Problems installing/booting liveCD

Questions about Grub, UEFI,the liveCD and the installer
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Locked
shingetsu

Problems installing/booting liveCD

Post by shingetsu »

Hello all.
Today I got one of my old towers back from the basement and tried installing my beloved mint13 on it. Unfortunately, the live CD wouldn't even boot.
Then I thought "ok, so this doesn't work, let's try another distro!", but no "other distro worked either! In fact I tried these:
  • Mint 13 with Cinnamon (x86_64) - black screen after loading kernel (nothing in the text-mode either)
  • Mint 13 with Cinnamon (i386) - black screen after loading kernel (nothing in the text-mode either)
  • Mageia 2 with KDE4 (x86_64) - black screen after loading kernel (nothing in the text-mode either)
  • Fedora 17 with GNOME-Shell (x86_54) - white screen after loading kernel (nothing in the text-mode either)
  • Fedora 17 with GNOME-Shell (i386) - white screen after loading kernel (nothing in the text-mode either)
  • OpenSUSE 12.1 with KDE4 (x86_64) - their background (or black screen if in text mode) after loading kernel (nothing in the text-mode either)
  • Knoppix (latest release) (i486) - This actually succeeded to boot!
Now I knew Knoppix was pretty much one of THE most stable distros ever, so if IT didn't boot, nothing would. The only reason I see here is that it has i486 architecture... However, my CPU is x86_64. I'm guessing it may be a problem with my motherboard chipset. Here is the PC config of System Summary from Knoppix:

Code: Select all

-Computer-
Processor		: 2x Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU          6600  @ 2.40GHz
Memory		: 3371MB (250MB used)
Operating System		: Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.2
User Name		: knoppix (Knoppix User)
Date/Time		: Tue Jul 17 15:41:34 2012
-Display-
Resolution		: 1920x1200 pixels
OpenGL Renderer		: Software Rasterizer
X11 Vendor		: The X.Org Foundation
-Multimedia-
Audio Adapter		: NFORCE - NVidia CK804
Audio Adapter		: HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
Audio Adapter		: Audigy2 - SB Audigy 4 [SB0610]
Audio Adapter		: USB-Audio - Corsair CA-HS1 USB Headset
Audio Adapter		: MPU-401 UART - MPU-401 UART
-Input Devices-
 Power Button
 Power Button
 Corsair Corsair CA-HS1 USB Headset
 Logitech USB Gaming Mouse
 Razer Razer Lycosa
 Razer Razer Lycosa
-Printers-
No printers found
-SCSI Disks-
ATA WDC WD3200KS-00P
ATA WDC WD3200KS-00P
ATA ST31000528AS
PLEXTOR DVDR   PX-750A
PIONEER DVD-RW  DVR-111D
Here is the data from the PCI devices report:

Code: Select all

-PCI Devices-
Host bridge		: nVidia Corporation Device 0071 
RAM memory		: nVidia Corporation Device 007f 
RAM memory		: nVidia Corporation Device 0075 
RAM memory		: nVidia Corporation Device 006f 
RAM memory		: nVidia Corporation Device 00b4 
RAM memory		: nVidia Corporation Device 0076 
RAM memory		: nVidia Corporation Device 0078 
RAM memory		: nVidia Corporation Device 0079 
RAM memory		: nVidia Corporation Device 007a 
RAM memory		: nVidia Corporation Device 007b 
RAM memory		: nVidia Corporation Device 007c 
RAM memory		: nVidia Corporation Device 007d 
PCI bridge		: nVidia Corporation Device 007e 
PCI bridge		: nVidia Corporation Device 007e 
PCI bridge		: nVidia Corporation Device 007e 
PCI bridge		: nVidia Corporation Device 007e 
PCI bridge		: nVidia Corporation Device 007e 
Memory controller		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Memory Controller 
ISA bridge		: nVidia Corporation CK804 ISA Bridge 
SMBus		: nVidia Corporation CK804 SMBus 
USB Controller		: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller 
USB Controller		: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller 
Multimedia audio controller		: nVidia Corporation CK804 AC'97 Audio Controller 
IDE interface		: nVidia Corporation CK804 IDE 
RAID bus controller		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
RAID bus controller		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
PCI bridge		: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCI Bridge 
Bridge		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Ethernet Controller 
PCI bridge		: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge 
PCI bridge		: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge 
PCI bridge		: nVidia Corporation CK804 PCIE Bridge 
VGA compatible controller		: nVidia Corporation Device 1080 
Audio device		: nVidia Corporation Device 0e09 
Mass storage controller		: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3132 Serial ATA Raid II Controller 
Ethernet controller		: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller 
Multimedia audio controller		: Creative Labs SB0400 Audigy2 Value
FireWire (IEEE 1394)		: Texas Instruments TSB43AB22/A IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller 
And here is the data from Devices->Resources:

