[SOLVED] Difficulties with booting from CD and USB

[andersbrontosaurush]

Hi.
I experienced issues trying to upgrade to LMDE3. I now need to increase the size of my rootpartition and this turned out to be harder than I thought. After having used timeshift my computer won't go past the mintlogo only showing a black screen. I do not know how to deal with recovery mode so I decided to try to incrrease the partition while I'm trying to figure out the other thing. However, to do so I need to use some partitioning program and for some reason my computer won't boot any media properly. From CD I've tried ultimate boot, Falcon four, system rescue and various types of linux live CDs burnt on different types of CDs. The only thing that's booted up at all is Falcon four and that won't run any programs on it unfortunately... On USB I've tried Boot repair and LMDE3 live on two different sticks in two different USB ports and tried both Rufus and Balena Etcher. I've checked the BIOS for priorities and it should boot from either removable media or CD.
The only thing that boots is Windows 8.1 that is on a separate partition on the same HD as LMDE 2. I guess the next step would be to try to find some windowsprogram that can deal with other partitions than NTFS but I still would like to be able to boot other things.
I really have no clue about what can be wrong...

Thankful for suggestions

[AndyMH]

What is your computer make and model and current configuration - memory, hard disk size, partition sizes? From what you have said, I'm assuming the mint installation media will not boot either?

The only windows program I know that reads ext4 partitions is ext2fs:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fs ... t/download
This will not allow you to change partition sizes, but you will be able to see the contents of your ext4 partition(s).

[andersbrontosaurush]

Not sure if I missunderstand your question. The LMDE2 starts to boot from HD but it never finishes, or at least I can't see it doe to black screen. I have deleted that installation-USB unfortunately so haven't tried it. Will look into your link. Thanks!

Speccy says:
Summary:

Code: Select all

Operating System
	Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
CPU
	AMD Phenom II X4 905	35 °C
	Deneb 45nm Technology
RAM
	4,00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 669MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
	ASUSTeK Computer INC. M4A785TD-V EVO (AM3)	40 °C
Graphics
	42 FHD_LCD-TV (1920x1080@29Hz)
	368MB ATI Radeon HD 4200 (ASUStek Computer Inc)
Storage
	931GB Western Digital WDC WD10EADS-00L5B1 ATA Device (SATA )	40 °C
	149GB SAMSUNG HD160JJ ATA Device (SATA )	34 °C
Optical Drives
	NEC DVD_RW ND-3530A ATA Device
Audio
	High Definition Audio Device

[andersbrontosaurush]

ff.png

Motherboard:

Code: Select all

Motherboard
	Manufacturer	ASUSTeK Computer INC.
	Model	M4A785TD-V EVO (AM3)
	Version	Rev X.0x
	Chipset Vendor	AMD
	Chipset Model	785G
	Chipset Revision	00
	Southbridge Vendor	AMD
	Southbridge Model	SB700
	Southbridge Revision	00
	System Temperature	40 °C
		BIOS
			Brand	American Megatrends Inc.
			Version	0219
			Date	2009-08-12
		Voltage
			CPU CORE	1.152 V
			+3.3V	3.328 V
			+12V	12.928 V
			-12V	-6.208 V
		PCI Data
				Slot PCI-E
					Slot Type	PCI-E
					Slot Usage	Available
					Bus Width	32 bit
					Slot Designation	PCIE1X_1
					Characteristics	3.3V, Shared, PME
					Slot Number	0
				Slot PCI-E x16
					Slot Type	PCI-E x16
					Slot Usage	Available
					Bus Width	32 bit
					Slot Designation	PCIE16X_1
					Characteristics	3.3V, Shared, PME
					Slot Number	1
				Slot PCI
					Slot Type	PCI
					Slot Usage	Available
					Bus Width	32 bit
					Slot Designation	PCI1
					Characteristics	3.3V, Shared, PME
					Slot Number	2
				Slot PCI
					Slot Type	PCI
					Slot Usage	Available
					Bus Width	32 bit
					Slot Designation	PCI2
					Characteristics	3.3V, Shared, PME
					Slot Number	3
				Slot PCI
					Slot Type	PCI
					Slot Usage	In Use
					Bus Width	32 bit
					Slot Designation	PCI3
					Characteristics	3.3V, Shared, PME
					Slot Number	4
				Slot PCI-E x16
					Slot Type	PCI-E x16
					Slot Usage	Available
					Bus Width	32 bit
					Slot Designation	PCIE16X_2
					Characteristics	3.3V, Shared, PME
					Slot Number	5

