Updating my BIOS

If you want to install a GNU/Linux distribution on your computer, we can help, no matter what the flavor.  You do not have to install Debian.  You have thousands of other choices, most of which will probably suite you needs.  Even if I do not have the exact same flavor, I can still download and install it on a virtual machine and give you tips on how to do so. 

If you want Debian, that's fine.  If you want Ubuntu, which is a derivative of Debian, then that is fine to.  I can also help with a Fedora or Red Hat version.

Of course. I suggested Debian because he didn't seem to know what he wanted, and because I'm familiar with it to a far greater extent than anything else.

Taters, if you aren't going to note down the error messages the installer gives you, you can't expect us to be able to help you. Also, jroa's advice regarding the MD5 sum and burning the CD slowly is good advice.

Quote from: jroa on November 05, 2011, 07:11:51 AM

If you want to install a GNU/Linux distribution on your computer, we can help, no matter what the flavor.  You do not have to install Debian.  You have thousands of other choices, most of which will probably suite you needs.  Even if I do not have the exact same flavor, I can still download and install it on a virtual machine and give you tips on how to do so. 

If you want Debian, that's fine.  If you want Ubuntu, which is a derivative of Debian, then that is fine to.  I can also help with a Fedora or Red Hat version.

Of course. I suggested Debian because he didn't seem to know what he wanted, and because I'm familiar with it to a far greater extent than anything else.

Taters, if you aren't going to note down the error messages the installer gives you, you can't expect us to be able to help you. Also, jroa's advice regarding the MD5 sum and burning the CD slowly is good advice.

Sorry, I know, I was in a hurry to do something, though. Also I'm not using CD's, would you recommend using cd's instead?

Sorry, I know, I was in a hurry to do something, though. Also I'm not using CD's, would you recommend using cd's instead?

Not necessarily, it's just the most common way of doing it. What are you using?

Flash drive.

Flash drive.

Okay. You should still be checking the MD5 sum of the image.

Alright. I'll do that, and I'll get down the error message.

Ok, so III think that I successfully installed debian. Right now I'm posting from my phone while looking at a screen that just had me enter my username and password and is now displaying

taters@Taters-Debian:~$

I've used debian before and don't remember this. I feel like it wants me type something. I tried help, but didn't see anything relevant. Wat do?

Ok, so III think that I successfully installed debian. Right now I'm posting from my phone while looking at a screen that just had me enter my username and password and is now displaying

Quote

taters@Taters-Debian:~$

I've used debian before and don't remember this. I feel like it wants me type something. I tried help, but didn't see anything relevant. Wat do?

Did you download a command line version?  Most people use a graphical version, which would show a desktop after you log in, sort of like Windows.  Can you tell us the name of the .iso you used?  Also, did you check the checksum before you burned it?  How did you install it?  Did you make a new partition(s) or did you use something like wubi to install it in Windows?  I think maybe the install did not work for you, but I would need more information to tell you why.

Ok, so III think that I successfully installed debian. Right now I'm posting from my phone while looking at a screen that just had me enter my username and password and is now displaying

Quote

taters@Taters-Debian:~$

I've used debian before and don't remember this. I feel like it wants me type something. I tried help, but didn't see anything relevant. Wat do?

As jroa mentioned, it looks like you've installed a version without a desktop environment. Type:

sudo tasksel install gnome-desktop

to install a GNOME desktop. Alternatively, you can install xfce-desktop, lxde-desktop or kde-desktop to get an Xfce, LXDE or KDE desktop, respectively.

After you've done that, you can use one of the following commands to bring up a graphical login prompt:

sudo service gdm3 start (if you installed GNOME)
sudo service xdm start (if you installed Xfce or LXDE)
sudo service kdm start (if you installed KDE)

Or just reboot; it should come up automatically.

Then simply log in as normal. To get back to your command line if something goes wrong, use Ctrl+Alt+F1.

Parsifal, I am not very good with the command line.  How would he establish an internet connection in the command line so that he can install a desk top?

Parsifal, I am not very good with the command line.  How would he establish an internet connection in the command line so that he can install a desk top?

D'oh, didn't think of that! >.< I'm used to having my network interfaces come up automatically on boot.

How he would do that depends on his local network configuration, but assuming he's using a wired ethernet connection with DHCP, this should work (as root -- type sudo -i to get a root shell):

cat >>/etc/network/interfaces <<EOF
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
EOF
ifup eth0

Of course, this may have been auto-configured during the installation -- it's been too long since I've done a fresh install for me to remember if it will do this automatically.

