[SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-16 23:20

So I have a Lenovo T430 that I'm trying to install on. UEFI mode, installer image, wrote via cp and via dd to test, on 2 different USB keys. Get the boot prompt, choose to do manual install, then screen goes black and nothing ever happens.

Change to legacy mode, get the boot prompt, choose to do manual install, installer starts up and complains about not being able to find the CD-ROM just like on the MacBook Air I had tried.

Last edited by tlmiller76 (2017-11-17 01:08)

Dai_trying · 2017-11-17 00:05

Are you using installer disc or Live-cd?

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-17 00:18

I've tried both, I prefer the installer disc.

Same thing happens regardless which image I try.

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-17 00:20

Found if I set the bios to ONLY use the discreet graphics card, I can boot. Anything else, boot fails (integrated only, or Optimus), which is very disappointing, since using integrated would be MUCH better battery life.

q4osteam · 2017-11-17 00:21

tlmiller76 wrote:

Change to legacy mode, get the boot prompt, choose to do manual install, installer starts up and complains about not being able to find the CD-ROM just like on the MacBook Air I had tried.

We could try to perform a little investigation. Please, switch to the log console 'Alt+F4' and post here a very last or dubious messages, alternatively a screenshot. Next switch to the terminal 'Alt+F2' type 'mount' and post output here.

Dai_trying · 2017-11-17 00:24

If it's graphics related I expect CC would be hte best one for advice, but I'm wondering if you could get an install completed and then get the prefered graphics card set-up correctly and then it might work as expected, only a guess though as that's what I would try...

crosscourt · 2017-11-17 00:28

Thats pretty much the recommendation for the T430, use discrete gpu and turn off Optimus. Graphics performance though will be better even though battery life will be shorter.

From what Ive seen driver and bios issues abound with Lenovo but some distros have support like Linux Mint 18.2 but honestly dont know about Q4OS.
Maybe the devs can suggest something. Is the Intel driver installed that will work with the integrated Intel 4000 GPU?

Last edited by crosscourt (2017-11-17 00:39)

crosscourt · 2017-11-17 00:33

The T430 uses the Intel graphics 4000 and the Nvidia 5400m but a lot of issues getting the system to use them properly at the right time. Can the devs confirm Optimus driver support in Q4OS such as I mentioned for Linux Mint?(generally described as support for Nvidia prime). Is proper Intel driver installed so integrated Intel 4000 gpu will work?

IT430 was released in 2012 so the 4.9 kernel in Scorpion would be fine but the 3.16 kernel in Orion would be a problem.

Last edited by crosscourt (2017-11-17 00:41)

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-17 00:41

Dai_trying wrote:

If it's graphics related I expect CC would be hte best one for advice, but I'm wondering if you could get an install completed and then get the prefered graphics card set-up correctly and then it might work as expected, only a guess though as that's what I would try...

Good idea, hadn't thought about that. Will try.

crosscourt wrote:

Thats pretty much the recomendation for the T430, use discrete gpu and turn off Optimus. Graphics performance though will be better even though battery life will be shorter.
From what Ive seen driver and bios issues abound with Lenovo but some distros have support like Linux Mint 18.2 but honestly dont know about Q4OS.
Maybe the devs can suggest something.

Not really concerned about graphics performance. The Intel IGP is absolutely sufficient for what I use it for, and I'd definitely prefer the extra 30-60 minutes of battery life from the integrated over the discrete or optimus. This is just another 'el cheapo laptop I found on Craigslist and decided to pick up to play with. Picked it up under $200 with a fairly new battery, threw an additional 4 GB ram in (had 4 already), swapped out the 500 GB spinning rust for my 480 GB Enterprise SSD, and wanted to play around with it with q4os so I have a laptop I don't get irritated that it dislikes the docking station (since this doesn't use the docking station).

crosscourt · 2017-11-17 00:43

Didnt see your comment Dai but its a good one as it might work.

Dai_trying · 2017-11-17 00:53

I seem to recall some posts on the debian forum regarding users getting "bumblebee" to work, I havent any experience of it but I think its a driver of some description that will allow both cards to work. Not sure if it would be relevant to what tmiller is trying to do but might be worth looking into...

crosscourt · 2017-11-17 00:54

I believe the devs have discussed bumblebee here on site before.

heres the project site, https://bumblebee-project.org

Ive had mixed results with it but worth a look. Now that said if he only wants the Intel igp to work he just needs to make sure the intel driver is there and working.

