioport:4e00(size=64)
*-memory:2 UNCLAIMED
description: RAM memory
product: MCP61 Memory Controller
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 1.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.2
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz (15.2ns)
configuration: latency=0
*-usb:0
description: USB controller
product: MCP61 USB 1.1 Controller
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: a3
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=0 maxlatency=1 mingnt=3
resources: irq:23 memory:faeff000-faefffff
*-usb:1
description: USB controller
product: MCP61 USB 2.0 Controller
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 2.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.1
version: a3
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ehci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci-pci latency=0 maxlatency=1 mingnt=3
resources: irq:22 memory:faefec00-faefecff
*-pci:0
description: PCI bridge
product: MCP61 PCI bridge
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 4
bus info: pci@0000:00:04.0
version: a1
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pci subtractive_decode bus_master cap_list
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: MCP61 High Definition Audio
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 5
bus info: pci@0000:00:05.0
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=0 maxlatency=5 mingnt=2
resources: irq:22 memory:faef8000-faefbfff
*-bridge
description: Ethernet interface
product: MCP61 Ethernet
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 7
bus info: pci@0000:00:07.0
logical name: eth0
version: a2
serial: 00:26:55:39:db:6a
size: 100000000
capacity: 100000000
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: bridge bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=forcedeth driverversion=0.64 duplex=full ip=192.168.1.86 latency=0 link=yes maxlatency=20 mingnt=1 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100Mbit/s
resources: irq:43 memory:faefd000-faefdfff ioport:d480(size=8)
*-ide:0
description: IDE interface
product: MCP61 SATA Controller
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 8
bus info: pci@0000:00:08.0
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ide bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=sata_nv latency=0 maxlatency=1 mingnt=3
resources: irq:21 ioport:d400(size=8) ioport:d080(size=4) ioport:d000(size=8) ioport:cc00(size=4) ioport:c880(size=16) memory:faefc000-faefcfff
*-ide:1
description: IDE interface
product: MCP61 SATA Controller
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 8.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:08.1
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ide bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=sata_nv latency=0 maxlatency=1 mingnt=3
resources: irq:20 ioport:c800(size=8) ioport:c480(size=4) ioport:c400(size=8) ioport:c080(size=4) ioport:c000(size=16) memory:faef7000-faef7fff
*-pci:1
description: PCI bridge
product: MCP61 PCI Express bridge
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 9
bus info: pci@0000:00:09.0
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:40 ioport:e000(size=4096) memory:faf00000-fbffffff ioport:f0000000(size=167772160)
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: GF108 [GeForce GT 430]
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
version: a1
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
resources: irq:19 memory:fb000000-fbffffff memory:f0000000-f7ffffff memory:f8000000-f9ffffff ioport:ec00(size=128) memory:faf80000-faffffff
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: GF108 High Definition Audio Controller
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 0.1
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.1
version: a1
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=0
resources: irq:18 memory:faf7c000-faf7ffff
*-pci:2
description: PCI bridge
product: MCP61 PCI Express bridge
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: b
bus info: pci@0000:00:0b.0
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:41
*-pci:3
description: PCI bridge
product: MCP61 PCI Express bridge
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: c
bus info: pci@0000:00:0c.0
version: a2
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:42
*-pci:4
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:5
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor Address Map
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 101
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.1
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:6
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 102
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.2
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:7
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 103
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.3
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
configuration: driver=k10temp
resources: irq:0
*-pci:8
description: Host bridge
product: Family 10h Processor Link Control
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 104
bus info: pci@0000:00:18.4
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-scsi
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@4
logical name: scsi4
capabilities: scsi-host
configuration: driver=usb-storage
WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.
wolfman@fred:~$

This will enable us to check what hardware you have on your system, The command "lshw" means; "List all hardware".

Regards Wolfman

Good morning Wolfman & Swarf

As I said the live disc doesn't work, it starts and shows the blue Zorin screen with Z and swirly thing. It swirls for a while then stops and nothing else happens. (we have left it half an hour to give it time)

We are trying the recovery boot again. (ethernet cable is in!)
Selected recovery
Network enter Stuff happened
Continue enter
Got the screen back and chose Dpkg (I would have sworn that is what we did last time but I suppose it couldn't have been - Sorry)
Built data structures calculated changes
3 New packages and 50 upgrades
Yes (19 mins)
Starting automatic crash report generation
Unpacking stuff and selecting stuff
Blank screen no green drive light flashing
Waited 15 minutes
Nothing
Pressed CTRL ALT DEL
It restarted and said F1 to continue, pressed that and got the four choice menu
It started and we got the blue screen with swirly thing
Black screen briefly
Blue screen with no swirly
Full screen with blue background and a cursor but nothing else
Hard drive light flickered occasionally
Light stopped flickering - nothing

I looked at the Lite specifications and the graphics requirements look the same so I am not sure it would help since I assume that is the problem, as I have lots more hard drive and ram than the minimum. The other difference is the processor. Is that the stumbling block? As if that is the case I suppose Lite might be worth a go.

