openSUSE 11 on Lenovo 3000 G430

My laptop is Lenovo 3000 G430, i don’t really sure what it’s official name. Sometimes it’s called LENOVO IdeaPad G430 953, 953 is my laptop series. I was using openSUSE 11 and Widows Vista as operating system, and here is the result: on openSUSE 11 everything is fine except for the touchpad, wifi, and dial-up modem (maybe), it is not working. on Windows Vista everything is working, thanks to the drivers on Windows Vista version.

Only openSUSE 11 and Fedora 9-10, linux distros that succesfully installed. Ubuntu 8.04 and Linux Mint was failed on installation process.

I think Lenovo 3000 G430 is very Widows Vista oriented, they only provide drivers for Windows Vista. Even I can’t install Windows XP, it’s raised error message when booting from the installation CD. When i try openSUSE 11 installation CD on other laptop, the touchpad is working, but when i try openSolaris 2008 live CD on my laptop, the touchpad is woking :D . I spend many time to get the touchpad works, it’s just keep failed, it’s gave me a headache just to make the touchpad working. Maybe someone can help me? And also my wifi device still not working even after i get instruction from this sites.

Overall, i almost satisfied with the colaboration of Lenovo 3000 G430 and openSUSE 11, many of hardware device isn’t working on Windows Vista if I dont install the driver, but openSUSE 11 has done a good job. Maybe if the touchpad and wifi is working with openSUSE 11, I will be very pleased and can get rid off Windows :P . Just sharing my experiences….

Updated 03-08-2009:
Finally WIFI is working using Ndiswrapper, because my wireless PCI device is not supported by Linux at this momment.

My wireless is BCM4310 with device PID is 14e4:4315 as state here it is not supportted :( , so i install ndiswrapper using OpenSUSE 1-Click Install. Using Ndiswrapper we need INF file from Windows driver which is bcmwl5.inf , i got it from here and here and here, there is 482.1kb and 727.3kb version, just use the 727.3kb version.

Updated 28-09-2009:
Now i’ve got Ubuntu 9.04 installed. Everything work fine except for touchpad need to press Fn+F8 twice to get it working. Wifi NO NEED Ndiswrapper, but sometimes need to turn on wifi from Windows.

8 Comments

  1. I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

    Sarah

    http://laptopseries.net

  3. Thanks a lot, i’ll give it a try

  4. i use the same laptop lenove g430 3000 series.
    i have done extensive research for the correct version of linux to fit.
    the best ever linux for this lappy is ubuntu desktop 9.04.

    AS u said every thin is working fine.. wifi is exceptionally smooth. no issues with the drivers. only issue is bluetooth i thnk..
    also the touch pad work after u press fn+f8 twice..
    u can thro visto out as i am plannin to do so now for my lappy
    thanks for ur time

    • Hi, finally i had my wifi working using ndiswrapper. Well i need to try Ubuntu 9.04 then, but before i had try ubuntu 7/8 but it failed on installation process.
      And the touchpad still not work with fn+f8 twice. My series doesnt have bluetooth.

      Thanks for your reply..

  5. i have use the samve laptop: lenovo 3000 g430. my wifi doesn’t work, but my touch pad work well. just press fn+f8 twice. my laptop is 2008 series (look at the bottom of your laptop).
    best regard

  6. i got the wifi working with linux mint (ubuntu-based). but i had to turn it on by booting vista first, installing the lenovo drivers, pressing fn-f5, and enabling wifi. of course the wifi hard switch near the left hand must by in the on position as well. after that i booted linux mint and it worked.

  7. Now i also install Ubuntu 9.04, WIFI is running well. Touchpad need to press fn+f8 twice.

    Yes in Linux sometimes to turn on/off wifi need to do it from Windows. This problem is not fixed yet in Linux I think.

    Regards,


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