Installing Mint problems

[SUPERFITTER]

I am trying to install mint on a empty drive. I formatted the drive. When I try to install Mint it skips user info and goes to install multimedia codecs. If I click continue I get installation type with no drives showing. If I hit install I get this message, "No root file system is defined". Please correct this from the Partitioning menu. At this point I am lost?

[JerryF]

Boot your Mint USB flash drive or DVD:

Please open the System Reports app and click the System Information tab on the left. Your computer's information should come up in the right pane. Click the Copy button and then paste the results into a reply window here so we can see how Linux Mint views your hardware.

---OR---

Please post the results of this command using a Terminal:

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inxi -Fdrxxz

Copy the results from the terminal.

Click the </> button from the mini toolbar above the text box where you type your reply.

Code tags [code][/code] will be inserted. Place your cursor between the code tags and paste the results of the command between the tags. Example: [code]copied results[/code].

[SUPERFITTER]

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  mint@mint:~$ inxi -Fdrxxz
System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-26-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.6.6 wm: muffin dm: LightDM 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20 Ulyana base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Acer product: Aspire M3400 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 3 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Acer model: Aspire M3400 serial: <filter> BIOS: American Megatrends 
  v: P01-A2 date: 04/21/2010 
Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Keyboard PID:0055 
  serial: N/A charge: 70% (should be ignored) status: Discharging 
  Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse PID:003f 
  serial: N/A charge: 70% (should be ignored) status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: AMD Athlon II X2 215 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: K10 rev: 2 L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4a svm bogomips: 10800 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/2700 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD RS880 [Radeon HD 4250] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI 
  driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 01:05.0 chip ID: 1002:9715 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: ati,radeon 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RS880 (DRM 2.50.0 / 5.4.0-26-generic LLVM 9.0.1) 
  v: 3.3 Mesa 20.0.4 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD SBx00 Azalia vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:14.2 chip ID: 1002:4383 
  Device-2: AMD RS880 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4200 Series] 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 01:05.1 chip ID: 1002:970f 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-26-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: e800 
  bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: ASUSTek USB-N13 802.11n Network Adapter (rev. B1) [Realtek 
  RTL8192CU] 
  type: USB driver: rtl8192cu bus ID: 3-1:2 chip ID: 0b05:17ab 
  IF: wlx3497f665ce23 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 625.05 GiB used: 154.5 MiB (0.0%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD6400AAKS-22A7B2 
  size: 596.17 GiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> temp: 25 C 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB model: N/A size: 28.88 GiB serial: <filter> 
  Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: ATAPI model: DVD A DH16AASH rev: SA15 
  dev-links: cdrom,cdrw,dvd,dvdrw 
  Features: speed: 48 multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes 
  rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r,dvd-ram state: running 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.80 GiB used: 75.5 MiB (4.1%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102 
  ID-2: /var/log size: 26.48 GiB used: 79.0 MiB (0.3%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/sdb3 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 21.2 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  1: deb cdrom:[Linux Mint 20 _Ulyana_ - Release amd64 20200624]/ focal contrib main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Info:
  Processes: 193 Uptime: 3m Memory: 3.60 GiB used: 1.15 GiB (31.9%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.16 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 
mint@mint:~$ 

     

[JerryF]

In BIOS, check to see if drives are set as AHCI. Also (if available) check that Fast Boot and Secure Boot are off.

[SUPERFITTER]

Went to Integrated Peripherals Onboard Sata Mode and changed Native IDE to AHCL.
Same problem when I got to Installation Type, no drives appear in the field. I pressed the + and got this.

Installer crashed

We're sorry; the installer crashed. After you close this window, we'll allow you to file a bug report using the integrated bug reporting tool. This will gather information about your system and your installation process. The details will be sent to our bug tracker and a developer will attend to the problem as soon as possible.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/plugins/ubi-partman.py", line 1382, in on_partition_list_new_activate
self.partman_dialog(devpart, partition)
File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/plugin.py", line 48, in wrapper
return target(self, *args, **kwargs)
File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/plugins/ubi-partman.py", line 1045, in partman_dialog
if create and partition['parted']['type'] == 'pri/log':
TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not subscriptable

[JerryF]

Try booting your USB drive in Compatibility Mode, then perform an install.

[linux-rox]

Did you look at the Installation Guide?

When I try to install Mint it skips user info and goes to install multimedia codecs.

That's normal. The codecs screen comes early, the user info screen at the very end.

If I click continue I get installation type with no drives showing.

That's normal. If doing option one (automatic installation), the drive option is in a drop down. If doing option two (manual installation), the partition selection screen (which is also, indirectly, the drive selection screen) comes next.

