[DC LoCo] Helped needed for Linux newcomer in Derwood, Maryland

[Greg Reagle]

On 01/25/2012 07:07 PM, Phil Shapiro wrote:
> One of my smart co-workers in the City of Takoma Park told me he's 
> tired of Vista on his home desktop and doesn't want to upgrade to 
> Windows 7. "I'm ready to try Linux," he told me.  I gave him an 
> Ubuntu 11.10 CD disk (and a Linux Mint install CD), but he has had 
> trouble installing each of them. He is getting an "out of range" 
> error on his monitor.  He has a 20-inch LCD monitor, as I recall.
> 
> Is there anyone here on the list who lives near Derwood who could 
> stop by his house to get him on board as a new FOSS convert? (Or 
> anyone who has ideas on how to deal with this error message?)
> 
> This person, Alvaro, is in charge of the city's cable television 
> channel, so I'm hoping to get him involved with OpenShot video editor
> at some time, too. His technical skills with computers is already
> quite strong. I'd love to have him join the Linux camp.

> (Or anyone who has ideas on how to deal with this error message?)

Here are some troubleshooting paths that might work.

A. Try a different monitor (temporarily).  If it works, reduce the resolution to a minimum, then plug the original monitor back in.

B. Hit Ctrl-Alt-F1.  Does the console display properly?  Hit Ctrl-Alt-F7 or -F8 to get back to X.

C. Try a different monitor permanently.

D. How soon does he see "out of range"?  I assume that the BIOS messages are displayed okay.

E. Try a different live CD, like SystemRescueCD or Knoppix.

-- 
Greg Reagle
System Administrator
Center for Economic and Policy Research 
reagle at cepr.net
http://www.cepr.net/