Tried to install and could not

elfroggio · 15 August 2025 19:13

Tried to install Manjaro XFCE on a alienware laptop.

Booted from the usb and added for the boot (without it I just get a black screen and it stays black):

nomodeset fbdev=1 rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau

Then it started. I could see the desktop.

The mouse pointer was missing
The mouse was working since I could right-click and see the menu.
Eventually I got some X as a mouse pointer
I could hilight the install manjaro icon, but either single click or double click did nothing.
pressing the window key brought the main menu but I couldn’t click on any item.

Temporarily I was able to install tumbleweed/slowroll, so at least it’s going…

What am I missing? How do I make manjaro work?

Here’s the fastfetch from tumbleweed:

$ fastfetch
froggy@localhost
----------------
OS: openSUSE Tumbleweed-Slowroll x86_64
Host: Alienware m16 R2
Kernel: Linux 6.15.8-1-default
Uptime: 2 hours, 4 mins
Packages: 2967 (rpm)
Shell: bash 5.2.37
Display (BenQ GW2765): 2560x1440 @ 60 Hz in 27" [External]
DE: Xfce4 4.20
WM: Xfwm4 (X11)
WM Theme: Nordic-Polar-v40
Theme: Nordic-bluish-accent-v40 [GTK2/3/4]
Icons: adwaita-xfce [GTK2/3/4]
Font: TeX Gyre Heros (11pt) [GTK2/3/4]
Cursor: Adwaita
Terminal: xfce4-terminal 1.1.5
Terminal Font: Iosevka SS04 (15pt)
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 9 185H (22) @ 5.10 GHz
GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Max-Q / Mobile [Discrete]
GPU 2: Intel Arc Graphics [Integrated]
Memory: 2.31 GiB / 30.86 GiB (7%)
Swap: 0 B / 30.86 GiB (0%)
Disk (/): 12.57 GiB / 317.34 GiB (4%) - btrfs
Disk (/home): 82.56 GiB / 604.38 GiB (14%) - xfs
Local IP (wlp47s0f0): 192.168.8.104/24
Battery (DELL M9DG052E): 54% [AC Connected]
Locale: en_US.utf8

Here’s the inxi from tumbleweed:

