[ubuntu-uk] Another example of how the manufacturers conspire to ensure that if you don't use Windows you're screwed

[Colin Law]

On 4 February 2013 16:38, Rowan Berkeley <rowan.berkeley at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 04/02/13 15:59, Colin Law wrote:
>>
>> On 4 February 2013 15:48, Rowan Berkeley <rowan.berkeley at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Now it has Ubuntu installed, it simply won't boot from
>>> the USB stick, no matter how much I juggle the boot order around. Don't
>>> ask
>>> me why, it just won't.
>>
>>
>> What you have installed on the disk will not affect whether it will
>> boot from USB, it should boot before it even looks at what is on the
>> disk.  Possibly the stick is messed up.  Try putting the iso on a DVD
>> and boot off that, or put the image on a different stick.  It took me
>> a little time to work out why wireless did not work on my new laptop
>> until I realised that I had to switch it on with a function key.  Are
>> you sure it was not something like that for you, but now you have
>> messed up the drivers so that it now shows unclaimed rather than
>> disabled, which is what it would show if it just needed switching on?
>> You need to boot the live image to find out.  You may just be wasting
>> your time otherwise.
>>
>> Colin
>
>
> That was quite interesting. I looked at the boot order settings on the
> Compaq again, and the resident OS on the hard disk appeared to be ahead of
> the USB stick, so I changed that. I only have one USB stick, but I
> reinstalled Ubuntu 12.10 on it, using the Lenovo, and plugged it into the
> Compaq. I was able to bring up a "try Ubuntu without installing" condition
> on the Compaq. I know it was the genuine article because all the GUI
> settings, eg launchers, background, etc, were default, as is usual during
> new installation. My own personal GUI settings are quite different. So,
> inside this "try Ubuntu without installing" condition, I checked the Network
> Controller using the sudo lshw -C network instruction, which I now know by
> heart. And it was still unclaimed.
>
> There are no hardware switches for the wireless network known to me, though
> there is a hardware switch for Bluetooth (the f12 button).

OK, that sounds like a dead end.  Sorry for sending you off down a
dead end.  Still, at least you can boot off usb again, and have
confirmed that the wireless does not work out of the box.

Colin