Graphics:

Code: Select all

Monitor
	Name	42 FHD_LCD-TV on ATI Radeon HD 4200
	Current Resolution	1920x1080 pixels
	Work Resolution	1920x1040 pixels
	State	Enabled, Primary
	Monitor Width	1920
	Monitor Height	1080
	Monitor BPP	32 bits per pixel
	Monitor Frequency	29 Hz
	Device	\\.\DISPLAY1\Monitor0
ATI Radeon HD 4200
	Manufacturer	ATI
	Model	Radeon HD 4200
	GPU	RS880
	Device ID	1002-9710
	Subvendor	ASUStek Computer Inc (1043)
	Current Performance Level	Level 0
	Current GPU Clock	196 MHz
	Current Memory Clock	667 MHz
	Current Shader Clock	667 MHz
	Technology	55 nm
	Die Size	73 mm²
	Release Date	Sep 10, 2009
	DirectX Support	10.1
	DirectX Shader Model	4.1
	OpenGL Support	3.3
	GPU Clock	500,0 MHz
	Driver version	8.970.100.7000
	ROPs	4
	Shaders	40 unified
	Memory Type	HyperMemory
	Memory	368 MB
	Pixel Fillrate	2,0 GPixels/s
		Count of performance levels : 2
			Level 1 - "Perf Level 0"
			Level 2 - "Perf Level 1"

[axisofevil]

Do you see the GRUB menu when you attempt to boot from disk?

[athi]

Hi.
I experienced issues trying to upgrade to LMDE3. I now need to increase the size of my rootpartition and this turned out to be harder than I thought. After having used timeshift my computer won't go past the mintlogo only showing a black screen. I do not know how to deal with recovery mode so I decided to try to incrrease the partition while I'm trying to figure out the other thing. However, to do so I need to use some partitioning program and for some reason my computer won't boot any media properly. From CD I've tried ultimate boot, Falcon four, system rescue and various types of linux live CDs burnt on different types of CDs. The only thing that's booted up at all is Falcon four and that won't run any programs on it unfortunately... On USB I've tried Boot repair and LMDE3 live on two different sticks in two different USB ports and tried both Rufus and Balena Etcher. I've checked the BIOS for priorities and it should boot from either removable media or CD.
The only thing that boots is Windows 8.1 that is on a separate partition on the same HD as LMDE 2. I guess the next step would be to try to find some windowsprogram that can deal with other partitions than NTFS but I still would like to be able to boot other things.
I really have no clue about what can be wrong...

Thankful for suggestions

Is Fast Startup enabled in Win8.1? There were other post about Fast Startup feature causing boot issues with Win10 and I see that Win8.1 also have this feature. Please boot into Win8.1 and disable Fast Startup, do a shut down of Win8.1 and see if you can boot from USB/DVD. Link on how to disable Fast Startup on Windows 8.1 https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-disable ... ndows-8-1/

[andersbrontosaurush]

Is Fast Startup enabled in Win8.1? There were other post about Fast Startup feature causing boot issues with Win10 and I see that Win8.1 also have this feature.

Fast startup was actually active so I disabled it. It didn't do any difference though but most of the time when I boot up windows it freezes first time. Maybe this is fixed now?

[andersbrontosaurush]

Do you see the GRUB menu when you attempt to boot from disk?

Yes I do. I can choose to boot up Windows and that works. If I try to boot LMDE it starts fine, showing the mintlogo and all but then it all goes black and nothing more seems to happen.

[axisofevil]

If you can boot via GRUB, you should certainly be able to boot from DVD/USB, assuming your boot order is listed correctly in your BIOS.
Once you can do this, you could boot from any convenient Linux distro and run gparted to resize any partitions that are the wrong size.