 $ inxi -Fxxx
System:
  Host: localhost.localdomain Kernel: 6.15.8-1-default arch: x86_64 bits: 64
    compiler: gcc v: 15.1.1 clocksource: tsc
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.48 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0
    with: xfce4-panel tools: xfce4-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0
    Distro: openSUSE Tumbleweed-Slowroll 20250801
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Alienware product: Alienware m16 R2 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Alienware model: 0MNHT9 v: A01 serial: <superuser required>
    part-nu: 0C91 uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: Alienware v: 1.14.0
    date: 07/01/2025
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 44.5 Wh (54.3%) condition: 81.9/88.2 Wh (92.9%)
    volts: 11.5 min: 11.7 model: SMP DELL M9DG052E type: Li-poly serial: 421
    status: not charging cycles: 6
CPU:
  Info: 16-core (6-mt/10-st) model: Intel Core Ultra 9 185H bits: 64
    type: MST AMCP smt: enabled arch: Meteor Lake rev: 4 cache: L1: 1.6 MiB
    L2: 18 MiB L3: 24 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1257 min/max: 400/4800:5100:3800:2500 cores: 1: 1257
    2: 1257 3: 1257 4: 1257 5: 1257 6: 1257 7: 1257 8: 1257 9: 1257 10: 1257
    11: 1257 12: 1257 13: 1257 14: 1257 15: 1257 16: 1257 17: 1257 18: 1257
    19: 1257 20: 1257 21: 1257 22: 1257 bogomips: 135168
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Meteor Lake-P [Intel Arc Graphics] vendor: Dell driver: N/A
    arch: Xe-LPG bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:7d55 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA AD107M [GeForce RTX 4060 Max-Q / Mobile] vendor: Dell
    driver: nvidia v: 570.172.08 arch: Lovelace pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:28e0 class-ID: 0300
  Device-3: Realtek Integrated_Webcam_FHD driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 3-9:7 chip-ID: 0bda:557c
    class-ID: fe01 serial: 200901010001
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.15 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0
    driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting,vesa
    alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-size: <missing: xdpyinfo>
  Monitor-1: DP-2 size-res: N/A modes: N/A
  Monitor-2: HDMI-0 pos: primary res: mode: 2560x1440 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1)
    dpi: 109 size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23") diag: 685mm (26.97") modes: N/A
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 vendor: nvidia v: 570.172.08 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU/PCIe/SSE2
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.321 layers: 2 surfaces: N/A device: 0
    type: discrete-gpu driver: N/A device-ID: 10de:28e0 device: 1 type: cpu
    driver: N/A device-ID: 10005:0000
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo de: xfce4-display-settings
    gpu: nvidia-smi x11: xprop,xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Meteor Lake-P HD Audio vendor: Dell
    driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-mtl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:7e28
    class-ID: 0401
  Device-2: NVIDIA AD107 High Definition Audio vendor: Dell
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 8
    bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:22be class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.15.8-1-default status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek Killer E3000 2.5GbE vendor: Dell driver: r8169 v: kernel
    pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 2e:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:3000
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp46s0 state: down mac: e8:cf:83:0b:51:56
  Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 7 AX1775 /AX1790 /BE20 /BE401/BE1750 2x2
    driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 2f:00.0
    chip-ID: 8086:272b class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp47s0f0 state: up mac: 44:38:e8:c3:f2:b7
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 95.51 GiB (10.0%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Micron model: 2550 1024GB size: 953.87 GiB
    speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: 24374C02C7B4 fw-rev: 25500201
    temp: 37.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 317.34 GiB used: 12.57 GiB (4.0%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 1022 MiB used: 386.8 MiB (37.8%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
  ID-3: /home size: 604.38 GiB used: 82.56 GiB (13.7%) fs: xfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3
  ID-4: /opt size: 317.34 GiB used: 12.57 GiB (4.0%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-5: /var size: 317.34 GiB used: 12.57 GiB (4.0%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 30.86 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 56.0 C mobo: 50.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 0 fan-2: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.86 GiB used: 2.4 GiB (7.8%)
  Processes: 403 Power: uptime: 2h 6m states: freeze,mem,disk
    suspend: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 257
    default: graphical
  Packages: pm: rpm pkgs: N/A note: see --rpm Compilers: gcc: 15.1.1
    Shell: Bash v: 5.2.37 running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.37

BG405 · 15 August 2025 19:40

It could be a corrupted .ISO or a bad write to the USB. I assume you verified the .ISO? (easily missed )

I’d recommend Ventoy as this makes life easier, especially when it comes to checking if the .ISO was copied correctly to the Ventoy stick.

elfroggio · 15 August 2025 20:41

I do use ventoy.

No. I did the check the 256checksum when I downloaded and now again on the ventoy usb stick and it still checks ok.

linux-aarhus · 16 August 2025 04:43

I suggest you start with free drivers for the Intel card - you can always poke around with the dGPU when the system is up.

Other members with dual gpu laptops suggest you use envycontrol or supergfxctl to switch GPU.

Hipster · 16 August 2025 09:15

Might be nvidia.
Have a look here> ```After system update black screen with cursor’‘’ & see if that is your issue. The ‘fix’ is in that post.

soundofthunder · 16 August 2025 15:20

One possibility is that you didn’t configure Ventoy to boot as UEFI.

This scenario has arisen many times; usually a result of not investing a few minutes to understand the documentation.

If installing to a UEFI system with the intention of booting that system with UEFI technology, the Installer medium (DVD/ISO/USB) must also boot as UEFI.

If the Installer wasn’t created properly it will need to be recreated from scratch. The tutorial that follows may be helpful.

However, if that wasn’t the problem, there seems little that can be suggested until you again attempt to install Manjaro and provide useful feedback and other information directly related to Manjaro.

If you have further trouble installing Manjaro, booting from the Installer live environment will place you in a position to generate logs, provide system information as it pertains to Manjaro, and perform diagnostic and recovery tasks from a chroot environment, if needed - basically, useful detail others might need in order to help you.

Regards.

elfroggio · 16 August 2025 15:46

it did boot into uefi. I have to start the ‘one-time-boot menu’ uefi screen to boot.

it did boot, i could see the desktop and the icons and startup menu box that includes the button ‘launch installer’ but the problem was to do with the mouse not clicking/pressing the button. Same with icon on the left.

