[SOLVED] Confusing screen when installing Mint 13 xfce (dual boot)

TxLonghorn · 02-05-2015, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

Okay.... Is there a way to re-mount /cdrom to /dev/sr0 rather than sda5?

You could try:

Code:

sudo umount /dev/hda5

but I have the feeling that it would fail, saying that it is in use.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

There is no .iso file - either on the DVD or on sda5.

You could download the .iso if you want to.
Boot Mint on the hard drive. In the File Manager, right-click on the folder you want to download to > Open in terminal
In the terminal, enter:

Code:

wget -c http://mirrors.kernel.org/linuxmint//stable/13/linuxmint-13-xfce-dvd-32bit.iso

(or you can use a different mirror)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

Though it seems what you are suggesting is the same thing I tried before - to boot the distro by copying it to the hard drive and having Grub extract and use the code from the iso file. That didn't work for me before; I don't know if that is because I have Grub 1.99 and it requires Grub 2.0, or that I was amending the wrong grub.cfg.

I would have to see the instructions you followed to figure out what went wrong.
Maybe those instructions included the toram option - which did not work because you don't have that much ram.

Steve W · 02-05-2015, 11:34 AM

Okay - here is that command typed onto my laptop when it's running the ordinary installed Linux Mint system (on sda5). I'll reboot shortly into the DVD and do that command again; and post back the results.

I agree trying the disc on another PC would be useful, but my other PC does not have a working DVD drive; so it would have to wait till I can contact someone I know with a working laptop, then go round there and try it on his, to see how it boots up.

Steve W · 02-05-2015, 12:30 PM

Here it is, the same command run when the DVD is booted.

TxLonghorn · 02-05-2015, 01:05 PM

Here is the result of udisks --show-info /dev/cdrom when I boot my Mint 13 DVD

The mount lines (Lines 18 and 19) are different.
Yours:
mount paths: /media/Linux Mint 13 Xfce 32-bit
mounted by uid: 999

Mine:
mount paths: /cdrom
mounted by uid: 0

Steve W · 02-09-2015, 04:07 AM

Right - I have tried the method you outlined in post #22 above: copying the iso to the /boot directory and making those changes to /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

I followed your directions for amending grub.cfg exactly.

After selecting the new Linux Mint 13 xfce option from the Grub menu, it started to load and lots of shell commands whipped up the screen, stopping with:

Code:

BusyBox v1.18.5 (ubuntu 1:1.18-5-1ubuntu4)
built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for list of commands
(initramfs)

... and then a flashing cursor. No further progress.

Could there be an error, or possible wrong option, in those amendments to grub.cfg?

I cannot give you any other error messages because they flash up the screen too quickly.

Afterwards, I did try the same method with a different iso: something called Linux Mint Debian Mate, which also apparently does not require a PAE CPU. I changed the name of the iso file in grub.cfg to match it, put the iso into the /boot directory, and on this occasion it didn't even get as far. Upon selecting the option from the Grub menu, it just said:

Code:

error: file not found
Need to load kernel first

So perhaps this version does need PAE after all, despite the allegations it doesn't.

Do you have any further suggestions?

TxLonghorn · 02-09-2015, 07:08 AM

I copied the instructions that I gave you for editing grub.cfg, and they worked to boot the Mint 13 .iso
(I had to change (hd0,msdos5) to (hd0,msdos2) since my Mint is on sda2, not sda5.)
It booted successfully, as it should have for you. That is my preferred method for installing Mint. The tutorial I wrote on that method is here - http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1849

The busybox error (google it) seems to indicate a file system error.
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu...uestion/195941
The strange mounting errors you get with the DVD indicate some strange thing going on with the way your computer treats file systems, getting confused between the DVD and HDD.
I think it is pretty obvious that you should try to make sure that your BIOS is updated, and that the hard drive, partitions, and file systems are in working order. Check all the cable connections and clean the dust out.

The method of fixing a bad superblock here - http://askubuntu.com/questions/13765...rompts-busybox
is pretty extreme, but I had to do it once on an old HDD, and it worked.

Debian .iso files are constructed differently from Mint 13 iso files. So the grub instructions change.
(I have never tried Debian, so I don't know that this works.)
menuentry "Mint Debian Edition" {
set isofile="/boot/isos/LMDE.iso"
loopback loop $isofile
linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz fromiso=/dev/disk/by-label/yourusblabel/$isofile boot=live config live-media-path=/casper noeject --
initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

As for pae support, you can enter either of these commands to see if pae is listed:
If is is there it will be high-lighted.

