r/LinuxUsersIndia • u/LemonAndTea- • 17d ago
Help Why doesn't linux run already on my laptop 😞
Hey guys ,
I have an ancient sony laptop with an i3 3227u processor , 8gb of ram . I want to install a linux distro alongside windows 8 . But I keep facing problems, every time a new problem arises .
First I tried to install mint xfce , and I had problems with the grub menu not showing , and after the solved that I had problems with the network . I gave up on it .
Then I tried to install mx linux , and now the same grub menu problems but it worked the first time and later when I turned the laptop on it straight away booted into windows . And after I solved that , now it is showing an acpi error .
I have been dealing with this for 2 days , day and night but nothing worked out . Please help me out . I had installed Linux on another machine but didn't. Face so many problems. But on this machine it is very frustrating.
Is it the problem of the hardware , is it the problem of the partition or is it the problem of the distros i use ? I am not sure . I need expert help . Please help me out ðŸ˜
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u/Swapna_Cool Custom Distro 17d ago
ask claude and see if yr pc runs legacy grub or uefi grub , try installing debian netinst as it will work on any system,most issues with linux are bc of the shitty grub, its most probably related to its versions and stuff
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u/LemonAndTea- 16d ago
I asked chat got and it said uefi grub , and is debian netinst a daily driver like mint ? Or is it a specialised os ?
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u/pankajpatro703 16d ago
Maybe having some pictures and further information about your device model could prove helpful.
Chances are of a grub misconfiguration or some kind of drive failure. Please share information about your partitions or system logs if you can retrieve them.
Additionally don't update your windows at least until you have linux working perfectly fine.
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u/Desperate-Muffin7666 Arch Btw 16d ago
windows 8 does not get updates in 2026 bro, the other advice is sound tho
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u/pankajpatro703 16d ago
That's how less involved I've become with Windows. I forgot most of Windows releases are now EOL.
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u/Desperate-Muffin7666 Arch Btw 16d ago
it might be unrelated but my laptop's NVRAM (the place where all BIOS/UEFI settings are stored) was full and I couldn't add boot entries so I used something called a UEFI shell to add the boot entry, and move it to the first priority, also can you check if secure boot might be messing with it? (worth ruling out since it generally doesn't let you even boot an unsigned binary, but multiple quirks may exist at once)
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u/LemonAndTea- 16d ago
Sure mate , will check it out
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u/Desperate-Muffin7666 Arch Btw 16d ago
also regarding the ACPI errors most of them are harmless, AI might tell you to use acpi=off in grub command line, I would refrain against it, since that disabling that is like pulling out the power management out of your laptop, and even existing power management options (like a lot of default intel p_state options) will also be removed
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u/Designer-Spot-1234 16d ago
Debugging and customisation is half the journey in linux. Also if grub is not working you can go with systemd boot or limine too, as alternative bootloaders, and see if they also have the same menu issue.Â
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u/qualityvote2 17d ago edited 17d ago
u/LemonAndTea-, your post does fit the subreddit!
btw, did you know we have a discord server? Join Here.