Problems with installing Linux on an old laptop

@Alexzee
his machine is a 2008 vintage laptop, it only has two bays for soddim's it came with 4 mb and is onlt showing 2mb so either 1 strip has been removed or there is a ram fault
 


There's a slight typo up above. It's GB* @brickwizard (4 MB would be unusable today).
 
There's a slight typo up above. It's GB* @brickwizard (4 MB would be unusable today).
sorry
3a116884945f870924f1ffd3f36fc015--los-simpsons-homer-simpson.jpg
 

It's all good. We all make typos, mistakes, and have brainfarts. The more you contribute, the more likely it is you'll have an error.
 
You never did say what program you are using to make the .iso bootable, we need to know that.

Also you need to check the integrity of the .iso before you go any further, such as trying to install it.

Let me know when you have done these two things and we can take further steps from there.
 
You never did say what program you are using to make the .iso bootable, we need to know that.

Also you need to check the integrity of the .iso before you go any further, such as trying to install it.

Let me know when you have done these two things and we can take further steps from there.
Thanks for you help! I really did expect there are some many people willing to help.I use rufus and etcher and also Ubuntu inbuild program. What about integrity it's all fine. It easily boots on any my other divice. So I still do know what is causing the problem. I've even disassembled it but did find anything what might cause problems.
 
@Alexzee
his machine is a 2008 vintage laptop, it only has two bays for soddim's it came with 4 mb and is onlt showing 2mb so either 1 strip has been removed or there is a ram fault
It only have one ram for 2gb It was so from the begining as my friend said. It is chinese model. So maybe this is the issue, but I still a bit double about it. And by the way thanks for that manual but I am not a professional in this type of thing so I hope if you could explain me what I should pay attention for.
 
these manuals for older machines are getting hard to find [took me a while] primarily it was to give you an idea of the spec, but it may be usefull to a technician should you need to make any internal repairs.
 
2gb ram is not much today but even so Puppy, anitx or tinycore should work. But I would not expect Ubuntu or any of the big Distros to work on that machine.
 
2gb ram is not much today but even so Puppy, anitx or tinycore should work. But I would not expect Ubuntu or any of the big Distros to work on that machine.
Just problem is I cant boot anything at all it always stucks during booting up. Only tiny core managed to launch in min configuration and I just dont get the problem. Just on paper It all should work. Do you have any advise what can i try to do to reveal what is causing the problem because I'm already out of ideas
 
these manuals for older machines are getting hard to find [took me a while] primarily it was to give you an idea of the spec, but it may be usefull to a technician should you need to make any internal repairs.
Got it. Do you have any more advise what I should try?
 
OK it may be that it is not enabled to boot from USB if it has a dvd drive try burning an iso on a dvd.
if your sticking to 2gb ram then try one of the lighter builds ..linux lite, Bodhi linux, or even MX-linux should run on it ok,

Another thought.. 2008.. at that time many computer companies were producing product with 64 bit chips but only 32bit motherboards [ sold in the west as basic models and in Africa/far east etc as main stream products]

now this may or not work, try downloading MX-19.4_386, [this is a supported 32 bit OS] and see if that works

Bwiz
 
"Boot From a USB Drive Even if your BIOS Won’t Let You"
 
"Boot From a USB Drive Even if your BIOS Won’t Let You"
Thanks for advice! I will definitely try this, though i think this not an issue because it lets me to get to initializing menu. Problem Is it stucks in process of booting. But I hope it can help. I just need CD and CD writer
 
OK it may be that it is not enabled to boot from USB if it has a dvd drive try burning an iso on a dvd.
if your sticking to 2gb ram then try one of the lighter builds ..linux lite, Bodhi linux, or even MX-linux should run on it ok,

Another thought.. 2008.. at that time many computer companies were producing product with 64 bit chips but only 32bit motherboards [ sold in the west as basic models and in Africa/far east etc as main stream products]

now this may or not work, try downloading MX-19.4_386, [this is a supported 32 bit OS] and see if that works

Bwiz
I've already tried installing 32bit OS but result was the same. But I will try to install distro you provided hope it'll help.
 
IF it doesn't have an inbuilt dvd then it should boot from usb [it may still only be a 32 bit board]

B2B
use a different pen-drive to that you have been using, if it not new then re- format to fats 32
download a distribution ..make sure you check the MDsum to ensure it matches the one on the download page
burn an ISO using Etcher,
put the pendrive in the machine
as you switch on jiggle the boot sequence key [on acer it will usualy be F8 or Esc]
from the menu select the usb drive and enter
if all is well it should boot the pendrive

Bwiz
 
the xserver-xorg-video-sis drivers should be is in the ubuntu repository and should load provided when installing you choose install non-free/proprietary drivers... there is one distro which might work out of the box and that is Emmabuntus4 https://emmabuntus.org/download/ it is a very big iso around 4gb as it contains drivers for almost everything ever made

Bwiz
 
If I'm not mistaken ubuntu 14.04 was the last ubuntu to support SIS video cards.
Linux lite might do it though. the generic VGA drivers in a live boot should have worked though.
 
If you search: distrowatch sis
and, watch the date
it shows e.g. Elive, Antix, Absolute, Zorin...
 

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