Comments on: Linux on a Dell Vostro 200

By: Barry O'Donovan

Barry O'Donovan — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:00:06 +0000

Sumit,

Geez – it was a long time ago. And I never had an issue with the hard drive – it was the CDROM / DVD (fixed with a BIOS setting) and the network card (fixed with a custom compiled module).

I would be surprised if the latest (K)ubuntu distribution had any issues with this system now – unless Dell have overhauled the system and hardware (unlikely as they’d typically change the model number).

– Barry

By: Sumit

Sumit — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 09:55:41 +0000

Hi
I am facing the same problem, would appreciate if you could specify which Flavour of Linux are you using , i tried FC4, CentOS and RHEL5. All fialed to boot becasue of the Hard Drive.
Also in order to use the BIOS settings do i need to upgrade the BIOS or the existing one will work ?

Thanks in advance for the help

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:37:26 +0000

Derek,

During the BIOS screen (i.e. the time you would press F2 to get into setup) press F12 instead. This will give you a menu from which you can select the HL-DT-ST… drive and boot from it.

Also, recent linux kernels (2.6.24+) have a driver called ‘e1000e’ which will work instead of having to download the Intel one, but whatever works for you is fine.

By: Derek

Derek — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:52:25 +0000

Here’s the problem… when I switch the SATA Mode to “RAID”, I become completely unable to boot from the CD/DVD drive.

In “IDE” mode, there is a “CDROM” entry in the boot priority list.

When I switch to SATA mode, it becomes “HL-DT-ST DVD+/-RW GS”.

A CD which boots fine in IDE mode flat out refuses to boot when the controller is in SATA mode. (For example, I started out with an Etch netinst disk, which I now know will never find the right drivers along the way…. but when the card is set to “RAID” mode, that thing at least fires up. In “RAID” mode, it gets completely skipped.

Any ideas?

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 10 May 2008 02:47:46 +0000

Can you tell me what distro of linux you are using and how to get it installed. I am a newbie to this linux stuff and was hoping to get help on installing on a Vostro 200 also.

My network card is 100Mbps so will the e1000 work with that?

Also, can you supply me some step by step instructions for installing the linux.

Thank a bunch and have a great day.