Dapper LTS won't boot on Thinkpad 600X

[kingofspam]

I have a Thinkpad 600X that was formerly running Hoary (went unused for a while <g>). The Dapper install CD hangs during boot, at the point where it says loading essential drivers. I've also tried the alternate CD, the Ubuntu 6.06 LTS CD, and the Ubuntu server CD. They all do this.  A Breezy CD will boot and install. I used this to do a fresh Breezy install, then an apt-get -f dist-upgrade to Dapper. Booted Dapper from grub, and guess what? Hangs at loading essential drivers. So, maybe this isn't just an installer problem.

I can run Dapper by booting a Breezy kernel.

By way of comparison, other installers that will hang at boot are:

PC BSD 1.11a
XP Pro
Win2K
Knoppix 5.01

Installers that do not hang at boot:

Knoppix 3.4
Kubuntu Breezy and Hoary
System Rescue CD 0.2.19
Win 98 (original OS on the 600X, but no longer installed)
Thinkpad 600X 55W BIOS flash CD to install XP compatible BIOS (but this problem also existed before I did the BIOS flash)

And, finally, one that's in the middle:

FreeBSD 6.1 - boots installer and goes through all setup parts, but when installing packages throws lots of IDE errors and does not install successfully. I can't help thinking this may be a clue.

Does anyone have a handle on what the things that will boot on my Thinkpad 600X have in common, the things that won't boot have in common, and maybe why the Breezy kernel works but the Dapper kernel doesn't?  Does this smell at all like a hardware problem, or has something changed in very recent kernels that makes them not like 600X hardware?

I could use this as an excuse to get my wife a MacBook and take her T30 (dual-booting XP and Dapper), but I'm really rather attached to my 600X :-)

I'm pretty sure I have a spare 600X motherboard if this does smell like a hardware problem to anyone; I could swap out the board and see what happens.

TIA for any ideas,

Jonathan

[askrieger]

Re: Dapper LTS won't boot on Thinkpad 600X

The feature I notice about the installers that boot without hanging is that all the ones I recognize are older and (therefore) don't attempt to use new features. Newer software may test for the exitence of some feature that your box doesn't have in a way that causes the installer to hang. Me, I would bid a fond farewell to your old IBM and retire it to a well deserved rest.

[kingofspam]

Re: Dapper LTS won't boot on Thinkpad 600X

Retiring the 600X is always an option, but as anyone who owns one will attest, the 600X is in many respects the best Thinkpad IBM ever built. My wife has a T30, and I like it to the extent that it's very much like my 600X and has 1400 x 1050 graphics. Other than the better graphics, I'd rather have a 600X.

So, if anybody has a recipe for compiling a custom Dapper kernel that will install on a 600X and how to replace the installer's kernel with it, I'm all ears

[The Spirit of X21]

Re: Dapper LTS won't boot on Thinkpad 600X

Have you considered running another distro, such as Debian?