*SOLVED* Replacing Windows 8.1 with Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon

[Valens]

Hy guys, after much browsing I finally realised I should ask for a direct answer because I just could not find it on my own. I've got an Acer Travelmate 11'6 inches with Intel Celeron dual core, 2gb RAM and Intel HD graphics card. It came with Windows 8.1 and I find it slow. As I was having an older netbook wich came back to life after I replaced the Windows 7 Starter with Linux Mint 13 xFce, I decided this one should get the Linux Mint 17 cinnamon. Then I realised this one has the UEFI boot thing and everywhere I looked I found guides for dual booting Windows 8 with Linux, but I want just Linux Mint 17 on my device. So, how do I completely replace Windows 8.1 with Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon?

PS: Don't know if it helps, but when I entered that bios like "setup utility mode" I saw my notebook can boot in either UEFI or Legacy mode, with UEFI as default.

[ClutchDisc]

Set it as Legacy mode, and that should disable secure boot as well. My laptop (in my sig) is running Ubuntu very well in Legacy. Once you do that, just do it like any other Linux install... Us a USB drive or a DVD with Mint on it and wipe Win 8 off of the hard drive!

[Valens]

ok, thanx for the answer. now, my boot order is:

Hard Drive
Cd-rom
USB FDD
Network Boot
USB HDD
USB CDROM

Which "USB" should i move up in order to boot from an USB Stick?
Also, any tips on the partitioning (320gb HDD)?

[mbohets]

Which "USB" should i move up in order to boot from an USB Stick?

Just try which one works, it will be quicker than asking here.

On top of changing to legacy mode in bios, I needed to wipe all partition info with gparted before the install could be done.
The reason for this is that UEFI disks are partitioned with a GPT format, so you have to remove it,
otherwise the linux installer will stop with an error
telling you he cannot add a classic partition on a GPT disk.

[Pierre]

generally it would think that the usb stick is a hdd of some sort,
- so try the USB HDD option first.

for the partitions, try :

sda1 = 10Gb - /root
sda2 = 300Gb - /home
sda3 = 2 - 3Gb - /swap.

although, you may want to allow for a 2nd Linux O/S, in:

sda1 = 10Gb - /root 1
sda2 = 10Gb - /root 2
sda3 = 290Gb - /home (shared )
sda4 = 2 - 3 Gb - /swap

or, even break up the /home into two of them, as well.
- if you do all of these, in advance, - then things are easier later, when you want to change something.

[Valens]

Which "USB" should i move up in order to boot from an USB Stick?

Just try which one works, it will be quicker than asking here.

On top of changing to legacy mode in bios, I needed to wipe all partition info with gparted before the install could be done.
The reason for this is that UEFI disks are partitioned with a GPT format, so you have to remove it,
otherwise the linux installer will stop with an error
telling you he cannot add a classic partition on a GPT disk.

when you wipped all the partitions, you formatted the space in another format or you just left it as unused?

Later Edit: I set the bios in legacy mode, edit the boot order and i tried to boot it from USB. The Grub menu appeared, but when i chose the ”Run Linux Mint...” a Mint logo appeared in the center of the screen and it froze. Any ideas?

[Valens]

Anyone?

[Pierre]

"you formatted the space in another format or you just left it as unused"

you format the partitions that you set up.
- or you let the installer partition, & format as it wants.

if it is freezing, on install, then try the option of "compatibility mode".
- lower down on the menu list.

[Valens]

Compatibilty mode led me to this:

http://s30.postimg.org/v1jongqup/SAM_0513.jpg

[Pierre]

okay - can you confirm that you did check the MD5 checksum of the ISO that you used?.
- how did you create the live_cd?.

or - are you using the same live_cd that you used before?.

[Valens]

i m not sure how to check the MD5 checksum (altough i've been using mint for over a year, the one i use on another device worked flawlessly so you could say I m new to this kind of troubleshoting).

the bootable stick was first created with universal usb installer and then i tried it again with rufus. the image was the same.

[PatH57]

Hi,

is the usb stick the only usb device connected?
IRQ 32 errors usually point to external peripherals being not detected properly.

[Valens]

hi, yes, having a bit of trouble with deciding wich USB to set as primary boot, i did not connect other devices via usb. any thoughts?

PS: could it just be a bad USB stick? but then, i guess, it would not load the GRUB menu either...

[PatH57]

not sure, it depends where the stick is defect (if it is)

If you can try another stick.

do you have more info then

Acer Travelmate

like P2 P6 PRO or something?
Just wanna check the bios and see if updates are available and what they did back in time

[Valens]

Acer TravelMate B115-M-C8BC

[PatH57]

ok no new bios available anyway.

and once secureboot is disabled it should boot and install so I suspect a not to clean usb key
double check that you are really in legacy mode and you have a 64bit image of Mint17

https://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/d ... 45/kw/UEFI


Also keep this safe in case things like backlight or buttons don't work first time

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2041654

[Valens]

new image, new stick, rechecked the booting in legacy mode and yet, no luck. In normal run, the sistem freezes with the mint logo in the center, in the compatibility mode... same image as before... It's like I'm a few years back and I'm modding a PSP... Microsoft really did a number with Windows 8 and UEFI...

Any more ideeas?

[PatH57]

as much as I would love to say it's EFI and MS, it's not.
You are now in legacy mode and it should boot especially in recovery mode as all the nasty settings from the kernel are disabled.
Could you download something like hiren bootcd. It has a lot of hardware testing and stressing software on it?

[Valens]

should i try an older mint? like install 13 (erase all in the process) and then try 17?

[PatH57]

well you could try it has an older kernel.
But I've seen a lot of people with your type of setup being able to at least load the liveMint.
Try to get hiren bootcd and see if it works. (fits on a cd)