Linux Mint 20.1 Live boots and works well from USB stick. From Live, the Installer moves quickly through language and keyboard selection to Media Codecs, then, whether or not I check the install codecs box and continue, the little "processing" circle appears and remains until I force quit -- as much as a half hour later.
You will note, in the inxi -Fxxxrz and parted -l results below, that the target PC is a relatively capable and not very old Dell XPS desktop with SDD and two HDDs. Win 10 is the factory installed dual boot alternative. Win 10 is almost never used, but I'm not prepared to dump it entirely. Mint 18.3 root is mounted on the SDD (/dev/sda5) and /home on the first HDD (/dev/sdb2). The intent is to put 20.1 down in these same partitions.
Some of the approaches tried and failed (all with the same result):
1. Media Codecs: Tried both checking the install codecs box and not checking it.
2. Boot: Secure boot is off. USB stick with Live has been tried booted in UEFI mode and also in Legacy mode.
3. Disconnecting HDDs: I've run the installer with all three drives (SDD + HDD1 + HDD2), with SDD + HDD1 only, and with SDD alone. (Don't be confused by the second HDD with linux type partitions. It's from an older PC and mounted only on occasion for access to older data or to store backups. And 20.1 installer doesn't behave differently when its not there.)
4. ISO and USB stick: I've downloaded 20.1 ISO and created USB stick twice, through the entire process, including ISO checksums and USB media integrity check on boot.
Help is clearly needed and will be much appreciated.
inxi -Fxxxrz
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$ inxi -Fxxxrz
System: Host: djan3-XPS-8930 Kernel: 4.15.0-133-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3) dm: lightdm
Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine: System: Dell product: XPS 8930 v: 1.1.16 Chassis: type: 3
Mobo: Dell model: 0DF42J v: A00
Bios: Dell v: 1.1.16 date: 01/06/2021
CPU: Hexa core Intel Core i7-8700 (-HT-MCP-) cache: 12288 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 38399
clock speeds: min/max: 800/4600 MHz 1: 3614 MHz 2: 3400 MHz
3: 3806 MHz 4: 3960 MHz 5: 3889 MHz 6: 3994 MHz 7: 3976 MHz
8: 3981 MHz 9: 3700 MHz 10: 3691 MHz 11: 3725 MHz 12: 3701 MHz
Graphics: Card-1: Intel Device 3e92 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3e92
Card-2: NVIDIA GP107 [GeForce GTX 1050 Ti]
bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1c82
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: nvidia,intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz, 1920x1080@60.00hz
GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 1050 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
GLX Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 384.130 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card-1 NVIDIA GP107GL High Definition Audio Controller
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0fb9
Card-2 Intel 200 Series PCH HD Audio
driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a2f0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-133-generic
Network: Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
driver: ath10k_pci bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:0042
IF: wlp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2400 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
driver: alx port: d000 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 1969:e0a1
IF: enp4s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Card-3: Atheros usb-ID: 001-004 chip-ID: 0cf3:e009
IF: null-if-id state: N/A speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Drives: HDD Total Size: 2256.5GB (9.6% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: SPCC_Solid_State size: 256.1GB serial: AA000000000000000638
ID-2: /dev/sdb model: TOSHIBA_DT01ACA1 size: 1000.2GB serial: 97R1AD4MS
ID-3: /dev/sdc model: ST1000DM010 size: 1000.2GB serial: Z9A7Y0PM
Partition: ID-1: / size: 39G used: 19G (51%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
ID-2: /home size: 459G used: 169G (39%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb2
ID-3: swap-1 size: 17.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb3
RAID: System: supported: N/A
No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Unused Devices: none
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$ sudo parted -l
[sudo] password for djan3:
Model: ATA SPCC Solid State (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 256GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 524MB 523MB ntfs Basic data partition hidden, diag
2 524MB 629MB 105MB fat32 EFI system partition boot, esp
3 629MB 646MB 16.8MB Microsoft reserved partition msftres
4 646MB 132GB 131GB ntfs Basic data partition msftdata
5 132GB 174GB 41.9GB ext4
Model: ATA TOSHIBA DT01ACA1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 237GB 237GB ntfs Basic data partition msftdata
2 237GB 737GB 500GB ext4
3 983GB 1000GB 17.0GB linux-swap(v1)
Model: ATA ST1000DM010-2EP1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:
Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 512MB 511MB primary ext2 boot
2 512MB 25.5GB 25.0GB primary ext4
3 25.5GB 30.5GB 5000MB primary linux-swap(v1)
4 30.5GB 531GB 500GB extended
5 30.5GB 531GB 500GB logical ext4
