[ubuntu-uk] Two questions: 64bit live USB problem and dual boot with recovery partition

[Neil Greenwood]

On 16.08.11 13:03, James Morrissey wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I have just received my new laptop. Its a Thinkpad x121e, with Intel (Core i3).
> 
> I am trying to put ubuntu on it, but i am having some problems with
> the 64 bit live USB.
> 
> When i run the USB i get i get a GRUB-looking screen, with options to:
> 1. Try Ubuntu without installing
> 2. Install Ubuntu
> 3. Check the disk

That means it's booted OK as far as GRUB.

> Wanting to repartition my HDD (using GParted) so that i can dual boot,
> i 'Try Ubuntu without Installing', at which point the screen goes
> blank and nothing happens. I am then forced into a hard reboot. I get
> the exact same result when i 'Check the disk'.

That sounds like a video driver issue. I think when the menu is
displayed it mentions pressing different F-keys across the bottom of the
screen. IIRC, one offers a failsafe video option. Use that and see if
you get further. The other thing to try is to edit the boot entry and
remove the 'quiet' option at the end - this will hopefully display a
more-helpful error message than a blank screen! Let us know if you need
help with how to do that...

> To check the USB, i tried it on my old laptop (32bit, Celeron M). When
> i did so i got a purple screen with an image of what looks like a
> keyboard and a man, and then a message telling me to try a kernel
> which matches with my machined architecture.

That's expected behaviour when booting a 64-bit live 'disk' on 32-bit
hardware. The purple screen probably briefly appears for the 64-bit
laptop too.

> I then tried a live USB with 32 bit ubuntu and the live USB works fine
> - i am sending this email from this live instance. The same can be
> said for a 32 bit Mint live usb.

On your new hardware?

If you don't have more than 4Gb of RAM on the new laptop, you won't get
much (any?) benefit running the 64-bit version. Even if you have more
than 4Gb of RAM, the installer will install a special "PAE" kernel that
will use the extra RAM - each process will be limited however. Other
than that, the 32-bit version will do what most people need, even on
64-bit hardware.

> So i am not sure what is going on. If anyone could tell me why the
> 64bit install is not working, it would be great as i'd like to get it
> up and running. The only thing i could think of was that i have
> downloaded the amd64.iso, and this is an intel machine, but all the
> sites on the web suggest that this shouldn't make a difference (if it
> does, where might i get an 64 bit version for intel). In addition i am
> not sure why, if this was the problem, my old celeron laptop brings up
> the error message while the new machine just hangs.

amd64 is the correct image. The reason for the name is that there was an
earlier, non-compatible, Intel 64-bit architecture, codenamed Itanium.
This is only used for servers.

amd64 will work on 64-bit AMD, Intel and other desktop processors.

> One more question i have is about dual booting and maintaining my
> recovery partition (something i have not had to do before). From
> GParted i see that the recovery partition is located at the end of the
> hard drive. I am wondering two things:
> 1. If i resize the windows partition will the recovery partition move
> next to it?

Not by default, no.

> 2. If not would i do well to install ubuntu between the windows and
> recovery partition, and how do i do this since the 'install into
> largest continuous space' option seems to have been replaced by the
> 'install alongside windows' option in the installer. Will the
> alongside option put the install in the right place?

I don't know.

However, if you select the Advanced or Manual partitioning option, you
can make the changes you want and then select the partition into which
Ubuntu will be installed.

> As always, any and all help is very much appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> James.
> 


Cofion/Regards,
Neil.