Arch Linux

divide_by_0

Member

Registered: 2013-10-24

Posts: 4

Just bought a new DELL Inspiron 15R laptop, can't get Arch iso to boot

Just bought a brand new laptop and I've been really wanting to try Archlinux (coming from Fedora)

I hit F2 to go into my boot settings and I enabled "legacy" mode. I then changed the boot order to CD/DVD first, I saved the settings and rebooted the machine with the Archlinux ISO in the drive.  (this is the 10.1.2013) version of the ISO. 

When the machine reboots I can see the little CD/DVD drive LED light up for a second or 2 but it's like it's not seeing the CD as a bootable CD.  I tried searching all over but I'm still stuck, desperate for help here.  Just to make sure it wasn't something wrong with the CD I tried the same CD in another machine and right away it came up with the Archlinux menu screen.

I have since installed Kali/Debian on this new machine with no problems (the new DELL) - I still want to do a dual boot with both Kali/Debian and Archlinux.  Any ideas on what I can try?

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Just bought a new DELL Inspiron 15R laptop, can't get Arch iso to boot

You can use the bootstrap tar.gz files that are found in the same directory as the iso on every mirror.  If you go to the download page, select the mirror of your choice, you will see a file called "archlinux-bootstrap-2013.10.01-x86_64.tar.gz" (one for i686 also).  That is what you need.

Unpack it whereever you think is appropriate, if you have enough RAM you can use /tmp.  Then after setting up the partitions in the host (Kali/Debian, or whatever), you can arch-chroot to that unpacked directory.  There you will find all the tools necessary to install (pacman and the arch-install-scripts).

This method has one issue though, and that is that the arch-chroot script (and maybe others) requires some pretty new versions of various things.  In particular, I think that a pretty new version of bash is required.  So I am not sure about the viability of this solution on anything debian, as their stable repos tend to be pretty conservative.  It also means that you need to have a pretty good understanding of the install process, as you will still mostly follow the beginners guide, but it will require a few changes in the procedure.

Good luck.

divide_by_0

Member

Registered: 2013-10-24

Posts: 4

Re: Just bought a new DELL Inspiron 15R laptop, can't get Arch iso to boot

Are you suggesting that I install archlinux from within kali/debian?  I'm really lost after the first 2 paragraphs..

Last edited by divide_by_0 (2013-10-24 04:26:41)

divide_by_0

Member

Registered: 2013-10-24

Posts: 4

Re: Just bought a new DELL Inspiron 15R laptop, can't get Arch iso to boot

I really don't have a very good understanding of the install process.  I've been watching the archlinux install videos all over youtube and I thought I could handle it. 

Here is a video showing everything that is happening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl0hnpkM … e=youtu.be

Last edited by divide_by_0 (2013-10-24 04:52:55)

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,426

Website

Re: Just bought a new DELL Inspiron 15R laptop, can't get Arch iso to boot

I really don't have a very good understanding of the install process.  I've been watching the archlinux install videos all over youtube and I thought I could handle it.

This is a recipe for fail. Use the official documentation on the wiki, the Installation Guide, or the community provided Beginners' Guide.

---

Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

Registered Linux User #482438

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Just bought a new DELL Inspiron 15R laptop, can't get Arch iso to boot

Definitely a recipe for fail.  Disregard my advice then, as you are probably not quite ready to take a route like that.

divide_by_0

Member

Registered: 2013-10-24

Posts: 4

Re: Just bought a new DELL Inspiron 15R laptop, can't get Arch iso to boot

Definitely a recipe for fail.  Disregard my advice then, as you are probably not quite ready to take a route like that.

Any other ideas?  Should I just go back to Fedora?  It's very frustrating to me.

tompear

Member

Registered: 2013-10-23

Posts: 8

Re: Just bought a new DELL Inspiron 15R laptop, can't get Arch iso to boot

Try to boot from USB flash disk, it is very easy to create:

dd if=archlinux-2013.10.01-dual.iso of=/dev/sdb

where archlinux-2013.10.01-dual.iso is bootable archlinux iso image and /dev/sdb is your usb flash disk.