[SOLVED] Cannot load Mint 10 or LMDE live disks

[laptopray]

Hi.

I use Mint 8 (Gnome, 32 bit) at the moment, and which I have updated regularly.
I downloaded Mint 10 (64 bit, full version), checked md5 - it was OK - and burned it to a DVD. When I boot from the DVD, I get as far as the desktop but, although the mouse pointer will move, I cannot access any of icons or the menu bar.
I also have a DVD of LMDE (which I bought from a reputable supplier in the UK). This has a similar problem, but only gets as far as the menu bar, leaving the rest of the screen blank. The supplier has suggested that I turn on noapic, and set the display mode to vesa.
I have searched the forum for references to noapic, and found links to two separate Ubuntu postings. I've tried the ideas in both, using the terminal, but could not get past the initial "sudos" - they both led to results which were different to those in the postings, and really did not mean anything to me.
I use an Asus X59GL laptop, with an Intel Core2Duo CPU and a Nvidia graphics card, which gives me no problems in Mint 8.
Does anyone out there have any suggestions about how to proceed. Any help would be gratefully received!

[Fornhamfred]

I assume that you have tried adding these lines at boot but if not:

Plug in the live CD - when booting, press any key and you should be presented with 6 options.

Press either F6 or tab (I think) - add

nomodeset nolapic

BEFORE quiet splash

press the option to boot.

Hopefully you will get to the desktop.

If you dont. Try booting with

nomodeset noapic

or

nomodeset noacpi

or

nomodeset acpi=off


Assuming one of the combinations above work then install. When rebooting, dont forget to edit your grub as in my post above and add the combination boot option you have found.

Hope this helps

[laptopray]

Many thanks, both of you.
Mint 10 is now installed and working beautifully.
I'll try LMDE later on today

[laptopray]

Hi, and many thanks once again.
I now have both LMDE and Mint 10 on my laptop, and both are fully functioning.
Mind you, I have not tried any updates yet.
Thanks for your help - this forums members can't be bettered.

[laptopray]

I spoke too soon!
Mint 10 is fine, and boots up every time from the hard drive - no problems at all .
However, LMDE requires me to enter 'e' to choose it, then to add 'splash nomodeset noapic' at the end of the string ending in 'quiet', every time I boot it from the HD . Then there was the little matter of the update which basically destroyed the installation (it was a grub update which I hadn't noticed) so I had to reinstall LMDE . Fortunately, Mint 10 was unaffected by this. Sorry about the moan, but where do I go from here with LMDE?
Any ideas?

[mads]

LMDE requires me to enter 'e' to choose it, then to add 'splash nomodeset noapic' at the end of the string ending in 'quiet', every time I boot it from the HD .

You can make this changes permanent by editing /etc/default/grub file.

Code: Select all

gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Change this line

Code: Select all

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

and make it look like this

Code: Select all

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset noapic"

Save the file.

Finally, in Terminal run

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

and reboot your computer.

[laptopray]

Thanks, mads. LMDE now boots every time without any problem . Thanks also to everyone else who helped me with this problem.