DELL Inspiron N5110 i7

http://laptop.bsdgroup.de/freebsd/index.html?action=list_laptop_mf&mfid=3


Does FreeBSD not support the DELL Inspiron N5110 i7? For several trying install was not succeed (FreeBSD, PCBSD and GhostBSD too), when it is looking for X, laptop is resetting allways. I tried it with USB, with DVD and CD also.

Code:
yfdogan # lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b5)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev b5)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 8 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM67 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF108 [GeForce GT 540M] (rev ff)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF108 High Definition Audio Controller (rev ff)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 05)
09:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 1030 (rev 34)
0b:00.0 USB controller: NEC Corporation uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 04)
yfdogan #
 
The reason or at what point the install fails is unclear from your post:
- Is it that the livecd fails to boot?
- Is it that the OS install starts cleanly but fails at some point ? Pipe the messages into a file in that case to see the detail.
- Did you try the install with acpi disabled?
 
So the problem is as #2 then - the install starts but then fails at mid-point? What is dmesg output during that time? You're not giving much info to go on here...

Are you sure your hardware components are not broken? Have you run memtest and other hardware diagnostic programs (like http://www.inquisitor.ru)?

The compatibility of FreeBSD with your laptop hardware has nothing to do with the error you are getting. Compatibility means that 1 or 2 devices may not work properly (like your wifi card or something) because of backwards-engineered drivers. An install break is usually a hardware error and usually a RAM or HDD error at that.
 
Optimus is a problem. It means that there is built-in Intel video along with a third-party NVidia or AMD GPU. If the BIOS allows disabling one of the two, it may work with FreeBSD. Sometimes there is no option in the BIOS.

The i7 onboard graphics are supported by FreeBSD 9.1 and 9-STABLE. This post gives a good overview.
 
After the installation base system and KDE, the KDE screen does not start with this error message:
Code:
 'can not create /lock pid file /var/run/kdm.pid'
And the laptop reboot allways.
 
That looks like an error related to the KDE-specific settings.

- Have a look through /var/log/messages and /var/log/Xorg.0.log (in xorg, the lines marked EE are the pertinent ones). File ~/.xsession-errors can also contain good info.

- Have you read The X Window System from the Handbook?

- Although xorg does it's own config business automatically these days, it might be worth a try to review and disable some stuff in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf for de-bugging.

- I don't use KDE so I don't know, but also check requirements for hald, dbus and ssl.

- Modify ~/.xinitrc as below, then just # startx - see STARTX(1)(). If you get a graphical environment, the problem is with your x11 setup & config files.
Code:
% echo "exec twm" > ~/.xinitrc

- Try disabling all nvidia drivers for debug.
 
Dell Inspiron 5110

  • Dual video cards not supported
  • It is not possible to turn off a video card from the BIOS
  • It is possible to start X without getting a reset, but almost everything needs to be compiled.
  • It took me about one week to make it work, but it wasn't worth it because X still had crappy performance.
 
Back
Top