Craig Russell

Web n That

I ♡… the web… php… html… css… linux… shell scripting… folding paper… dog walking… sandwiches… being outside… and most of all @vicuol ☺

Installing Ubuntu 9.10 on HP-G61 Laptop

April 15th, 2010

I’ve recently bought an HP G61-401SA Laptop, and installed a dual boot system with Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10.

I won’t go through the build process, because building a dual-boot system is well documented elsewhere.

After installing Ubuntu, most of the laptop features worked fine, the exceptions are listed below.

Built-in Speakers

Sound through the headphones works fine, but a little tweak is required to get sound to come out through the built-in speakers.

Edit the alsa-base.conf file

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

And paste the following in at the end

# Keep snd-pcsp from being loaded as first soundcard
options snd-pcsp index=-2
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
alias sound-slot-0 snd-hda-intel
options snd-hda-intel model=hp-dv5
options snd-hda-intel enable_msi=1

Then restart the PC.

Wireless Network

Wired network works fine, but there’s some funny behaviour with the wireless card and the on/off switch on the keyboard.

Installing the latest drivers for the wireless card fixed this for me.

Update It seems like occasional restarts are needed to fix wifi drop-outs.

3GB Memory Limit

32-bit Ubuntu has a 3GB memory limit, that is easily overcome by installing the physical address extension.

sudo apt-get install linux-generic-pae

Untested Features

While I’ve managed to get most of the laptop features working, some I haven’t tested and can’t guarantee.

  • HDMI Monitor Output
  • Adrian

    For me, sound, wireless and HDMI work out of the box.

    Don’t know if it’s the same for you, but I get a brief crackling sound from the internal speakers when the laptop is shut down or restarted.

  • Adrian

    Forgot to mention… This is with Lucid (10.04) :)

  • Craig

    I do occasionally get a crackle from the speakers at shut down, but this doesn’t seem to affect live performance. I’m still running 10.04 too, I’m waiting a bit before upgrading to 10.10.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000381795344 Sam Starkenburg

    I’ve installed 11.04, everything for me works out of the box. Well, everything except the card slot. Have you had any issues, or do you have any solutions?

  • http://www.craig-russell.co.uk Craig Russell

    The only problem I had was with my WiFi, which was fixed by adding nm-applet --sm-disable to run at start. I’ve had no issues with the card slot though. Have you searched on the Ubuntu forums for fixes?

  • Anonymous

    I have tried Ubuntu 9.10 on a HP-G61 Laptop it Mine worked really good and mine is like 1 years old and mine had a nice power supply and a fantastic motherboard literally.

  • Anonymous

    I am installed ubuntu on my HP- G61 laptop.

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