So I couldn’t install.

andreas85 · 16 August 2025 16:24

Did you miss this tip ?

elfroggio · 16 August 2025 18:04

How do I select the intel free drivers during the boot?

anon33601770 · 16 August 2025 18:36

There is an option and possibility to select one of the two upon booting the installer ISO:

boot using open source drivers
and
boot using proprietary drivers

(the latter of which is, in my understanding, only ever needed if you are using an NVIDIA graphics card)

I’m not aware of any other choices beyond these two.

… I never used the latter - why would I even try?
…since I never ever had hardware with Nvidia graphics

elfroggio · 16 August 2025 18:55

Tried both ways and it’s the same, can’t see the mouse.

I can see the right click menu but that’s it. And positioning the mouse over an item and clicking or double clicking does not activate the item.

elfroggio · 16 August 2025 18:58

The problem is not the video driver, me think. The problem is more the keyboard/mouse they don’t have any effect after the loading the live xfce iso.

anon33601770 · 16 August 2025 18:59

Mkay.

Do we know anything about the hardware on this particular specimen?

You do - or, at least, you can know.

We don’t.
You didn’t tell.

inxi -zv8

could be a start

to show info about the hardware as well as about what version of ISO you used

elfroggio · 16 August 2025 20:36

I did on the 1st post. But since I couldn’t do it under Manjaro, I quickly loaded Tumbleweed and did the inxi from there but the mod removed it with:

Mod edit:- Removed outputs relating to Tumbleweed.

anon33601770 · 16 August 2025 20:59

No, you didn’t.
There is nothing like this in the first post or in the entire thread as of now.

… perhaps it was in the:

whatever or whoever this was … it is no longer there.

Whichever moderator removed it:

Why?

It’s essentially the same
whichever distro you boot

Of course it would be more meaningful if you did it from the ISO you want to install from … Manjaro

Try again.

Aragorn · 16 August 2025 21:11

I agree, and I will revert what that Evil Mod™ did.

elfroggio · 16 August 2025 23:10

Reposting again the fastfetch and the inxi:
inxi from tumbleweed:

 $ inxi -Fxxx
System:
  Host: localhost.localdomain Kernel: 6.15.8-1-default arch: x86_64 bits: 64
    compiler: gcc v: 15.1.1 clocksource: tsc
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.48 wm: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0
    with: xfce4-panel tools: xfce4-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0
    Distro: openSUSE Tumbleweed-Slowroll 20250801
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Alienware product: Alienware m16 R2 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Alienware model: 0MNHT9 v: A01 serial: <superuser required>
    part-nu: 0C91 uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: Alienware v: 1.14.0
    date: 07/01/2025
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 44.5 Wh (54.3%) condition: 81.9/88.2 Wh (92.9%)
    volts: 11.5 min: 11.7 model: SMP DELL M9DG052E type: Li-poly serial: 421
    status: not charging cycles: 6
CPU:
  Info: 16-core (6-mt/10-st) model: Intel Core Ultra 9 185H bits: 64
    type: MST AMCP smt: enabled arch: Meteor Lake rev: 4 cache: L1: 1.6 MiB
    L2: 18 MiB L3: 24 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1257 min/max: 400/4800:5100:3800:2500 cores: 1: 1257
    2: 1257 3: 1257 4: 1257 5: 1257 6: 1257 7: 1257 8: 1257 9: 1257 10: 1257
    11: 1257 12: 1257 13: 1257 14: 1257 15: 1257 16: 1257 17: 1257 18: 1257
    19: 1257 20: 1257 21: 1257 22: 1257 bogomips: 135168
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Meteor Lake-P [Intel Arc Graphics] vendor: Dell driver: N/A
    arch: Xe-LPG bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:7d55 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA AD107M [GeForce RTX 4060 Max-Q / Mobile] vendor: Dell
    driver: nvidia v: 570.172.08 arch: Lovelace pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:28e0 class-ID: 0300
  Device-3: Realtek Integrated_Webcam_FHD driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 3-9:7 chip-ID: 0bda:557c
    class-ID: fe01 serial: 200901010001
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.15 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.20.0
    driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting,vesa
    alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-size: <missing: xdpyinfo>
  Monitor-1: DP-2 size-res: N/A modes: N/A
  Monitor-2: HDMI-0 pos: primary res: mode: 2560x1440 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1)
    dpi: 109 size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23") diag: 685mm (26.97") modes: N/A
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 vendor: nvidia v: 570.172.08 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU/PCIe/SSE2
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.321 layers: 2 surfaces: N/A device: 0
    type: discrete-gpu driver: N/A device-ID: 10de:28e0 device: 1 type: cpu
    driver: N/A device-ID: 10005:0000
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo de: xfce4-display-settings
    gpu: nvidia-smi x11: xprop,xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Meteor Lake-P HD Audio vendor: Dell
    driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-mtl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:7e28
    class-ID: 0401
  Device-2: NVIDIA AD107 High Definition Audio vendor: Dell
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 8
    bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:22be class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.15.8-1-default status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek Killer E3000 2.5GbE vendor: Dell driver: r8169 v: kernel
    pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 2e:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:3000
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp46s0 state: down mac: e8:cf:83:0b:51:56
  Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 7 AX1775 /AX1790 /BE20 /BE401/BE1750 2x2
    driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 2f:00.0
    chip-ID: 8086:272b class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp47s0f0 state: up mac: 44:38:e8:c3:f2:b7
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 95.51 GiB (10.0%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Micron model: 2550 1024GB size: 953.87 GiB
    speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: 24374C02C7B4 fw-rev: 25500201
    temp: 37.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 317.34 GiB used: 12.57 GiB (4.0%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 1022 MiB used: 386.8 MiB (37.8%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
  ID-3: /home size: 604.38 GiB used: 82.56 GiB (13.7%) fs: xfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3
  ID-4: /opt size: 317.34 GiB used: 12.57 GiB (4.0%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-5: /var size: 317.34 GiB used: 12.57 GiB (4.0%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 30.86 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 56.0 C mobo: 50.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 0 fan-2: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.86 GiB used: 2.4 GiB (7.8%)
  Processes: 403 Power: uptime: 2h 6m states: freeze,mem,disk
    suspend: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 257
    default: graphical
  Packages: pm: rpm pkgs: N/A note: see --rpm Compilers: gcc: 15.1.1
    Shell: Bash v: 5.2.37 running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.37

