Sunday 7 November 2010

Ubuntu 10.10 and Lenovo Ideapad S10-3

Lenovo Ideapad S10-3

If you have a Lenovo Ideapad S10-3 (depicted above), and you want to test or install shiny new Ubuntu 10.10 on it, you need to take a couple of considerations.
  1. Use UNetbootin to create the bootable USB drive or SD card with Ubuntu 10.10
  2. When booting the flashdrive or SD card, pres TAB key quickly so you may add the following kernel boot parameter (add this to the end of the line starting with the word "kernel"):
intel_idle.max_cstate=0
Install Ubuntu (or any of its variants). You will need to manually add the additional kernel boot parameter once more when you see this screen:


Press the 'E' key as stated and edit the line that contains the words "quiet splash --" (or similar) and add:
intel_idle.max_cstate=0
right before the word "quiet" (after or in the middle may also work, but I did it this way), so it reads
intel_idle.max_cstate=0 quiet splash  --

Now let's see how to permanently change this boot parameter after you have installed Ubuntu to your computer's hard disk.

Open up the Terminal and type
sudo nano /etc/default/grub
You will see something like this:

# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
. . .

Change the 9th line so it reads:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash intel_idle.max_cstate=0"

Press Control+X, save the changes by saying Yes (Y key)
Now type the following in the Terminal, and we're done. Next time you'll boot as per normal.
sudo update-grub


Reference:

17 comments:

Kevin Li said...

Thanks alot. You saved me from from a lot of head banging. This really is a failure on ubuntu's part. Why advertise a linux distro as user friendly when they have to change kernel parameters just to install the damn os?

Unknown said...

Yeah...thanks alot! Anyway to increase boot speed?

pevi xsadxstarx said...

thanks very helpful.. :)

pplcallme_kk said...

Hi...

I have tried a lot.. bu no luck... when i choose the option : install linux to netbook and press enter... it seems to hang and does not proceed anywhere... any clues or suggestion...
earlier i had removed windows 7 starter and had installed windows 7 home.

thanks
Karan
karan.kukreja1988@gmail.com

Francis said...

Thanks for your info so that I could install it successfully.
And I am glad to find that the current update has fixed this problem ..... but not on the installation disk. That is, after installation and software update, we don't need to patch the grub now. :)
Hope that they will fix the installation disk as well. :(

pplcallme_kk said...

Hi... Please reply..

thanks
Karan

Unknown said...

Thank you so much, great point and well described.
Thank you

Unknown said...

Thank you so much! I was able to get my S10-3 up and running perfectly with your instructions. Goodbye Windows 7 starter. :)

elmhurst religion said...

Thanks! It worked great. However, after hibernation I have this same problem. Is there anyway to adjust those same parameters for when computer resumes from hibernation?

Thanks.

Gelo_Quebral said...

This really helped me...thanks a lot
more power on your blog ^_^

MrNobody said...

Hi Karan,

Sorry about the late reply, but I just couldn't think of anything else that could be the problem, until I talked to a friend whose laptop wouldn't boot Ubuntu 10.10 Live (or any derivative for that matter).

Bottom line: You could have a defective hard disk. My friend changed his hard disk and that solved it.

So it could be a hardware issue...
Best of luck,
MrNobody.

MrNobody said...

Cindy - to speed things up, you could:
Get a faster hard drive (7200 RPM), or solid state drives (SSDs)
Try a lighter or different Linux distribution ('distro') (Crunchbang, Xubuntu...) check http://distrowatch.com

MrNobody said...

I'm very glad the information helped many people! :)))
Also, Ubuntu 11.04 will be released soon! 28 April! http://www.ubuntu.com/

Boris Epstein said...

Hello there,

Thank you very much for a highly valuable set of instructions. I finally managed to get my little Lenovo here booted under Ubuntu.

Now one problem I still have is that the WiFi appears dead. Have you had that problem?

Boris.

Boris Epstein said...

Heads up everybody: looks like Ubuntu 11.04 fixed whatever was wrong and you can use it right away. I have yet to install it but it seems to be working just fine when booted off an Ubuntu 11.04 USB device.

John Nield said...

The instructions also worked after a regular update changed the kernel version.

thanks

John

balas trazadoras said...

This solved my resume from suspension problem in Ubuntu 11.04. Thank you! [lenovo s10-3, ubuntu 11.04, resume, suspend, crash]

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