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#1 2012-10-08 16:50:19

Icamaxi
Member
Registered: 2012-10-08
Posts: 13

Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

Hello everyone!

Right now i'm using Ubuntu 12.04 and windows 7 (dual booting) and for the past three years I've been switching between windows and ubuntu but I want to try something new so I figured I'd go for arch since I've heard only good things about it and the community.

I'm currently using a lenovo x121e (AMD E-350 version) and I need some help with the partitioning since I'm new to it. What my problem is or rather what I'm concerned about is that this laptop is using (U)EFI and I've heard that it might be a problem so I'd appreciate some help on that

My partitioning is following:  http://i.imgur.com/RaMiu.png

I also have a problem with the multimedia buttons on my keyboard, is it possible to fix it somehow? I'd need an solution for my laptop (x121e) and my old desktop computer with a microsoft wired 600 keyboard

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#2 2012-10-08 17:16:01

Trilby
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Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,442
Website

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

Welcome to the forums Icamaxi.  Can you be more specific about your concerns?  If you're just wondering if this will work, it certainly should.

Have you seen the Beginner's Guide and Installation Guide on the arch wiki?  These pages document how to set up partitions for arch and have links to other pages specific to UEFI.  I don't have much first hand experience with these setups (did it once on one machine), but it seems many members here have UEFI setups.

For the multimedia buttons, I've been able to get media buttons working on a variety of machines and keyboards, including Lenovos.  There is similarly a few wiki pages dedicated to this.

Please check out the documentation, then if/when you run into trouble come back with specifics on what you have done, and what errors or problems you are seeing.

For example, you say you have a problem with the media buttons ... what is the problem?  They can certainly work in arch, but they have to be set up.

Last edited by Trilby (2012-10-08 17:16:39)


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#3 2012-10-08 18:53:48

Icamaxi
Member
Registered: 2012-10-08
Posts: 13

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

So I tried to install arch using this guide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtTt674qi74 since that worked before on my desktop computer but now but i get the following error when i'm trying to boot my computer
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7704 … f5b0af.jpg

I can also choose in bios if i want legacy or UEFI so I chose legacy

Last edited by Icamaxi (2012-10-08 19:04:58)

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#4 2012-10-08 19:14:34

Trilby
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Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,442
Website

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

Again, please use the beginners guide and installation guide on the arch linux wiki.  Many wonderful people have worked together to ensure the best information is on the wiki and that every contingency is covered or at least linked to.

A youtube video shows one person installing one version of the install media on one type of hardware some time ago.  This is not a good source of information.


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#5 2012-10-08 19:15:55

Icamaxi
Member
Registered: 2012-10-08
Posts: 13

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

Trilby wrote:

Again, please use the beginners guide and installation guide on the arch linux wiki.  Many wonderful people have worked together to ensure the best information is on the wiki and that every contingency is covered or at least linked to.

A youtube video shows one person installing one version of the install media on one type of hardware some time ago.  This is not a good source of information.

yea sure I'm sorry, should i just remove my partitions and start all over again?

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#6 2012-10-08 20:52:07

Strike0
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2011-09-05
Posts: 1,429

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

There is a small wiki on your notebook model even: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Le … kPad_x121e
At the bottom you find links regarding UEFI. Apparently it is troublesome in the bios. The legacy bios option will definetely work easier.

I am not sure where your error in the linked file comes from and whether it would be better to start over. You better backup your boot partition/mbr before trying to fix that, otherwise you can easily break your existing installations.
If you are unsure about managing the install fine, you can install something like virtualbox in your ubuntu and try out the arch installation there. One thing you can't try out there , is UEFI of course ..

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#7 2012-10-10 17:42:34

Icamaxi
Member
Registered: 2012-10-08
Posts: 13

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

I installed archlinux successfully on VMware Player today and I only used the wiki as Trilby told me to.

however I wonder if I have to manually update the grub menu or does it do it automatically? I mean like if I have windows 7 and archlinux will my bootloader (grub2) know that I have windows and arch installed or will it just show that i have arch?

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#8 2012-10-10 17:50:58

Strike0
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2011-09-05
Posts: 1,429

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

You have to manually adjust & regenerate the grub configuration for windows.

Have a look, if https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gr … 4_UEFI-GPT
or https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gr … ot_in_BIOS
answers it.

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#9 2012-10-11 07:45:51

Icamaxi
Member
Registered: 2012-10-08
Posts: 13

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

Strike0: FYI It says in the wiki that you can use os-prober to detect other operating systems...

Alright so I've got another question...

In the section "Create an initial ramdisk environment" (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … nvironment) it says that

"Tip: Most users can skip this step and use the defaults provided in mkinitcpio.conf. The initramfs image (from the /boot folder) has already been generated based on this file when the linux package (the Linux kernel) was installed earlier with pacstrap."

Does it mean that I should skip doing "mkinitcpio -p linux" or what's up with that?

