[SOLVED] Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
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[SOLVED] Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
Good day!
I have an old computer, which was purchased in december 2010, but still working very well. Currently I am running Mint 20.3 Una on it.
Today, I have made Mint 21.1 Vera Xfce x64 Live USB. USB is made correctly, I have double-checked it.
But, when I try to boot from this Live USB, it does not boot at all. All I get is black screen with blinking cursor in upper-left corner, and that`s all
Tried to boot from Compatibility mode, same effect. Only black screen with blinking cursor in upper-left corner.
Any suggestions?
And does Linux Mint 21.1 is compatible with old computers?
My system information:
I have an old computer, which was purchased in december 2010, but still working very well. Currently I am running Mint 20.3 Una on it.
Today, I have made Mint 21.1 Vera Xfce x64 Live USB. USB is made correctly, I have double-checked it.
But, when I try to boot from this Live USB, it does not boot at all. All I get is black screen with blinking cursor in upper-left corner, and that`s all
Tried to boot from Compatibility mode, same effect. Only black screen with blinking cursor in upper-left corner.
Any suggestions?
And does Linux Mint 21.1 is compatible with old computers?
My system information:
Last edited by LockBot on Mon Sep 25, 2023 10:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
Try ventoy.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
Oh yes, Ventoy saved me from this boot issue too.
The LiveCD installer then made the same "mistake" on my fresh hard drive. So it wouldn't boot in legacy either. The Ubuntu 22.04 LiveCD did the same so this is not really an LM issue.
Installing an earlier LM edition and the installing "alongside" worked.
Also what works, is to manually partition the disk (seems it needs an MBR partition). See this post: 380811 - Operating System not found.
The LiveCD installer then made the same "mistake" on my fresh hard drive. So it wouldn't boot in legacy either. The Ubuntu 22.04 LiveCD did the same so this is not really an LM issue.
Installing an earlier LM edition and the installing "alongside" worked.
Also what works, is to manually partition the disk (seems it needs an MBR partition). See this post: 380811 - Operating System not found.
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
LM21 changed how it installs with "erase and install" in legacy mode. It now formats the drive with a gpt partition table, creates a bios_grub* partition and an EFI partition, populates both with grub and then creates an ext4 partition for
/
. This setup should be capable of booting both legacy and UEFI, but we've had one definite post where an older PC could not boot with this setup, maybe a couple more where that might have been the problem.
To play safe, if you have 10 year old hardware, manually partition the drive with an msdos/legacy/mbr partition table and create ext4 partitions as required. Then do a "something else" install.
While I can see the advantage of the new approach, it is yet something more to trip up newbies trying linux for the first time and typically trying it out on an old PC
* legacy boot with a msdos partition table - first stage bootloader lives in the first sector (512 bytes) on the drive. Not a lot of space as it has to share it with the partition table, so the second stage bootloader lives in the gap between the end of the partition table (1st sector) and start of the first partition (normally sector 2048). A gpt partition table is 34 sectors long, so no room for grub if booting legacy, so the bios_grub partition is where grub lives. Some older PCs do not understand this.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
Because LM runs really well on my older PCs, I'd like to see a forced Legacy install option in the installer or a separate install launcher in the live menu even if it's not on the desktop.
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
Can't see that happening, with the way the legacy install has been changing, I can see ubuntu dropping support for legacy boot completely within the next couple of years. If that happens, maybe mint can port over the LMDE installer...
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
I have tested Mint 21.1 Live USB on another two old computers. One of them is Lenovo 3000 N100 notebook, which currently has Linux Mint 20.3 Una installed (and running very well), and another one is a desktop with Intel Q9550 CPU, which currently has MX 18 Linux installed. Its system info is:
That is very frustrating! The ability to run on old computers was one of the main reasons, why I have switched from Windows to Linux.
On both of them Live USB, does not boot at all. All I get is black screen with blinking cursor in upper-left corner, and that`s all...That is very frustrating! The ability to run on old computers was one of the main reasons, why I have switched from Windows to Linux.
