new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

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GekkoRoman

new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by GekkoRoman »

Machine: Toshiba Satellite C855D
Processor: AMD A6-4400M APU with Radeon HD graphics 2.70 GHz
RAM: 4 GB (3.47 GB usable)
System Type: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor
HDD: ~500 GB
Current OS: Windows 8
Desired OS: Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon 64 bit

My wife bought me this new laptop. She figured I'd hate Win 8, and I do. But I'd been thinking about looking at a new OS anyway (old laptop is....XP?) So, I've tried to learn a bit about Linux and decided on Maya. I used the Toshiba recovery media creator to back up Windows on a USB. I downloaded Mint 13 from linuxfreedom. md5sum checked out. I used Universal USB installer to put it on another USB. I also burned it onto a DVD+R. Ran into the Secure Boot roadblock, so I disabled it. I tried to boot from the DVD but got this error:
System doesn't have any CD/DVD boot option. Please select another option ion Boot Manager Menu.
So I tried from the USB. I got a Mint menu. When I tried to start Mint I got this:
Failed to start the x server (your graphical interface). It is likely that it is not set up correctly.
Then,
The X server is now disabled. Restart MDM when it is configured correctly.
Then I found myself at a command prompt:
mint@mint ~ $
I restarted and tried the [compatibility mode] with the same result. I tried the [check integrity of the medium] option; it said something about 4 errors or 4 files, can't remember, but it wasn't very specific.

Now what?
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caf4926
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Re: new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by caf4926 »

If the media check failed, this is different than the check you run on the original .iso
The media check is checking the integrity of the burn or write to the USB

Try this, as thee media boots:

During the 10 second count down during boot press a key. Then press the Tab key to edit the boot parameters, and on the line of text that appeared near the bottom append the word "nomodeset" (without the quotes). Find the line ending with "quiet splash". Add your boot option just in front of these key words - i.e. so the line looks like ..."nomodeset quiet splash". No "'s needed remember.
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
GekkoRoman

Re: new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by GekkoRoman »

I do not see any countdown. I tried space and Tab at many various times without success. However, I did notice on the GNU GRUB screen at the bottom it says
'e' to edit the commands before booting
so I pressed 'e' and saw this:
set params 'start Linux Mint'

set gfxpayload=keep
linux /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/mint.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
Aha, says I. So I typed 'nomodeset' before 'quiet' and hit F10. Same error about the x server and ending up at a command prompt. Above the prompt (mint@mint ~ $) it says "Welcome to Maya" or somesuch. So is Mint booting up but just failing the GUI? Did it not get copied correctly to the USB? Why won't the DVD work?

Thoughts?
caf4926
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Re: new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by caf4926 »

The DVD should work, assuming you burned it correctly? Do you understand this process clearly?
Regardless if you use the DVD or a USB, they should be identical. They are for me. And if I press a key during the 10 second countdown, it stops and becomes a boot menu. There should be an option to do an integrity check.

It does seem like you were able to add nomodeset
And typically this should let most people boot to a UI
I never actually had to use it yet myself and I have done 100's of different installs

There may be a way to proceed from the text mode level you reached, but I don't know it. But I'd be hesitant considering the trouble you are having, either with hardware compatibility or bad media
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
GekkoRoman

Re: new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by GekkoRoman »

caf4926 wrote:The DVD should work, assuming you burned it correctly? Do you understand this process clearly?
Regardless if you use the DVD or a USB, they should be identical. They are for me. And if I press a key during the 10 second countdown, it stops and becomes a boot menu. There should be an option to do an integrity check.
To clarify:
System doesn't have any CD/DVD boot option. Please select another option in Boot Manager Menu.
and
I do not see any countdown.
and
I tried the [check integrity of the medium] option; it said something about 4 errors or 4 files
Unless anyone has other ideas, I may try downloading a different version.
GekkoRoman

Re: new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by GekkoRoman »

