Fed up with Mint

[rgerardDE]

Have been trying to install the 17.1 version on an HP 6510 that was too slow for Win7. Heard so much positive news about this but...

First download of the .iso for Rebeca and installation on a USB stick with UNetbootin got to the point where apt-get was supposed to be configured and it crapped out on me because it wanted to look for files on an ISO image on the CD drive. confused....? I'm installing from a USB drive, that is where the installation should be looking for files. How stupid is that? Only sensible option at this point was to choose 'skip' and the script said that the installation was now complete and I could continue to use the USB booted version or reboot. Well this isn't going to work because I didn't see the installation create a grub config. Just as i thought, doesn't boot.

Downloaded the 16 version and installed w/o any issues, grub completed, reboot and configured an account for my wife, loaded all here pics and other files from a backup and let her start using Mint. Yes it is faster, looks good but confused, the WLAN just turned off for no apparent reason. Shut down and restarted, same same. Checked the interweb forums and found lots of references to rfkill and issues with soft blocked wifi but this PC was hard blocked. No solution.

Downloaded the Xfce version of 17.1, created a boot USB and tried the "install Xfce' option and that failed off the bat with a msg stating that the device seems to be locked and should be properly unmounted. BS. rebooted and selected the Mint installation and that worked again, and cleared the hard block on the wifi.

Guys, that can't be the solution. Re install to clear a OS induced wifi glitch? You better come up with a better option.

So loaded all my wifes files back into her newly installed laptop and after a few hours of use, right in the middle of writing an e-mail, the desktop goes BLACK. No mouse, nothing, just black. WLAN still blinking, PC is on but can't get the desktop to appear again. Close the lid and reopen, nope. Nada. Hard shutdown, boot again and everything appears to be working again.

My wife wants Windows back, even though it was such a drag to start and use, at least it didn't crap out on you in the middle of your work and lose everything you were working on. I'm going to try a Debian version cause I don't want to go back to Windows and I am fed up with having to install, re-install and re-install and re-install. I've better things to do with my time at this age.

If you can fix the Xfce image so that it installs with UNetbootin i'll give it one more try but Rebece is history for me.

Regards,

Reg

[colyn]

A Quadcore with 4GB ram and it's too slow for Windows??? I think not..

What do you call "too slow for Windows"?

Try burning the ISO to a DVD and install that way.. USB is not always the best way to go..

[vl1969]

I only saw dualcore @1.8 with 1 gig default ram. It could be too slow even for linux.
I second the dvd paet though, I had couple of issues installing from usb. Running livecd is ok, onstall sometimes fails.
Also for that setup try mate. Cinnamon is way too much.
Other than that I don't see what problems you can have. I have mint 17.1 on 3 machines at home qith no major issues what so ever.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

[jimallyn]

I've never tried installing from USB, but I have installed Mint 17.1 on several computers from DVD, and it works fine.

[Lessss]

the device seems to be locked and should be properly unmounted.

You can get this message if the usb stick was removed without ejecting it properly, It can cause bad sectors. The usb stick will need to be scanned and fixed.

[MrPuff]

I usually use Unetbootin but sometimes it just doesn't work and when that happens I'll use Rufus. Usually one of the two will do the trick.

https://rufus.akeo.ie/

[Pjotr]

Installing with a USB thumb drive works in *most* cases, but installing with a DVD works (almost) *always*.... A bitter fact of life, on this our imperfect lonely planet earth.

About the problems you ran into after installing Mint: they can likely be solved, but we need more information then. Please generate an overview of your system like this:
- launch a terminal window and make it full screen, to avoid chopped lines;
- copy/paste this command into the terminal:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

(if you type: the letter F is a capital letter)

Press Enter.

Copy/paste the output in your next message.

[JohnBobSmith]

Almost all of my installs have been USB. The only problem is that I only have one USB jump drive, at which point I started burning to discs (2 OS's so far). I have never had any issues, even with way, way, WAY old hardware (pentium 4, likely less in my one PC, with <= (less than or equal to) 2GB of RAM). The worst that happened was cinnamon was very slow on my P4, but it never randomly crashed.

I suspect a bad USB drive or install is causing you lots of grief. As other have mentioned, USB installs can sometimes fail. Also, Unetbootin has had issues with my Mint ISO's in the past. I personally do not recommend it. If you can manually "burn" to the USB drive, great. If not, tools other than Unetbootin would be better. Remember, if you do burn to a disc, burn it at the slowest speed! Otherwise, you may have worse issues than the USB install.

Sorry about your dumb luck though. Feel free to post a support topic, and hopefully someone can help you out.

[Jedinovice]

I must say that I have had endless trouble with USB installs of Linux. But DVD works fine. I use an external USB DVD drive and go from there.

In terms of specs, I am running Mint Linux KDE 17.0 on a variety of laptops including my wife's single core 1.6GHz n455 atom with 1GB of RAM and it runs a treat. Just turn off desktop effects. Only the 1GHz c50 can I really say it struggled.

So XFCE or Mate should run a treat.

Before calling "quits" try a DVD install. It can't harm and Windows 7 is only in extended support mode.

[mr_raider]

I've installed Mint to much lower spec machines, including Atom netbooks with 1gb of RAm.

Some rules:

1. Unetbootin, sucks. Rufus is better. The best way is to use the dd command within Linux.

2. Always go in to the live environment. and make sure all your hardware works.

3. Always use gparted to manually create partitions before running the installer.

4. Always use the manual option (something else) and check each step carefully yourself. Select your mounts manually.

5. If Mint craps out, use the corresponding latest Ubuntu. In this case 14.04 LTS. Sometimes a more recent kernel helps.

[phd21]

Hi rgerardDE,

Obviously, as user pjotr suggested, it would be very useful to have the information from the "inxi -Fx" command copied and pasted back here.

All editions of Linux Mint are wonderful free operating systems; Cinnamon, Mate, KDE (my fav), Xfce. But, as with any operating system you have to use the one that works best for your hardware and that you like the most. That is why we need more information from you (inxi -Fx).

As other users have suggested, and now me too, it is very easy to create, use, and install Linux Mint from a live "DVD" of any of the Linux Mint editions. The usb option works well too, but it is more difficult to create and use (depending on the hardware and your skill level). I always tell people to create a live DVD of each version of Linux Mint and boot to each one and see which one works best for their hardware and that they like the most. Of course you have to know whether your computer's processor is 32-bit or 64-bit, how much RAM you have (memory), etc...

I would not give up on Linux Mint.

I have been using Linux Mint KDE (17.1) for awhile now and I absolutely Love it.

[warp]

Try burning the ISO to a DVD and install that way.. USB is not always the best way to go..

Oh, is it?
Been using USB installs all the time.
I would suggest then when running Mint 16 and XFCE to install Multisystem. (which I use with more than 5 distros on it)

There's probably more to it: why does the desktop goes black? Never exprienced a BSOD in Windows?
What's this "got to the point where apt-get was supposed to be configured " mean?

I'm inclined toward a hardware kind of flaw.