Problems installing from scratch

[Robots]

I recently purchased a refurbished Z260 HP computer with no OS, however I can't get the system to boot from my thumbdrive (yes, I made a bootable USB and it works on other computers). My current computer doesn't see the Z260 on network or ethernet which leads me to ask 2 questions -

First - do I have to find a CD to make into bootable media?

Second - since I got the MAC off the BIOS can I use that to network in my mint machine and load mint or do I need to format the hard drive somehow? The hard drive is a 1TB SSD from Samsung.

Or am I missing something else?

[rickNS]

Second - since I got the MAC off the BIOS...

Or am I missing something else?

Stupid question maybe, as you were in the BIOS is USB HDD set as first boot device ?

Or did you F12 (or whatever key works on that model) and select USB as boot device ?

My current computer doesn't see the Z260 on network

That is not surprising, as it has no OS on it there is nothing to see.

[MiZoG]

Hey, Robots.
Sure, it will be either an optical drive installation or over the network (yeah ricNS you set up a PXE server on one machine and install an OS over the network on another configured to boot from LAN. Workstations are expected to have this capability).
But the problem remains. Why you cannot boot from USB? There is no way this workstation could not support booting from USB. Switch USB ports, try another thumbdrive, try other applications and methods of writing the iso into the USB stick. You have to rule out the refurbished machine came with faulty USB ports.

[AndyMH]

You might have more luck with a DVD. I have a home built desktop, i5-8400, MSI mobo. I could not get a linux USB stick to boot, a win usb stick would boot but fail during install. Burnt both mint and win10 to DVDs and had no problem booting them and installing. I can't remember if I was using a front panel usb port or one in the back (an integral part of the mobo). MSI support were of no help at all.

If you want to dual boot, tough, the win iso is now too large to fit on a DVD. That's MS for you!

[Robots]

So after digging around - alot - I was able to get the memory stick to work. The BIOS had to have some security features disabled and the stick identified as a USB Hard Drive. Once I got in there were still problems because then I couldn't get the hard drive to format, however instead of formating, the work around was to simply install Mint. BIOS has been reset to default and there seem to be no further BIOS concerns.

Now it will turn on, run as expected and connect to Wifi - except - I can't get the computer to recongize the CD/DVD (there simply isn't anything to select or mount) and getting it to network. Even though IPV4 and 6 are set to share with other computers it won't allow access or the others won't be allowed access. In a complete lack of surprise my Windows machine doesn't even see the Z620 on the network. The machine does show a ethernet connection that is valid, and it does show that the connection is part of a network, but it still won't ... co-operate.

There were a few problems with things such as getting the inital software and update managers to work, but by using the thumbdrive and starting them from the thumbdrive I was able to get everything resolved except for the two problems above. Now the machine functions and updates have been installed.

If anyone knows how to get the disc drive to be recognized or to get the ethernet part to work it would be appreciated if you passed on your knowledge.

[mikeflan]

Please post the output of these 2 commands in a terminal:

Code: Select all

inxi -dxxx
ls -la /dev/cd*

[Robots]

Use of uninitialized value $args in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/bin/inxi line 2584.
Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/bin/inxi line 2584.
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0curl: (6) Could not resolve host: whatismyip.akamai.com
Use of uninitialized value $args in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/bin/inxi line 2584.
Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/bin/inxi line 2584.
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0curl: (6) Could not resolve host: icanhazip.com
Use of uninitialized value $args in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/bin/inxi line 2584.
Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/bin/inxi line 2584.
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0curl: (6) Could not resolve host: smxi.org
Network:
Device-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: e1000e v: kernel port: f040 bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:1502
IF: eno1 state: down mac: c4:34:6b:7b:ba:07
Device-2: Intel 82574L Gigabit Network vendor: Hewlett-Packard
driver: e1000e v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000
bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:10d3
IF: enp1s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: c4:34:6b:7b:ba:08
IP v4: 10.42.0.1/24 type: noprefixroute scope: global
broadcast: 10.42.0.255
IP v6: fe80::d2c:6988:87d:4e5/64 type: noprefixroute scope: link
WAN IP: No WAN IP found. Connected to web? SSL issues?
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 27.83 GiB (3.0%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB
speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: S6PTNM0TA02254Z
Message: No optical or floppy data found.




ls: cannot access '/dev/cd*': No such file or directory

[mikeflan]

If you get those 32 lines of output when you put inxi -dxxx in a terminal then you have serious problems.
If you get the last 5 lines of output, then it's not so bad.

[Robots]

When I run the commands now this is what I get.

Drives:
Local Storage: total: 4.55 TiB used: 965.09 GiB (20.7%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB
speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: S6PTNM0TA02254Z rev: 2B6Q scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Western Digital
model: WD My Passport 25E2 size: 3.64 TiB type: N/A
serial: 575833314435383239543059 rev: 4005 scheme: GPT
Message: No optical or floppy data found.


And as before -

ls: cannot access '/dev/cd*': No such file or directory

[mikeflan]

OK, so you have a computer that works fine except for recognizing the CD/DVD rom and getting networking to work.
If it were me, I would concentrate on the CD/DVD rom problem. I would create live boots of LM 20.3 and LM 21 and see if they can see the CD/DVD rom. If so, then I might try another install on another SSD I have lying around.

