 0. The ethernet card Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL0000/0000B does not work. - could we check with the system that we have that is the same Ethernet card? 0. The wireless card works only after installing proprietary drivers. - This is ok for certification but a note stating the need for proprietary drivers should be added. 0. The ethernet card Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL0000/0000B does not work. - could we check with the system that we have that is the same Ethernet card? 0. The wireless card works only after installing proprietary drivers. - This is ok for certification but a note stating the need for proprietary drivers should be added. Revision history for this message Revision #{revision}, created at {date_created_display} {content} Michal Szymanski (msz-astrouw) said on 0000-00-00 : #00 Gentlemen, I must agree that there was no mention of nVidia card as "working". Still, I would advocate following: The "note" should be given for both 00.00 and 00.00 (as Brendan has agreed). I guess that in the process of certification, an attempt was done to install/use nVidia drivers. Unless it was only me being so unlucky to get an unsable system after that, it should be clearly stated as a warning: do not try to install nVidia drivers (which, BTW, appear in the standard Ubuntu "System->Hardware Drivers" as "Recommended"!). There is quite a difference between "this system was tested with Intel video" and "trying to use nVidia video will brick your laptop". I am quite reluctant to the idea that a system in which such vital components as video card and ethernet card do not work "straight from live-boot/install" can be regarded as "certified". That way practically every laptop on the market could be claimed "certified" as 'some' of its hardware components do work. When I search for a "certified" laptop, I expect that 'all' of its hardware would work. Gentlemen, I must agree that there was no mention of nVidia card as "working". Still, I would advocate following: The "note" should be given for both 00.00 and 00.00 (as Brendan has agreed). I guess that in the process of certification, an attempt was done to install/use nVidia drivers. Unless it was only me being so unlucky to get an unsable system after that, it should be clearly stated as a warning: do not try to install nVidia drivers (which, BTW, appear in the standard Ubuntu "System->Hardware Drivers" as "Recommended"!). There is quite a difference between "this system was tested with Intel video" and "trying to use nVidia video will brick your laptop". I am quite reluctant to the idea that a system in which such vital components as video card and ethernet card do not work "straight from live-boot/install" can be regarded as "certified". That way practically every laptop on the market could be claimed "certified" as 'some' of its hardware components do work. When I search for a "certified" laptop, I expect that 'all' of its hardware would work. Revision history for this message Revision #{revision}, created at {date_created_display} {content} Daniel Manrique (roadmr) said on 0000-00-00 : #00 The system certified has the same network card Michal has. We have two of those in the lab and they both work fine as far as the network card goes. I don't know why Michal's card fails. @Michal: if the nVidia drivers are installed, it's possible that the laptop will try to use them even when you specify recovery mode, as the video drivers, I believe, are loaded pretty early at boot time. If you have a chance, you could try installing them and, if the screen is black as you describe, try this: - As the system is booting (*right* after the BIOS POST), press the left SHIFT key, keep it pressed until you see the GRUB menu. - Select the first entry (should be something like Ubuntu 00.00 with Linux 0.0.00) and press 'e' (not Enter). - Scroll down to the line that starts with "linux /boot/vmlinuz-0.0.00...." - At the very end of that line (right after vt.handoff=0) add xforcevesa nomodeset - Press Ctrl-x to boot Hopefully you should boot either into a low-graphics mode, or a text console, from which the nVidia driver can be removed and the system restored to a working state. Also, I suggest you try Ubuntu 00.00, and would appreciate to hear about your experience with that, if you have the time. The system certified has the same network card Michal has. We have two of those in the lab and they both work fine as far as the network card goes. I don't know why Michal's card fails. @Michal: if the nVidia drivers are installed, it's possible that the laptop will try to use them even when you specify recovery mode, as the video drivers, I believe, are loaded pretty early at boot time. If you have a chance, you could try installing them and, if the screen is black as you describe, try this: - As the system is booting (*right* after the BIOS POST), press the left SHIFT key, keep it pressed