HowTo Install FC6 on Dell Inspirion E1505 and dual boot with Vista

[LarryJ]

On a whim, I purchased a Dell E1505 laptop notebook with a lot of extras including Vista. Much to my chagrin, every primary partition was taken up by Dell or Vista. I like the hardware but I'm still POed at M$. I wanted Fedora back. So here's how I ripped out Vista, put it back on and now dual boot with FC6

---Warning: Not for the faint of heart. You certainly will trash your initial installation as it comes from Delll----
***** Prudent people will make a backup first ****
----- Michael Dell will laugh when you call for support after making the modifications below ----
----- You have been warned, correct? ----

1. Boot up with qtparted. (iso files available many places). Observe that all the primary partitions are used. Take a deep breath and delete them all! Yes you read that correctly, DELETE them all.

2. Place your vista dell disk in the CD drive and hit F12 to boot from the CD Drive.

3. Proceed to let Vista install itself.

4. Boot up with qtparted again and observe that vista has installed itself on the first primary partiion (aka C drive). It will take up the whole drive.

5. Boot into Vista and find your way to the "Disk Management" facility.

6. Use Disk Management (click on storage to bring it up) to shrink the C: drive (first partition) down to say 30 GB. As installed, Vista hogs the whole drive. Note that I couldn't get qtparted to change the size of the vista partition. Fortunately, M$'s disk management facility allows you to do this. Thank you for small favors, M$.

7. The C drive should now show lots of free space.

8. Place your FC6 installation disk in CD drive and boot from the CD(rather than vista on your HD) by hitting F12 shortly after the bios boot.

9. This is critical. You want FC6 to install your boot loader to the MBR (Master Boot Record) It's a little tricky to get this done. There is a check box where you get to review the set up before you commit. Besure to check that box.Then you should be able to boot into either Vista or FC6.

This is what my /etc/grub.conf file looks like:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.19-1.2911.fc6)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.19-1.2911.fc6 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
initrd /initrd-2.6.19-1.2911.fc6.img
title Fedora Core (2.6.18-1.2869.fc6)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2869.fc6 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-1.2869.fc6.img
title Vista
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

I love the hardware but hate Dells incompatiblity with linux. I don't think I would buy another. You should check out System76 laptops first.

One of the most irritating things was after I received the laptop, I discovered the broadcom wireless chip is a new one a 4328 which basically probably won't be supported by linux any time soon.

And worse yet, my D-Link DWL-G122 B1 usb dongle which I was certain contained the Ralink 2570 chip may not. And although I saw many posts that Ralink supports Linux, their source code is old and generates lots of errors. And serial monkey's drivers produces the "delaying installation" error. Oh well been here before. At least Vista has wireless support. End of crockadile tears!!

Hope this is benefical to someone.

[r1348]

Originally Posted by LarryJ

One of the most irritating things was after I received the laptop, I discovered the broadcom wireless chip is a new one a 4328 which basically probably won't be supported by linux any time soon.

It's the Dell TrueMobile 1500 802.11n-draft card right? Not very sure about it, but it should work with ndiswrapper, try to follow the instructions relative to wireless on my Dell Inspiron 1501 installation guide, the driver I point to claims support also for your device, even if I think you'll be limited to 802.11g.

[LarryJ]

Dario (rt1348)
The wireless card as received was a Dell partnumber 430-1912 "Dell Wirelss 1500 Mini card" which lspci shows as

0b:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Unknown device 4328 (rev 01)

I tried to get ndiswrapper running but couldn't locate the bcmwl6.inf file. (Yes six not bcmwl5.inf). I did find the bcmwl6.sys buried in the C: drive but not the bcmwl6.inf which I assume I needed. So I gave up!

In the mean time, the helpful folks at Dell's Bangalore support center (Jenny and Rhodale) told me I could swap out the 430-1912 Broadcom based chip for an Intel IPW "Pro/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g WLAN Mini-Card for Dell" Dell part number 430-1648. They will credit my account for the cost of the old broadcom card upon it's return to Dell. I see ATrpms has rpms for the Intel chip so hopefully this will fix the problem while I try to find out what is inside this D-Link DWL-G122 B1 (FCC ID site was down last night.)

Larry

[r1348]

Hmm I think that bcmwl6 is the Vista version of the driver, I found no mention on Dell site anyway, probably it's integrated in Vista. Anyway, Dell site gives for WinXP the same driver I pointed you to, and it works very well with ndiswrapper, so I'd give it a try.

[LarryJ]

Dario (r1348)
I did try ndiswrapper using the bcmwl5.inf file which I downloaded off the internet and had used previously with a broadcom chip. Nothing worked. "not present delaying initialization" errors. Note that the Broadcom chip number is different this time. It is 4328. My old acer laptop had a lower number which I have since forgotten.

So I'm going ahead with my swap. Surely the intel wireless chip is better supported.

Larry

[jpm_power]

In acer you was probably having dell truemobile 1300 (broadcom) which inf file is bcmwl5.inf.

[r1348]

Originally Posted by LarryJ

Dario (r1348)
I did try ndiswrapper using the bcmwl5.inf file which I downloaded off the internet and had used previously with a broadcom chip. Nothing worked. "not present delaying initialization" errors. Note that the Broadcom chip number is different this time. It is 4328. My old acer laptop had a lower number which I have since forgotten.

