Trouble booting the android_x86-5.1-rc1.iso and android_x86_64-5.1-rc1.img

[Ryan Humphrey]

I'm on a Acer C720P chromebook.

Backstory: 
So I initially installed android_x86-5.1-rc1.iso to my USB stick using Linux Live USB Creator.  It used the settings from the 4.4 version.  This booted right up with no problems in the boot menu options.  The issue I had, then, was that I have no knowledge or skills using cgist within the x86 installer to create/modify my own partition.  I was only able to either run an instance of Android via the "Run without install" option, or I could install it to my HDD SDA1 (it ran incredibly well btw), but after rebooting, it would no longer boot if I selected my HDD in the boot menu, and would just get stuck and hang there, with "Booting from HDD...".  

So, being clueless about cgist, I figured I could get more support if I installed chrubuntu (I chose Gallium OS).  Gparted is a much easier interface than cgist to configure partitions with.  Sadly, I've discovered that (perhaps due to installing Gallium?) my boot menu no longer boots the USB stick I have been using.  At first it was giving me "Missing Operating System Unable to Boot" or something along those lines.  I've since used Unetbootin, Linux Live USB Creator, and I even tried the android_x86_64 img, packed it up into a gz, and then ran the zcat command from the installation instructions (with the correct file names obvi).  It was still just spitting the "missing" message at me.  So then I noticed I was running an older version of Seabios, so I even updated that to 1.9.0.  Now, instead of a "missing" message, I get nothing.  It just says "Booting into HDD..." and stays there.  

I even tried different filesystem types when formatting my usb disk, and SD cards,  I've tried ext2,3,4, fat32, fat16, and again, Unetbootin's doesn't boot, nor does the Linux Live anymore.  
Can anyone else spot what I've missed?

[Ryan Humphrey]

Okay so I finally got an SD Card to boot it up!  I Used Unetbootin, drive was formatted to FAT16, and has "boot" flag.  But because it's me and nothing can ever be easy, there's good news and bad news.  The installation menu options "Run Android-x86 without installation", VESA mode,  and ^Debug mode all work as they should.  The one mode that I want, and that I've ever been interested in, though, "Install Android-x86 to harddisk" flashes some commands really quickly, then everything goes eternally blank.  The dialogue boxes never pop up as they once did.  Just a black screen.  Now this is definitely new territory for me.  I can't think what the problem could be.  I poked around the cfg files, but found nothing odd.  The grub.cfg does specify a screen resolution and a terminal output of gfxterm.  There is nothing else that I can identify that would cause the screen to go blank after choosing the install to harddisk option.  x86 android, on my C720P is like butter though running it without install.  I definitely don't want to be stuck on x86 android with a measly small usb stick that I have to configure every time.  Hoping for some ideas to get this installed on my harddisk finally!

[paul17]

Which OS did you have previously installed? Do you want it back? I can help you get your Windows OS back if you want to. And also I might be of some help to you for installing android-x86 to your hard disk as an independent OS.
Please give me all the details of what you did (step by step) so that I can help you

[Ryan Humphrey]

Again, I'm on an Acer C720 Chromebook. It currently has Chrome OS and Gallium OS installed. I installed Gallium to make it easier for me to configure my partitions so that I could install android x86. My only issue now, is that I can't install Android x86 onto the partition that I created using Gparted in GalliumOS. After all of the trials and tribulations of getting the android_x86-5.1-rc1.iso to not only be accessable to the boot menu, but to also run without errors, I still am unable to install android x86 onto the partition I created. In fact, right now as I type this, I'm on my chromebook running Android_x86! The only problem is that it can only "run without installing". When I choose the option to actually install it, the screen goes black. I can't see any prompts or anything. The first three options (Run Android x86 without Installing, VESA, Debug) work just fine. It's the last option, "Install android x86 on to Harddisk" that pops up with a black screen.