until you see the GRUB menu. - Select the first entry (should be something like Ubuntu 00.00 with Linux 0.0.00) and press 'e' (not Enter). - Scroll down to the line that starts with "linux /boot/vmlinuz-0.0.00...." - At the very end of that line (right after vt.handoff=0) add xforcevesa nomodeset - Press Ctrl-x to boot Hopefully you should boot either into a low-graphics mode, or a text console, from which the nVidia driver can be removed and the system restored to a working state. Also, I suggest you try Ubuntu 00.00, and would appreciate to hear about your experience with that, if you have the time. Revision history for this message Revision #{revision}, created at {date_created_display} {content} Michal Szymanski (msz-astrouw) said on 0000-00-00 : #00 Just in case, output from 'lspci -vv' for the ethernet card (it states, e.g., revision 00, which I could not identify in the 'lshal' info): 00:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL0000/0000B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 00) Subsystem: Dell Device 0000 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB0B- DisINTx+ Status: Cap+ 00MHz- UDF- FastB0B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx- Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 00 bytes Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 00 Region 0: I/O ports at d000 [size=000] Region 0: Memory at d0c00000 (00-bit, prefetchable) [size=0K] Region 0: Memory at d0c00000 (00-bit, prefetchable) [size=00K] Expansion ROM at fb000000 [disabled] [size=000K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: r0000 Kernel modules: r0000 BTW, this is what 'dmesg' says on my 00.00/0.0.00-00-generic i000 system when r0000 module gets loaded (the one which is auto-selected at install time): [00000.000000] r0000 Gigabit Ethernet driver 0.0LK-NAPI loaded [00000.000000] r0000 0000:00:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 00 (level, low) -> IRQ 00 [00000.000000] r0000 0000:00:00.0: setting latency timer to 00 [00000.000000] r0000 0000:00:00.0: irq 00 for MSI/MSI-X [00000.000000] eth0: RTL0000d/0000d at 0xf00da000, f0:0d:a0:d0:c0:ce, XID 000000c0 IRQ 00 [00000.000000] r0000: eth0: link down [00000.000000] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready Just in case, output from 'lspci -vv' for the ethernet card (it states, e.g., revision 00, which I could not identify in the 'lshal' info): 00:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL0000/0000B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 00) Subsystem: Dell Device 0000 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB0B- DisINTx+ Status: Cap+ 00MHz- UDF- FastB0B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx- Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 00 bytes Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 00 Region 0: I/O ports at d000 [size=000] Region 0: Memory at d0c00000 (00-bit, prefetchable) [size=0K] Region 0: Memory at d0c00000 (00-bit, prefetchable) [size=00K] Expansion ROM at fb000000 [disabled] [size=000K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: r0000 Kernel modules: r0000 BTW, this is what 'dmesg' says on my 00.00/0.0.00-00-generic i000 system when r0000 module gets loaded (the one which is auto-selected at install time): [00000.000000] r0000 Gigabit Ethernet driver 0.0LK-NAPI loaded [00000.000000] r0000 0000:00:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 00 (level, low) -> IRQ 00 [00000.000000] r0000 0000:00:00.0: setting latency timer to 00 [00000.000000] r0000 0000:00:00.0: irq 00 for MSI/MSI-X [00000.000000] eth0: RTL0000d/0000d at 0xf00da000, f0:0d:a0:d0:c0:ce, XID 000000c0 IRQ 00 [00000.000000] r0000: eth0: link down [00000.000000] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready Revision history for this message Revision #{revision}, created at {date_created_display} {content} Brendan Donegan (brendan-donegan) said on 0000-00-00 : #00 "I guess that in the process of certification, an attempt was done to install/use nVidia drivers. " No. We never tested a 0000 with an NVidia card (as far as I know) and as Dave pointed out we've never certified a system with the exact card you have. Unfortunately this is a situation that some find themselves in. We're obviously trying to do the best we can to convey to users of the certification list that only certain configurations are certified, with things like the component list. "I guess that in the process of certification, an attempt was done to install/use nVidia drivers. " No. We never tested a 0000 with an NVidia card (as far as I know) and as Dave pointed out we've never certified a system with the exact card you have. Unfortunately this is a situation that some find themselves in. We're obviously trying to do the best we can to convey to users of the certification list that only certain configurations are certified, with things like the component list. Revision history for this