So I'm going ahead with my swap. Surely the intel wireless chip is better supported.

Larry

You're here assuming that there's just one version of bcmwl5.inf, this is not true. Specifically, the one I'm suggesting to you is 4.100.15.5, dating 10/12/2006. After installing it, I can see in /etc/ndiswrapper the file 14E4:4328.5.conf, that is what you should need, it contains the configuration for Dell TrueMobile 1500 card.
On the ndiswrapper wiki your card is also stated as supported (device n. 63), it's anyway pointing to a driver older than mine.

[LarryJ]

Dario,
I see the wiki entry to which you refer

Card: Dell Wireless 1500 (802.11draft-n/a/g) WLAN MiniCard
* Chipset: Broadcom BCM4321(?) (rev 01)
* pciid: 14e4:4328
* Driver: [107]
* Other: ndiswrapper v1.22-rc1, Ubuntu kernel 2.6.15-26-386

However when I look on the "drivers" disk that came with the Dell laptop, I did not see the file R129083(the Driver 107 file refrenced in the wiki noted above)

http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R129083.EXE

Instead drivers disk shows files with numbers similar to R13xxxx and R14xxxx. That's not unexpected since the dot sys bcmwl file on the vista C: drive was unexpectedly unusual, ( bcmwl6). And I expect to see a Broadcom 4328 chip when I open up the laptop later this week. Probably because this is Visa and not XP? Maybe just FUD on the part of Dell.

As a fresh newbie, it took a week of tinkering before I had the broadcom chip running on my old Acer Laptop. And this despite the fact that I had the correct .sys and .inf files! Anyway if the Intel wireless card works in FC6, I'm happy and done with ndiswrapper. If not, I'll try to get the Ralink based usb dongle (a DLink DWL-G122B1) running.

Larry

Edit 2/27/07 The D-Link USB network adapter dongle was working sorta. Apparently the driver doesn't like dual core SMP installations which causes problems.
Details posted here http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showth...581#post752581

[LarryJ]

Quick update: Swapped out the Dell Broadcom 4328 lan card for an Intel ipw3945AB which Dell sells. I found out later that these mini pci express cards are available on EBay for less than Dell's price. I used the precompiled .rpm binaries available at atrpms to install the ieee80211, ipw3945.ko module, and intel's firmware and ipw3945 regulatory daemon. Very good documentation available from Intel.

All working fine. Even the wifi green led blinks while scanning and goes sold when associated. Fn+F2 disables enables the wifi card.

Larry

[SideshowMel]

hmm, this looks pretty involved. I'm currently pricing out a Dell laptop, and I definitely want to run a FC6 dual-boot (by then it will likely be Fedora 7). Anyways, I'm thinking I'm going to get Vista. Anyways, this makes me wonder if I shouldn't perhaps wait a few months for more talented people to work with Vista/Fedora dual-boot.

It's frustrating that Microsoft can't provide a little more information to this community.

[ryptyde]

I have a Sony VAIO laptop running Fedora/Vista and it was pretty straightforward to get FC6 installed. Use the "disk management" tool in Vista to shrink your NTFS partition to create some unallocated freespace then boot your Fedora disc and install it in that unallocated freespace you created. Worked for me on the Sony and yes there is also a recovery partition on the disc and I made a complete backup before proceeding.

Here's my grub.conf:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,2)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,2)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.20-1.2944.fc6)
	root (hd0,2)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.20-1.2944.fc6 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
	initrd /initrd-2.6.20-1.2944.fc6.img
title Fedora Core (2.6.18-1.2869.fc6)
	root (hd0,2)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2869.fc6 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
	initrd /initrd-2.6.18-1.2869.fc6.img
title Windows Vista Ultimate
	rootnoverify (hd0,1)
	chainloader +1

[LarryJ]

Sideshow,

Yes, pretty involved. Is the Dell PC you are considering one of the ones that Dell is proposing to sell with preinstalled Ubuntu flavor of Debian Linux?

That might be the easiest if you aren't entirely comfortable with Linux installations.

I share your frustration with MS. Thank God for Linux!

Larry

[SideshowMel]

Well I really don't know what kind of laptop to buy currently. I definitely want a Dell, and while I'm considering getting one of the Ubuntu-laptops, I'd rather run FC6 of F7, just because that's what I run at home and my only two friends who know jack-shiz about Linux are HUGE Fedora proponents. Also, I don't know if Dell is selling Ubuntu-laptops that are set up for Vista dual-boot.

I want dual-boot. Although I will primarily use Fedora (or Ubuntu, maybe), I am a Windoze SysAdmin, so I can forsee having a need for it on my laptop. That said, I will primarily use Linux, so I want to be sure I can get Bluetooth / Wireless Card working. I realize this may be a VERY broad-based question, but here goes:

Do any of you guys have any "preferred" Dell Notebook model or specific hardware set that you know will work? If not, no problem, I will just buy what I think will work best for me and hopefully I will be able to get all the hardware working under Fedora. Thanks again.

[SideshowMel]

Also, LarryJ, I was wondering:
Why won't this work by just skipping straight to step 5? How does the Dell utility partition affect the installations of either OS?

[SideshowMel]

Well, my inspiron e1505 came and I'm running Vista Ultimate. Is there any particular reason I should wipe the utility partition?