Install Ubuntu on a laptop without hard drive and without a working LCD
Old laptop, Vaio Z2, the previous owner took away their hard drive to recover the data. I wanted to turn the laptop into some sort of desktop PC by making it run on a USB liveboot of Ubuntu as I don't have any replacement HDD. The screen doesn't work at all (black) so after reading a bit around I found out I could get the PC to automatically connect to the an external monitor by unplugging the laptop monitor from the motherboard, did that but PC is still not showing anything on the external monitor.
ubuntu laptop usb display
asked Jan 18 at 19:01
lorcalhostlorcalhost
11
|
show 2 more comments
Old laptop, Vaio Z2, the previous owner took away their hard drive to recover the data. I wanted to turn the laptop into some sort of desktop PC by making it run on a USB liveboot of Ubuntu as I don't have any replacement HDD. The screen doesn't work at all (black) so after reading a bit around I found out I could get the PC to automatically connect to the an external monitor by unplugging the laptop monitor from the motherboard, did that but PC is still not showing anything on the external monitor.
ubuntu laptop usb display
asked Jan 18 at 19:01
lorcalhostlorcalhost
11
You're describing several different things and it isn't clear what specific problem you're trying to solve. You normally don't need to disconnect internal cables to use an external monitor. It should either display in addition to the built-in display or be selectable from a function key. If you get nothing on any display, it could be because the graphics card has died. Have you confirmed it doesn't have a power issue? re: booting from USB, what boot provision did you install on the USB drive? Is the laptop pre-UEFI? (cont'd)
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:27
Do you know if the USB drive works and if it boots on another machine (of the same BIOS type)? Are you aware that a live session won't be able to save anything unless you modify it for persistence?
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:27
The first thing I'm trying to solve is actually getting an image output, I read on other superuser posts that by unplugging the internal display would force the output to be the external monitor. The USB is working on my main laptop. The laptop I'm trying to fix is a Vaio Z2, not sure if it is pre-UEFI, previous installation was windows 7.
– lorcalhost
Jan 18 at 19:34
If your main laptop isn't ancient, there's a good chance that it uses UEFI. The Vaio probably doesn't if it came with Win 7. If the USB drive boots your current laptop, there's a good chance that it doesn't have the correct boot provision for the Vaio.
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:46
Main laptop is a 2017 Asus Zenbook Pro so not ancient. How would I find the correct boot provision or correctly manage this? I'm currently creating a live USB using this guide tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/… using the same settings reported there. Should I reconnect the monitor to the motherboard?
– lorcalhost
Jan 18 at 19:54
|
show 2 more comments
Old laptop, Vaio Z2, the previous owner took away their hard drive to recover the data. I wanted to turn the laptop into some sort of desktop PC by making it run on a USB liveboot of Ubuntu as I don't have any replacement HDD. The screen doesn't work at all (black) so after reading a bit around I found out I could get the PC to automatically connect to the an external monitor by unplugging the laptop monitor from the motherboard, did that but PC is still not showing anything on the external monitor.
ubuntu laptop usb display
asked Jan 18 at 19:01
lorcalhostlorcalhost
11
Old laptop, Vaio Z2, the previous owner took away their hard drive to recover the data. I wanted to turn the laptop into some sort of desktop PC by making it run on a USB liveboot of Ubuntu as I don't have any replacement HDD. The screen doesn't work at all (black) so after reading a bit around I found out I could get the PC to automatically connect to the an external monitor by unplugging the laptop monitor from the motherboard, did that but PC is still not showing anything on the external monitor.
ubuntu laptop usb display
ubuntu laptop usb display
asked Jan 18 at 19:01
lorcalhostlorcalhost
11
asked Jan 18 at 19:01
lorcalhostlorcalhost
11
asked Jan 18 at 19:01
lorcalhostlorcalhost
11
asked Jan 18 at 19:01
lorcalhostlorcalhost
11
asked Jan 18 at 19:01
lorcalhostlorcalhost
11
11
You're describing several different things and it isn't clear what specific problem you're trying to solve. You normally don't need to disconnect internal cables to use an external monitor. It should either display in addition to the built-in display or be selectable from a function key. If you get nothing on any display, it could be because the graphics card has died. Have you confirmed it doesn't have a power issue? re: booting from USB, what boot provision did you install on the USB drive? Is the laptop pre-UEFI? (cont'd)
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:27
Do you know if the USB drive works and if it boots on another machine (of the same BIOS type)? Are you aware that a live session won't be able to save anything unless you modify it for persistence?
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:27
The first thing I'm trying to solve is actually getting an image output, I read on other superuser posts that by unplugging the internal display would force the output to be the external monitor. The USB is working on my main laptop. The laptop I'm trying to fix is a Vaio Z2, not sure if it is pre-UEFI, previous installation was windows 7.
