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Old 01-25-2017, 06:16 PM   #1
CraigH730
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Install Mint on old laptop


I have a Windows XP laptop. I ran DBaN on it.

I have created 2 DVDs -- one of Mint Mate, and another of Lununtu. Both stop with a "can't mount fs..." error. I've searched the error and found many references, but I don't understand any of the solutions.

Any direction would be appreciated.

Thanks, Craig.
 
Old 01-25-2017, 06:49 PM   #2
syg00
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Grab your phone and take a photo of the error screen. Either post it here or online somewhere and post a link to it.
 
Old 01-25-2017, 08:06 PM   #3
CraigH730
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Screenshot

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/71dc41um4...mXTFJo6NT-9R_a
 
Old 01-25-2017, 08:38 PM   #4
PrivacyActivist
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I've encountered this error before but this is not distro specific. Boot GParted Live and delete and existing partitions on /dev/sda (not /dev/sdb, if you are using a USB to do this) and then install the distro(s) of your choice.
 
Old 01-25-2017, 08:41 PM   #5
syg00
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That's a kernel oops. Not good.

How did you run dban ?. If from a USB/CD, get another distro rather than a Ubuntu derivative and see if that boots - maybe Fedora.
 
Old 01-25-2017, 09:30 PM   #6
CraigH730
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While installing Fedora:

"Oh no! Something has gone wrong.
A problem has occurred and the system can't recover.
Please log out and try again."

I tried again in troubleshooting mode using basic graphics mode. Same results.

There must be some corruption in this particular computer.

Thanks for all your help.

Craig.
 
Old 01-25-2017, 09:34 PM   #7
syg00
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Do any of the DVDs run in liveCD mode ("try it" mode rather than install) ?. If so, open a terminal and run these commands
Code:
lscpu
free -m
sudo parted /dev/sda "print free"
Post all the output.
 
Old 01-25-2017, 09:39 PM   #8
CraigH730
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I tried to run Lubuntu from the DVD rather than installing it and received the "can't post..." error. Also, the ISO I used of Fedora tried to run Fedora from the DVD when I received the "On no!" error.
 
Old 01-25-2017, 09:45 PM   #9
ardvark71
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigH730 View Post
Any direction would be appreciated.
Hi Craig, welcome to the forum

Are you trying to boot the OS's live or are is one (or both) already installed on the hard drove? If the former (especially,) did you verify the integrity of your copies using MD5? You can find a Windows utility for doing this here, although you will need to get the original values from where you downloaded the .iso files. Probably a long shot but to be on the safe side, you also might want to check out your memory using Memtest86+.

If the above checks out, you can try the solution mentioned here.

Regards...

Last edited by ardvark71; 01-26-2017 at 05:25 PM. Reason: Added information and link.
 
Old 01-26-2017, 12:41 PM   #10
TB0ne
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigH730 View Post
I tried to run Lubuntu from the DVD rather than installing it and received the "can't post..." error. Also, the ISO I used of Fedora tried to run Fedora from the DVD when I received the "On no!" error.
You don't say what the model # of your laptop is, but from the screen shot it's a Toshiba. Is it 32 or 64 bit? And if it was running Windows XP...it's probably pretty old. If you got a 64 bit image, chances are it won't work on a 32 bit machine. And even if you got a 32 bit ISO, your system may not have enough RAM to run things, unless you get a 'smaller' version of Linux.

What are the specs on your system? Model? And what did you download for Mint/Fedora/Lubuntu? Does the architecture match?
 
Old 01-26-2017, 03:20 PM   #11
rokytnji
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Quote:
There must be some corruption in this particular computer.
I'd start at blaming the reading of the cd drive myself. Looking at your photo. 1st question is, did you md5sum check any of your linux isos before burning the cd. The cd burner may be no good also. Or. The read is off somehow.

I'd make sure I had a good cd. Does this xp computer have usb boot capable bios or is it too old? Is there a floppy drive in it also?

Edit: Be sure abnd answer others questions like Tbone before answering mine. Just good manners.

Last edited by rokytnji; 01-26-2017 at 03:22 PM.
 
Old 01-26-2017, 07:24 PM   #12
CraigH730
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The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite M55-S-S1001 with a Celeron processor, 2 GbRAM, a 65Gb hard drive. All the CDs/DVDs I burned were 32Bit. Other media created on my desktop including after burning the Lubuntu and Mint and Fedora media performed just fine.

I now find that I probably fried the hard drive in the Toshiba. When running DBAN, after an hour I shut it down because it was taking too long. That's a no-no and almost certain disaster, which I find AFTER doing it!

I'm going to put another hard drive I have in the Toshiba tomorrow. Question: should I format the new drive before installing it the Toshiba? Can my Windows 10 desktop do the proper format on the new drive (it currently has a functioning install of Windows 7 on it).

I'm really impressed with the responses from this forum. Thanks, again.

Craig.
 
Old 01-26-2017, 08:01 PM   #13
ardvark71
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigH730 View Post
Question: should I format the new drive before installing it the Toshiba? Can my Windows 10 desktop do the proper format on the new drive (it currently has a functioning install of Windows 7 on it).
Hi Craig...

If necessary, you can install the hard drive in your Toshiba before wiping it. However, it's important that the copy of Windows 7 gets wiped either way, due to licensing requirements.

Regards...

Last edited by ardvark71; 01-26-2017 at 08:02 PM. Reason: Correction/Deleted wordage.
 
Old 01-27-2017, 09:07 AM   #14
TB0ne
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigH730 View Post
The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite M55-S-S1001 with a Celeron processor, 2 GbRAM, a 65Gb hard drive. All the CDs/DVDs I burned were 32Bit. Other media created on my desktop including after burning the Lubuntu and Mint and Fedora media performed just fine.

I now find that I probably fried the hard drive in the Toshiba. When running DBAN, after an hour I shut it down because it was taking too long. That's a no-no and almost certain disaster, which I find AFTER doing it!

I'm going to put another hard drive I have in the Toshiba tomorrow. Question: should I format the new drive before installing it the Toshiba? Can my Windows 10 desktop do the proper format on the new drive (it currently has a functioning install of Windows 7 on it).
You don't need to format it beforehand, since the installation of Linux will prompt/walk you through partitioning your drive. You can remove the Windows partition at that point, and the drive will be formatted by the installer.
 
Old 01-27-2017, 09:09 AM   #15
TB0ne
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ardvark71 View Post
Hi Craig...
If necessary, you can install the hard drive in your Toshiba before wiping it. However, it's important that the copy of Windows 7 gets wiped either way, due to licensing requirements.
Wrong. There is NOTHING with 'licensing requirements' that necessitates removal of Windows. One license was purchased either with the machine it came in, or with the CD/DVD/media, and one license is USED...please show us where this, somehow, violates a license agreement??? Craig is totally free to keep the Windows that he purchased on the drive he owns. If he wants to dual-boot the system, that also does not violate a license agreement.

Do not give bad or misleading advice, and do some amount of research first.
 
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