Last edited by crosscourt (2017-11-17 00:57)

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-17 01:08

Yeah, even with Bumblebee working, you don't get as good a battery life as the IGP only. So since this has the ability to turn off the discrete card entirely, then I'd prefer that. And installing with discrete card only, then turning to IGP only worked. I am posting this from a working q4os 1600x900 using Intel IGP.

Dai_trying · 2017-11-17 01:12

good news! Enjoy your new toy

crosscourt · 2017-11-17 01:36

Glad you got it working!

bin · 2017-11-17 07:15

This is interesting to me as I'm looking to replace my aging Dell 1501 with either a TP420 or TP430 1600x900 as I cannot use any thing more recent than Jessie/Trusty/ Kernel 3.16 based with either the Dell or my wife's HP 6715b.
Going from AMD Turion 64 X2 to Intel i5 I'm hoping things will run a bit quicker.
I'm guessing the Intel 4000 will deliver better than the little ATI chip in the Dell as well. Not a gamer - but photo editing major part of what I do.
I had been trying to find some more real world opinions on the issues surrounding the dual graphics process - good heads up re the boot options.
Any other issues apart from the dual chip???

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-17 13:39

Nope. Some PERSONAL issues, such as Lenovo whitelists wireless cards, so I can't swap in my Intel 3160 wireless AC + BT 4 card in place of the Intel 6205 Wireless N card. So I also therefore have no bluetooth unless I want to buy the Bluetooth daughter card made for this laptop (Bluetooth 3.0) and put it in (it's only $10 shipped, but 3.0..).

But all the hardware other than the dual graphics worked fine out of the box.

crosscourt · 2017-11-17 21:12

Intel 4000 will be better than the Ati gpu but Im more partial to Dell as all my experiences with Linux have been excellent so far in terms of compatibility.
Dell is commited to Linux and sells a number of new systems with Linux preinstalled. I did service for Dell on and off and I was always impressed by how they handled Linux users. Lenovo thats a whole other ball game as they simply dont care.

Last edited by crosscourt (2017-11-17 21:16)

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-17 21:18

yeah, I buy all Dell laptops at work. And most of my personal laptops are Dell. I specifically avoided Dell only to have a machine that DIDN'T work in my dock, to let me keep q4os on it. That said, Dell WISHES they had a keyboard anywhere near this nice on their laptops.

Last edited by tlmiller76 (2017-11-17 21:19)

crosscourt · 2017-11-17 21:24

The keyboards on all my Dell laptops are great and given most of them are used Im even more impressed but honestly I tend to attach a separate keyboard when Ive got a lot of work to do depending on the size of the laptop.

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-17 22:52

That's why I prefer the 12.5" to 14" laptops. 11.6" laptops have too small a keyboard to use. 12.5" is pretty much the smallest laptop that you can have a 100% sized keyboard. Then with 15" keyboards, they usually put the +10 on it, which makes it so the keyboard isn't centered on the LCD, and I find they're very uncomfortable to use. I usually use the built-in keyboard unless it's of REALLY low quality or I can put it on a dock. I've only had a few that were. Dells aren't bad, but the Lenovo keyboards really are (even still years after IBM stopped making them) the best laptop keyboards made by a fair margin. I've actually been underwhelmed with HP keyboards.

Last edited by tlmiller76 (2017-11-17 22:53)

crosscourt · 2017-11-17 23:13

I dont evaluate laptops based on keyboards alone as Dell in regards to Linux usage is simply amazing and they will answer your questions.

I dock if that particular laptop can but not all of my laptops have that feature, Dell V130 for instance. I like HP laptops but theyve had their issues with some models. I like Lenovo, I just dont like their attitude towards Linux. Acer laptops my wife and I have had were incredibly reliable and we got almost 10 years of hard use out of them. I cant attest to theirLlinux compatibility but with Windows XP/Vista were excellent.

Im not a Dell fanboy but thru my experience working with them as well as with HP at one point, I have a lot of respect for Dell and their approach to Linux. I would rate in my opinion Dell the number one choice for people who want to run Linux on a laptop.