For some reason it wouldn't give me the option to use a wired connection when I was setting it up, and I couldn't figure out how to do the wireless one. I just figured I'd be able to do it easily once I installed it, but I guess it needed the internet connection in order to get a desktop. :/

For some reason it wouldn't give me the option to use a wired connection when I was setting it up, and I couldn't figure out how to do the wireless one. I just figured I'd be able to do it easily once I installed it, but I guess it needed the internet connection in order to get a desktop. :/

What does this command output?

/sbin/ifconfig | awk '/^[a-z]/ {print $1}'

It should not have needed a connection in order to install the desktop.  You are in the command line, so either the distro you are using has no desktop, or there is a problem with the install and the desktop environment will not load.

My suggestion is to download another version of GNU/Linux, like Ubuntu or Linux Mint.  These are both very popular versions that are based on Debian, but have more consumer orientated installers. 

Also, the checksum suggestion is very important.  There are many MD5 checksum programs out there and the ones I have used are basically the same.  Just find the checksum for the version you are using; it is usually easily found on the same page as the download.  Then, run the checksum program, copy and paste the checksum info from the download page, point the program in the direction of the iso file, and let it compare them.  It will tell you if the image is good or not, before you spend the effort to burn it. 

Nero MD5 Verifier is the latest one that I have used.  It worked fine for Ubuntu Studio 11.04.

http://www.nero.com/enu/tools-utilities.html

Ok, after a lot of fans got destroyed by shit, I finally have a working Ubuntu installation. That only took 3 hours. Now what?

I'm transferring files to the new external and so far it seems to be working completely fine. No freezing or stuttering yet. I'll keep doing transfers and post here about how it goes.

Still good. Worst problem I have was an error saying it couldn't copy a file. All I had to do was hit cancel and try again and it worked. No freezing whatsoever. Just wish I could get a higher screen resolution to work, the things I've found online haven't worked, even though I recall getting them to work in the past. I'll just have to look harder.

So I tried to boot up windows when I was done transferring all the files and it wouldn't work, but since I use my laptop for gaming, and Skyrim comes out in a few days, I needed to get Windows back. I tried installing it 3 times and fucked up various shit every time until I finally got it to work on my fourth try. Windows likes to overwrite GRUB, so I couldn't boot Ubuntu anymore, but turns out it doesn't matter because now my new hard drive is working totally fine in Windows. Huzzah! And I was able to back everything up using Ubuntu before attempting to reinstall Windows.

Do you want to keep a dual boot system, or just wipe Ubuntu after you move your files?  Either way, you will need to boot to the live CD.  When the live CD has booted and you see an Ubuntu desktop, you can then transfer your files from the Ubuntu partition to the Windows partition using your file manager.  After you are satisfied that all of the files are on the Windows partition, you can then either remove the Ubuntu partition using gparted, or you can reinstall grub onto the MBR.  If you want to reinstall grub2, run the following command in a terminal while the live CD is booted:

fdisk -l
The last letter is a lower case L.  Post the result so we can make sure that we use the right partition and I can tell you how to reinstall it.

I already moved the files, and when I was done I tried to boot back into Windows and it was broken. I booted into Ubuntu, mounted the Windows partition, and backed up my important files. Then I reinstalled Windows, but somehow my internal hard drive configured itself for RAID. I set it to AHCI after trying to install Windows twice without realizing the problem, and for some reason a bunch of drivers wouldn't work and I kept blue screening. I then set the hard drive to ATA and tried again, it gave me a little trouble with drivers at first, but at the moment it seems to be running perfectly.

I'd like to have a dual boot, but I'm waiting until after I've played Skyrim to do anything with this computer again because when I tried installing Ubuntu again after fixing Windows it gave me the same error as before. It said something about not being able to format the drive mounted at some location. I'll write it down next time so I can tell you what it actually said. This time I used a cd to install it, after redownloading the iso file, and burned it at 10x, the lowest available speed.

Your Windows partition was probably fine before you reinstalled it.  But, it does now sound like you need to repair or reinstall.  We can handle that after you get the RAID situation straightened out.  Is RAID set in your CMOS/BIOS, or do you have another means of setting up RAID?

I have the RAID situation sorted out. I have Windows working perfectly.

Great.  What do you want to do with Linux?  Do you still want to try to save it?

I want to set up a dual boot, but not for the next few weeks.

Ok.  In the mean time, if you don't have to, don't mess with the Linux partition.  We should easily be able to recover it.

I deleted it already.

If you ever want to dual boot again, let me know.

Alright. I don't know why I'm having so much trouble. I've done this multiple times.