Code:

inxi -f | grep --color=always -i PAE

or

Code:

grep --color=always -i PAE /proc/cpuinfo

colorpurple21859 · 02-09-2015, 09:28 AM

What if you boot into sda5 then delete the partition that you want to use for the installation. Maybe that will allow the installer to find the empty space on the drive that you want to use for the installation.

Steve W · 02-09-2015, 10:38 AM

Quote:

What if you boot into sda5 then delete the partition that you want to use for the installation. Maybe that will allow the installer to find the empty space on the drive that you want to use for the installation.

I'm reluctant to go that far, because it's sda1 that I want to use for the installation. I was under the impression that this contained the bootloader and without that, if the install failed again, I would be unable to boot the laptop into anything...

Steve W · 02-09-2015, 11:01 AM

Quote:

As for pae support, you can enter either of these commands to see if pae is listed:
If is is there it will be high-lighted.

Neither of the commands produced any output. I assume that means PAE is not supported but it is running an Intel Pentium M processor, which apparently can be made to boot PAE distros by entering --forcepae at the command line available on live boot. However, on any PAE distro I have tried, I don't get that far. It just refuses to boot the disc at all.

I'm doubting that it's a problem with the hard drive of the laptop, since other non-PAE distros I have tried have loaded in live mode with no problem. The reason I have not used any of these is because of other incompatibility troubles for that particular distro and, say, my laptop's wireless card not being recognised.

Knoppix 7.0.4 (CD version) for example, works like a dream. Only problem with that, of course, is that you are not meant to install it, or update the software on it.

Something called "Snow Linux" loads up, but doesn't recognise my wireless card. Neither Knoppix nor Snow Linux has any problems identifying sda5 and /cdrom as separate entities!

If anyone else can suggest a distro that works with non-PAE machines, I'd be grateful. I thought ordinary Debian might be a runner, being that Knoppix uses that as its base...

Steve W · 02-09-2015, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Debian .iso files are constructed differently from Mint 13 iso files. So the grub instructions change. (I have never tried Debian, so I don't know that this works.)

It doesn't. I get the same error message "File not found. You need to load the kernel first" that I did with the previous instructions.

TxLonghorn · 02-09-2015, 12:01 PM

Knoppix is a wonderful live DVD, but the problem with installing it to a HDD is that it is not supported, so you get no updates.

The forcepae option works, sometimes, but not perfectly.

Alternatives:
Linux Lite Os -
antiX - I have heard many positive reviews.
CrunchBang Linux - Often recommended, but unfortunately, CrunchBang bit the dust a couple of days ago. The lead developer retired from it.
Xubuntu - should be OK
PCLinuxOS - very nice distro. The first alternative I would try. One drawback - it does not use Grub2 - it uses Grub Legacy. If you have only one linux distro installed, that will not matter. For you, if you want to keep the Mint on sda5, it would be a problem, because the Grub Legacy is not capable of booting a Grub2 OS, without manually editing the grub config.
One way around that would be to install PCLinuxOS to sda1, and install grub to sda1, not sda, then boot Mint and run sudo update-grub to put PCLinuxOS on Mint's grub menu. Grub2 can accomodate Grub Legacy installations. But then you can never delete sda5's Mint without first repairing that configuration.

Steve W · 02-09-2015, 12:38 PM

Okay, I have downloaded:

xubuntu-12.04.4-desktop-i386.iso

pclinuxos-mate-2014.12.iso

(Puppy Linux) tahr-6.0-CE_noPAE.iso

Okay, so Puppy Linux is a bit like Knoppix - not really meant to be installed. But if it works, I'll celebrate with a trip to the fridge.

Xubuntu would be interesting if it worked. XUbuntu 12.04 on my laptop would be an achievement, considering the actual Ubuntu 12.04 (supported till 2017) does not entertain non-PAE machines.

I am imagining that as time goes on, there will be specific distros that install on non-PAE machines. The challenge of "hey, this laptop is perfectly serviceable, but no current Linux distro will install on it because it doesn't have PAE" will be too much for some minimalist distros to resist, and they will continue to support non-PAE machines.

I shall attempt installation of the above over the next few days (as some CD-RW discs become available) and post back how it went. Thank you again for your patience in assisting me.