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-18 01:57

As long as they buy business class (intel wifi vs. Broadcom), I'd agree that Dell tends to be one of the most linux friendly. In my experience, HP is actually the least linux friendly. Their EFI/UEFI implementation on many machines is just WEIRD. You have to jump through a TON of hoops to get them to work. They only release BIOS as windows updates (unlike Dell that you can flash bios from bios), and even a few of the machines that they had linux as an option new (my Elitebook Folio 1020 I had and my wife still has one), they had customized drivers in the image, and if you god forbid need to reinstall, they haven't a CLUE where to get the customized driver, it's not on their downloads, and nowhere in their support system does it list that it came with linux (although you can still see on the item page that it was an option).

Now, that said, they also have some FANTASTIC linux machines (14-an013nr) that work absolutely right out of the box with no hoops. Still can't flash the bios without a custom win10 PE system or reinstalling Windows. Also the stream laptops if you can tolerate the ultra horrible lcd's they use on them and the fact that they have Broadcom wifi (which works with wl driver).

While Lenovo might not be friendly with linux, their laptops have been for the most part. Stick to the TXX or TXXX series, and while Lenovo doesn't give any official support, they're EXTREMELY linux compatible. My Yoga 700 11.6" was also great with linux. Hated the size of the keyboard, because it's a 85% keyboard, I fat fingered keys CONSTANTLY on that thing. My wife liked the fact that it converted into a tablet, so she still has it though (and still running linux on it).

Yeah, for like 10 years, I bought a "new" laptop every 2-3 months, used it for 3-4 months, and sold it. So I've used literally hundreds of laptops in the last 15 years. Sadly can't afford to do that anymore.

Last edited by tlmiller76 (2017-11-18 01:59)

crosscourt · 2017-11-18 02:07

Lenovo laptops do have a good online record of Linux compatibility till a problem outside the normal realm crops up, then youre screwed. Ive had few issues with HP and Linux but UEFI in generally is still an issue with many laptops. Most of my Dell systems right now are Intel based and the recent trend it appears is in that direction. Ive had that discussion with Dell more than once and Im not the only one. Im not a laptop guy as I spend most of time with desktops, high end gpus and tweaking systems. My background is mainly with graphics cards/driver support and game testing.

It wasnt till I started doing support work that I began to work with laptops, mostly Compaq/Acer/HP and Dell. My worst experiences though with laptops were with Lenovo and their lack of help in solving support issues.
Generally I hate laptops because you cant change it much or upgrade and its generally too limited except for average tasks. Desktops allow me to do whatever I like and upgrade to my hearts content. I even prefer my Dell USFF 7010s over a laptop but everyones needs are different and I game and test a lot.

Last edited by crosscourt (2017-11-18 02:12)

tlmiller76 · 2017-11-18 02:10

Yeah, I'm a laptop guy. Spent 12 years driving for a living, working wherever I could find a place to set down for 30 minutes in one of my stores, so I'm a laptop lover, and while I still have a desktop, I only have one, and will never have more than 1. Need to be able to grab my system and run out the door and run across state and then jump back on and work while working on things.

At one point I was licensed to do repairs on just about every Dell, HP, and IBM (pre-Lenovo) laptop there was. Nowadays however, I think about replacing a motherboard and I just want to put a gun to my head!!

Q4OS Forum

#1 2017-11-16 23:20

[SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#2 2017-11-17 00:05

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#3 2017-11-17 00:18

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#4 2017-11-17 00:20

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#5 2017-11-17 00:21

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#6 2017-11-17 00:24

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#7 2017-11-17 00:28

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#8 2017-11-17 00:33

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#9 2017-11-17 00:41

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#10 2017-11-17 00:43

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#11 2017-11-17 00:53

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#12 2017-11-17 00:54

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#13 2017-11-17 01:08

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#14 2017-11-17 01:12

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#15 2017-11-17 01:36

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#16 2017-11-17 07:15

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#17 2017-11-17 13:39

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#18 2017-11-17 21:12

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#19 2017-11-17 21:18

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#20 2017-11-17 21:24

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#21 2017-11-17 22:52

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#22 2017-11-17 23:13

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#23 2017-11-18 01:57

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#24 2017-11-18 02:07

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

#25 2017-11-18 02:10

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot image T430

Board footer