[AndyMH]

Just plugged an external usb DVD drive into the laptop, the device is /dev/sr0 in mint, output from parted --list:

Code: Select all

Model: TSSTcorp CDDVDW SE-208DB (scsi)
Disk /dev/sr0: 247MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 2048B/2048B
Partition Table: unknown
Disk Flags: 

With a clonezilla CD in it, mint automounted it at /media/andy/2.5.5-38-amd64.

[Doruletz]

If that refurbished Z260 HP has Windows on it, you will need to disable Fast Startup from inside Windows first.
Windows does not actually shut down the computer, it just puts it in some sort of hibernation or suspension, to trick users into thinking that it boots fast.
Also, you will need to disable SECURE BOOT in your UEFI/BIOS settings. That is another Microsoft crap, which will not allow USB Boot into Linux or any other kind of live system.
Good luck

I recently purchased a refurbished Z260 HP computer with no OS, however I can't get the system to boot from my thumbdrive (yes, I made a bootable USB and it works on other computers). My current computer doesn't see the Z260 on network or ethernet which leads me to ask 2 questions -

First - do I have to find a CD to make into bootable media?

Second - since I got the MAC off the BIOS can I use that to network in my mint machine and load mint or do I need to format the hard drive somehow? The hard drive is a 1TB SSD from Samsung.

Or am I missing something else?

[Doruletz]

Optical drives (CD/DVD) are a thing of the past anyways...
Since yours isn't recognized, I guess it's busted.

Code: Select all

Message: No optical or floppy data found.

If you really need to have an optical drive, for under $20 you can buy a new one. Even an external USB one...

When I run the commands now this is what I get.

Drives:
Local Storage: total: 4.55 TiB used: 965.09 GiB (20.7%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB
speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: S6PTNM0TA02254Z rev: 2B6Q scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Western Digital
model: WD My Passport 25E2 size: 3.64 TiB type: N/A
serial: 575833314435383239543059 rev: 4005 scheme: GPT
Message: No optical or floppy data found.


And as before -

ls: cannot access '/dev/cd*': No such file or directory

[deepakdeshp]

Does

Code: Select all

ls /dev/sr0 

return anything?

[MiZoG]

Have you actually inserted any - blank or not - disk into your dvd-rom so far?
Your dvd-rom device won't show up on your desktop unless you insert a disk. (Auto)mounting of roms works similarly to that of external storage devices.
If you add a "d" to your inxi command, your dvd-rom device will be listed alongside other storage units, for instance inxi -Fdxxxrz

[Robots]

Does

Code: Select all

ls /dev/sr0 

return anything?

No. It says "ls: cannot access '/dev/sr0': No such file or directory"

Have you actually inserted any - blank or not - disk into your dvd-rom so far?
Your dvd-rom device won't show up on your desktop unless you insert a disk. (Auto)mounting of roms works similarly to that of external storage devices.
If you add a "d" to your inxi command, your dvd-rom device will be listed alongside other storage units, for instance inxi -Fdxxxrz

No. I can't, the door won't even open for the tray to slide out. It acts like its not hooked up but connections look correct.

[MiZoG]

It is possibly jammed. Happens all the time with old optical drives. I use a pin pretty much like this video "demonstration".

[Robots]

Update -

I have been in touch with the sellers on Amazon and what follows is the conversation.


Dec 10, 2022 1:23 PM
FYI - I run Linux Mint.
I re-seated the DIMM and made sure they were solid, the single one towards the back seemed slightly questionable. All three were reseated and when I resarted and pulled up my system monitor it registered all of the cores as did system reports.
For the 2nd CPU I also reseated all DIMM just for good measure, reinstalled and rebooted and all cores are again showing on both system reports and system monitoring.

Dec 10, 2022 1:26 PM
Forgot to ask. Why isn't the disk drive found? It doesn't show up anywhere.

Dec 10, 2022 1:35 PM
It doesn't look like my reply got to you so this may be a repeat answer.
FYI - I run Linux Mint as my OS.
I reseated the DIMM for CPU0 and it registered on both system reports and system monitor. The single DIMM towards the back seemed a very little bit loose. All three were reseated firnly and the system fired up.
CPU1 had the DIMM reseated for good measure, it was re-installed an now both CPUs are registering with all cores on both system reports and system monitoring.

Dec 12, 2022 11:15 AM
Hello so for the SATA ports on the motherboard HDD0-3 ports are the Intel RST controller. So you need to download and extract the Intel RST F6 driver to a folder on separate USB flash drive. In order to install Windows. I do not see any specific storage drivers for Linux. I also do not see where HP even offered any specific drivers for Linux Mint. During install did you ensure to select to choose 3rd party drivers? There is a z620 pack of Linux drivers on HP's website. Just do a search for "HP z620 Drivers". Hope this helps!

Dec 19, 2022 8:49 PM
Still can't get the optical to run. Any other things?



So what can I do now?

[Robots]

I did use a thin wire to open the tray, but other than being open its doing nothing. Doesn't feel like its powered.

[AndyMH]

Hello so for the SATA ports on the motherboard HDD0-3 ports are the Intel RST controller.

In order for your drives to be seen by linux you need to set your BIOS sata mode to AHCI, linux does not support RST (proprietary to intel). No idea where this setting will be in your BIOS and some manufacturers make it difficult to find or impossible to change. Note, you need to make changes in win so that it will still boot after changing the sata mode from RST to AHCI.