My computer no longer boots Linux
 

I decided to try Linux. So I bought a new SSD for my laptop solely for Linux. So, I removed the windows SSD and installed the new one. I down loaded a bunch of different distros like Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, Pop_OS, and so forth trying to find what flavor I felt most comfortable with. I kept coming back to Linux Mint. However, I have installed it a bunch of times in just a couple of days. Switching between distros. Last night after reinstalling it again it started hanging up in booting up the laptop. I reinstalled LM again and it got to the point of not fully booting the computer. It would display the logo and go no father. I tried reinstalling again and it seemed to have gotten worse. I booted in to a recovery something and tried to rescue the install and I manage to boot the computer into Linux, but I noticed my video was in software rendering and when I tried rebooting the computer it hanged at the logo again failing to fully boot. My guess is that I installed Linux so many times and so many different distros that I corrupted a part of the SSD that boots the computer. I wiped the drive and did some health test on it as and everything seems ok. I now have it set up as an empty drive on a windows computer. Am I right I corrupted a part of the drive that is used for booting an OS? If so, can this be fixed? Or, is something else wrong. Because wiping and reinstalling LM did not fix it. I even tried manually deleting all partitions and doing A fresh install, but it still got hung up in boot and failed to fully boot into Linux. I really think Linux has come a long ways and I want to try and fully switch to it. Can someone give any insight to this issue?

A little information on your hardware might be helpful, otherwise we are all just guessing. UEFI/GPT or Legacy install? Did you read the official Mint Installation and User Guide prior to installing?

https://linuxmint-installation-guide....io/en/latest/

Hi. Welcome to LQ,

Something is wrong likely with running certain versions of Linux on your computer. Some distributions, Mint included, may update drivers after the first install, and this may have happened. The most common problems are sound and video where the drivers get into trouble. This doesn't mean you corrupted something or did anything wrong. Just a possible explanation about what may have occurred to explain why it worked and why at some point it became troublesome.

Can you give the system specifications for your computer to members here so that they can help further and make some recommendations? People may have encountered this similar problem or can tell based on the system type which Linux distributions work better. They also may be able to help you to fix the distribution you prefer to get it to work and not cause these problems.

You can install fresh, wipe the disk, and do this multiple times and it all should come up the standard way. My suspicion is that some update is changing things and causing you this grief.

My computer is a Dell Inspiron 7000 series 7559. It has an I7 6700hq running at 2.60ghz boost to 3.5 ghz, 16 gb ram, 960m nvidia video card. I installed a 240 gb PNY SSD just for Linux. Using UEFI to select usb 8gb thumb drive when booting to install.

In the beginning I didn’t have any problem. LM installed and worked. But because there are so many options. Trying to find what felt comfortable to me means installing every distros. So far I find Linux Mint to be the sweet spot. Although I have been thinking about Mankato with gnome. I’ve heard a lot about it’s user repository on YouTube.

Try booting a live CD, use dd or gparted to wipe the SSD and try installing again.

I did a couple of things last night and have gotten Linux installed and booting.

1- I forced delete all partition using a windows partition software and created windows partitions and formatted it in a windows format.
2- I got a new USB 3.0 Drive. The one I was using was old and thought it might speed things up a little.
3- I used etcher in windows to create the bootable USB. I was using Rofus before.
4- I installed Linux. Letting the installer delete the windows partition and doing a clean install.

After that everything worked perfectly. The distro is working. It boots, shuts down and reboots how it should.

Thank you for your help.

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