Steve W · 02-10-2015, 01:43 PM

xubuntu-12.04.4 takes up more room than can fit on a CD, so I tried the "boot the iso from /boot directory" method you outlined before - and this time it worked. At least, it booted into the live distro. Connected to the internet... and then I clicked "install".

This one, at least, gave me the screen for "Install alongside other operating systems, Install on its own, Something else", which Mint 13 xfce didn't give me. But whether I chose "Install alongside" or "Something else" (then double-clicked on sda1, chose ext4, Format, set as "/"), it still gets stuck on the same problem. I get the predicted message about "do you want to unmount partitions Y/N?)", and I click No, but then I get the final message that says, in this case, that it needs to unmount /isoloader (or something similar) which is of course the iso that it is installing from.

So it's changed /cdrom to /isoloader, but still I have the same problem. Predictable, really - the laptop seems to need all HDD partitions unmounted before it will install - even partitions that aren't being installed to. It even gives me a message, at the Y/N prompt, saying that although there are mounted partitions, it can still install to a partition that already exists, even if it cannot resize partitions without them being unmounted first. But it lies. It then presents me with the same screen as before, saying it cannot go any further without unmounting the device /isoloader, and the only options it gives me is Continue or Back.

So near and yet so far...

TxLonghorn · 02-10-2015, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

xubuntu-12.04.4 takes up more room than can fit on a CD, so I tried the "boot the iso from /boot directory" method you outlined before - and this time it worked.

That is a great accomplishment with a procedure that is new to you. Congrats!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

This one, at least, gave me the screen for "Install alongside other operating systems, Install on its own, Something else", which Mint 13 xfce didn't give me. But whether I chose "Install alongside" or "Something else" (then double-clicked on sda1, chose ext4, Format, set as "/"), it still gets stuck on the same problem. I get the predicted message about "do you want to unmount partitions Y/N?)", and I click No

That all sounds correct.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

...but then I get the final message that says, in this case, that it needs to unmount /isoloader (or something similar) which is of course the iso that it is installing from.

Did you check /isoloader to see what it was?
Did you run the mount command to see what is mounted and what isn't? (That should show in the installer, actually... a little key icon.)

Last option, you might backup all your personal files to an external drive, and delete all the partitions and re-structure them better. The Mint DVD might work in that case.
You could disconnect the power to the HDD to test.

Does your computer allow you to boot a USB?

Steve W · 02-11-2015, 04:20 AM

Quote:

Does your computer allow you to boot a USB?

Ha! No, that's another bugbear of my laptop. Life would be so much easier if it would!

Quote:

Did you check /isoloader to see what it was?
Did you run the mount command to see what is mounted and what isn't? (That should show in the installer, actually... a little key icon.)

I'll have a go later today when I've got the laptop switched on again. I'm assuming /isoloader will be connected to sda5 because that's where the iso file is located.

Quote:

Last option, you might backup all your personal files to an external drive, and delete all the partitions and re-structure them better.

Well, yes - this is the "nuclear option" I have as a standby. Although I am trying to retain the old Mint distro for a while longer if I can. While we're on the subject of backing up /home, could you please take a look at another separate query I've put on LQ, to do with just this topic:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ork-4175533635

This is even more unnerving because it's on someone else's system! I'm going round there tomorrow afternoon to do it, and I am unsure as to the best way to proceed. If I have to copy all their /home files to a USB stick (I don't have an external HDD), then restore afterwards, I will; but if I installed their new Linux then removed the systems files of their old Linux except the home directory, then pointed to it in fstab... would that work? Do you have any better options? I must confess I don't entirely understand the reply that has been given so far...

EDIT: Considering these other people are going from Mint 14 to Mint 17, could I just use the Mint Backup utility as described here (paragraph D1 onwards) http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2 to do it easily? Then not bother keeping Mint 13 on their machine? I've never used Mint Backup before, and clearly it's not my data, so I'm being very cautious! In this case, I just wondered what "backup software selection" does... I'm taking it that it only makes a note of the software titles you have installed, then re-downloads & installs them into your new Mint version. It doesn't actually copy the software itself. Is that right?

More to the point, in the case of my laptop, if I used Mint Backup to backup my files, then totally wiped the HDD and installed Xbuntu from scratch... and it worked... could I then reinstall Mint Backup onto Xbuntu and retrieve my files, even though Mint Backup is not indigenous to Xbuntu? Or would that only work if I installed 13 xfce?