installing Mint on freedos laptop

[atheistsunited]

I am trying to install mint cinnamon 17.3- 64 bit on a brand new laptop that came with freedos. It is Asus with intel i3 processor. For some reason it is taking way too long. First time while trying to install, after 4 hours, I stopped the process and then made another bootable usb disk using startup disk creator on Mint. it is more than 2 hours now ( second try) but it seems to get stuck after I choose the option 'install mint along with freedos'. I chose this option because If I need to return the laptop to the seller, I dont loose the freedos.

Why can't I install Mint on this machine? Should I overwrite freedos? It is a brand new machine (received it yesterday). I can run mint using the live usb disk though. but unable to install. Please help

[Reorx]

For starters, boot the live medium and get a Gparted screenshot of the HD. Then go to your Pictures folder and rename the screenshot to something_simple.png. Then open a browser and add a post to this thread and include the screenshot...

Second - Does the HD still boot if the Mint Live medium is removed from the machine?

Third - No, don't overwrite FreeDOS unless you have no use for it...

[atheistsunited]

Reorx, we had this discussion before too. I don't understand what difference would it make if I show you the image of a blank 500 gb hardrive. My question is not regarding the HD, we had this discussion some time back when I was formatting my HP laptop and you instead of offering me a solution, wanted to see a a shot of my hard-drive partition and then you posted a message seeking tips from others in partitioning my HD! I am sorry if this sounds rude, but if you could help me without me entertaining your 'passion for partitioning' please do. I am not going to send you gparted images and learn the art of partitioning. I don't have the time and besides it is not my machine. It belongs to an 74 year old woman who happens to be my aunt.

I hope someone else could help me on this.
Many thanks

[Cosmo.]

Reorx did not say, that you shall partition the drive. He asked for a visual overview about the drive.

Saying that there was a similar discussion some time back does also not much sense, as this machine from "yesterday" is obviously another machine than in the older discussion. Also a link to this thread would be needed to give some clues, what you mean.

You say a 500 GB blank drive. If there is freedos installed, than the drive is obviously not blank. How shall we know, where to look at if you do not give us anything to look at? I also do not understand - without knowing the unknown other thread - what secrets might be to hide on a "blank" drive.

Side note: Reorx s not known as somebody, who tries to "entertain".

[atheistsunited]

Cosmo, my sincere apologizes if I sounded rude. First time I entered this forum requesting help for my HP laptop. I could not install Mint along with windows. It was a minor error which I learned from another user here who explained what went wrong in one simple message. That user never asked me for anything, he just asked me what error message I got when I tried to install. I appreciate such generosity.

I don't wish to be rude but I hope you understand where I come from when I say that if some one could not not help me in the past despite providing all the details the person had requested, why would I 'entertain' similar requests again? Out of courtesy I spent few days on this forum discussing about my HD partitioning of my HP laptop.

Of-course, I can the image of my HD here. But I do not wish to have a long discussion with reorx about the art of partitioning. That is not my question here.
apologies again if i have offended anyone but I had to say it but I should have said it in a polite way. That was my fault

Peace

[Reorx]

Reorx... I am sorry if this sounds rude, but...

1) I am sorry if I wasted your valuable time with a theoretical discussion in another thread.

2) I asked for a Gparted (because I like GUIs) screenshot because I want to know about the existing partitioning on the drive because >>> A) I wonder if there is a place to put your new Mint installation on the HD and B) I wonder what the previous installation attempt(s) have done to the partitioning on the drive... I want to know about these things because it has a direct bearing on the solution and/or advice that might have been given...

3) Apologizing for being rude doesn't make being rude acceptable.

I will sign off now... I wish you well with your problem... have a great day!

Best,

- R -

P.S.: Thanx Cosmo...

[Cosmo.]

There is no chance to judge about another discussion, if you do not link it. Consequently I have no choice than to ignore the remarks about them.

Regarding the current problem:
The Mint installer would on a new blank drive with the default installation method create 2 partitions (or more, e.g. on an UEFI system) and fill the main partition with the system. But your "500 GB blank" drive is not blank, as you wrote yourself; so far your description with these words is wrong and consequently I have to take in consideration, that also other details are different, than it appears at the first look. In your case the existing partition(s) have to get shrinked. freedos should not fill a 500 GB partition, but who shall know, how much is filled, if we get no information?

Maybe someone hits the nail by chance by guessing something, but except this there is without the proper information no way to investigate in it. If possible I prefer to solve a problem by investigating in it and do guesses only, if I do not find anything suspicious.

A wild guess from my side: In some cases the package ubiquity-slideshow-mint gives some problem; removing it with synaptic before the installation would cure the problem. This guess may or may not be related with your problem.

[Pjotr]

A wild guess from my side: In some cases the package ubiquity-slideshow-mint gives some problem; removing it with synaptic before the installation would cure the problem. This guess may or may not be related with your problem.

A wild guess, but a likely one....

[sealegs]

I was browsing this site as a guest and I wanted to respond to your query since many with new ASUS without OS face this problem. Those who have replied to you paid attention to your rather metaphorical phrase a 'blank HD' instead of answering your query. Metaphor, symbols, holism etc are beyond the imagination of an average geek

Solution to your problem:
Culprit is outdated bios. you have two options
1: update bios version ( get newer version)
2: return the laptop and get one with OS

If I were you I would return the laptop and pay few bucks extra for a system with OS since it would be used by an elderly person. If you want to install mint, stick to an older version like Mate. Latest version seems to have few issues.

[Moem]

If you want to install mint, stick to an older version like Mate. Latest version seems to have few issues.

Mate is not 'an older version'. It is one of the options of the current version.
And personally I'm running Cinnamon in the latest version and not having any issues. My mother is running the same OS as I am, with no issues; I suppose she is elderly. There is no reason to assume that an elderly person cannot use Mint.

[Hoser Rob]

I wouldn't use stasrtup disc creator for Mint. It's meant for Ubuntu and nothing else. Yes, I know Mint is Ubuntu based but you still shouldn't use it. I've always used unetbootin to install Mint with no problems.

[atheistsunited]

Thanks everyone. Sealegs, when I went to the local computer repairer, he said the same. Thank you. I had the same issue when I tried to install Windows on this laptop. I have returned it and getting one with windows 10 for my Aunt. paid 50 euros extra.

Hoser Rob, thanks very much for letting me know that Startup disc creator may not work for mint. I have never used unetbootin but will definitely try it out.

I have two high-end laptops which I use only for work ( design-adobe). i am kind of getting used to Mint and was thinking of installing Mint along with windows on my Acer and Schenker XMG. But I am a bit worried because I can't afford to let anything go wrong on these machines since they are my bread and butter )