and the fastfetch from tumbleweed

$ fastfetch
froggy@localhost
----------------
OS: openSUSE Tumbleweed-Slowroll x86_64
Host: Alienware m16 R2
Kernel: Linux 6.15.8-1-default
Uptime: 2 hours, 4 mins
Packages: 2967 (rpm)
Shell: bash 5.2.37
Display (BenQ GW2765): 2560x1440 @ 60 Hz in 27" [External]
DE: Xfce4 4.20
WM: Xfwm4 (X11)
WM Theme: Nordic-Polar-v40
Theme: Nordic-bluish-accent-v40 [GTK2/3/4]
Icons: adwaita-xfce [GTK2/3/4]
Font: TeX Gyre Heros (11pt) [GTK2/3/4]
Cursor: Adwaita
Terminal: xfce4-terminal 1.1.5
Terminal Font: Iosevka SS04 (15pt)
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 9 185H (22) @ 5.10 GHz
GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Max-Q / Mobile [Discrete]
GPU 2: Intel Arc Graphics [Integrated]
Memory: 2.31 GiB / 30.86 GiB (7%)
Swap: 0 B / 30.86 GiB (0%)
Disk (/): 12.57 GiB / 317.34 GiB (4%) - btrfs
Disk (/home): 82.56 GiB / 604.38 GiB (14%) - xfs
Local IP (wlp47s0f0): 192.168.8.104/24
Battery (DELL M9DG052E): 54% [AC Connected]
Locale: en_US.utf8

linux-aarhus · 17 August 2025 05:18

elfroggio:

Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Alienware product: Alienware m16 R2 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Alienware model: 0MNHT9 v: A01 serial: <superuser required>
    part-nu: 0C91 uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: Alienware v: 1.14.0
    date: 07/01/2025

elfroggio:

Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Meteor Lake-P [Intel Arc Graphics] vendor: Dell driver: N/A
    arch: Xe-LPG bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:7d55 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA AD107M [GeForce RTX 4060 Max-Q / Mobile] vendor: Dell
    driver: nvidia v: 570.172.08 arch: Lovelace pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:28e0 class-ID: 0300

Looks like it could be a rough ride …

https://sx.nix.dk/search?q=Alienware+m16+R2+linux+support

I have always had an biased attitude towards laptops from Dell - and I am confirmed time and time again …

andreas85 · 17 August 2025 06:33

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=299988

only about wifi, but he managed to get it working.