Code: Select all

-I/O Ports-
<tt>0000-001f </tt>		: dma1
<tt>0020-0021 </tt>		: pic1
<tt>0040-0043 </tt>		: timer0
<tt>0050-0053 </tt>		: timer1
<tt>0060-0060 </tt>		: keyboard
<tt>0064-0064 </tt>		: keyboard
<tt>0070-0071 </tt>		: rtc0
<tt>0080-008f </tt>		: dma page reg
<tt>00a0-00a1 </tt>		: pic2
<tt>00c0-00df </tt>		: dma2
<tt>00f0-00ff </tt>		: fpu
<tt>0170-0177 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 IDE 
<tt>  0170-0177 </tt>		: pata_amd
<tt>01f0-01f7 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 IDE 
<tt>  01f0-01f7 </tt>		: pata_amd
<tt>0201-0208 </tt>		: ns558-pnp
<tt>0330-0331 </tt>		: MPU401 UART
<tt>0376-0376 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 IDE 
<tt>  0376-0376 </tt>		: pata_amd
<tt>0378-037a </tt>		: parport0
<tt>03c0-03df </tt>		: vga+
<tt>03f2-03f2 </tt>		: floppy
<tt>03f4-03f5 </tt>		: floppy
<tt>03f6-03f6 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 IDE 
<tt>  03f6-03f6 </tt>		: pata_amd
<tt>03f7-03f7 </tt>		: floppy
<tt>03f8-03ff </tt>		: serial
<tt>04d0-04d1 </tt>		: pnp 00:09
<tt>0500-057f </tt>		: pnp 00:09
<tt>  0500-0503 </tt>		: ACPI PM1a_EVT_BLK
<tt>  0504-0505 </tt>		: ACPI PM1a_CNT_BLK
<tt>  0508-050b </tt>		: ACPI PM_TMR
<tt>  0510-0515 </tt>		: ACPI CPU throttle
<tt>  0520-0527 </tt>		: ACPI GPE0_BLK
<tt>0580-05ff </tt>		: pnp 00:09
<tt>0600-063f </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 SMBus 
<tt>  0600-063f </tt>		: nForce2_smbus
<tt>0700-073f </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 SMBus 
<tt>  0700-073f </tt>		: nForce2_smbus
<tt>0800-080f </tt>		: pnp 00:09
<tt>0810-0815 </tt>		: ACPI CPU throttle
<tt>0900-097f </tt>		: pnp 00:09
<tt>0980-09ff </tt>		: pnp 00:09
<tt>0a20-0a2f </tt>		: pnp 00:0c
<tt>0a30-0a3f </tt>		: pnp 00:0c
<tt>0c00-0c0f </tt>		: pnp 00:0c
<tt>0cf8-0cff </tt>		: PCI conf1
<tt>0d00-0d0f </tt>		: pnp 00:0c
<tt>0e00-0e7f </tt>		: pnp 00:09
<tt>0e80-0eff </tt>		: pnp 00:09
<tt>8480-8487 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Ethernet Controller 
<tt>  8480-8487 </tt>		: Reverse Engineered nForce ethernet driver
<tt>8800-880f </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
<tt>  8800-880f </tt>		: sata_nv
<tt>8880-8883 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
<tt>  8880-8883 </tt>		: sata_nv
<tt>8c00-8c07 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
<tt>  8c00-8c07 </tt>		: sata_nv
<tt>9000-9003 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
<tt>  9000-9003 </tt>		: sata_nv
<tt>9080-9087 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
<tt>  9080-9087 </tt>		: sata_nv
<tt>9400-940f </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
<tt>  9400-940f </tt>		: sata_nv
