Linux Mint Forums

LMDE live dvd starts but stalls at the "ready" blinking cursor after initrd loads.
Md5s all checked out. Burned a couple different media but the disks all check
out and are compatible with my system. I had no trouble with the Mint 10 (ubuntu)
install. Any thoughts?


Dell E510
Intel Duo Core-Computer-Processor: 2x Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80GHz
Memory: 3094MB (399MB used)
Ati RADEON X600 256MB HyperMemory

As a follow-up, I was able to install using a usb stick.

Hi brobdinag!

You could try to add "nomodeset noapic" to the kernel line before boot.

Put the DVD in the drive and boot up. When you get the message "automatic boot in 10 secs":
1. Click ENTER to see GRUB menu
2. Highlight the Linux Mint entry and press the "e" key
3. Use the cursor keys to navigate to the line that ends with "quiet" (kernel line) and add nomodeset noapic, like this: 4. When you are done editing the kernel line, press Ctrl-x to boot

"Fornhamfred" has given some more options in this thread (second post): http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=61319,
and you find a list of the usual kernel parameters here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootO ... %20Options

And you did try hitting "enter" at that "Ready" prompt? Sorry if it sounds stupid, but I did do an install once that sat and waited until I hit "enter".

Actually, the enter key brought no response at all, nor did the escape key or any other key. I thought it might be a usb wireless mouse/keyboard issue, but have never had that problem before. No problems with any other Linux OS install, including Mint 10 (ubuntu), Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSuse, etc. Very strange!

brobdinag wrote:Actually, the enter key brought no response at all, nor did the escape key or any other key. I thought it might be a usb wireless mouse/keyboard issue, but have never had that problem before. No problems with any other Linux OS install, including Mint 10 (ubuntu), Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSuse, etc. Very strange!

You might need to enable "USB emulation" in BIOS.

Sounds a bit like the problem described here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 91#p351691. Where live LMDE would not boot, but Mint10 would.
I installed the live dvd on a usb using MultiSystem (http://liveusb.info/dotclear/), as described in that article. That booted, but I could not install LMDE to HD.