Or do I just need a new laptop.

Margaret & Pete (owner of electric paperweight with blue screen)

Us again

Restarted it and got a small screen in the top left hand corner with three icons but no menu bar.
Message about "Compiz" chose the ignore option.
Message about "Precise" no longer under development chose don't know what to do and it said go to ubuntu page for support.
Pete clicked open computer and it gave a list but there is no way to close the list. You can move up and down it but there is no x to close it.

Margaret

Hi Magaret,

here are the specs you should have:

What are the minimum system requirements that I need to install Zorin OS?

For the GNOME based versions (non Lite) (Zorin 6 is based on Ubuntu 12.04)
700 MHz x86 processor
3GB of Hard Drive space
376 MB of system memory (RAM)
Graphics card capable of 640x480 resolution
Sound card

For the LXDE based versions (Lite) (Zorin 6.2 Lite is based on Lubuntu 12.04)
266 MHz x86 processor
2GB of Hard Drive space
128 MB of system memory (RAM)
Graphics card capable of 640x480 resolution
Sound card

When you burnt the disk, did you do so at the SLOWEST POSSIBLE SPEED because if you didn't, it may well lead to problems like the ones you are having now!!.

See if you can find out from the PC handbook what specs it has and see if they match the above, the message about "Precise" being no longer supported is not correct!!. Precise is supported until April 2017. Zorin lite 6.2 is only supported for 18 months after the initial release date so bear that in mind please!!.

If you still have the ISO you downloaded, you might consider trying a USB install should you have a USB stick available:

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

You can create a USB drive under Windows or Linux!!.

Let us know what's happening.

Regards Wolfman

Hello

We are back in from the garden beans, lettuces etc needed planting and the weed thinning out in the pond.

Switched on and it started up and we got a screen with no desktop icons but with a bottom menu bar. It is a bit low so you can only see the top half of the icons. The big blue one says menu and opens with a list of 6 things. If you mouse over the others the button edges show up but it doesn't say what it is I thought it did that or is that Mint (Sorry I am getting mixed up now)
Tried the chrome button it said it had not shut correctly. Then asked to set up an account. Ignored that and searched for BBC news. It worked! But the browser window is small. It opens tabs and seems to work but how do you make it full screen? It has no minimise or maximise buttons. He can't grab the bottom corner to drag it large either.
Pete fiddled about and changed the icon size so we can see them now.

Thank you so much for your help so far. I now need the idiots manual. I assume it is a pdf on the site somewhere.

Pete & Margaret (We seem to have a computer again!)

Spoke to soon.

Pete tried to get the browser full screen by altering the screen resolution and now it is just black again. That clearly was not a good choice.

Oh dear.
Margaret

Hi Margaret,

now you know where the recovery menu is, boot into it and then select "FSCK" which is the file checker which scans the drive for damage and tries to repair any should it find it.You may be asked to hit a button or two should it find something so sit at the screen!!.

Reboot using Ctrl + Alt + Del and see if it has helped.

If that didn't help and you still have a damaged system after reboot, I can only assume that it is the graphics card causing the problem, use the next set of instructions at your own risk as we still don't what type of graphics card you have and this may well break it completely:

Start in recovery mode and select "Network".

Scroll down to where it says "Root" and type in the following word for word exactly as it is written, there is no room for error with these commands:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates (Press enter)

sudo apt-get update (Press enter)

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-settings (Press enter)

I am assuming that your PC has an Nvidia graphics card and if it doesn't, this may well kill it and you should try a re-install. (You can remove them using the same method with a different command in recovery mode but I would go for a complete new install!!)

To remove the same drivers sudo apt-get remove nvidia-current nvidia-settings

USE THE ABOVE AT YOUR OWN RISK

If your PC boots okay, open a terminal and enter the following and restart if there are any updates:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Let us know what happens.

