Dell Vostro 400 - Ubuntu/Kubuntu Linux

I was able to get a Dell Vostro 400 to work with Kubuntu 8.4 Alpha 4 LiveCD. I used the installer and it resized the Windows XP partition just fine... What I did to get this to work is written below:

Okay, SATA cdroms and Linux don't seem to be mixing very well... at least not with Ubuntu/Kubuntu 7.10. If you pop in one of the live cds, it will likely give you an IO Error when you select any item on the live cd boot menu.

As it turns out, that problem is fixed in Ubuntu/Kubuntu 8.4... but it's not out yet being Feb 22nd (Release date scheduled for April). But, the live cd works with 8.4 Alpha 4 (looks like Alpha 5 came out today), which can be found here: https://wiki.kubuntu.org/HardyHeron/.

When I booted the live cd, the screen went blank... The next time I booted off the live cd, I choose F6, and removed "quiet splash" from the kernel arguments.

At some point you might run into an error like:

Feb 22 21:55:19 localhost ata2: failed to recover some devices, retrying in 5 secs

If this happens add the kernel argument irqpoll and it should bypass/fix the problem (not sure which; it just worked).

To add the irqpoll option in the live cd:

1. Select F6
2. Remove "quite splash"
3. Add "irqpoll"

To add the irqpoll option to grub (once installed):

1. Replace # defoptions=quiet splash with # defoptions=irqpoll
   

I am in a bit of a hurry during this post today, so if you have any questions or would like me to expand on something, just post a comment.