[SOLVED] USB Install not Booting

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ADDedValue62

[SOLVED] USB Install not Booting

Post by ADDedValue62 »

I did a full install of 18.2 Xfce on a 32G USB 3.0 flash drive. It will boot my 11+ year old Dell laptop without a problem. However neither my current Lenovo P50 nor my Lenovo T460S will boot from it. All I get is a blinking cursor in the upper left of the screen. I suspected a UEFI problem but changing the boot mode from Both to Legacy produced no effect - other than to stop Windows 7 from booting. Suggestions on where I should look next?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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kc1di
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Re: USB Install not Booting

Post by kc1di »

Hello ADDedValue62 and Welcome to Linux Mint Forums,
I would suspect it to be graphics card problem (Although could still be UEFI) if they have Nvidia Card please see release notes under solving freezes.
good luck.
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pbear
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Re: USB Install not Booting

Post by pbear »

Hey ADDedValue62. What you have is a BIOS-boot USB. Otherwise, it wouldn't boot on the Dell. Don't know why it won't boot in legacy mode on the Lenovos (hopefully the gurus can help). I'm writing to caution you not to redo the install to USB in UEFI. There's a bug in the installer which will bollix your internal hard drive's bootloader. There are workarounds, but I won't go into those unless you want to pursue.
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kukamuumuka

Re: USB Install not Booting

Post by kukamuumuka »

nomodeset option cures often those "blank screen" problems.
https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/842
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old_noob
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Re: USB Install not Booting

Post by old_noob »

Try going into BIOS and disabling FireWire (IEEE port 1394). This has worked for me in the past.
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Spearmint2
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Re: USB Install not Booting

Post by Spearmint2 »

I've run into that problem with some BIOS. I solved it by first adding a 16MB FAT16 partition, and then installing the LIVE version of a distro into a second FAT32 partition. Some BIOS expect a FAT or NTFS in first partition and then balk when trying to boot from the CDFS they see if it's there.
Last edited by Spearmint2 on Wed Nov 22, 2017 5:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ADDedValue62

Re: USB Install not Booting

Post by ADDedValue62 »

pbear wrote:Hey ADDedValue62. What you have is a BIOS-boot USB....
Thanks pbear. I looked at the instructions in one of your other posts, reformatted and reinstalled to the USB, and it booked the Lenovos without a problem. They still won't boot in legacy mode for reasons that I don't understand, but I'm not complaining. Thanks for the help.

AV62
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