– lorcalhost
Jan 18 at 19:34
If your main laptop isn't ancient, there's a good chance that it uses UEFI. The Vaio probably doesn't if it came with Win 7. If the USB drive boots your current laptop, there's a good chance that it doesn't have the correct boot provision for the Vaio.
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:46
Main laptop is a 2017 Asus Zenbook Pro so not ancient. How would I find the correct boot provision or correctly manage this? I'm currently creating a live USB using this guide tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/… using the same settings reported there. Should I reconnect the monitor to the motherboard?
– lorcalhost
Jan 18 at 19:54
|
show 2 more comments
You're describing several different things and it isn't clear what specific problem you're trying to solve. You normally don't need to disconnect internal cables to use an external monitor. It should either display in addition to the built-in display or be selectable from a function key. If you get nothing on any display, it could be because the graphics card has died. Have you confirmed it doesn't have a power issue? re: booting from USB, what boot provision did you install on the USB drive? Is the laptop pre-UEFI? (cont'd)
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:27
Do you know if the USB drive works and if it boots on another machine (of the same BIOS type)? Are you aware that a live session won't be able to save anything unless you modify it for persistence?
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:27
The first thing I'm trying to solve is actually getting an image output, I read on other superuser posts that by unplugging the internal display would force the output to be the external monitor. The USB is working on my main laptop. The laptop I'm trying to fix is a Vaio Z2, not sure if it is pre-UEFI, previous installation was windows 7.
– lorcalhost
Jan 18 at 19:34
If your main laptop isn't ancient, there's a good chance that it uses UEFI. The Vaio probably doesn't if it came with Win 7. If the USB drive boots your current laptop, there's a good chance that it doesn't have the correct boot provision for the Vaio.
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:46
Main laptop is a 2017 Asus Zenbook Pro so not ancient. How would I find the correct boot provision or correctly manage this? I'm currently creating a live USB using this guide tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/… using the same settings reported there. Should I reconnect the monitor to the motherboard?
– lorcalhost
Jan 18 at 19:54
You're describing several different things and it isn't clear what specific problem you're trying to solve. You normally don't need to disconnect internal cables to use an external monitor. It should either display in addition to the built-in display or be selectable from a function key. If you get nothing on any display, it could be because the graphics card has died. Have you confirmed it doesn't have a power issue? re: booting from USB, what boot provision did you install on the USB drive? Is the laptop pre-UEFI? (cont'd)
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:27
You're describing several different things and it isn't clear what specific problem you're trying to solve. You normally don't need to disconnect internal cables to use an external monitor. It should either display in addition to the built-in display or be selectable from a function key. If you get nothing on any display, it could be because the graphics card has died. Have you confirmed it doesn't have a power issue? re: booting from USB, what boot provision did you install on the USB drive? Is the laptop pre-UEFI? (cont'd)
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:27
Do you know if the USB drive works and if it boots on another machine (of the same BIOS type)? Are you aware that a live session won't be able to save anything unless you modify it for persistence?
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:27
Do you know if the USB drive works and if it boots on another machine (of the same BIOS type)? Are you aware that a live session won't be able to save anything unless you modify it for persistence?
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:27
The first thing I'm trying to solve is actually getting an image output, I read on other superuser posts that by unplugging the internal display would force the output to be the external monitor. The USB is working on my main laptop. The laptop I'm trying to fix is a Vaio Z2, not sure if it is pre-UEFI, previous installation was windows 7.
– lorcalhost
Jan 18 at 19:34
The first thing I'm trying to solve is actually getting an image output, I read on other superuser posts that by unplugging the internal display would force the output to be the external monitor. The USB is working on my main laptop. The laptop I'm trying to fix is a Vaio Z2, not sure if it is pre-UEFI, previous installation was windows 7.
– lorcalhost
Jan 18 at 19:34
If your main laptop isn't ancient, there's a good chance that it uses UEFI. The Vaio probably doesn't if it came with Win 7. If the USB drive boots your current laptop, there's a good chance that it doesn't have the correct boot provision for the Vaio.
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:46
If your main laptop isn't ancient, there's a good chance that it uses UEFI. The Vaio probably doesn't if it came with Win 7. If the USB drive boots your current laptop, there's a good chance that it doesn't have the correct boot provision for the Vaio.
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:46
Main laptop is a 2017 Asus Zenbook Pro so not ancient. How would I find the correct boot provision or correctly manage this? I'm currently creating a live USB using this guide tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/… using the same settings reported there. Should I reconnect the monitor to the motherboard?
– lorcalhost
Jan 18 at 19:54
Main laptop is a 2017 Asus Zenbook Pro so not ancient. How would I find the correct boot provision or correctly manage this? I'm currently creating a live USB using this guide tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/… using the same settings reported there. Should I reconnect the monitor to the motherboard?
