Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

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Punchy71
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Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Punchy71 »

Greetings,
I'm trying to install Linux Mint 18 on my desktop PC from a DVD disc. I tried to go into CMOS/BIOS and set the boot priority to "DVD drive first" then save and exit. However, whenever I reboot my PC it still continues to boot to the hard disc first which brings up Windows 10. It never even boots the optical disc drive at all. What am I doing wrong?
Thank you
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Reorx
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Reorx »

Have you disabled "Secure Boot"?
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Punchy71
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Punchy71 »

Hmm, I guess not. How do I do that exactly?
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by JeremyB »

How did you put the ISO on a DVD? Did you burn an ISO to disk or something else?
I am able to have Secure Boot enabled on my Lenovo and still boot the LM18 ISO
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Punchy71 »

I burned an ISO image of Linux Mint 18 that I downloaded to a DVD disc. I burned it using Brasero on my laptop which has Linux Mint 17 on it.
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austin.texas
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by austin.texas »

DId you use a DVD-R?
DVD-RW are not too reliable for this use.
Can you test the DVD on a different computer?
Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, Quad core AMD A8-3870 with Radeon HD Graphics 6550D, 8GB DDR3, Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
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Reorx
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Reorx »

Punchy71 wrote:Hmm, I guess not. How do I do that exactly?
It should be a setting in your BIOS.
Full time Linux Mint user since 2011 - Currently running LM21C on multiple Dell laptops - mostly Vostro models.

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Jim Hauser

Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Jim Hauser »

Can you boot anything at all from your CD/DVD?

I had a similar issue with two separate motherboards (and the same sata DVD drive.) It turns out that just setting up the boot order was not enough. I also had to make sure that the drive was set up for IDE mode and not AHCI mode in BIOS. It would not boot in AHCI mode at all.

Cheers!

Jim
Punchy71
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Punchy71 »

austin.texas wrote:DId you use a DVD-R?
DVD-RW are not too reliable for this use.
Can you test the DVD on a different computer?
I burned the iso image onto a memorex DVD+R disc

I tested the disc on a different computer to see if it would boot from this disc and got the same non responsive results. So I'm going to try to download it again and reburn it again.
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Reorx »

Have you tried a USB stick???
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Punchy71
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Punchy71 »

Reorx wrote:Have you tried a USB stick???
No. I've never tried a USB stick.
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Reorx »

Might be worth a try... and enable booting from a USB (if not enabled already) and make it first in the boot order. You may have to press an F key (not sure which on your hardware but on mine, it's F12) to get a boot menu & select "USB".
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Punchy71
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Punchy71 »

austin.texas wrote:DId you use a DVD-R?
DVD-RW are not too reliable for this use.
Can you test the DVD on a different computer?
What should I have used instead?
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by austin.texas »

Punchy71 wrote:
austin.texas wrote:DId you use a DVD-R?
DVD-RW are not too reliable for this use.
Can you test the DVD on a different computer?
What should I have used instead?
Just don't use DVD-RW.
If you want to try putting it on a USB drive, the Rufus program is a reliable Windows program to use to create the USB.

Before burning a DVD (OR before downloading another .iso) you should check the integrity of the downloaded .iso file by checking the sha256sum
That will tell you if the download is good.
The sha256sum verification is a bit complicated, so I have put it into a script to (hopefully) make it easier.
I will use MInt 18 Cinnamon 64bit as an example.
You can substitute a different Mint 18 .iso (other than Cinnamon 64bit), or a different download folder - but all files should be downloaded to one folder.

