Arch Linux

karsten

Member

Registered: 2006-07-14

Posts: 261

Can't get USB installer to boot on Thinkpad S431

Just got a refurbished laptop, and can't figure out how to get the USB installer to boot correctly.  I've tried EFI only, EFI+compatibility, CSM disabled/enabled etc.  I can select the USB drive and it gets to the Arch menu, then when I select the first option to start the installer it reads the USB for a few seconds then just sits at a black screen.  Specs: Thinkpad S431, Core i5-3337U, Intel 4000.  I've tried several Arch isos, including 7/14 and 5/14.  The USB drive will boot/install in my desktop machine with no problems. 

Thanks for any help

basica

Member

From: Australia

Registered: 2012-10-31

Posts: 217

Re: Can't get USB installer to boot on Thinkpad S431

Have you tried booting with any parameters?

karsten

Member

Registered: 2006-07-14

Posts: 261

Re: Can't get USB installer to boot on Thinkpad S431

Hi, pressing tab didn't do anything at the arch boot screen, but I went into an EFI shell, backed out, then it was able to boot.  Strange.  thanks for the help

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Can't get USB installer to boot on Thinkpad S431

Since it is Intel graphics, it might have been an early KMS issue.  That is, there is no possible way to get early KMS going from the installer.  In this case, you would just need to use 'nomodeset' on the kernel command line.  If you were able to use the UEFI shell, then you were probably seeing the gummiboot boot manager.  So according to this page, you need to hit 'e' to edit the kernel command line.