Comment 2 for bug 110543

Many times the HP/Compaq nw8240 laptop would shutdown on its own at various stages before failing to start X. However, the most recent time, I was able to edit xorg.conf and startx. This got me to the GNOME desktop. Selected System > Admin > Install (or something like that). Selected language, keyboard, timezone, and partitioning. let's see how it goes from here.

$ sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
$ startx

I'm not sure which are the required modifications, but here's what I've done in xorg.conf: Added Device/Driver = "ati" (also changed the Device/Identifier matching the Screen/Device, both "ATI Tech..."), added HorizSync, VertRefresh, and DisplaySize to Monitor, and added "1920x1200" to every one of the Screen/SubSection "Display"/Modes. Something like this:

Section "Device"
 Identifier "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility X700 (PCIE)"
 Driver "ati"
 BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Generic Monitor"
 Option "DPMS"
 HorizSync 28-96
 VertRefresh 43-60
 DisplaySize 330 210
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Device "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility X700 (PCIE)"
 Monitor "Generic Monitor"
 DefaultDepth 24
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 1
  Modes "1920x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"

... etc ...