Mint 21.2 Install Problems - Windows Tripple boot [SOLVED]

[Aoresteen]

I am trying to install Mint 21.2 on a desktop computer that has Windows XP SP3 and Windows 7.1 dual booting. The boot drive is a 300GB hard drive.

First partition is 64GB and has Windows XP SP3 running. Second partition is 80GB and it has Windows 7.1 dual booting with Windows XP. The rest of the drive is unallocated (about 180GB) and that's where I want Mint 21.2 to run from.

The computer has only BIOS MBR mode. CPU is an Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q9650 3.0 GHz CPU and has 16GB of RAM.

After 21.2 installed, I removed the DVD and let it re boot. I get this error:

"This is not a bootable disk. Please insert a bootable floppy and try again"

I made a new install DVD, installed, and got the same error.

I also tried installing Linux Mint 20.2 and when it rebooted, it brought up the Windows Boot Manager screen and XP & 7.1 boot just fine. No Mint.

Yes, the computer has a real 1.4mb floppy drive installed.

So is it possible to install Linux Mint 21.2 alongside a dual booting Windows computer?
Or am I wasting my time trying to do this?

Thanks!

[AndyMH]

This "no boot" device subjectively seems to have come up more with LM21 than previously and there have been changes in the installer for LM21. Did you do an "install alongside" for LM21 or "something else"?

I would be tempted to stick with LM20, you should upgrade LM20.2 to LM20.3, this should be low risk. If you want you can try the upgrade from LM20.3 to LM21.

[Aoresteen]

This "no boot" device subjectively seems to have come up more with LM21 than previously and there have been changes in the installer for LM21. Did you do an "install alongside" for LM21 or "something else"?

I would be tempted to stick with LM20, you should upgrade LM20.2 to LM20.3, this should be low risk. If you want you can try the upgrade from LM20.3 to LM21.

1. I did "install alongside" with LM 21.2 & LM 20.2.

2. Perhaps I should try "something elese".

[bendipa]

Boot into your Live Mint USB drive. Then run command sudo parted -l, and post up the output.

[Aoresteen]

Boot into your Live Mint USB drive. Then run command sudo parted -l, and post up the output.

I will but today I leave for a couple of days of travel.

[AndyMH]

Re-reading your original post:

Windows XP SP3 and Windows 7.1 dual booting

I have a feeling that the installer may have struggled with install alongside. Given you have XP almost certainly you will have a drive with a legacy/msdos partition table. You are limited to four primary partitions or three primary and one extended partition (you put 'logical' partitions inside the extended partition to overcome the limit on primary partitions). With XP and win7 you may have run out of primary partitions, hence important to see the output from sudo parted --list. This tells us about your drive(s) and partitions.

[motoryzen]

There is also a known bug involving Secure Boot and LM 21.2 last I recall that SMG mentioned that in another topic.

Ensure you have disabled secure boot.

[mikaelrask]

i just point this out here but why are you using windows xp and windows 7? for what? those os is long dead and should not be used at all. Windows 7 died back at 2014 and windows xp died at 2010 something like that and the sours code for windows xp is sens a few years back leaked on the internet.

[bendipa]

MS support for Windows 7 stopped in Jan 2020, not 2014

[Aoresteen]

Sorry for the delay. Here is the output you asked for:

mint@mint:~$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA WDC WD5000AAKX-0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 500GB 500GB primary ntfs boot


Model: ATA ST32000641AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 2000GB 2000GB primary ntfs


Model: ATA Hitachi HDT72503 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 320GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 64.9GB 64.9GB primary ntfs boot
2 64.9GB 152GB 87.1GB primary ntfs
3 152GB 152GB 537MB primary fat32
4 153GB 320GB 168GB extended
5 153GB 320GB 168GB logical ext4


Model: ATA WDC WD5000AADS-1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdd: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 500GB 500GB primary ntfs


Warning: Unable to open /dev/sr0 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/sr0
has been opened read-only.
Error: /dev/sr0: unrecognised disk label
Model: ATAPI DVD A DH16A3L (scsi)
Disk /dev/sr0: 3026MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 2048B/2048B
Partition Table: unknown
Disk Flags:


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CPU is an Intel Core 2 Quad 9650 3.0GHx, 16GB RAM

Motherboard is a MSI MS-7519

Thanks!

