<SOLVED> Computer freeze and impossiblity to boot from USB after installation of Linux Mint 21 Vanessa

[Oscar]

Hello,

I am new to Linux and not very techy. I try to research and understand by myself, before asking, but this time I am really stuck with a problem I cannot fix by myself, besides of the hours of research.

The situation/problem:
I wanted to install Linux Mint 21 Vanessa on my pc: Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon X1 Gen 8, 1T, 16G RAM, UEFI, OS Windows 10 Pro (64b).

I most probably did a mistake and the computer is now frozen and I cannot find a way to unfreeze it.

Every time I reboot I arrive to the ‘Recovery’ screen with the error ‘error code: 0xc000000e’ and it says the PC needs to be repaired. None of the options proposed at the bottom of that page help resolve the issue (Press Enter to try again, Press F1 to enter Recovery Environment, Press F8 for Startup Steetings, and Press Esc for UEFI Firmware Settings). I always come back to the recovery screen.

As I have no data to save in the computer, I tried to completely re-install the Linux Mint 21 Vanessa from scratch by the bootable USD via F12 key to access boot menu. I can see the screen as per normal and select the USB but, once I click on it, nothing happens and it stays on the same screen.

Besides this, I also tried to restart different times and change the boot order in the BIOS to prioritise the plugged bootable USD over Windows boot. None of those work even after several times and several days. It always shows the recovery screen and from there I am stuck.

I have seen the following post viewtopic.php?f=46&t=245971&p=1318741&h ... e#p1318741, with seemingly a solution via the Gparted live bootable USB but I have hard time finding the best way among the various options proposed, via Linux or Windows (from other computers I have).


The installation done:
All started very successfully (ISO image, integrity and authenticity checks, live session, language, connection to internet and codecs).
Then I have done the following partition in ‘Something else’: (I read that having different partitions is better for data protection and easier for system upgrades and clean-ups)
-a- EFI system partition: used primary, type EFI and 512MB (no mount)
-b- SWAP partition: used primary, type swap and 16GB (no mount)
-c- Root partition: used primary, beginning, type ext4, mount as ‘/’ and 100GB
-d- Boot partition: used primary, beginning, type ext4, mount as ‘/boot’ and 512 MB
-e- Home partition: used primary, beginning, type ext4, mount as ‘/home’ and 500GB
--- On purpose I was leaving some free memory that was to be used later to create purely data partitions in order to remove my user data from the /home partition.


My questions:
- How can I fix this issue?
- How can I make the bootable USD readable again?
- Is using the Gparted the only option? If yes, what would be the suggested way to create the USB for a newbie?
- Is the ultimate solution to go back to the supplier and ask for a recovery and re-intall of Windows, and start again from there?
- Is there a clear error in my partitioning that created such an issue?


Thank you so much for helping.
Have a great day.

O.




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MAYBE HELPFUL ADDITIONAL DETAILS:

- When I selected ‘Something else’ and arrived on the original partition table, I could see two areas: (1) dev/nvme0n1 (if I well remember that name but I am not sure here), with lots of memory available, and (2) dev/sda with only like 12GB available.

- I thus started to configure the architecture as mentioned above and starting by clicking on ‘New partition table’. Strangely to me it kept the structure dev/nvme0n1 and dev/sda similar that the one at the start of the procedure.

- I decided to create the new partition from the dev/nvme0n1 as this is where the memory was available.

- In clicking on ‘Install now’, a message came saying it would keep the original partitioning for some reason. Unfortunately I forgot this message and did not take any picture of it, sorry for being imprecise here. This message was partially covering the timezone selection screen, if I well remember. Options were ‘Continue’ or ‘Cancel’ but none of the options really worked even after clicking several times and waiting few minutes. I tried to close the window but it did not work neither. The only option was to reboot physically.

- Since then I only have the Recovery screen, BIOS and boot menu screens available but I cannot go further.

Thanks again for your help

---------------------------------------------

[JerryF]

Those error messages sound like they are Windows startup errors, not Mint.

If you don't have a Windows Recover USB flash drive, I think your best bet is to reinstall Windows if you want dual boot. Then try installing Mint.

Otherwise, if you only want Mint, then do a default install (Erase the disk...)

[Oscar]

Hello JerryF,
Thanks for your reply.
Yes I only want to have Mint on this PC.
Sorry to sound terribly new but, how to do a default install? I have been trying to do this by booting directly from the USB to re-intall Linux completely as the unique OS but I cannot reach that level. The bootable USD does not seems recognised. I see it in the boot menu but when I click on it, nothing happens.
Please let me know if there is a procedure for that.
Thanks.
Good day.

[JerryF]

I would use another computer to download Mint ISO then burn it to another USB flash drive.

If you're going to be using Windows to download and burn, Rufus is a good free program to burn the ISO to a flash drive.

Also make sure in BIOS for the computer that you're going to install Mint, set Secure Boot to Off. If your BIOS has Fast Boot, set that to Off also.

[Oscar]

Thanks.
I will burn a new bootable USB and try with this one.
For your BIOS config advises:
- Secure boot/ It was already off (I read that before)
- Fast boot/ You mean 'Quick' in Boot Mode on the Startup section? Yes this one is on. You suggest to pass it into 'Diagnostic´?
I read this yesterday but did not see why 'The diagnostic splash screen always displays during boot'was relevant to my problem. I will try anyhow,
Also in this Startup section of the BIOS, I saw UEFI/Legacy Boot and wondered what needed to be set here. It is now 'Both'. Is that good?
Thanks.

[Oscar]

It worked!
I have changed the BIOS/Startup/Boot mode from 'quick' to 'diagnostic'. Secure boot was off.
I re-burnt a bootable USB.
Computer booted from the USD and I could successfully access the live session.

I have accessed the installer and seen that maybe the issue of booting was that the option 'Device for boot loader installation' was kept default to the hdd, instead of pointing it to the created partition I had done for the boot? Maybe this is the reason?

In fact I had done the following partition:
-a- EFI system partition: used primary, type EFI and 512MB (no mount)
-b- SWAP partition: used primary, type swap and 16GB (no mount)
-c- Root partition: used primary, beginning, type ext4, mount as ‘/’ and 100GB
-d- Boot partition: used primary, beginning, type ext4, mount as ‘/boot’ and 512 MB
-e- Home partition: used primary, beginning, type ext4, mount as ‘/home’ and 500GB

From here I try to understand where the problem came from, get the partitioning right and then re-intall Linnux Mint 21 Vanessa as the unique OS.
I will do another post for the question on the partition.

Thanks again for the help.

[JerryF]

Glad it all worked out for you!

[Oscar]

Thank you JerryF.
I am still busy making sure not to do any more mistake and to create an install and partitioning that would make sense and be solid.
I evolved today:
- in the understanding of the partitioning, especially for managing the data @viewtopic.php?f=46&t=386425&p=2264322#p2264322
- in the optimisation of the installation but here I still have a few points where I am lost @viewtopic.php?f=46&t=386433&p=2264221#p2264221
Thank you for your help.
Have a great day or night.