<tt>9480-9483 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
<tt>  9480-9483 </tt>		: sata_nv
<tt>9800-9807 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
<tt>  9800-9807 </tt>		: sata_nv
<tt>9880-9883 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
<tt>  9880-9883 </tt>		: sata_nv
<tt>9c00-9c07 </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
<tt>  9c00-9c07 </tt>		: sata_nv
<tt>a000-a0ff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 AC'97 Audio Controller 
<tt>  a000-a0ff </tt>		: NVidia CK804
<tt>a400-a4ff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 AC'97 Audio Controller 
<tt>  a400-a4ff </tt>		: NVidia CK804
<tt>ac00-ac1f </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 SMBus 
<tt>b000-bfff </tt>		: PCI Bus 0000:01
<tt>  bc00-bc7f </tt>		: nVidia Corporation Device 1080 
<tt>c000-cfff </tt>		: PCI Bus 0000:03
<tt>  cc00-cc7f </tt>		: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3132 Serial ATA Raid II Controller 
<tt>d000-dfff </tt>		: PCI Bus 0000:05
<tt>  d800-d8ff </tt>		: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller 
<tt>    d800-d8ff </tt>		: Marvell Yukon 2 Gigabit Ethernet driver
<tt>e000-efff </tt>		: PCI Bus 0000:06
<tt>  ec00-ec3f </tt>		: Creative Labs SB0400 Audigy2 Value
<tt>    ec00-ec3f </tt>		: EMU10K1
<tt>ffa0-ffaf </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 IDE 
<tt>  ffa0-ffaf </tt>		: pata_amd
-Memory-
<tt>00000000-0000ffff </tt>		: reserved
<tt>00010000-000983ff </tt>		: System RAM
<tt>00098400-0009ffff </tt>		: reserved
<tt>000a0000-000bffff </tt>		: Video RAM area
<tt>000c0000-000c7fff </tt>		: Video ROM
<tt>000ce000-000d5bff </tt>		: Adapter ROM
<tt>000e9b60-000fffff </tt>		: reserved
<tt>  000f0000-000fffff </tt>		: System ROM
<tt>00100000-cffaffff </tt>		: System RAM
<tt>  01000000-0154e37e </tt>		: Kernel code
<tt>  0154e37f-01796c7f </tt>		: Kernel data
<tt>  01823000-0188afff </tt>		: Kernel bss
<tt>cffb0000-cffbdfff </tt>		: ACPI Tables
<tt>cffbe000-cffdffff </tt>		: ACPI Non-volatile Storage
<tt>cffe0000-cfffffff </tt>		: reserved
<tt>d6000000-dfffffff </tt>		: PCI Bus 0000:01
<tt>  d6000000-d7ffffff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation Device 1080 
<tt>  d8000000-dfffffff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation Device 1080 
<tt>e0000000-efffffff </tt>		: PCI MMCONFIG 0000 [bus 00-ff]
<tt>  e0000000-efffffff </tt>		: pnp 00:0d
<tt>f9ff6000-f9ff6fff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Ethernet Controller 
<tt>  f9ff6000-f9ff6fff </tt>		: Reverse Engineered nForce ethernet driver
<tt>f9ff7000-f9ff7fff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
<tt>  f9ff7000-f9ff7fff </tt>		: sata_nv