If I hit install I get this message, "No root file system is defined". Please correct this from the Partitioning menu.

At the installation type screen, did you select the first or second option? If the second, there's a quirk in the installer (charitably, we could call it poor design rather than an outright bug) where you don't see the mount option until you have told the installer which file system the partition has.

[SUPERFITTER]

linux-rox

There was no option of one or two.
The flash drive goes directly to the desktop and I can connect to the WIFI and I can watch you tube videos.
In the partition selection screen there are no partitions showing, even though I already partitioned the drive.
I have installed this Mint in about 6 computers with this flash drive.
I had no problems and had a chose of one or two to install from.

[linux-rox]

Boot a live session. Set up an internet connection. Open Firefox; open this thread. Start the installer. When you get to the page (or pages) you're trying to describe, open Take Screenshot (it's an app on Menu), capture the dialogue box you're trying to describe,* and upload as an attachment. That an option at the bottom of the text entry window. Be sure to click the button to place inline.

* Don't capture the whole screen. Not useful and probably will exceed the file size limit for attachments (200 KB). Instead, notice the options to Grab the Current Window or Select Area to Grab. For this purpose, Grab Window will be fine. Doesn't matter where you save the screenshots, as they'll disappear when you shut down the live session. Just put somewhere (anywhere) you can find them to upload to the Forum. Once here, doesn't matter that they'll disappear on shutdown.

[SUPERFITTER]

[linux-rox]

You're right, that doesn't look good. Again in the live session, please run these commands and copy the output into your next post:

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lsblk
sudo blkid
sudo parted -l

If you are typing the commands, be aware the last one uses an "L", for list.

[SUPERFITTER]

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mint@mint:~$ lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0    7:0    0   1.8G  1 loop /rofs
sda      8:0    0 596.2G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0 496.2G  0 part 
└─sda2   8:2    0   100G  0 part 
sdb      8:16   1  28.9G  0 disk 
├─sdb1   8:17   1   1.9G  0 part /cdrom
├─sdb2   8:18   1   3.9M  0 part 
└─sdb3   8:19   1    27G  0 part /var/log
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom

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mint@mint:~$ sudo blkid
/dev/sda1: UUID="090F85464E55FAAF" TYPE="ntfs" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="6c92393a-162a-45e4-bd71-f5c340131a39"
/dev/sda2: UUID="73803DCF50A608A2" TYPE="ntfs" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="ffbb5b62-2697-4b71-97b8-62ad215308b8"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="2020-06-24-19-01-47-00" LABEL="Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon 64-bit" TYPE="iso9660" PTUUID="4089a39b" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="4089a39b-01"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sdb2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="1AC3-20ED" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="4089a39b-02"
/dev/sdb3: LABEL="writable" UUID="7b8d66e6-17c3-4b88-a9c5-960e025409e1" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="4089a39b-03"

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mint@mint:~$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA WDC WD6400AAKS-2 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 640GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size   File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  533GB  533GB  ntfs               msftdata
 2      533GB   640GB  107GB  ntfs               msftdata


Warning: The driver descriptor says the physical block size is 2048 bytes, but
Linux says it is 512 bytes.
Ignore/Cancel?

[linux-rox]

Still puzzled, but part of the mystery becomes a little clearer. Your drive has two ntfs partitions, so maybe that's why the installer is grumpy.

Let's try this. I'm going to have you erase the first 10 MB of the drive, which will clear the file table and MBR. It's my go-to strategy when a drive is being uncooperative, so this is tried-and-true. Very simple. Boot the live session again and run this command:

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sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M count=10

Note: This command is irreversible. Do not use in future unless you are 100% certain it's the right thing to do.

Once that has run, start up the installer and see whether it offers you this screen:



If so, you have three choices: (i) proceed with the default installation and let the installer set up the partition table; (ii) use the Something Else method and set up partitions manually from within the installer; or (iii) cancel installation, set up partitions in GParted, then start up the installer again.

Be aware, if you are setting up the partitions, you ordinarily would select the msdos partition layout for a BIOS computer (there's a way to use gpt but it requires a couple of extra steps). In any event, your system partition must be ext4 (or another Linux file system), not ntfs. Likewise for a home partition, if that's what the second partition was intended to be.

[SUPERFITTER]

That did not change the Installation Type, it is still blank inside. Now the whole drive is unallocated.

[mikaelrask]

Hey small suggest, try with linux mint 21 it comes with a newer kernel that have better support with the ntfs system. also don't forget to verify the iso https://linuxmint-installation-guide.re ... erify.html.

[linux-rox]

Sorry, I'm stumped. You can get back to where you started by reformatting the drive with GParted or Disks.