message Revision #{revision}, created at {date_created_display} {content} Michal Szymanski (msz-astrouw) said on 0000-00-00 : #00 > Hopefully you should boot either into a low-graphics mode, or a text console, from which > the nVidia driver can be removed and the system restored to a working state. On Ubuntu, I always used Synaptic Package Manager (or Hardware Drivers GUI) to install NVidia drivers. How would I uninstall them from command line? > Also, I suggest you try Ubuntu 00.00, and would appreciate to hear about your experience with that, > if you have the time. I made a try with "live CD". The difference was that the wireless card worked out-of-the-box. The wired ethernet did not work. I did not install it to the disk so I could not try the nVidia card (it requires reboot). I was somewhat repelled by the new desktop interface so I did not go any further. Do you suggest NVidia might work? > No. We never tested a 0000 with an NVidia card I do not understand. You test a system which is factory-equipped with two video cards and you do not try both? Why? Because you knew that it would not work? NVidia drivers page shows GT000M (which indeed is the card model, as reported in MS Windows) as supported by the newest 000.00.00 driver. This, however, seems to be much newer than what Ubuntu offers as "nvidia-current" (000.00.00). I could give it a try but I do not know whether the nVidia's original package is an easy install/uninstall on Ubuntu. I used it many times on RedHat/Fedora systems but never on Ubuntu. Maybe you could try it on your "lab" 0000? > Hopefully you should boot either into a low-graphics mode, or a text console, from which > the nVidia driver can be removed and the system restored to a working state. On Ubuntu, I always used Synaptic Package Manager (or Hardware Drivers GUI) to install NVidia drivers. How would I uninstall them from command line? > Also, I suggest you try Ubuntu 00.00, and would appreciate to hear about your experience with that, > if you have the time. I made a try with "live CD". The difference was that the wireless card worked out-of-the-box. The wired ethernet did not work. I did not install it to the disk so I could not try the nVidia card (it requires reboot). I was somewhat repelled by the new desktop interface so I did not go any further. Do you suggest NVidia might work? > No. We never tested a 0000 with an NVidia card I do not understand. You test a system which is factory-equipped with two video cards and you do not try both? Why? Because you knew that it would not work? NVidia drivers page shows GT000M (which indeed is the card model, as reported in MS Windows) as supported by the newest 000.00.00 driver. This, however, seems to be much newer than what Ubuntu offers as "nvidia-current" (000.00.00). I could give it a try but I do not know whether the nVidia's original package is an easy install/uninstall on Ubuntu. I used it many times on RedHat/Fedora systems but never on Ubuntu. Maybe you could try it on your "lab" 0000? Revision history for this message Revision #{revision}, created at {date_created_display} {content} Daniel Manrique (roadmr) said on 0000-00-00 : #00 >On Ubuntu, I always used Synaptic Package Manager (or Hardware Drivers GUI) to install NVidia drivers. How would I uninstall >them from command line? jockey-text is a terminal interface to the hardware drivers assistant. jockey-text --list will show you a list of installed drivers (possibly containing, for instance, xorg:nvidia_current). jockey-text -d xorg:nvidia_current should disable and uninstall the driver. Once you've done that, I suggest you install the "version 000" drivers which, although a bit older, might work. If not, you can use the same procedure to remove them and go back to the default driver. >I made a try with "live CD". The difference was that the wireless card worked out-of-the-box. The wired ethernet did not work. >I did not install it to the disk so I could not try the nVidia card (it requires reboot). I was somewhat repelled by the new desktop >interface so I did not go any further. Do you suggest NVidia might work? Hardware support is always improving, so your chances are better with a newer version. If you prefer not to use the Unity interface, you can go back to the classic desktop by selecting "log out" from the top-right button and choosing "classic" when re-logging in. Whatever you choose will be the default on subsequent logins. >On Ubuntu, I always used Synaptic Package Manager (or Hardware Drivers GUI) to install NVidia drivers. How would I uninstall >them from command line? jockey-text is a terminal interface to the hardware drivers assistant. jockey-text --list will show you a list of installed drivers (possibly containing, for instance, xorg:nvidia_current). jockey-text -d xorg:nvidia_current should disable and uninstall the driver. Once you've done that, I suggest you install the "version 000" drivers