Check your PC to see if you can find out whether or not it has an Nvidia graphics card before you start this venture!!. (Fun ain't it )

If you find out that you don't have an Nvidia card, only run the "FSCK" part of this post!!.

Again I ask, did you burn the disk at the slowest possible speed??.

Regards Wolfman

Hello Wolfman
We did the "FSCK" but got a screen with no Z or swirly just some wavy blue lines in the middle of the screen in an oblong shape.
We did not try the NVidia thing as the graphics is an Intel (R)82845/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller whatever that is.
Pete looked at the ISO burner and he used the Window 7 image burner which does not appear to have a speed choice.
I am afraid fun is not the word I would use frustration, is more appropriate. I admit Xstitcher means - yes I do cross stitch, but alas it also does not take much to make me cross. Mrs Angry would have been an appropriate moniker as well.

Bye for today my brain is dripping out of my ear!

Margaret & Pete

Hi,

okay so you have an Intel graphics card, now we know that we can move along a bit.

Here is a complete guide for Imgburn, read through it with the app (Imgburn) open so you can follow each page and look for the speed settings, place a blank disc in the drive so it has something to read from and try re-burning the Zorin ISO at the slowest speed you can find!!.

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=6232

If you want to save yourself some time however; look at this pic and where it states Write Mode = "Auto", you need to change that to the slowest speed possible, burner apps will normally always select the fastest speed it can find which lead to "Coffee Coasters"!!.


Let us know how you get on and watch that brain dripping from the ear, I had that once and took a day off work!!.

If you want a very simple free burner app for Windoze:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Too ... Free.shtml

Regards Wolfman

Hi Wolfman

I am really going in a minute but we will try burning the ISO again tomorrow. We have just used Acronis to put my latest image of the Dell back. So we are windows XP service pack 2 so we can start from the beginning again. I have stuffed a bit of kitchen roll in my ear and am much improved.

Bye Margaret & Pete

Morning Wolfman

Today is a garden day. I have looked at some other info from the Linux.Org Forum and The Elder geek that I have always used for Windoze problems. The hard drive and Bios get mentions. Thr bios is A32 I recall having to change that some time ago. There are various links about amending stuff in that as everyone with a Dell inspirion 1100 seems to get the "small" screen.
Pete has a burner called Brasero on the Linux Mint bit of his laptop which has 8, 6, 5 or 3 as its speeds. Would the 3 be Ok for the slow burn? Or are we better using imgburn.

Cheers Margaret (Today lobelias tomorrow Linux?)
P.S. I looked at these forums before I tried Zorin and they are still also trying to help me so I am keeping them up to day with my efforts so far. I have said how helpul you have been and how patient. Bye for now.

Hi Margaret,

as Swarf says, you can use K3B or any other burner app, all have their +'s and -'s.

What matters is that you select the "Slowest Possible Speed", end of story basically or you will end up with a coffee coaster in most cases!!.

Regards Wolfman

Hello

I tried to use Sea tools to check the hard drive as various foks said that was a good idea. Downloaded it and and got the computer ready and shut off what I could, including zone alarm (after unplugging the ethernet cable) and asked Sea tools to install. It refused whinging about Net 4 or something and tried to go online which of course it couldn't. I will have to look for something else. The drive is Hitachi but their web page offered a drive checking tool that would scan everything but the main drive! What blasted use is that.
The good news is we have a Wary Puppy ISO that works on my husbands laptop. I will try it on mine tomorrow to prove it will run something! Or not. We will do a slow ISO of Zorin if Puppy works and give that a blast.

Cheers Margaret

Hi chaps,

you could also try Pmagic which is a very good freebie (you can donate if you like as he does it full time!) with lots of useful tools:

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php#.UbAfWs6-nZ8

Regards Wolfman

Hello Wolfman

The sun is shining, the begonias are in, and Wary Puppy runs on the old Dell. My first try did get it's favourite black screen though. I will live with this for a few days and get used to a form of linux then I will try the Zorin disc again but I am probably inclined to leave this as it is. However the desktop upstairs also needs de-Xp-ing and that is big enough to try dual boot so we will have a go at that when the weather breaks. Next week by the look of it. Pete said he will have a look at Zorin on his wizzier laptop as well.

Cheers for the moment and thank you for your efforts on our behalf!
Margaret & Pete
I will leave you in peace for a few days. You deserve a holiday from me.

Hi Margaret,

not a problem, what counts is that you have a working PC.

You can revive this thread whenever you like!!.

Regards Wolfman