Can't run Mint 13 from USB [SOLVED]

[RockDawg]

I am pretty new to all things Linux, but I think I'm doing everything right. I downloaded linuxmint-13-cinnamon-dvd-64bit.iso from the LInux Mint site and put it on my USB flash drive from a Win7 environment. I've done this a couple different ways trying to get it to work. I have used both unetbootin and Win32 disk imager and I have tried both on two different USB drives a 2GB and a 4GB (both SanDisk).

When I try unetbootin and then boot from the USB drive, I get the unetbootin menu and select start Linux Mint and the screen blinks for brief moment and then it just sits there with the cursor blinking in the bottom left corner.

When I try Win32 disk imager, I get the message saying "Booting Linux Mint in 10 seconds". After the count down, I get a grey screen with a blinking cursor in the top left hand corner and nothing more happens.

These results are the same on either thumb drive. I've checked the MD5 on the file I downloaded and it checks out OK. Why the heck cvan;t I get Linux Mint to run from my USB flash drive? I am wanting to install it ina dual boot with my existing Win7 install.

[bennachie]

Mint 13 comes as hybrid ISOs, which means that you can just apply a direct "bit-by-bit" copy mechanism (using "dd" in the terminal is the normal route) if you have a working Linux system. Like you, I found that the usually very reliable unetbootin didn't work properly in this case.

A typical command would be:

sudo dd if=<pathway to ISO> of=<pathway to USB stick> bs=4M

You can "drag and drop" the relevant desktop images into the terminal window to generate the pathway references, if you want to save typing.

I imagine that you can do the same kind of thing in Windows, but I'm a bit out of practice in that environment. No doubt others will be able to help. Of course, to get the show on the road, you could just burn the ISO to a DVD and use that to do the job (it will be slower, and sometimes a bit less reliable, than using a USB stick, but you should have no problems if you are creating the DVD on the same burner that you intend to use to boot from).

[RockDawg]

Stupid question... In Mint, how do I determine the path to my thumb drive? It shows on the desktop as "2.0 GB Filesystem". I tried draggin it into the terminal like you said for the ISO file, but it gives an error saying no such file or directory. I am running MInt in a VM.

[RockDawg]

Just playing around I right clicked on the thumb drive icon on my desktop and noticed there was an option to open in terminal. I did that and it gave me "/media/FA08-9B61" as the path (never would have guessed that). But when I put that in place in the command you posted, I get a message that says "dd: opening `/media/FA08-9B61': Is a directory" and then it just returns me to the prompt. What do I need to do differently?

[bennachie]

Not stupid at all - the shortcut obviously doesn't work in all cases. You can check the actual drive ID for the USB stick using Disk Utility. Typically, it will be something like "sdb" or "sdc" - ignore any partition numbers that may follow that. The output file pathway will then be /dev/<ID>

[RockDawg]

Thanks. That seems to have worked. Never been in Disk Utility before. Hopefully I can boot off the thumb drive and get Mint to install now.

[RockDawg]

Booted from the thumb drive, but I get the same thing. I got the Mint boot in 10 seconds screen, but then it just goes to a grey screen with a blinking cursor. Nothing else happens.

[bennachie]

Hang on for 10 minutes or so - I've really only been using MATE DVDs - I'll just make a 64bit Cinnamon version, and try it on my machine in case there's something odd going on here.

[RockDawg]

Wow. Thanks man! Somehow I imagine yours will work as expected.

[RockDawg]

Maybe I should just try MATE myself. Being so new I don't really know what the difference is anyhow.

[bennachie]

OK, done. I made a fresh USB stick from the C64 image, following my own instructions carefully, then launched the LiveCD session from that. On my very ordinary ThinkCentre M57e test-bed, I had the grey screen with a blinking underline for about ten seconds, followed by 30 seconds of a completely black screen, then another 30 seconds of the black screen with a white cursor at the centre. After all that, the desktop session started in glorious technicolour. If you have an even older, slower machine, those times might increase somewhat. I assume that you do have a 64-bit-capable machine?

Could be a faulty USB stick - they do turn up from time to time, especially if you've been using them for an extended period.

If you do have an old, slow machine, MATE (which effectively emulates Gnome2 and is very easy to use) might be the better bet. However, Cinnamon works well, and has nice eye-candy.