<tt>f9ff8000-f9ff8fff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 Serial ATA Controller 
<tt>  f9ff8000-f9ff8fff </tt>		: sata_nv
<tt>f9ff9000-f9ff9fff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 AC'97 Audio Controller 
<tt>  f9ff9000-f9ff9fff </tt>		: NVidia CK804
<tt>f9ffa000-f9ffafff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller 
<tt>  f9ffa000-f9ffafff </tt>		: ohci_hcd
<tt>f9ffbc00-f9ffbcff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller 
<tt>  f9ffbc00-f9ffbcff </tt>		: ehci_hcd
<tt>fa000000-fbcfffff </tt>		: PCI Bus 0000:01
<tt>  fa000000-faffffff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation Device 1080 
<tt>  fbc00000-fbc7ffff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation Device 1080 
<tt>  fbcfc000-fbcfffff </tt>		: nVidia Corporation Device 0e09 
<tt>    fbcfc000-fbcfffff </tt>		: ICH HD audio
<tt>fbd00000-fbdfffff </tt>		: PCI Bus 0000:03
<tt>  fbd00000-fbd7ffff </tt>		: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3132 Serial ATA Raid II Controller 
<tt>  fbdf8000-fbdfbfff </tt>		: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3132 Serial ATA Raid II Controller 
<tt>    fbdf8000-fbdfbfff </tt>		: sata_sil24
<tt>  fbdffc00-fbdffc7f </tt>		: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3132 Serial ATA Raid II Controller 
<tt>    fbdffc00-fbdffc7f </tt>		: sata_sil24
<tt>fbe00000-fbefffff </tt>		: PCI Bus 0000:05
<tt>  fbec0000-fbedffff </tt>		: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller 
<tt>  fbefc000-fbefffff </tt>		: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller 
<tt>    fbefc000-fbefffff </tt>		: Marvell Yukon 2 Gigabit Ethernet driver
<tt>fbf00000-fbffffff </tt>		: PCI Bus 0000:06
<tt>  fbff8000-fbffbfff </tt>		: Texas Instruments TSB43AB22/A IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller 
<tt>  fbfff800-fbffffff </tt>		: Texas Instruments TSB43AB22/A IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller 
<tt>    fbfff800-fbffffff </tt>		: firewire_ohci
<tt>fec00000-fec00fff </tt>		: reserved
<tt>  fec00000-fec003ff </tt>		: IOAPIC 0
<tt>fee00000-feefffff </tt>		: reserved
<tt>  fee00000-fee00fff </tt>		: Local APIC
<tt>    fee00000-fee00fff </tt>		: pnp 00:0a
<tt>  fee01000-feefffff </tt>		: pnp 00:09
<tt>fefff000-feffffff </tt>		: pnp 00:09
<tt>ff700000-ffffffff </tt>		: reserved
<tt>  ffb00000-ffbfffff </tt>		: pnp 00:09
<tt>  fff00000-ffffffff </tt>		: pnp 00:09
-DMA-
<tt> 2</tt>		: floppy
<tt> 4</tt>		: cascade
Please help me with this, because I'm not sure exactly what is the problem and don't want to waste bandwidth downloading something like SALIX OS which is i486 compatible, and something I would not prefer over mint or mageia.