– lorcalhost
Jan 18 at 19:54
|
show 2 more comments
1 Answer
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If the laptop is booting from USB, then you can do a "real" install on another machine, write the boot loader to the USB device, and use that to boot the laptop from. Just match the architechture (386 vs amd64) and video card family (nvidia vs ati vs intel) and you should be good to go.
If you install from the server ISO hten video doesn't matter until you install one of the desktop tasks later on, and you'll be able to install the ssh daemon at the same time, then it should be a simple matter of port scanning your local network or monitoring your DHCP server to find the machine on the LAN after booting the laptop.
answered Jan 18 at 19:18
ivanivanivanivan
1,25427
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If the laptop is booting from USB, then you can do a "real" install on another machine, write the boot loader to the USB device, and use that to boot the laptop from. Just match the architechture (386 vs amd64) and video card family (nvidia vs ati vs intel) and you should be good to go.
If you install from the server ISO hten video doesn't matter until you install one of the desktop tasks later on, and you'll be able to install the ssh daemon at the same time, then it should be a simple matter of port scanning your local network or monitoring your DHCP server to find the machine on the LAN after booting the laptop.
answered Jan 18 at 19:18
ivanivanivanivan
1,25427
add a comment |
If the laptop is booting from USB, then you can do a "real" install on another machine, write the boot loader to the USB device, and use that to boot the laptop from. Just match the architechture (386 vs amd64) and video card family (nvidia vs ati vs intel) and you should be good to go.
If you install from the server ISO hten video doesn't matter until you install one of the desktop tasks later on, and you'll be able to install the ssh daemon at the same time, then it should be a simple matter of port scanning your local network or monitoring your DHCP server to find the machine on the LAN after booting the laptop.
answered Jan 18 at 19:18
ivanivanivanivan
1,25427
add a comment |
If the laptop is booting from USB, then you can do a "real" install on another machine, write the boot loader to the USB device, and use that to boot the laptop from. Just match the architechture (386 vs amd64) and video card family (nvidia vs ati vs intel) and you should be good to go.
If you install from the server ISO hten video doesn't matter until you install one of the desktop tasks later on, and you'll be able to install the ssh daemon at the same time, then it should be a simple matter of port scanning your local network or monitoring your DHCP server to find the machine on the LAN after booting the laptop.
answered Jan 18 at 19:18
ivanivanivanivan
1,25427
If the laptop is booting from USB, then you can do a "real" install on another machine, write the boot loader to the USB device, and use that to boot the laptop from. Just match the architechture (386 vs amd64) and video card family (nvidia vs ati vs intel) and you should be good to go.
If you install from the server ISO hten video doesn't matter until you install one of the desktop tasks later on, and you'll be able to install the ssh daemon at the same time, then it should be a simple matter of port scanning your local network or monitoring your DHCP server to find the machine on the LAN after booting the laptop.
answered Jan 18 at 19:18
ivanivanivanivan
1,25427
answered Jan 18 at 19:18
ivanivanivanivan
1,25427
answered Jan 18 at 19:18
ivanivanivanivan
1,25427
answered Jan 18 at 19:18
ivanivanivanivan
1,25427
1,25427
add a comment |
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You're describing several different things and it isn't clear what specific problem you're trying to solve. You normally don't need to disconnect internal cables to use an external monitor. It should either display in addition to the built-in display or be selectable from a function key. If you get nothing on any display, it could be because the graphics card has died. Have you confirmed it doesn't have a power issue? re: booting from USB, what boot provision did you install on the USB drive? Is the laptop pre-UEFI? (cont'd)
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:27
Do you know if the USB drive works and if it boots on another machine (of the same BIOS type)? Are you aware that a live session won't be able to save anything unless you modify it for persistence?
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:27
The first thing I'm trying to solve is actually getting an image output, I read on other superuser posts that by unplugging the internal display would force the output to be the external monitor. The USB is working on my main laptop. The laptop I'm trying to fix is a Vaio Z2, not sure if it is pre-UEFI, previous installation was windows 7.
– lorcalhost
Jan 18 at 19:34
If your main laptop isn't ancient, there's a good chance that it uses UEFI. The Vaio probably doesn't if it came with Win 7. If the USB drive boots your current laptop, there's a good chance that it doesn't have the correct boot provision for the Vaio.
– fixer1234
Jan 18 at 19:46
Main laptop is a 2017 Asus Zenbook Pro so not ancient. How would I find the correct boot provision or correctly manage this? I'm currently creating a live USB using this guide tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/… using the same settings reported there. Should I reconnect the monitor to the motherboard?
– lorcalhost
Jan 18 at 19:54