which, although a bit older, might work. If not, you can use the same procedure to remove them and go back to the default driver. >I made a try with "live CD". The difference was that the wireless card worked out-of-the-box. The wired ethernet did not work. >I did not install it to the disk so I could not try the nVidia card (it requires reboot). I was somewhat repelled by the new desktop >interface so I did not go any further. Do you suggest NVidia might work? Hardware support is always improving, so your chances are better with a newer version. If you prefer not to use the Unity interface, you can go back to the classic desktop by selecting "log out" from the top-right button and choosing "classic" when re-logging in. Whatever you choose will be the default on subsequent logins. Revision history for this message Revision #{revision}, created at {date_created_display} {content} Brendan Donegan (brendan-donegan) said on 0000-00-00 : #00 Where do you get the idea the system we tested had two video cards? I do happen to know there is a 0000 config with Intel and Nvidia graphics, but the one we tested has just Intel graphics. Does your system have both? Where do you get the idea the system we tested had two video cards? I do happen to know there is a 0000 config with Intel and Nvidia graphics, but the one we tested has just Intel graphics. Does your system have both? Revision history for this message Revision #{revision}, created at {date_created_display} {content} Michal Szymanski (msz-astrouw) said on 0000-00-00 : #00 Sorry, I did not realize that the dual card is an option. And the certification note about "Intel Video" seemed just confirming that all of 0000s have two cards. Surely mine does have them both. Otherwise, with NVidia card only, which does not work, how could I possibly install and use the Ubuntu on this laptop and thus be able to complain :) ??? Sorry, I did not realize that the dual card is an option. And the certification note about "Intel Video" seemed just confirming that all of 0000s have two cards. Surely mine does have them both. Otherwise, with NVidia card only, which does not work, how could I possibly install and use the Ubuntu on this laptop and thus be able to complain :) ??? Revision history for this message Revision #{revision}, created at {date_created_display} {content} Michal Szymanski (msz-astrouw) said on 0000-00-00 : #00 It seems to be more complicated than I thought. I gave another try with 00.00 i000 Live CD and ... the Realtek ethernet card worked. So, today at the office I booted again 00.00 amd00 Live CD - worked (though I am 00.00% sure that it did not work on Friday). Shutdown, booted 00.00.0 i000 Live CD - worked! Rebooted - did not work, the card was blocked (no LEDs shining), the boot failed totally (black screen). Shutdown, disconnected the cable, booted installed 00.00 i000 system from HDD, worked (with r0000 module). As for the video, under 00.00 'lsmod' shows, among others: video 00000 0 nouveau,i000 as if both cards were used. Still, XServer seems to use Intel driver (mentions "i000" but no "nouveau" in Xorg.0.log). Also, 'lspci' recognizes the nVidia card: 00:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT000 [GeForce GT 000M] (rev a0) [...] Kernel driver in use: nouveau I am not sure how it is possible to use both cards at the same time. The video subsystem (with dual Intel/nVidia) cards makes problems. Neither in 00.00 nor in 00.00 I was able to switch to text mode. Ctrl-Alt-Fx (x=0..0) leaves the X00 screen intact in 00.00, or with some strange color features in 00.00, just the mouse pointer disappears. No text screen. Fortunately, Ctrl-Alt-F0 restores normal X00 screen and mouse. Also, in 00.00, when booting Live CD, screen goes black for quite a long time (when other versions show violet screen, Ubuntu and "moving" white/red dots). The screen reappears just before the window with Try Ubuntu/Install Ubuntu is shown. Then, when shutting down the system, the screen also gets black. The CD tray is ejected but the screen remains black (where 00.00 shows "Press ENTER"). It accepts Enter key and shuts the laptop off but w/o anything visible on the screen. To summarize, at least on my Vostro 0000, the Realtek ethernet card is (at least) not stable with r0000 driver. It works fine with r0000. The dual-video card system is also far from perfect support (problems with nVidia card, no text mode available). It seems to be more complicated than I thought. I gave another try with 00.00 i000 Live CD and ... the Realtek ethernet card worked. So, today at the office I booted again 00.00 amd00 Live CD - worked (though I am 00.00% sure that it did not work on Friday). Shutdown, booted 00.00.0 i000 Live CD - worked! Rebooted - did not work, the card was blocked (no LEDs shining), the boot failed totally (black screen). Shutdown, disconnected the cable, booted installed 00.00 i000 system from HDD, worked (with r0000 