[RockDawg]

I've gotten the same results from two different thumb drives (though only one where I copied the contents via LInux). My system is a AMD Phenom II X4 965 quad core with 12 GB and a SSD hard drive. Not state of the art, but not a dog either. At one point I left it at the grey screen for over a half an hour and it was still sitting there. I assumed Cinnamon had the better eye candy and I would like that, but I am stumped at this point.

[bennachie]

Well, the next possibility is that you have a corrupt ISO image. The md5sum should be:

e0f3dbee947630d1eada01a3583d3b96

If that doesn't match, try a fresh download.

[RockDawg]

I just tried Mate and it did the exact same thing. I even waited 10 minutes at the grey screen, but nothing. Darn this is frustrating. Any other ideas? Unfortunately I don;t have a blank CD or DVD to burn and try. I expected the thumb drive to work.

[caribriz]

Could you try booting again with your unetbootin-made usb stick.
When it gets to "Start Linux Mint" - highlight that entry.
Press Tab, and before the two dashes at the end of the line "--"
type in

Code: Select all

noacpi noapic nomodeset

then press enter.

See if it boots - if it does it won't be into Cinnamon or Mate session, it will be a Gnome classic (no effects) session.
But you'll see if it boots at least.

What are your computer specs?
I think this is related to your other problem, ie. video card drivers. EDIT - well scrap that theory - just saw your fix for that particular issue

caribriz

[RockDawg]

That worked. I was able to boot into Mint after entering those commands. Is it OK to go ahead and install it once I'm in or am I still likely to have problems once it's installed?

My system is:

AMD Phenom II X4 965
Asus M4A87TD/USB3
12GB RAM
Crucail M4 SSD
EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti

[caribriz]

Good you got the live usb to boot.

Is it OK to go ahead and install it once I'm in or am I still likely to have problems once it's installed?

You might. I don't have experience with this, so can't really advise you.
Lucky for me, my 5 year old hardware installed LM13 without a problem. Go figure.

There are a few threads about installing with the GTX 550 Ti. I would suggest doing a search and having a thorough read before proceeding.
Here are a few examples:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... Ti#p580961
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... Ti#p592075
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 50&start=0

My 2 cents -
If you go ahead and try an install, when rebooting after installing I think you would have to again edit the Linux Mint line in the Grub menu
(hold Shift to see the Grub screen), press "e" to edit, then add nomodeset (as you did before, you may need noacpi noapic nomodeset).

Then if you get to the desktop, try installing the video card drivers from there -
Menu > Preferences > Additional Drivers

One thing before you start the install:
Before you click the icon "Install Linux Mint", while you're still in the live-usb environment, open a terminal (Menu > Accessories > Terminal)
and enter

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get remove ubiquity-slideshow-mint

(This has interfered with some installs, so it's been suggested to remove it before starting).
Exit the terminal, then start the install.

If you need further help with installing, I'd start a new thread.

caribriz

[kjmitch]

@caribriz,

I was having similar issues trying to install. I followed your advice "noacpi noapic nomodeset" and was able to run the live cd. I ran the terminal command and installed. After rebooting, Linux will not boot properly. I get a not completely black screen with jagged lines of various color and it just hangs (video card drivers not being installed?). When holding "shift" to access the grub menu, I pressed "e" for edit, but don't get a command line similar to the previous used to install. The following is what I get after pressing "e":

setparams 'Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon 64-bit, 3.2.0-23-generic (/dev/sdb\1)'

recordfail
gffx mode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root+'(hd1,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set+root (various numbers)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0.0-23-generic root=UUID=62d47623-c8de-4228-90\ba-6864c869cb8a ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic

Where am I suppose to input nomodeset command? Sorry, New linux user here. Just want to make sure I'm doing things right.

[kjmitch]

*Update*

After running the second option in the GRUB menu (recovery) and selecting normal session, I was able to start and login to Mint. Strange. Wonder if this will happen during every boot.

[breaker]

The "linux" line. You can remove quiet splash, then add in the alternate text.

It will probably until you get whatever graphics drivers will work with your system.

You can try as above to install the restricted driver, if any.

If you need more help try the command;

Code: Select all

ixni -G

AND

Code: Select all

lspci -vv

Also, this log; /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Then post the output (best in code tags) to a question thread in the Hardware Support > Graphics Cards and Monitors sub-forum...