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I had several issues while trying to install Ubuntu (x64) on the new laptop that I just bought: HP Envy 17-j050ex (specs).

I will not raising the common issues about dual-boot, secure boot, setting the brightness during install, downloading drivers, and the other related issues that are relatively "easy" to google and solve.

  1. The most annoying problem is that latest Ubuntu version that can be installed on it is 12.04! All newer version installers hanged in the middle of the "trial" most of the time with no information at all and some times with the information that the "no screen found" error.
  2. Even after installing the 12.04 many issues are still not solved:

    2.1. Wireless (Ralink RT3290) is disabled by hardware switch: I tried the rfkill unblock all, rebooting with the rescue mode and even going into windows to try to enable the wireless. The only hardware switch on my laptop is the F12 key that is not working at all in enabling/disabling under Ubuntu (but works on Win8)

    2.2. The nVidia GeForce 750M is not detected/installed correctly even after installing the nvidia-current nor downloading the NVIDIA*.run and installing it from root.

    2.3. The brightness cannot be changed using the Fn keys F2 and F3 while the volume up/down/mute (F7/F8/F6) is working along with the keyboard backlight (F5). And if I try to toggle the WiFi on/off, these function button stop working unless I restart X.

Please let me know if my week long research missed the ways to solve these issues. Thanks for your time.

***EDIT: After updating the wireless drivers from the Win8 HP support app, it seemed that the wireless is up and running without any other intervention what so ever! I first noticed it while on Linux Mint 15 that the Bluetooth was disabled and there is a button for enabling it along with the WiFi.

So issue 2.1 OK and still waiting for some clues for the rest.

Zanna
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I've recently purchased a HP Envy 17 j053ea machine to take advantage of the i7 and oodles of memory .. Cutting to the chase I suffered from many issues with this install .. the wireless didn't work, the screen "black screened" during installation and thereafter during booting.

FIX AFTER BOOT FOR nVidia:

sudo service lightdm stop cd ~/Downloads sudo chmod a+x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-304.51.run ./ NVIDIA-Linux-x86-304.51.run

After booting 12.04 LTS go to:

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk

and download the latest driver for your card (in my case the GeForce 700M series → GeForce GT 740M)

Then from a shell do:

bash# sudo service lightdm stop bash# cd ~/Downloads bash# sudo chmod a+x NVIDIA*.run bash# ./NVIDIA*.run

This (in my case) gave an error about not finding a screen but continued to install … the documentation says you may have to run it twice … Any how after a reboot this fixed my screen issues .. and

lspci

now shows an NVIDIA Corporation GK208M [GeForce GT 740M] device ….

BLACK SCREEN FIX for HP Envy 17 j053ea: This was much harder to fix … the initial get around for the black screen was the boot option acpi=off ... but this of course meant that the laptop would not suspend when I closed the lid -> clearly suboptimal ... After searching for the past two days I have found many good articles/explanations of acpi and a much better option:

For info on acpi see: I WOULD ADD THESE BUT I NEED 10 REPUTATION APOLOGIES email me ... For more info see:

Then I found: No ACPI support for my PC, what can I do? from irrational_john ... way to go .. acpi=ht didn't work but pci=noacpi has done the trick ... many thanks … for your hardware I'd recommend John's approach pf cycling through the options he provided:

  • nolapic
  • noapic
  • acpi_osi=“Linux”
  • acpi_osi=“Windows 2006”
  • acpi=ht
  • pci=noacpi
  • acpi=noirq
  • pnpacpi=off

With this in hand abd to address “wub's” .. on point answer above, once you find the one that works:

bash# cd /etc/default bash# sudo vi grub

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=

and make it (in my case):

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=“quiet splash pci=noacpi” >

bash# sudo update-grub

bash# sudo reboot

Hope this helps in some way ...

A_nobody
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