backtrack and alienware m7700

[steve_baker]

hi all,

i just registered so i am stuck here for now. this probably belongs in the live cd support section though.

i am trying to get backtrack running on my laptop, first as a live cd, then as an install. the laptop is an alienware m7700 and i am running into all kinds of problems.

when i boot to the 2.0 live cd with no parameters i get a black screen. adding acpi=off gets me past that. i would like to know more about the side effects of turning off acpi if anyone knows of a good link. once i got past that i get to the login prompt and realize that my laptop keyboard isn't working. i plugged in a usb keyboard and it was immediately detected (and is what i am typing on now) but i really dont want to have to do that each time

so i log in and startx and my machine immediately shuts down. after booting back up and logging back in i xconf and have gotten into a 640 X 480 display with no additional modes available.

my laptop is setup with a raid-0 that i am not able to mount. i saw a bunch of errors fly by during boot and haven't looked into it yet.

i could use some help with the keyboard problem first. i can most likely configure x without too much hassle. after that i will tackle my HD.

i know these are basic linux issues and not BT ones. if you want me to move this to another forum just let me know. as a side note pretty much everything on the laptop works with fedora 7 or knoppix 5.1, but backtrack is my first slax based distro.

i am off to google about my keyboard. if i can post any additional info to get better help just let me know what you are looking for. i dont want to dump an entire dmesg output here if i can filter it first

i have found this link to be a good list of the hardware i am dealing with (sorry about the stripped http, i haven't posted enough here yet :P):

gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Clevo_D900K

thanks,

steve

[imported_mike27]

I'm actually having the same keyboard issue. I've been using a USB keyboard as well, but I'd really like to fix it. I also have a Clevo D900K, but it's a Sager 9750. If anyone needs any more information about my system that could help solve this, please let me know. I would really appreciate the help with it. Thanks

[steve_baker]

It may be helpful to rename this entire thread to "BackTrack 2 Final on a Clevo D900K laptop". I dont think i have rights to do so...

looking at dmesg output i found this:

Freeing unused kernel memory: 296k freed
irq 1: nobody cared (try booting with the "irqpoll" option)
[<c0135ea4>] __report_bad_irq+0x24/0x90
[<c0135fc3>] note_interrupt+0x83/0xb0
[<c01356e0>] handle_IRQ_event+0x30/0x70
[<c013652b>] handle_level_irq+0x9b/0xc0
[<c010448e>] do_IRQ+0x3e/0x80
[<c0103193>] common_interrupt+0x23/0x30
=======================
handlers:
[<c04bef10>] (i8042_interrupt+0x0/0x260)
Disabling IRQ #1

so i added irqpoll to the boot prompt and the keyboard works

i disabled the raid 0 and reimaged my machine. i now have a tri boot system:

windows xp (for day job)
ubuntu (cause i am still a linux n00b and it just works)
backtrack (the OS i really want to run all the time)

i still cannot get the boot parameters to work automatically. i have the same setup as from the howto here:

forums.remote-exploit.org/showthread.php?t=7863

i installed backtrack to /dev/sda4 and have edited /etc/lilo.conf on that partition by adding:

append "acpi=off irqpoll"

but it doesn't pick it up, i still get a black screen if i dont type the parameters in each time.

once i get everything tweaked i'll update the laptop compatibility page on the wiki, i still have some xorg.conf tweaks to try and want to figure out why the boot params aren't being picked up from lilo.conf.

[balding_parrot]

i installed backtrack to /dev/sda4 and have edited /etc/lilo.conf on that partition by adding:

append "acpi=off irqpoll"

but it doesn't pick it up, i still get a black screen if i dont type the parameters in each time.

change that to

append="acpi=off irqpoll"

I had a nightmare helping someone else with a similar problem, and eventually we discovered that it had to have the = with no spaces before or after it.

Unless it was a live install when you can use

append acpi=off irqpoll

Strange... I know, but it was the only way we managed to get it working on a full install

[steve_baker]

thanks, that worked

[anathema]

Sorry to be a pain and bring this subject back up but can someone please give a real newbies guide

I've typed the acpi=off at the boot prompt but I just get the message "could not find kernal image acpi=off

I've tried the same thing with append at the beginning and I get the same message just with append instead of acpi=off

Also jusing a D900k.

I would love a step by step giude or just a link to a place with a guide.

PS I've used backtrack before on my other dell laptop so I know the disc burn is ok. (its a live CD)

thanks in advance

[anathema]

Its ok I finally managed it

I typed
bt acpi=off

I was missing the bt for the kernal name.