13.1 install freezes at loading drivers...

Hello all!

Im completely new to Suse and tried to install it last night.
I made up the USB stick according to instructions and it booted no problem, started installing no problem. But then the green loading bar (or loading drivers in text mode) got slower and slower and once it reached the end, did nothing anymore.
Im installing this on a Sony Vaio notebook.
Has anyone had similar problems or any ideas how to solve this?
Also please bear with me since im a bit of a beginner when it comes to linux.
Thanks

Johannes

Greetings, Johannes, and welcome to the forum! Unfortunately, I am not one of the more knowledgeable members here, just an enthusiastic supporter. I've never done a USB install myself. Sounds like you tried in text mode. Any error messages at all? Exactly what was on the screen when it quit? Any indication of which drivers were loading and slowed things down? If you would give us some more details on your machine, amount of memory, type of video card, etc., it might give the gurus a helpful clue.

It's been a little slow around here lately, and the guys with answers don't always check in every day, so please be patient. I'm sure we can get some help for you. I'll try doing a little research and get back to you.

Welcome again. Once this problem gets straightened out I'm sure you'll find OpenSuse a great experience.

 

Thanks for the enthusiasm   

well the machine has
an AMD 1.6ghz processor
2 GB ram
more then enough hard disc space
and an AMD Radeon HD 3610 graphics card

As for error messages, there have been none, or at least it never got that far...
once the green loading bar had reached its end, it did nothing, so waited a while, still nothing, then I pressed esc. and i assume it went into text mode since it just showed "loading drivers..." and stayed frozen for at least 15 minutes before I lost patience and switched it off.

It seems there have been lots of problems with installing/running different distros on Vaios. Unfortunately, there are many, many different models of the Vaio, and the problems they've faced are not all the same for all models. I don't know if there appears to be more problems with Vaio because there actually are more problems, or if there's just a *lot* of Vaios out there, or if Vaio owners just happen to be a vocal bunch, or for some other reason. There does seem to be a lot of problems encountered by Ubantu users, and we *know* that they're a vocal bunch!

In poking around, there seems to be a few more bits of information that might be helpful:

• The exact model number of your Vaio
  

• Do you have UEFI, and if so, is it set to UEFI or Legacy?
  

• Is the disk wiped or are you setting up to dual boot, and if so, with what? (Probably windows;
            if so, what version?)
  

If you become impatient or bored waiting for the smart guys to check in, when the install gets to the green loading bar you referred to in your first post, immediately hit escape and watch the text scroll by, noting any fails that occur, and especially notice the four or five things that happen just before the installation freezes. Or just boot to runlevel 3, which will be text-only mode. (I just know that you will ask me how to do this, and if I remember I will come back and tell you. I am old, and getting senile. I think, no I *know*, that I know less about Suse/Linux than I did 10 years ago, despite having used it almost exclusively since Suse 8.0, and before that I was using Mandrake Linux [now Mandriva]. If you have questions about Suse 9.x or even 10.x, I probably can remember more about them than >11.4. I think part of it is that Linux has been getting better and better, with fewer problems to solve. Use it or lose it, you know. I am still running 11.0 on the desktop I'm using right now, but intend to upgrade anytime now. I've been saying that since 12.1 came out.    I do have 13.1 on my laptop, but the only problems I had was that immediately after installing it, I couldn't boot into vista. Until the next time I booted, when I then couldn't boot into OpenSuse, instead booting straight to vista. I hadn't done anything except shut it down, it just "fixed" itself.    Then after several feeble attempts to get back into OpenSuse, I managed to make it impossible to boot into *either* OS.     Finally got it straightened out after a couple of weeks.  ) Sorry to have rambled so, another symptom of advanced age. But we'll try to get you some better help and get your install fixed quicker than that.

In the meantime, I'll be here, and working on your problem. If we get really stuck, I'm pretty good at making up stuff. :)If I can't be helpful, I'll at least try to keep you amused.

 

Well thanks for the tips,

I ran a post on the official forum too on which a few replies solved the problem!

Part of the problem was after all my patience, but part of it seems to be down to the Vaio BIOS.

Apparently some of the devices on the laptop or the way its setup, confuses the loading of the drivers. Someone said that sometimes it can take 1/2 hour, so I waited and then it finally did something.   

Thanks for your enthusiasm again

Thanks for coming back with your results. I still enjoy *trying* to learn stuff.

  

Sorry I didn't get here faster, but was gone for the weekend. Glad you got it sorted. The Vaios have always been troublesome from what I've seen in the past. But I probably wouldn't have known to just tell you to wait. I'd have guessed the display driver to start with. I'd be mad if it took a half hour everytime I booted.