Mint Fails at Start-up

[RobZ_inT]

I had tried to install Simplify 3D using their 64 bit installer, but encountered an error. My laptop hung up and I couldn't open anything (was trying to use Mozilla to open the forums). Since nothing was working, I did a restart, but now Mint won't load. I get the HP boot menu, then a Mint logo and a brief message that flashes an 'VCE" error message, then nothing but a blinking cursor in the upper left.
Any help would be appreciated!

ETA:
I was running LM 19.3 on a 64bit HP 840 Elitebook (Laptop)

[DPM]

You can boot Mint from a USB stick, then use Timeshift to restore a working system snapshot - assuming that you did set up Timeshift as recommended.

[RobZ_inT]

I have no idea if I configured Timeshift correctly- but did run it earlier today before installation. I'm trying to make a Mint boot USB stick, and have linuxmint-20.2-cinnamon-64bit on a USB. Unfortunately I can't get Etcher to work with this PC to make a boot stick, I get a message that says "this app can't run on your PC". I'm following instructions here: https://linuxmint-installation-guide.r ... /burn.html If somebody knows hot to make a boot disk with Windows 10< id appreciate it.
I"m also not sure if using Mint 20.2 vs the previous 19.3 will matter or not? At this point I jsut want some version of bootable Linx so I can try to recover with Timeshift or save my "Home" folder.

[motoryzen]

I have no idea if I configured Timeshift correctly- but did run it earlier today before installation. I'm trying to make a Mint boot USB stick, and have linuxmint-20.2-cinnamon-64bit on a USB. Unfortunately I can't get Etcher to work with this PC to make a boot stick, I get a message that says "this app can't run on your PC". I'm following instructions here: https://linuxmint-installation-guide.r ... /burn.html If somebody knows hot to make a boot disk with Windows 10< id appreciate it.
I"m also not sure if using Mint 20.2 vs the previous 19.3 will matter or not? At this point I jsut want some version of bootable Linx so I can try to recover with Timeshift or save my "Home" folder.

I've never had good luck out of Balena Etcher within Windows in creating a Linux distro installation thumb drive ( regardless of the distro). I'm not sure why honestly. However, I've never had a problem with Unetbootin ( choose Windows version obviously if you're access that site from a Windows PC). You may have to format the thumb drive to fat32 first, but I don't recall since It's been a while since I last needed to use Unetbootin to prep a linux install drive.

[RobZ_inT]

However, I've never had a problem with Unetbootin

I was able to run Unetbootin and it said it was successful; however when I try booting with it I get a an old school screen with a blue box that says Unetbootin and Default- then it sits in an endless loop counting down Automatic boot in x seconds....

[AndyMH]

On those rare occasions I'm using win, I found rufus worked. You do have to select dd mode.

[mikeflan]

I have a live boot LM on USB which I have never really had to use. But isn't every install disk (even from an old version like LM 19.3) also a live boot option? I say it is.

[RobZ_inT]

I have a live boot LM on USB which I have never really had to use. But isn't every install disk (even from an old version like LM 19.3) also a live boot option? I say it is.

@ mikeflan - I'm supposing you haven't ran LM on an HP laptop, nor have you tried installing Simplyfy3D on said system and had it crash either? If you had, then you'd a have areal use for LM 19.3 on a USB boot stick...and be happy for any boot= live or otherwise.

I can't get it to boot with LM 19.3 either- I did get Etcher to work- sorta. when it runs it can't find a partition file in the image. If I tell it look for "all files", I can point it to where the download is showing an *.iso.part file...and Etcher will run. Unfortunately the laptop says the finished flash isn't a boot disk. I'm trying to flash a new boot stick but this time I'm having it flash from URL instead of a download- we'll see what happens. (This PC is a bare bones rig with a USB wi-fi, so it is SLOW on the flash from URL)
I should add that a couple of years ago when I first installed Linux on the HP 840 Elitebook- it didn't boot easily, I had to run a custom boot and point it to the installed EFI file... I honestly can't remember how exactly I fixed it, but it worked for the last few years.

[RobZ_inT]

Success! I booted Mint 20.2 from USB and it's open. Now for the hard part. I'm told I can recover my old "Home" folder and desktop files -does anyone have instructions or a reference url for how to do that?

[AndyMH]

Do you have a separate /home partition?

[RobZ_inT]

Do you have a separate /home partition?

No. I'm guessing that I probably should? With LM 20.2 running from the USB, I was able to navigate to the file system and see my old Home folder and copy everything to an external drive- just in case. I then went through the steps here: https://helpdeskgeek.com/linux-tips/how ... settings/ which are a little dated but close enough to follow. I went thru the install steps and got to the restart and no the boot issues begin. This HP doesn't like Linux- as stated previously, getting it to boot Linux is a struggle. It currently tries and then drops to a black screen that says
"GNU GRUB version 2.04" Minimal BASH-Like etc... "grub>"
I have no idea what to do from there. At this point I'd be happy to just get Mint 20.2 to boot up and run and Manually copy my old files back in now that I have them saved externally.
Edit: What is the file path for a custom boot in 20.2? The HP doesn't like the old efi custom path anymore.

[RobZ_inT]

When all else fails- have Mint erase the drive and load everything fresh, which is what I had to do. I set the Boot to legacy in BIOS and it now loads from the hard drive now, albeit VERY SLOWLY. I'll be working on adding back applications and such that were lost. I have a Timeshift but that was from 19.3 and I don't want to risk them not being compatible. I also still need to get Simplify3D installed...hopefully without crashing the laptop again.

[mikeflan]

I'm just wondering why you abandoned LM19.3 on that laptop and changed to 20.2.

@ mikeflan - I'm supposing you haven't ran LM on an HP laptop, nor have you tried installing Simplyfy3D on said system and had it crash either? If you had, then you'd a have areal use for LM 19.3 on a USB boot stick...and be happy for any boot= live or otherwise.

Actually, my only laptop is a 2008 HP Pavillion dv9700 with 4 GB RAM and LM 19.3 Cinnamon installed on it. I paid $1,450 for it in 6/2008. Yeah, it's a bit slow, but it is fairly solid believe it or not.

No, I have not installed Simplyfy3D on it.

For me, laptops are for begrudging use while travelling. Then I immediately transition to a desktop system when I get to where I'm going, if at all possible.

I might be getting (maybe for free) a 2017 Dell Inspiron pretty soon, but that has not been decided for sure yet. Win10 simply fails on that computer. I mean it will boot up, but then it performs VERY poorly - so my wife says. I just grin and return to my LM

[AndyMH]

Do you have a separate /home partition?

No. I'm guessing that I probably should?

Won't help with your HP boot issues and can't help there - thinkpad user.

A separate /home partition helps with major version changes, e.g. LM19 to LM20. It means you can do a 'fresh' install and tell the installer to leave your home partition alone, preserving all your data and config files. You should still have a backup just in case. You install with the 'something else' option and point the installer at your existing / partition, tell it to reformat and use as /, then point it at your /home partition, tell it to use it for /home and not reformat it. You still need to re-install all your software, but the config files are there and any tweaks you have made to the desktop are retained.

If you go down this route, your / partition needs to be around 30GB, /home as big as you want, but you must not run timeshift with the defaults. It will save snapshots in the / partition, fill it up quickly = no boot.

You will find proponents for and against a separate /home partition on the forum. I've always had one.