Boot problem

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JulianC

Boot problem

Post by JulianC »

I originially posted this newbie questions, but I thought this thread might be more specific. Sry for Xpost:

I'm fairly new to linux mint (I had Ubuntu on an old laptop many years ago, and didn't do much with it) but I had a fairly new low end lap top that I wanted to try Mint on.

Anyway, I went to the website, downloaded the iso and burned it to a disc, and popped it into the laptop.

First off, it wouldn't automatically boot the liveDVD when I restarted the laptop with the disc in. No problem, I just had it do that helper thing that forces it to boot the boot from the dvd (It's an option if you just explore the disc while in windows and double click the installer.

I rebooted, got into Mint and selected install. Everything seemed normal, I selected the option to delete windows and keep mint as my only os (this isn't my main computer so I wasn't worried) and finished the install.

Now, the problem: whenever I start my laptop, without the disc inside, it's just a dark blank screen. no mint screen, nothing. I can press escape for boot options, I tried running fsck, but nothing helps. fsck didn't seem to run properly or do anything.

However, If I boot with the dvd inside, It starts normally. I sign into my accout, everything is normal, I can even eject and remove the dvd and continue to work from linux, so it's not running it from the dvd. I am thoroughly befuddled by this problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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xenopeek
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Re: Boot problem

Post by xenopeek »

Deleted your cross-post. You can use the exclamation icon in the top right of a post to alert the moderators to it. You can use that to request a topic be moved.

I'm not sure what is wrong here;
JulianC wrote:I just had it do that helper thing that forces it to boot the boot from the dvd (It's an option if you just explore the disc while in windows and double click the installer.
Is that a Windows thing, or do you mean you installed with mint4win? That is meant for installing Linux Mint inside Windows, on a virtual partition (actually a very large file on the Windows partition). I'm not sure what would happen if you then selected to delete the Windows partition :shock:

It may be worth a try to follow these steps to do a boot repair: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot- ... _in_Ubuntu. You want to make sure GRUB (the boot loader) is installed to /dev/sda (your first hard disk) and is configured to boot by default your Linux Mint partition (normally that would be on /dev/sda1).
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JulianC

Re: Boot problem

Post by JulianC »

Thanks, sorry about that!

And yes, I was in windows and explored the liveDVD and ran mint4win, then chose the "Demo + Installation option" It said to restart the computer with the disc in, which I knew wouldn't work (it just goes straight to windows, even with the disc in) so I chose the option 3rd option, don't remember exactly what it said and I'm at work right now, but it basically makes it boot the DVD when you restart the computer if it's having trouble doing it on its own. Then, while running the "demo" of mint(cinnamon btw, don't think I mentioned that) I double clicked the install icon, and ran it from there. Does that help clarify the question you had?
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xenopeek
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Re: Boot problem

Post by xenopeek »

Okay, not familiar with mint4win so that is good to know. Still sounds like boot repair is worth a shot.
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JulianC

Re: Boot problem

Post by JulianC »

Thanks for the quick and speedy help and reply, your solution worked and problem was resolved!
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