I tried the mint4win application on the DVD and used the 'help me to boot from CD' option. Upon reboot, I got the option of selecting my OS. I chose Mint and got another error:
Windows Boot Manager
Windows failed to start. ...[snip]...
File: \linuxmint\winboot\wubildr.mbr
Status: 0xc000007b
Info: The application or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors.
Did both my media, USB and DVD, get jacked up and not write properly?
caf4926
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Re: new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by caf4926 »

Suggest you download Mint again from here
http://www.linuxmint.com/
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
srs5694
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Re: new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by srs5694 »

caf4926 wrote:And if I press a key during the 10 second countdown, it stops and becomes a boot menu. There should be an option to do an integrity check.
I suspect the confusion over this issue is a result of different boot modes. Most long-time Linux users are familiar with BIOS-mode installs, which typically involve using a BIOS-mode boot loader such as SYSLINUX to get things started. New computers, though, often boot in EFI mode, and must therefore use an EFI boot loader to get started. This is most often GRUB 2. The two boot loaders have different options and methods of breaking out of a timeout before automatically booting a default setting.

The upshot of this is: Don't worry about it. GekkoRoman managed to edit the boot options using GRUB. Unfortunately this didn't work, though....
There may be a way to proceed from the text mode level you reached, but I don't know it. But I'd be hesitant considering the trouble you are having, either with hardware compatibility or bad media
My suspicion is that GekkoRoman is running into a video driver that's not sufficiently up-to-date for the hardware. I recommend trying Mint 14 rather than Mint 13, since Mint 14 will have the benefit of 6 more months of development. If that fails, try the Fedora 18 beta, since it's even more up-to-date.

Another thing you could try is this (no promises, though):
  1. When you get the text-mode "$" prompt, type "sudo su". The prompt should change to something that ends in "#".
  2. Type "Xorg -configure". You'll see a bunch of text-mode output. This command creates a sample X configuration file called /root/xorg.conf.new.
  3. Type "cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf". This copies the configuration file to its usual location.
  4. Type "restart kdm". If you get an "unknown job" error, try "gdm", "lightdm", or "mdm" instead of "kdm". If one of these is successful, X will restart.
This process stands a chance of working because X can sometimes successfully probe for hardware and set up a working configuration file via the "Xorg -configure" command even when it can't do so automatically when it launches without a configuration file. This is strange but sometimes true. Unfortunately, it's not always true, so I can make no promises. That last step also depends on knowing (or randomly guessing) the name of your login server software. It's KDM on the Mint 12 installation I've got handy in a virtual machine for testing, but I think I installed the KDE edition of Mint for that, so chances are it's something else for you.
GekkoRoman

Re: new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by GekkoRoman »

Thanks for chiming in. I've been exploring other, possibly more compatible, options. I'll try your suggestion. I chose 13 because of LTS.
GekkoRoman

Re: new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by GekkoRoman »

Tried to run the xorg config. At the bottom was this:
Using config file: "/root/xorg.conf.new"
Using system config directory: "usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
Number of created screens does not match number of detected devices
Configuration failed
ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log
Server terminated with error (2). Closing log file.
Also none of the restarts worked.
GekkoRoman

Re: new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by GekkoRoman »

I ended up managing to boot from the DVD by switching from UEFI to CSM in the advanced BIOS options. It worked fine, as far as I can tell. I think something went wrong creating the USB boot, but not with the DVD.

I actually was in the process of installing Debian when I made the change. I booted up the Debian netinstall, which worked, but realized that I would not be able to finish the install over my wireless. So I backed out and rebooted. I could no longer boot to Windows; it insisted on a boot disk. I had backed up Windows on a USB drive, but couldn't boot from it. Instead of creating a boot DVD for Windows, I tried the Mint 13 install DVD, which worked. I decided just to go ahead and do a full install, so Windows is gone. Now I just need to get my wireless working...

Cheers.
caf4926
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Re: new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by caf4926 »

Either start a new thread but report the result of

Code: Select all

lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
GekkoRoman

Re: new win 8 laptop --> mint 13: need install help

Post by GekkoRoman »

New thread re: wireless is here.

Thanks for teaching me some new grep options (everything is new to me, at the moment :) )
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