P.S. It's possible that the problem is in my old BIOS, however I'm not sure of that. According to

Code: Select all

dmesg | less
My BIOS version is 70.10.17.00 . If my BIOS is outdated to the point of incompatibility, please tell me how to update it from specifically KNOPPIX, as I'm not knowledgeable in this matter.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
User avatar
ingeva
Level 4
Level 4
Posts: 207
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:39 am
Location: Sandvika, Norway

Re: Problems installing/booting liveCD

Post by ingeva »

shingetsu wrote:Hello all.
Today I got one of my old towers back from the basement and tried installing my beloved mint13 on it. Unfortunately, the live CD wouldn't even boot.
The live CD is a DVD. Check if you have a DVD drive.
If not, I'm sorry to say that Mint only comes in a desktop version, which is too big to fit in a CD.
If you can't boot from a USB, I guess you'll have to do with another OS.
I have used Ubuntu for years, and soon discovered the advantage of starting with a server CD, giving me more choices and shorter installation time (since most of what was on the desktop CD would have to be updated from the Net anyway).

Dear Mint people, please give us a server CD, or instructions how to start with an Ubuntu server disk, and upgrade to Mint from there!
Mint rules! (20.1 MATE) Cinnamon go home! :)
shingetsu

Re: Problems installing/booting liveCD

Post by shingetsu »

I realize it's a DVD considering I burned it...
However the del facto name is a "Live CD".
Considering that I've used those CDs to make installs to other computers I do believe those work. And if you looked at the summary info you would notice:

Code: Select all

PLEXTOR DVDR   PX-750A
PIONEER DVD-RW  DVR-111D
Which both qualify for DVD drives (I used the Pioneer one btw).
usbtux

Re: Problems installing/booting liveCD

Post by usbtux »

Have a look at Bodhi http://www.bodhilinux.com/ runs on low spec computers the new version 2.0 (12.04 lts) is about to come out very shortly.
shingetsu

Re: Problems installing/booting liveCD

Post by shingetsu »

usbtux wrote:Have a look at Bodhi http://www.bodhilinux.com/ runs on low spec computers the new version 2.0 (12.04 lts) is about to come out very shortly.
The problem with that is that I do want to use Mint. I can't get the liveCD past loading the kernel. Are you perhaps saying this meaning that the problem actually is processor compatibility and that Bodhi is i486?
usbtux

Re: Problems installing/booting liveCD

Post by usbtux »

shingetsu wrote:The problem with that is that I do want to use Mint. I can't get the liveCD past loading the kernel. Are you perhaps saying this meaning that the problem actually is processor compatibility and that Bodhi is i486?
Just saying that mint/ubuntu is optimised for 586/686 architecture and you processor is old. Bodhi is specifically not optimised for 686 processors and does not use the same kernel -

You could give mint 12 LXDE a try.
shingetsu

Re: Problems installing/booting liveCD

Post by shingetsu »

Ok, so it's probably a cpu architecture problem due to age. Makes sense, it is quite old, also explains why knoppix ran anyway.
Sidenote* tested archbang x86_64, same thing.

I think I will get mint lxde a try.
Do you suggest i386 or amd64 version? My processor is 64 bit but its probably not gonna make a difference with my ram.
shingetsu

Re: Problems installing/booting liveCD

Post by shingetsu »

After running a few additional tests (including managing to boot debian into the dvd text installer) I tried taking my oldest video card (of the same series as my current one though) and booting LMDE with

Code: Select all

nomodeset acpi=off
(I tried with X mode before, that didn't work) while this did.
I'm trying to put my old graph card in and redo this. However, can anyone please tell me how would I get it to boot without these parameters after? Would installing the proprietary driver do it?

Edit:nvm, it got to the 4 lines moving saying it's booting LMDE but when it finished I still wound up with a black screen.
However, DEBIAN did manage to boot, however was running SO SLOW I decided to do the install (if any) later. So I still have no idea unto what's going on.
shingetsu

Re: Problems installing/booting liveCD

Post by shingetsu »

Follow up:
Since the vanilla debian installer didn't manage to see my nvidia software raid0, I tried installing debian from knoppix using debootstrap. I managed to get the "bare-bones" install up, so just the base system, no desktop, no window manager, no bootloader, pretty much nothing. Now I would chroot in and try to continue work on it, but since knoppix is 32bit while debian is 64 bit /bin/bash gives a bad exec format error. Anything I can do with that? Maybe download some old 64 bit knoppix version?
Solar

Re: Problems installing/booting liveCD

Post by Solar »

usbtux wrote:Just saying that mint/ubuntu is optimised for 586/686 architecture and you processor is old.
That is... ahem... wrong.

The CPU in that machine is a Conroe / Allendale (Core 2). I am running Mint successfully on a Yonah (Core) and an Acer Aspire of even older manufacture (Centrino), and even that is several generations more modern than a 686.

A E6660 is not state-of-the-art, but can safely be ruled out being "too old" to run Mint.
shingetsu

Re: Problems installing/booting liveCD

Post by shingetsu »

The problem has been solved (I wound up installing Arch). It was actually a very outdated BIOS (~600 versions, from 3xx to 9xx).
Locked

Return to “Installation & Boot”