Step 1: Download or move the Mint 18 .iso file into your Downloads folder.
Step 2: Open your text editor and copy the script contents here, and paste into your text editor. Save the file in your Downloads folder as sum.sh
Step 3: Open a terminal and change directory to the Downloads folder:

Code: Select all

cd ~/Downloads
Step 4: Make the sum.sh file executable with the command:

Code: Select all

sudo chmod u+x sum.sh
Step 5: Run the script with the command:

Code: Select all

 ./sum.sh  linuxmint-18-correct-filename.iso
Using Mint 18 Cinnamon 64bit as an example, the command would be

Code: Select all

./sum.sh  linuxmint-18-cinnamon-64bit.iso
Script contents:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
# Download or move your Mint 18 .iso file to your Downloads folder.
# save this file as in the Downloads folder as sum.sh
# right-click on the Downloads folder and open a terminal
# make the script executable with "sudo chmod u+x sum.sh"
# run the script with "./sum.sh  Mint-18-correct-filename.iso"
# EXAMPLE:   ./sum.sh  linuxmint-18-cinnamon-64bit.iso

# Importing the signing key
gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-key "27DE B156 44C6 B3CF 3BD7 D291 300F 846B A25B AE09"
# Download the Mint 18 sha256 sum txt files
wget https://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/linuxmint.com/stable/18/sha256sum.txt
wget https://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/linuxmint.com/stable/18/sha256sum.txt.gpg
# Verify the signature on the two sha256 sum text files
gpg --verify sha256sum.txt.gpg sha256sum.txt
echo "It should report that the signature is Good, $USER."
echo "You can ignore any warning about ...not certified..."
echo "..."
# compare the sha256 sum of your ISO image and the original Mint sha256 sum
echo "Calculating the sda256 sum for $1"
echo "Be patient, $USER. I am not that good at math"
echo "..."
sha256sum -b $1
echo "Done. Compare the previous generated number with these -"
cat sha256sum.txt
Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, Quad core AMD A8-3870 with Radeon HD Graphics 6550D, 8GB DDR3, Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
Linux Linx 2018
Punchy71
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Punchy71 »

Well, I went to the garage and dug out an old laptop pc I had. I put the DVD disc in the disc drive, booted the machine and it found and booted up the disc with the .iso image with Linux Mint 18 just fine.... no problems. So I know the disc is good, it's just that my newer desktop PC and newer laptop aren't seeing or recognizing the disc for some reason...
Last edited by Punchy71 on Wed Jul 27, 2016 2:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Reorx
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Reorx »

Just an idea >>> Copy the LM18 ISO to a USB stick. Get another USB stick that is ~2 to 4 GB. Boot the old computer with the DVD you have. Then plug in both USB sticks. Then use the Mint USB writer in Mint 18 to burn the ISO (on the first USB stick) onto the second empty USB stick. Then see if you can boot the newly created bootable USB stick on the machine that won't boot to the DVD... 8)

P.S.: Check the sha256sum of the ISO first in order to confirm it's integrity.
Full time Linux Mint user since 2011 - Currently running LM21C on multiple Dell laptops - mostly Vostro models.

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Punchy71
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Punchy71 »

Well, I would... except I only own one USB stick. It's 16GB in size.


Edit: Hmm, come to think of it, I might have another USB stick laying around somewhere, let me go check.
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Reorx
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Reorx »

For the purposes of fiddling with multiple versions, I usually buy a 10 pack of 4GB sticks on Amazon for about $27 ($2.70 each)! :lol: They are available in a multitude of colors and have many uses... You can probably guess the color I got...

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Punchy71
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by Punchy71 »

I found an old USB stick I had laying around.

I tried out what you said and it worked to a certain degree.

I was successfully able to copy over the .iso image of Linux Mint 18 to the second USB stick I found using "USB writer" in Linux Mint 18 booting up on the DVD and running live on the old laptop.

Then I tried to see if my newer desktop PC would recognize the USB stick with the .iso image and rebooted the machine. When it came back up it still boots up into Windows 10. So it still only see's the hard disk and ignores both the optical drive and at least one of the USB drives (this tower box has numerous USB sockets/drives on it).

Then I tried to see if my newer laptop PC would recognize the same USB stick and rebooted it. When it came back up, it saw the stick and was able to boot from it just fine. I went ahead and installed the Linux Mint 18 from the USB stick onto this newer laptop.

So, all in all, I'm about half way to where I wanted to be originally.
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Re: Why won't my PC boot from the optical disc drive so I can install Mint?

Post by austin.texas »

Can you list some specs on the machine that is not cooperating?
Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, Quad core AMD A8-3870 with Radeon HD Graphics 6550D, 8GB DDR3, Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
Linux Linx 2018
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