Inspiron 3531 : no desktop

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop SLED Install-Boot
1

Hello,
I have tried to install SLED 12 SP 1 on a Dell Inspiron 3531 but without success because, even if the installer was displayed correctly, the desktop never appeared at first boot.

I tried to google it without finding a how-to. I will try again next week so perhaps someone here could have any tip to make it a success ?

I currently have Linux Mint 18 Mate running on the laptop but for professional reasons I would like to switch to SLED.

Thanks for any advice

2

Hi and welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

Your system has just the intel graphics? In mint, run and post the
output from;

/sbin/lspci -nnk |grep -A3 VGA

So you had issues with the installer? Did you check the iso image
md5/sha256 sum?

How are you installing via USB device, DVD?

Legacy boot or UEFI (secure or non-secure)?

If you press the esc key after grub, does it stop somewhere in the
boot process?

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° LFCS, SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
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3

Hello Malcom,
Thanks a lot for your reply and your interest to my issue.

Here is the output of the /sbin/lspci -nnk |grep -A3 VGA

lspci -nnk |grep -A3 VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display [8086:0f31] (rev 0e)
	Subsystem: Dell Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display [1028:0667]
	Kernel driver in use: i915
	Kernel modules: i915

[quote]So you had issues with the installer? Did you check the iso image
md5/sha256 sum?[/quote]
Yes, I did and it was fine.

I did install using an USB device

I can only use the legacy boot on that laptop

[quote]If you press the esc key after grub, does it stop somewhere in the
boot process?[/quote]
Not at all : when I pressed the Esc key, I only got a black (blank) screen. It was as if the system itself cut the screen after the GRUB welcome message and while starting itself.

Perhaps should I buy any support option previously trying to install (I initially thought it will only be good when the system is running).

Thanks again

4

Hi
Whn the system comes up to grub, press the e key to edit the menu and
add nomodeset and press F10 to boot, lets see if can just use the vesa
driver to see if it get further.

How old is this system? I do wonder if a later kernel may help (eg SLED
12 SP2).

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° LFCS, SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
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5

[QUOTE=malcolmlewis;34880]Hi
Whn the system comes up to grub, press the e key to edit the menu and
add nomodeset and press F10 to boot, lets see if can just use the vesa
driver to see if it get further.

How old is this system? I do wonder if a later kernel may help (eg SLED
12 SP2).[/QUOTE]

Hello,
Thanks for the tip : I will try it on Wednesday and will report.

The system is about two years old.

And about the SP 2, I don’t recall that option available in my panel at SUSE.

Thanks again

6

Hi
SLE 12 SP2 is in beta testing, (well almost finished), it should be out
in a month or so I would expect.

Also confirm the actual CPU as well;

lscpu

Maybe check for BIOS updates as well.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° LFCS, SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
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7

Here it is :slight_smile:

lscpu Architecture: x86_64 Mode(s) opératoire(s) des processeurs*:32-bit, 64-bit Byte Order: Little Endian CPU(s): 2 On-line CPU(s) list: 0,1 Thread(s) par cœur*: 1 Cœur(s) par socket*: 2 Socket(s): 1 Nœud(s) NUMA*: 1 Identifiant constructeur*:GenuineIntel Famille de processeur*:6 Modèle*: 55 Model name: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU N2830 @ 2.16GHz Révision*: 8 Vitesse du processeur en MHz*:1577.734 CPU max MHz: 2415,7000 CPU min MHz: 499,8000 BogoMIPS: 4326.40 Virtualisation*: VT-x Cache L1d*: 24K Cache L1i*: 32K Cache L2*: 1024K NUMA node0 CPU(s): 0,1 Flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer rdrand lahf_lm 3dnowprefetch epb tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid tsc_adjust smep erms dtherm ida arat

The Bios seems to be the latest. I can’t wait to try the installation again :slight_smile: