HP 5320m notebook for Windows and Linux
Author: L.S.Lowe. File: hp5320m. This update: 20120104.
Part of Guide to the Local System.
Quick look at the hardware
I have the Intel i5-M480 2.67GHz (2 cores, 2 hyperthreads per core),
4 GB memory, 500 GB disk, no optical drive.
System supplied is Windows 7 Professional.
Initial view of the disk
I switched on with an external USB CD/DVD drive connected (not HP-provided),
before any Windows system boot, and
pressed ESC and then F9 to choose that CD/DVD drive as boot device,
and then booted into a Linux installation system (Fedora 15),
and did a Ctl-Alt-F2 and an fdisk -lu command
(so output is in sectors; option -u is defaulted in F15 anyway),
to view the layout of the notebook partitions as supplied; for me I had:
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 616447 307200 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 616448 101279743 50331648 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 941115392 972572671 15728640 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4 972572672 976756735 2092032 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
Mounting the partitions read-only, I found that
sda1 is the boot/bitlocker partition, sda2 the Windows C drive, sda3 a recovery partition, and sda4 a HP Tools partition.
The follow-on model, HP 5330m, shows a similar basic layout:
just some differences in the exact sizes of the partitions:
for example, 60 GiB in place of the 48 GiB here for the initial sda2.
It shows the same initial large gap (around 400GB) between the
end of sda2 and beginning of sda3,
which is taken-up during the Setup phase of booting Windows for the first time.
Dual boot laptop: preparing partitions to give room for Linux
For my dual-boot 5320m, where I need to allow room for Linux,
I used the same preparatory steps
as separately written-up for my HP 5330m laptops.
For more information, see my
HP 5330m write-up,
particularly the section
Dual boot laptop: preparing partitions to give room for Linux.
Because of the slightly different layout sizes, the numbers
for the HP 5320m are different from that section, as follows:
- Before moving, the sda3 Recovery partition had free space of
410076 MiB before it, size 15360 MiB, and no space after it.
I did a GParted Move/Resize so that it had free space of 32768 MiB before it,
same size 15360 MiB, and free space of 377308 MiB after it.
- The HP Tools partition (originally sda4) was 2043 MiB exactly in size.
After the GParted shenanigans, the fdisk -lu output was:
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 616447 307200 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 616448 101279743 50331648 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 168388608 199845887 15728640 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4 199845888 976773119 388463616 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 199847936 204031999 2092032 b W95 FAT32
Booting into Windows for first time
Setup is preparing your computer for first use,
setup is checking video performance,
chose language,
chose localisation,
chose userid and computer name, password,
accepted EULAs,
timezone,
skipped wireless,
setup will continue after restarting your computer,
starting windows,
setup is preparing your computer for first use (took around 5 mins),
software is being installed (took around 8 minutes),
welcome to your new HP computer,
deferred registration,
skipped updates,
declined Norton 60-day trial,
skipped network setup,
declined Norton again, rebooted.
Uninstalled the following:
Bing bar, McAfee Total protection service,
Microsoft Office 2010 starter edition,
Norton Online backup,
WinZip trial version.
Installed the following: MS Office 2010 full edition,
MS Security Essentials, other bits and bobs.
After installing these and all current updates for Windows and Office,
the C: drive had 40 GiB free of its 80 GiB.
Dual boot laptop: reviewing the effect of first Windows boot
After the first Windows boot(s),
the setup has expanded sda2 to fill the unused space,
as can be seen in the fdisk output in the next section.
Dual boot laptop: partitioning for Linux
I booted from a Fedora 15 installation CD,
chose installation using the basic video driver
(because otherwise I ended up with a blank screen, which is
a problem that doesn't occur with the later HP 5330m laptop),
and added partitions for a 300 GiB D: drive and
for Linux as follows:
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 616447 307200 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 616448 168388607 83886080 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 168388608 199845887 15728640 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4 199845888 976773119 388463616 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 199847936 204031999 2092032 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda6 204034048 833179647 314572800 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda7 833181696 896096255 31457280 83 Linux [system 1]
/dev/sda8 896098304 959012863 31457280 83 Linux [system 2]
/dev/sda9 959014912 975792127 8388608 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda10 975794176 976773119 489472 83 Linux [boot area]
Installing Fedora 15
I chose to install Fedora 15 on the /dev/sda7 partition.
This worked OK, but I had to choose
Install using basic video driver from the initial menu,
otherwise I got a blank / black screen when anaconda started.
Checking through facilities on the notebook:
- Screen shows up initially with resolution 1368x768 pixels.
A look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log showed it was using the VESA driver.
It turned out that this was because the installation procedure
using the basic video driver menu choice
had forced the nomodeset kernel option to be in effect.
I removed that from the kernel line in /boot/grub/grub.conf,
and removed the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file
(or I could have kept the file but changed the driver line to intel),
and rebooted, and then I got the required intel video driver.
With this driver, the resolution was 1366x768 pixels.
- The VGA monitor output socket worked without problems
(with the intel video driver now in use).
I connected up a VGA external monitor,
and a KDE pop-up asked me if I wanted to configure this new monitor.
(Alternatively System Settings / Hardware / Display and Monitor
allows this to be configured).
I found VGA1 (Connected) and
changed Size from Disabled to 1920x1080 (Auto) and
clicked to Accept the new settings,
and the display was repeated on the monitor.
Multi-monitor mode is also possible.
If I used the HP keyboard Fn F4 to switch the monitor mode,
I found I got a black / blank screen on both laptop-display and monitor.
Using Ctl/Alt/F2 and Ctl/Alt/F1 switched the laptop-display back on,
but the panel was then off the bottom of the screen,
which was inconvenient!
I did a Ctl/Alt/Backspace to force the X server to restart.
Looks like there's a bug somewhere, so I'll avoid using Fn F4.
- Realtek gigabit LAN network worked: it used the r8169 driver automatically.
- Wireless network worked easily.
This laptop has the Broadcom BCM4313 802.11b/g/n wireless LAN controller,
and the brcmsmac modules is part of the supplied kernel.
My KDE session already had the Network Management icon
in the System Tray,
so I was able to connect to my local wireless network
from a choice offered on the icon popup.
Installing skype:
I chose the version on the www.skype.com website that says it is
for Fedora 13+. (The name of the rpm implies Fedora 10 though).
This installed without apparent dependencies.
But this version is 32-bit,
and running it showed I needed to install lots of 32-bit versions
of packages, most of which were already installed in 64-bit:
redhat-lsb.i686 alsa-lib.i686 alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i686
libXv.i686 libXScrnSaver.i686 qt.i686 qt-x11.i686.
Installing those using yum brought in about 80 packages in all, on my system.
- The webcam in the notebook lid was recognised by the kernel,
with the message viewable in /var/log/messages:
Product: HP Webcam [2 MP Fixed]
, and
Manufacturer: Foxlink
.
Checking it with the skype command shows that it was
recognised and used by skype.
- Audio output to the internal speakers worked without intervention:
I heard the KDE sounds on login and during a Skype call.
- Audio input with the built-in "dual-microphone array"
works, as tested by a Skype call.
You can use alsamixer or kmix to tweak the volumes.
- Audio input/output on the notebook's combo 3.5mm socket
to a Logitech analogue headset: not yet tested,
but it worked on my HP 5330m notebooks.
Using this socket automatically mutes the notebook's audio.
I used a combo converter
Startech.com MUYHSMFF 3.5mm 4 Pin to 2x 3 Pin 3.5mm
Headset Splitter Adapter - M/F
,
as HP didn't supply one.
L.S.Lowe