Re: Laptop: system hangs

[Jonathan Oxer <jon@ivt.com.au>]

Hi Matthias,

> I tried to install woody on my laptop, but it doesn't work. It's the 
> first time with Debian for me. I don't know much about that laptop[1].
> 
> What happens after booting from CD:
> 
> boot: [ENTER]
...
> - What else can i try0?
> - Why doesn't it work?
> - Where can i find more Information on that problem?

Laptops can sometimes be a problem just because of their all-in-one
nature, and no-name brand ones even more so because you may not even be
able to find out what chipsets they use.

Does the machine currently boot Windows?

If so, you may be able to use the System control panel to determine
things like the video/ethernet/audio etc chipsets, which would be useful
information for debugging this sort of thing.

Alternatively, you could try booting off a Knoppix CD to see what it
autodetects.

Also, have you tried the 2.4 kernel option in the installer? Do 'boot:
bf24' to use the 2.4 kernel, which may work around some of your issues.
I've stepped through that process at

http://www.debianuniverse.com/readonline/chapter/03

Cheers  :-)

Jonathan