Installing Debian Sarge on an HP dv1040us

Last updated: 01/21/2006

General Hardware Specifications of HP dv1040us:

This laptop is operating under Kernel version 2.6.8-2-386

Basic Installation of Debian:

• Debian Website

• To get setup to run use the command “linux26 noapic nolapic”

• Installing the packages 855resolution, wireless-tools, and module-assistant will make your life a lot easier.

• To get the OS to boot, I had to rename a module. The i810_audio file was halting the boot process. All of the proceeding info I got from http://www.superk.org/index.php/HP_Pavilion_dv1245cl#Major_Problems. I booted up and hit “e”at the GRUB boot loader screen. I then went to the second line and erased the commands noapic nolapic and replaced them with init=/bin/sh, then hit enter and “b” to boot with those commands. Once in the shell, I had to remount the file system as read/write with the command “mount -o remount,rw /” Once remounted, I browsed to the directory /lib/modules/2.6.8-2-386/kernel/sound/oss. Once there i entered the command “mv i810_audio.ko old_i810_audio.ko” Then hit Ctl-Alt-Del to reboot. The system will boot up the first time just fine, but on the second time I always have to rename the file old_i810_audio.ko back to i810_auio.ko. This is done with the same steps as before, but the last command would be “mv old_i810_audio.ko i810_audio.ko” Supposedly if you install the ALSA drivers (see below) before you reboot the first time, this problem will be solved, but I haven't confirmed that yet.

Setting up additional features for Debian:

• Getting the display to set to 1280x768 required the program 855resolution and modifying 2 files. I followed the instructions found in

  /usr/share/doc/855resolution/README.Debian. I had to add the line{Modeline "1280x768" 80.14 1280 1344 1480 1680 768 769 772 795} (without the brackets) to the bottom of the “Monitor” section in the file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4. I also had to insert “1280x768” throughout the “Display” section. Next I looked up my desired mode number by typing “855resolution -l” in the terminal window (as root). The mode number I found was 7e so I put that into the mode section of the file at /etc/default/855resolution. I also put in my desired XRES and YRES. This worked perfectly after I rebooted.

• Getting the sound to work just requires the ALSA drivers. I went to the terminal window as root and typed “apt-get install alsa” After it installs, just run “alsaconf” and it will set up the modules. To keep the module from dying, I had to run “alsamixer” and arrow all the way over to the right and mute the channel “External” by hitting the “M” key.

• Getting wireless to work is simple enough. If you don't have any sources other than the install CD you will need to add a web repository, such as “deb http://debian.oregonstat.edu/debian sarge main contrib non-free” to your /etc/apt/sources.list file. Next you need to run module-assistant as root from the terminal window. Go through the Update, Prepare, and Select steps. When you get to the Select part, you will need to select ipw2200 by pressing the space bar (this one took me a while!) and hit enter. Then just go through the Get and Build commands. It should ask you if you want to Install or not, say yes. If it doesn't, got to the Install command right after Build. You will need to get the firmware v2.2 from http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/firmware.php, unpack it and put all the files in /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware. This will work after you reboot.

Unresolved issues

• Battery life is still short. Need to get power management and suspend to disk to work.

• Synaptics touchpad just functions as a regular PS/2 mouse.

• Top row buttons (mute, play, stop) don't worked.

Configuration Files

• My XF86Conf-4 file

• My 855Resolution file

Contact Information (Optional)

• mayonaise15 (at) gmail (dot) com

• AIM: mayonaise15 MSN: mayonaise15 (at) hotmail (dot) com

Links:

• This was my guide through the process: http://www.superk.org/index.php/HP_Pavilion_dv1245cl

• My laptop at HP.com: http://search.hp.com/query.html?lang=en&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&qt=dv1040us&la=en&cc=us

• http://www.linux-on-laptops.com

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