[Aoresteen]

Re-reading your original post:

Windows XP SP3 and Windows 7.1 dual booting

I have a feeling that the installer may have struggled with install alongside. Given you have XP almost certainly you will have a drive with a legacy/msdos partition table. You are limited to four primary partitions or three primary and one extended partition (you put 'logical' partitions inside the extended partition to overcome the limit on primary partitions). With XP and win7 you may have run out of primary partitions, hence important to see the output from sudo parted --list. This tells us about your drive(s) and partitions.

I mentioned in my original post that my drives use MBR & BIOS. There were two partitions prior to installing Mint: 1st partition is NTFS holding WinXP SP3, 2nd partition NTFS holding Win7. Mint was given the rest of the drive - unallocated space. Mint created two more primary partitions: 3rd partition 512mb FAT32 and 4th partition 156GB Ext4.

mikaelrask wrote» Tue Sep 19, 2023 2:08 pm
i just point this out here but why are you using windows xp and windows 7? for what? those os is long dead and should not be used at all. Windows 7 died back at 2014 and windows xp died at 2010 something like that and the sours code for windows xp is sens a few years back leaked on the internet.

It's a bit presumptuous of you to tell me what I shouldn't be using. That was not my question or why I posted here in the first place and I'd like to keep the thread on point.

But to answer your question, the computer is a DAW and it is not on the internet. I use audio interface PCI & Firewire cards/devices that do not have working Win10 drivers. I use Sonar 8.5 and Reaper 6.8.2 recording applications. Windows 7 has Firefox ESR 115.2.1 which is not what I want to use for long. I am configuring the DAW for use in my condo and right now I use a laptop running Mint 21.2 for email & browsing when I am at the condo. I need to get Mint booting on the DAW so I can access the internet from the DAW with a secure browser from my condo and not have to use the laptop.

[Aoresteen]

Well, I sorted it out. It is a combination of things but the main issue is that I had 4 SATA hard drives connected to my mother board. This also caused install issues/repair with Win XP & Win 7 as well.

====================================================================
= I disconnected the 3 data drives and was then able to get Mint 21.2 to install. =
====================================================================

The motherboard is a 2005ish vintage - MSI P43T-C51 (MS-7519). It is a Socket 775 mobo and the CPU is an Intel Core 2 Quad 9650 3.0 GHz. 16GB RAM

It is a BIOS system - no UEFI, secure boot etc. Hard drives are MBR types. No GPT.

It has one IDE port (Master/SLAVE), a floppy disk port and six SATA ports. Nothing was attached to the IDE ports. There are 4 hard drives attached to SATA ports 1-5. The DVD drive is on SATA port 5. SATA port 6 is unused.

I disconnected the 3 data hard drive leaving only one hard drive connected on SATA port 1.

I changed the boot drive to have 3 primary partitions: 1 - 2gb FAT16b, 2 - NTFS for Windows XP SP3, 3 - NTFS for Windows 7 SP1. The rest of the drive was unallocated.

Adding the FAT16b partition at the beginning of the drive corrupted the Windows XP installation so I had to re-install WinXP and then re-build the Win7 Boot Manager. Once this was done and both Windows installations were booting I then proceeded to install Mint 21.2.

Mint took all the remaining space on the drive and and created two logical drives in the 4th partition space -512MB FAT32 and 127GB EX4. When Mint boots, it shows two choices - Mint 21.2 and Windows 7. If I select Win7 I then get the Win7 Boot Manger where I can choose between Win7 or WinXP.

Once everything was booted I re-connected the 3 data hard drives and now everything works.

The moral of this story is when using old hardware only connect the boot drive for the install and add the other drives later on.

I will install IBM PC-DOS 7 in the 1st partition when I get some more time.


Thanks to all for your help!