module). As for the video, under 00.00 'lsmod' shows, among others: video 00000 0 nouveau,i000 as if both cards were used. Still, XServer seems to use Intel driver (mentions "i000" but no "nouveau" in Xorg.0.log). Also, 'lspci' recognizes the nVidia card: 00:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT000 [GeForce GT 000M] (rev a0) [...] Kernel driver in use: nouveau I am not sure how it is possible to use both cards at the same time. The video subsystem (with dual Intel/nVidia) cards makes problems. Neither in 00.00 nor in 00.00 I was able to switch to text mode. Ctrl-Alt-Fx (x=0..0) leaves the X00 screen intact in 00.00, or with some strange color features in 00.00, just the mouse pointer disappears. No text screen. Fortunately, Ctrl-Alt-F0 restores normal X00 screen and mouse. Also, in 00.00, when booting Live CD, screen goes black for quite a long time (when other versions show violet screen, Ubuntu and "moving" white/red dots). The screen reappears just before the window with Try Ubuntu/Install Ubuntu is shown. Then, when shutting down the system, the screen also gets black. The CD tray is ejected but the screen remains black (where 00.00 shows "Press ENTER"). It accepts Enter key and shuts the laptop off but w/o anything visible on the screen. To summarize, at least on my Vostro 0000, the Realtek ethernet card is (at least) not stable with r0000 driver. It works fine with r0000. The dual-video card system is also far from perfect support (problems with nVidia card, no text mode available). Revision history for this message Revision #{revision}, created at {date_created_display} {content} Michal Szymanski (msz-astrouw) said on 0000-00-00 : #00 More feedback on 00.00. I decided to install the 00.00 (i000) on the laptop. The result was pretty strange. After successful install and reboot: 0. The wireless did not work. Activating Broadcom STA driver failed, leaving in /var/log/jockey.log DEBUG: BroadcomWLHandler enabled(): kmod enabled, bcm00xx: blacklisted, b00: blacklisted, b00legacy: blacklisted Google search found a hint to remove bcmwl-kernel-source package from Synaptic but this also failed. After some struggling I was finally able to "reinstall" the package, then removed blacklist file generated by the 'bcmwl' in /etc/modprobe.d and it started to work. 0. Video also works differently than in LiveCD mode - on first login, it showed a warning that I do not have hardware to use Unity and falled back to classic desktop (it was using Unity in LiveCD Try Ubuntu mode). There is "nvidia" driver loaded (although I have not installed it using "Additional Drivers") but it is apparently not used. I am sort of afraid of activating it as I do not want to get my laptop bricked again. Also, as the driver is already installed, I am not sure how to activate it properly. In the previous attempts I just used "Additional Drivers" and it was both installed and activated at the same time. On the other hand, text mode is working now, also the boot/shutdown procedure goes "normally", w/o showing black screen. I did check the "install proprietary drivers" when installing Ubuntu, although it was only MP0 decoder mentioned there. But maybe this was the reason why "nvidia" was installed. Why it did not successfulyy activated the Broadcom STA driver. I do not know. More feedback on 00.00. I decided to install the 00.00 (i000) on the laptop. The result was pretty strange. After successful install and reboot: 0. The wireless did not work. Activating Broadcom STA driver failed, leaving in /var/log/jockey.log DEBUG: BroadcomWLHandler enabled(): kmod enabled, bcm00xx: blacklisted, b00: blacklisted, b00legacy: blacklisted Google search found a hint to remove bcmwl-kernel-source package from Synaptic but this also failed. After some struggling I was finally able to "reinstall" the package, then removed blacklist file generated by the 'bcmwl' in /etc/modprobe.d and it started to work. 0. Video also works differently than in LiveCD mode - on first login, it showed a warning that I do not have hardware to use Unity and falled back to classic desktop (it was using Unity in LiveCD Try Ubuntu mode). There is "nvidia" driver loaded (although I have not installed it using "Additional Drivers") but it is apparently not used. I am sort of afraid of activating it as I do not want to get my laptop bricked again. Also, as the driver is already installed, I am not sure how to activate it properly. In the previous attempts I just used "Additional Drivers" and it was both installed and activated at the same time. On the other hand, text mode is working now, also the boot/shutdown procedure goes "normally", w/o showing black screen. I did check the "install proprietary drivers" when installing Ubuntu, although it was only MP0 decoder mentioned there. But maybe this was the reason why "nvidia" was installed. Why it did not successfulyy activated the Broadcom STA driver. I do not know. 