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#10 2012-10-11 12:29:55

mips1
Member
Registered: 2008-01-02
Posts: 99

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

No, it means you can skip editing the file but you still have to run mkinitcpio -p linux which will use the defaults.

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#11 2012-10-11 17:32:20

Strike0
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2011-09-05
Posts: 1,429

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

Oh ok, thanks for the info, Icamaxi. os-prober is mentioned in both wikis now I see.

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#12 2012-10-12 13:35:36

Icamaxi
Member
Registered: 2012-10-08
Posts: 13

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

Hmm, I was about to try and install arch on my laptop when i noticed that i can't make any more primary partitions since windows/lenovo uses all the primary partitions and if I'm not wrong i have to use primary on my boot partition, how do i do now?

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#13 2012-10-14 14:41:26

Thaodan
Member
From: Dortmund, Nordrein-Westfalen
Registered: 2012-04-28
Posts: 448

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

Install Windows with GPT Layout than you shoud be able to make more primary partions.

One question ( i installed Arch on similar laptop: Thinpad Edge E530): are there any pros. about installing Arch with an EFI bootmanager?


Linux odin 3.13.1-pf #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Mar 5 21:47:28 CET 2014 x86_64 GNU/Linux

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#14 2012-10-14 14:53:56

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

I use the efi stub loader, and it is pretty great.  It is actually a bit faster since it does not first load a bootloader, but instead loads the kernel directly.   This way, I simply use an UEFI Shell if I want to boot with any alternative kernel command line parameters. 

If you still want the ease and simplicity of a bootloader, I would reccomend gummiboot.  It is super simple (no flashy crap, but also not options for fancy either), and it is actually what the install media uses in uefi mode.


Edit:  @OP, you should create the recovery disks in windows, and then delete the recovery partitions.  That way you can create an extended partition with any and all logical partitions you need.  I don't think that Linux bootloaders are all that picky about the /boot being on a primary vs extended partition.  I could swear that i used to use grub this way... but I now use UEFI, and so I cannot say for sure.

You could also use those recovery disks (or partition) to put your system back to factory settings.  That is, it will wipe your hard drive and reinstall like it was brand new.  I did this on a spare drive because I was curious about all the crap and whatnot that came with my computer.  When I did, the recovery discs actually gave me the option of using GPT/UEFI or MBR/BIOS, which I thought was pretty neat.  I think your computer has UEFI, no?

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2012-10-14 14:58:47)

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#15 2012-10-14 15:26:40

mhertz
Member
From: Denmark
Registered: 2010-06-19
Posts: 681

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

mips1 wrote:

No, it means you can skip editing the file but you still have to run mkinitcpio -p linux which will use the defaults.

Actually, it means that it can be skipped...

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#16 2012-10-14 15:30:46

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

I do believe that it can actually be skipped, as they are already made.  But I have noticed that since I usually haven't configured my locale when I download the linux package, it sometimes tells me some crazy sh*t about the locale.  So I usually rebuild my initramfs after configuring my computer, just for good measure.

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#17 2012-10-15 00:00:19

cfr
Member
From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
Posts: 7,130

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

Note that the wiki page linked to is about a different model.

GPT + BIOS was the combination I absolutely failed to get working.

MBR + BIOS worked fine.

GPT + UEFI works with some caveats (see the wiki) but I think it is probably fine if you follow the current, updated instructions for UEFI and make sure the EFI partition is at least 512M.


CLI Paste | How To Ask Questions

Arch Linux | x86_64 | GPT | EFI boot | refind | stub loader | systemd | LVM2 on LUKS
Lenovo x270 | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz | Intel Wireless 8265/8275 | US keyboard w/ Euro | 512G NVMe INTEL SSDPEKKF512G7L

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#18 2012-10-15 11:42:31

Thaodan
Member
From: Dortmund, Nordrein-Westfalen
Registered: 2012-04-28
Posts: 448

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

For me GPT  + BIOS works fine (Grub2 Thinkpad Edge E530)


Linux odin 3.13.1-pf #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Mar 5 21:47:28 CET 2014 x86_64 GNU/Linux

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#19 2012-10-15 23:43:37

cfr
Member
From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
Posts: 7,130

Re: Need help installing on a Lenovo x121e

I think it depends on your firmware. I'm guessing the E530 might use something different from the x121e - but I don't know. Plus I don't know what firmware the OP's model has, in any case.

(Also, the firmware has been updated since I installed so it is possible some bugs have been fixed.)


CLI Paste | How To Ask Questions

Arch Linux | x86_64 | GPT | EFI boot | refind | stub loader | systemd | LVM2 on LUKS
Lenovo x270 | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7200U CPU @ 2.50GHz | Intel Wireless 8265/8275 | US keyboard w/ Euro | 512G NVMe INTEL SSDPEKKF512G7L

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