Linux on a Medion 9706 laptop
Last update : february 24, 2007
This page is here to tell my experience installing Linux on my Medion 9706 laptop.
I'll try to provide useful information for future owners of this laptop, or people currently shopping for a Linux-supported one.
Oh, of course : I am in no way affiliated to Medion or any other vendor. Please get in touch with their customer service for official support (although they most likely still live on a Windows-only planet…). I'll try and answer non trivial questions but I can only do so much…
I buy it in a supermarket in spring 2002, because I need it for personnal projects, and it was cheap (around 1800 euros).
In fact, I buy it even cheaper, because it was an exposition model. And I use it until February 2009, when it was stealed.
Overview of the Medion MD9706
pentium IV at 1.6 Ghz
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Integrated audio/modem chipset : 82801BA/BAM AC'97
RTL-8139C Ethernet 10/100 Mbits controller
Hitachi DK23CA 20 Gb hard disk.
Matshita CW-8121 8x4x24x CD-RW
PCMCIA : 2 slots, PCI4410 Cardbus Controller
2 USB slots (i810), IrDA, parallel, serial, firewire PS/2, VGA out, TV Out
external usb 3.5” floppy
lspci output :
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82845 845 (Brookdale) Chipset Host Bridge (rev 04)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82845 845 (Brookdale) Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 04)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA/CA PCI Bridge (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 05)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801BA IDE U100 (rev 05)
00:1f.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM USB (Hub #1) (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM SMBus (rev 05)
00:1f.4 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM USB (Hub #2) (rev 05)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Audio (rev 05)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Modem (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6 LY
02:02.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C (rev 10)
02:03.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI4410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 02)
02:03.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI4410 FireWire Controller (rev 02)
note : for more comprenhensive output, use lshw
medion hardware failures
I had some problems with it :
very soon a problem with the battery (can not load it), probably because it was an exposition model.
I just call the hotline, explain the problem, and they change the battery very quick.
then, just before one year old, a motherboard failure (the symptom was black screen, no bios message, no beep at startup). It was changed under the garantee.
on end 2004, I now have some problems to record/read some cdrom, I had burned on this computer
on May 2005, my AC adaptator stopped to work : it is possible to find universal adaptator, but I prefer to buy an an old one to a medion user
2006 : the cdrom does not read any more cdrw disks
changes
memory update to 512 Mo
disk replaced by a 80 Go, to support several linux distributions
To my mind, many problems come from a too hot internal temperature : there is not enough space under the box to allow a good job for the fan. And in fact, the fan is running almost all the time !. So I add some pieces of wood to have it higher.
bigger holes to have more air going to internal fan
linux installation
This laptop was solded with windows XP, installed in 2 partitions
I wanted to keep XP for games, my wife, probably for modem use, and so on, so :
I first resize the fat with
parted
then install first
redhat 7.3, without any problem
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Linux hardware support
this section is applying to redhat 7.3 install (I do not have any problem with other further linux install)
Keyboard : no problem
Mouse/touchpad : no problem with the touchpad, in console mode or under X
as I prefer a “real” mouse, I also install an optical usb mouse (microsoft).
I choice to have only the touchpad in console mode, so I do not modify /etc/rc.d/init.d/gpm
but I wanted to have both on X, so I change the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file, with 2 mouse sections :
Section “ServerLayout”
Identifier “Anaconda Configured”
Screen 0 “Screen0” 0 0
InputDevice “Mouse0” “CorePointer”
InputDevice “USB Mice” “SendCoreEvents”
InputDevice “Keyboard0” “CoreKeyboard”
EndSection
Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “USB Mice”
# Modified by mouseconfig
Driver “mouse”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/mice”
Option “Protocol” “IMPS/2”
Option “Emulate3Buttons” “no”
Option “ZAxisMapping” “4 5”
EndSection
Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Mouse0”
# Modified by mouseconfig
Driver “mouse”
Option “Device” “/dev/psaux”
Option “Protocol” “IMPS/2”
Option “Emulate3Buttons” “no”
Option “ZAxisMapping” “4 5”
EndSection
Video : well recognized and configured during install
Audio : use the i810_audio module
Network : Supported by the 8139too kernel module
Modem : I have some doubt about it, and spend “some” time on internet. I tried :
intel ham driver (because I see another medion laptop with this kind of modem) : do not work
connexant driver, because it supports some 8086:2446 Intel Corp. e2801BA/BAM AC'97 Modem : do not work
pctel (0.9.5) driver, because XP show me “pctel driver : HSP56 MR modem” : do not work I finally put my eyes into pctel driver code, add some lines, reboot some times, and it
WORKS
(my patch is now integrated in 0.9.6 release)
external usb floppy : works well, it is just impossible to make a low-format on usb.
I have tested a rescue floppy with grub
CDRW : I just had to configure /etc/cdrecord.conf to access /dev/sg0 (generic SCSI access)
dvd not tested
PCMCIA : not tested
IrDA : not tested.
Power management : I use apmd (acpi does not seem to work).
I configure it
battery : the cpu is not a mobile pentium, so it is hot, and the fan is working often : bad for battery autonomy ! (near 2h ?)
There is an interesting feature in the bios : “battery learning”, to discharge completely the battery before loading it (better for battery life)
I can give 2 advices :
the battery does not charge if temperature is too high (45 C), so I charge when not working !
and I remove the battery each time I can to work only on AC adaptor (will extend battery timelife)
Resume
after some years of use, almost all works well, so I think it is was good choice
— eric gerbier 2009/09/18 12:08