Troubleshooting Issues During World Finals OS Installation

Overview

We've tried to make installing the ICPC World Finals OS image ("WF OS") as easy and as universally-compatible as possible. However, creating a single installation which can be easily installed on the literally thousands of machine hardware configurations which exist is a nearly impossible task; it's understandable that it might not go perfectly for you. If you are having problems with installing the WF OS, this page contains a few notes which may be helpful.

It is expected that the reader has first read, understood, and followed the instructions at this page regarding the procedures for installing the WF OS. If you have run into problems after following those instructions, see if any of the following will help.

Mouse Issues

On some hardware, the mouse may not be responsive during the installation process. If the mouse does not work, use the TAB key to move between on-screen selections; use the ENTER key to select.

Network Issues

On some hardware, DHCP may not work by default -- with the result that the machine has no usable IP address and therefore cannot connect to the network. If this happens, try the following steps:

1. find your network interface name by running the `ip link` command. This will list network interfaces by name. Ignore the lo name; the other is the one you want. This interface name is referred to as $ifc_name in what follows below.

2. execute the command

   	sudo ifup $ifc_name
   		

   where again, $ifc_name is the name of your network interface as determined above.

Other Issues

On some machines (including for example the Lenovo Thinkpad W540) you are required to have a more hands on approach to the install. For example, shortly after the machine starts booting from the installer chip you may see "Ubuntu" in the middle of the screen with an image at the bottom of the screen rather than the boot menu described in the installation instructions. Press any key (ex: space) to access the boot menu. Use arrow keys to navigate to which Language you want and hit enter. Then hit F6 to bring up "Other Options".

The W540 also requires "nomodeset" to be highlighted and hit enter to select it, which puts an "x" beside "nomodeset" to indicate it has been selected. Hit ESC to leave that menu; then you can select Install Ubuntu and follow the normal part of this guide.

Some machines may require the "noapic" and/or "nolapic" settings to boot properly.