Hello everyone here in Linux questions:
This is my 2nd time going in this forum and i really need your help: I recently bought a used Dell Latitude D410 that came with Lubuntu as the primary OS installed and i wanted to change the OS to a Linux Mint 9 w/c I have the OS Live CD.The Dell D410 came with an attached bay port w/ a CD/DVD drive.I tried to do the BIOS on F2 but it doesn't say anything about the bay port and i really don't know where to go from there.Unlike My Dell Latitude D630 where you can actually see the order of the peripherals saying about the CD/DVD Drive, How do I suppose to install the Linux Mint 9? I just need a DETAILED instruction on how to install it to my D410 because it's always asking the Keys password which I don't know so I just use the guest log in.Also, is there a way to find out what the Keys password on this D410 laptop? The person who used to own this laptop knows the password and I don't have any idea o how to contact that person nor where this D410 originally came from.Thank You very much so much in advance guys for I Kept going in circles and almost going crazy on how to solve this.

Hi a few things
1) and this IS important !!!
Use a title that is descriptive of your problem
" Help"
or ( you did not use this one so )
"urgent"

is of no use to us

2) second

mint 9 is OLD ,very old
the current is Mint 15
http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

with Mint 13 as the current LONG TERM SUPPORT
http://www.linuxmint.com/oldreleases.php

if you try to use the dead and unsupported mint9 you are going to have all kinds of unsolvable problems ( or just very HARD to solve ones)

1 members found this post helpful.

Linux Mint 9. EOL. Don't waste your time.

1 members found this post helpful.

Go with the (Olivia) Mint 15! You'll have a clean installation and a great experience!!

If you don't have the password you can supposedly reset it Dell, but if he had his set up like I have mine it'll wipe everything. If the password you are talking about is in the OS just wipe and start fresh. On my Dell as you're booting hit F12 then go into boot options and select your CD drive or where ever the bootable media is. Like the others said DL 15 or what ever the LTS is and go with that, Ive read the the LM team removed the apt-get dist-upgrade function either way it's a PITA and you should be going.

The 410's a classic maybe you should get on distro watch and see if you can't find something a bit lighter.

Lubuntu and Mint are 99% the same (both based on Ubuntu) so what exactly do you hope to gain by switching??

With such old hardware, you definitely need to choose a "lightweight" interface (such as LXDE, which you already have, because Lubuntu uses it by default). So switching to full-featured Mint Cinammon (for example) would probably be a performance downgrade.

Lubuntu is Ubuntu with an LXDE DE..it'd qualify as lighter

This is one of those rare cases where Gentoo could make all the difference in the world as a desktop user, but the devs want to keep it as a nerd only distro..

A quick google brought me here: http://forums.hexus.net/windows/1816...l-windows.html

If installation via optical media is not feasible then you could download the ISO for, say, mint:

http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

And then use unetbootin and a USB stick to install (if laptop supports this)................

I believe the issue joel750 is experiencing is with a BIOS password. Since that is the case no amount of plugging in peripherals or external CD drives will work because the BIOS is likely configured to not allow booting from external media.

Using the Guest in the BIOS is not enough because the guest does not allow you to modify boot order or change any BIOS settings (only view them read only for the most part). You'll need to remove the keyboard and remove the CMOS battery with the computer unplugged and system battery removed (that is 2 batteries to remove).

Here's your D420 manuals which is basically the same computer. See Service Manual page 8 for removing the "Coin-Cell Battery" which is the CMOS battery I described to you (it refers to page 25 to remove the keyboard). Once you remove the CMOS battery and there is no power to the computer (no plug or system battery) then wait about 30-60 seconds for the CMOS memory to clear. Then reassemble your laptop and you should be able to get into the BIOS without a password now. The CMOS is volatile memory which stores your computer BIOS settings (including the BIOS password). Removing all power sources clears the CMOS volatile memory resetting the system BIOS back to a factory default state. You'll have to set your system clock again as it will likely be a date more than a decade ago (since the date/time settings clear from the BIOS).

Note: You should use anti-static straps when working on any computer. If you don't have that available to you (you should buy them) then you can touch a grounded metal surface every once in a while to remove static electricity from your body. While removing the CMOS battery is a relatively simple task I know nothing of your abilities to work on computers and so can't guarantee the quality of your own work will leave your computer working as intended. If you're afraid to do this kind of work you should take it to a local computer professional who can easily perform this task. Just tell them you want them to "remove the BIOS password by removing the CMOS battery" and refer to the manuals of your laptop if they claim it can't be done (as some laptops don't instruct you on this and so technicians assume it can't be done on laptops). Heck, if you take it to a technician to remove the BIOS password you can even probably get them to install the latest edition of Linux Mint for you.

SAM