[andersbrontosaurush]

Yes. It should be doable and that's the reason for the post. Why doesn't it work and what is there to do about it? I still can boot up windows and if boot LMDE2 in recovery mode it seems to work but doesn't know where to go from there.

[axisofevil]

Is the real question "Difficulties with booting from CD and USB" or difficulty booting LMDE from disk?

The answer to the first problem would be found within your BIOS settings - provided that the USB/DVD's you are using have been written to be bootable.
Have you tested booting the USB/DVD's in a second PC?

[Pierre]

are you using CDs or DVDs when you try to boot them ?
- - is the drive an DVD drive ? probably is, since it's got win-8x on it.
did you verify the checksum of the ISOs that you wrote to disk ?

& finally - that win-8x - really should be either updated to win-10,
or just replaced by an straight Linux System - - do you still use that win-8x ?.

[andersbrontosaurush]

Is the real question "Difficulties with booting from CD and USB" or difficulty booting LMDE from disk?

The answer to the first problem would be found within your BIOS settings - provided that the USB/DVD's you are using have been written to be bootable.
Have you tested booting the USB/DVD's in a second PC?

The real or original problem is that an upgrade from LMDE2 to LMDE3 failed probably due to too insufficient space on harddrive. Things didn't look as usual so I tried to revert with the help of timeshift. After reboot I cannot longer boot into LMDE2 properly or into any CD or USB in order to save the situation. The only thing I succeed in booting up is the Win 8.1 and LMDE2 recovery mode where I don't know what to do. I guess you could say that my real problem is both. Difficulties booting from CD or USB and booting LMDE from HD but in order to keep the forum clean I separeted it into two diffednt posts. The other one is here
Then, since I want to be able to upgrade to LMDE3 I need to increase the size of my HD. Since I could only make space in front of, but not after my LMDE2partition this needs to be done with gparted or similar program when LMDE2partition is unmounted I think. This relates to the first problem though as i can't boot up from CD or USB.

are you using CDs or DVDs when you try to boot them ?
- - is the drive an DVD drive ? probably is, since it's got win-8x on it.
did you verify the checksum of the ISOs that you wrote to disk ?

& finally - that win-8x - really should be either updated to win-10,
or just replaced by an straight Linux System - - do you still use that win-8x ?.

It is a DVD-drive. I've tried using DVDs originally burnt on that same DVD-drive and other DVDs burnt with another drive. The drive has behaved strange for quite a while though so I don't trust it. Therefore I've tried most with USBs.
I have verified the checksum. I just wish I could try the USB in another computer but I don't have one unfortunately.
I have basically never used the Win 8 up to now. I installed only to run Jeskola Buzz but that hasn't rally happened. Ran Jeskola on a laptop instead but that also crashed a month ago. (on my way to an exam at school where I wwas expected to use my computer, hooray!)

[andersbrontosaurush]

GRUB and BIOS behaving strange and a BREAKTHROUGH!

GRUB> for some reason it behaves strange. It is supposed to show the screen with bootoptions for 10 seconds but sometimes it jumps into boot after half a second.

BIOS> if I\m in the BIOS longer tan maybe 45 seconds it exits automatically and boots into the LMDE that doesn\t work at the moment.

BREAKTHROUGH> I suddenly discovered that the USBstick wasnt perceived as a removable media but as a HD. I can now boot into USB

IN GParted I get the following messages so now I must read up a little before proceedning.
/The driver descriptor says the physical block size is 2048 bytes, but Linux says it is 512 bytes.
/You have queued an operation to move the start sector of partition /dev/sdb2. Failure to boot is most likely to occur if you move the GNU/Linux partition containing /boot, or if you move the Windows system partition C:.You can learn how to repair the boot configuration in the GParted FAQ.http://gparted.org/faq.phpMoving a partition might take a very long time to apply.

[andersbrontosaurush]

Succeeded booting from USB!
I guess the verdict is:
-There's something wrong with my DVD-drive.
-USBstick is not considered removablemedia but a small harddrive.

Thank you for helping!
Now I only have to repair LMDE as described here: viewtopic.php?f=246&t=296842