[Chih-Wei Huang]

2015-12-28 14:48 GMT+08:00 Ryan Humphrey <ryf...@gmail.com>:
> Again, I'm on an Acer C720 Chromebook. It currently has Chrome OS and Gallium OS installed. I installed Gallium to make it easier for me to configure my partitions so that I could install android x86. My only issue now, is that I can't install Android x86 onto the partition that I created using Gparted in GalliumOS. After all of the trials and tribulations of getting the android_x86-5.1-rc1.iso to not only be accessable to the boot menu, but to also run without errors, I still am unable to install android x86 onto the partition I created. In fact, right now as I type this, I'm on my chromebook running Android_x86! The only problem is that it can only "run without installing". When I choose the option to actually install it, the screen goes black. I can't see any prompts or anything. The first three options (Run Android x86 without Installing, VESA, Debug) work just fine. It's the last option, "Install android x86 on to Harddisk" that pops up with a black screen.

If you are familiar with linux command tools,
you can install it manually.

Just create a directory in the partition
you want to install, say

mkdir android-5.1-rc1

Then copy the four files (in the usb) into it:
kernel, initrd.img, ramdisk.img,system.sfs

Then create a boot item for it.
Search the forum for more info.


--
Chih-Wei
Android-x86 project
http://www.android-x86.org

[Ryan Humphrey]

omg the creator himself!  Thanks for responding!  I'm actually super duper stupid when it comes to linux, but I switched out gallium OS with lubuntu, and wouldn't you know it?  It has a disk app that lets me mount the partition I want to install android to whilst avoiding using commands.  So I just created the file you told me to create, and then also moved the other files over.  I found instructions on how to make it bootable, but those instructions weren't for my chromebook so I'm a little lost on how to add android to the grub boot menu that lubuntu has.  Any tips there?

[Miker1029]

Simple way, (My way as I'm not that good with Linux), Grub Customizer....

I'm Sure C.W. will say custom40 BUT I've always had issues trying to use it.... But as I said, I stink at linux, So If I can do it By a GUI I do.....

Mike

On 12/29/2015 3:37 PM, Ryan Humphrey wrote:

omg the creator himself!  Thanks for responding!  I'm actually super duper stupid when it comes to linux, but I switched out gallium OS with lubuntu, and wouldn't you know it?  It has a disk app that lets me mount the partition I want to install android to whilst avoiding using commands.  So I just created the file you told me to create, and then also moved the other files over.  I found instructions on how to make it bootable, but those instructions weren't for my chromebook so I'm a little lost on how to add android to the grub boot menu that lubuntu has.  Any tips there?

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[Ryan Humphrey]

Okay so I moved the files, created the boot menu item, and it even detects android x86 when I select it to boot up....  But then the screen just drops me into a terminal window.  I typed "install" for shits and giggles, and it flashes busybox options.  It's difficult to navigate this screen because the screen goes blank a few seconds after I type anything into it.  I also noticed that the command 'reboot' works as well, but other commands like cd dir do not work.  I'm not sure which terminal I'm in or how to continue with the installation process at this point.

[Chih-Wei Huang]

2015-12-30 8:41 GMT+08:00 Ryan Humphrey <ryf...@gmail.com>:
> Okay so I moved the files, created the boot menu item, and it even detects
> android x86 when I select it to boot up.... But then the screen just drops
> me into a terminal window. I typed "install" for shits and giggles, and it
> flashes busybox options. It's difficult to navigate this screen because the
> screen goes blank a few seconds after I type anything into it. I also
> noticed that the command 'reboot' works as well, but other commands like cd
> dir do not work. I'm not sure which terminal I'm in or how to continue with
> the installation process at this point.

What's your kernel cmeline in the boot item?
A common mistake is incorrectly set
androidboot.hardware.

[Ryan Humphrey]

Well I found the issue with that. The android.hardware line in the grub file was just incorrect. It now *boots* onto android on my chromebook perfectly, though I have ran into another odd issue unrelated to this topic, so I have created a new topic detailing it there. The gist of it, is that even though I have put all of the files into the correct partition I wanted, when I boot into android, the storage only displays 100MB, even though the files are on a 18GB partition.