Live CD for 8.5 RC2 won't Load

[dr_korb]

I have tried it on both my Dell XPS 1530 and XPS 1730. Get partway through boot process, get login prompt, put in root password, login goes away, black screen comes up with cursor in the middle of the screen and there she stops. Press power button and shut down/logoff/restart dialog box comes up, so I know at least some of the processes are loading. Both systems are Intel dual-core, sigmatel audio, intel chipset, nvidia graphics.

No problem running 8.0 on either machine, with the exception of wireless difficulties, but those could probably be resolved with an install and some tweaking.

Same 8.5 RC2 disc did boot my old Dell D500, though, and wireless network worked fine, with WPA2. So fairly certain the disc is good.

Any thoughts?

[pcallahan80]

Since you get to the login screen, it sounds like you are having trouble with the Nvidia driver.

Have you tried selecting the VESA option at the GRUB menu? EDIT: At least then you can get to MEPIS XWindows Assistant and try the Nvidia drivers there...

EDIT: Sorry...this next step only applies after you have run the install...

Then install sgfxi script from here and run that...to get the latest driver.

-pc

[dr_korb]

Thanks for the info.......I did just that and did get into the desktop, but only at 800x600 resolution. The strange thing is that this seems to be a step backwards, as I didn't have this problem with 8.0. If I can get my hands on a spare hard drive, I may give it a go as an install, but was really hoping to see some improvement in the wireless in 8.5 before installing. Wireless in 8.5 still has the same issues as 8.0 with an intel 4965 mini pci-e. Detects card, but won't connect. That I can probably work with, though, as there seems to have been plenty of others with the same type of thing. Just a matter of getting the drivers squared away.

[joany]

You can install the NVidia driver while running the Live CD in aufs mode if you have enough RAM. Just be sure not to reboot, because that will wipe out everything. I'm using the Live CD to test the KDE 4.3 destkop effects, because Open GL isn't supported in a virtual machine. The Live CD gives me the proper screen resolution and all the 3D effects work 100%, except everything runs a little slower than in a real installation.

[lucky9]

If you will hit the F3 key at the GRUB boot screen you can choose the correct resolution.
Some people have had good results with their wireless after activating the KWallet software.