Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

I have a t42 with a dual boot of Linux Mint Elyssa/XP. For some reason Mint is not loading. When I start my computer, it goes to the screen where you pick which OS you want to run (is this called "grub"?). I choose Mint, enter my login info, then all I get is a black screen with the mouse cursor in the middle. After a few seconds, what I'm guessing is a dialgoue box tries to appear. It's a blank white box in the upper left of the screen. That's as far as I get.


I wouldn't be averse to just doing a reinstall of Linux - and I did try to do that. I used 'unetbootin' to install from a usb stick (my cd drive is dead). I changed the boot order in the bios so that the usb stick goes first, but all I get is a blank screen with cursor in the upper left.

Any ideas?

If grub shows up why don't you first try changing your VGA settings. Just edit the start line by asking your card for the valid display mode list. (add to the command line. If it doesn't do the job then why don't you run LM in recovery mode?
There's still lot to do before you actually reinstall. Anyway, reinstalling might not help (it's not Windows ) as it's probably your display mode that doesn't get recognized correctly.
I'm running dual XP/LM on T61p and it works like a charm though I did some adjusting to it before I got dual boot working and the hidden partition remain intact with the Blue key working

flipteo wrote:...but all I get is a blank screen with cursor in the upper left.

I haven't tried Mint, but that sounds like a classic ATI driver problem. I've seen that screen myself on my T42. Try using the xorg driver instead of the ATI propriatary driver. Sorry that I don't know how to change it in Mint.

The ATI propriatary driver can work, but all your eggs must be in a row.

Thanks for the help guys, but I ended up doing a reinstall. I found a great deal on a cd drive, so I just went that route.

I haven't tried Mint, but that sounds like a classic ATI driver problem. I've seen that screen myself on my T42. Try using the xorg driver instead of the ATI propriatary driver. Sorry that I don't know how to change it in Mint.

I've forgotten all the stuff I learned when I first started using Linux on this machine, but I think the xorg driver is on the only one that works with my video card (radeon 7500).

You're probably correct. I have a T42 with the 9600 and I have used the propriatary driver with that one, but I don't know about the 7500.