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
Have you verified that live usb works on any computer?Rademes wrote: ⤴Fri May 12, 2023 8:11 am I have tested Mint 21.1 Live USB on another two old computers. One of them is Lenovo 3000 N100 notebook, which currently has Linux Mint 20.3 Una installed (and running very well), and another one is a desktop with Intel Q9550 CPU, which currently has MX 18 Linux installed. Its system info is:
InfoQ9550.jpg
On both of them Live USB, does not boot at all. All I get is black screen with blinking cursor in upper-left corner, and that`s all...
Considering you have said all three old computers are currently running Linux-based distros then it appears you were correct. However, modern day operating systems such as Linux Mint are not guaranteed to work on old computers. That is not the purpose of Linux-based distros. They are an alternative to Windows and MacOS and need to run on current hardware.
A woman typing on a laptop with LM20.3 Cinnamon.
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
Instead of burning the iso to a stick with mint's usb imagewriter, try ventoy instead. You install ventoy to a stick and then copy isos to it.
https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/releases
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
Agreed, this sounds like a problem with the live USB. There's not been a general problem with 21.1 not booting in BIOS. Not reported on the Forum. Boots easily in VirtualBox (which by default uses BIOS mode). Installed easily for me in a similar vintage laptop:
Meanwhile, there have been several reports of burn-to-flash-drive not working well in 21.1, with no discernible pattern I can see. Different apps work for different users, and it may be the flash drives themselves are the main variable.
Code: Select all
rox@cinn-21-1:~$ inxi -SMCG
System:
Host: cinn-21-1 Kernel: 5.15.0-71-generic x86_64 bits: 64
Desktop: Cinnamon 5.6.8 Distro: Linux Mint 21.1 Vera
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: TOSHIBA product: Satellite L655 v: PSK2CU-03U01U
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Intel model: N/A serial: <superuser required> BIOS: INSYDE v: 2.80
date: 07/03/2012
CPU:
Info: dual core model: Intel Core i3 M 370 bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache:
L2: 512 KiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1472 min/max: 933/2399 cores: 1: 1499 2: 1463 3: 1463
4: 1463
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: i915 resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics (ILK) v: 2.1 Mesa 22.2.5
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
I had an issue with a stick burnt with mint's usb imagewrite refusing to boot UEFI on my, new to me, thinkcentre. No problems with ventoy, hence the suggestion.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
Sigh. The plural of anecdote isn't data . That a particular solution worked for you with a particular flash drive on a particular computer does not make it a universal solution. There have been occasional reports of problems with each of the burn-ISO-to-USB tools, including Ventoy. We don't know why and might never. There are many variables and the reports aren't systematic.
At this point, the best strategy (imho) is to try different combinations of burn tool, flash drive and ports until the user finds one that works. As implied above, my hunch is that using a fresh flash drive is probably the most useful thing to try in difficult cases.
At this point, the best strategy (imho) is to try different combinations of burn tool, flash drive and ports until the user finds one that works. As implied above, my hunch is that using a fresh flash drive is probably the most useful thing to try in difficult cases.
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
Give me some credit, I'm not that stupid.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
I am sorry, but I forgot to mention, that I did not used mint's usb imagewriter for writing iso to a USB stick. I have used dd (sudo dd if=/home/.../linuxmint.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M; sync). I have been using this method since 2015. 8 years already, and it always worked very well. Until this case.
Anyway, I have burned ISO to DVD+R disk and it booted almost fine.
Then, I have written ISO to completely new USB flash drive using mint's usb imagewriter and it also booted almost fine.
Why almost? At the boot process, both times it hanged at the step shown in attachment.
I had to wait 4 minutes, then it continued the boot process. I have never experienced such long booting from USB flash drive. Why booting a command list takes so long?
Anyway, my problem was solved. Thank you for your help!
Re: Mint 21.1 Live USB does not boot on old computer.
Not related to Linux Mint, but I have written Q4OS Linux Testing version, which is based on the Debian Bookworm testing version using dd utility yesterday:
And it successfully booted on my two old computers:
And it successfully booted on my two old computers: