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unable to boot from live cd.., dual install.. mint and ubuntu

Hello everyone,

I'm new to linux (very new).

I decided to try two Distros (Mint Maya and Ubuntu 12.04) on my older system: HP Pavilion dv4000, intel centrino, RAM upgraded to 1G.

At the beginning it was working OK, until I decided to play with compiz and 3D cube in Ubuntu, now both of Distros jam's.(???)
Why it effected both partitions I don't know,
I must be missing something.
Maybe the problem is that I allowed Ubuntu installation to re-size partition created by Mint, rather than manual partitioning.
(By the way, what is the best way to partition? I heard from somebody that it's a good idea to create separate partition for GRUB...)

Anyway; I wanted to completely re-install one of them, but I am no longer able to boot from neither of live cd's.
BIOS are set to boot from CDRom first, and it worked when I only had Mint.
Now it boots straight into GRUB bypassing CDRom...
WHAT CAN I DO? MAYBE THERE IS A WAY TO FORCE BOOT A CDRom FROM GRUB COMMAND LINE?

PLEASE HELP!
THANK YOU EVERYONE!

I just have to say that my Bios changes once there is no cd in drive, try selecting from boot menu which is usually F8 or F10.

Well, there might be a way to force booting to an iso or cd but that shouldn't need to be tried.

I'd be thinking you have hardware issues.

Guess you could try to boot to memtest on one of the distro's.

Maybe make a live usb to try.

Get the OEM hard drive diags too to run.

The optical media not working may indicate too that the drive or controller is going bad.

Thank you for your comments everyone!

I really hope it's not the hardware going bad, because Mint was working fine until i started playing with Ubuntu.
Maybe I didn't burn it right because I never checked md5sum for it.

I was able to get it boot from cd. BIOS was set to boot from floppy( system never had a floppy ) and then from cdrom, it was never an issue before. I moved floppy to the bottom of the list leaving cdrom on the first place and it booted.

I should off re-installed Mint, but I went with Ubuntu.

My re-installation is even worst now. Few seconds after Ubuntu boots, I get the msg. that system has a problem. And it's not letting me boot from cdrom any more at all (to re-install Mint or try Xubuntu) it boots strait into Ubuntu, no GRUB. I double checked BIOS again for the boot sequence; cdrom is very first. And I can hear it spinning when I reboot, it just doesn't read it. And it doesn't read any cd's, not just live cd's I created (I tried XP, same result).

I was thinking about LIVE USB, but my BIOS don't even have an option to boot from USB. It has an option of booting from network adapter (whatever that means) may that be help full?

Any ideas would be appreciated!

Thank you everybody.

O, by the way, I did memtest and it says: "pass complete no errors"

Quote:

And it's not letting me boot from cdrom any more at all (to re-install Mint or try Xubuntu) it boots strait into Ubuntu, no GRUB.

You have to change the command in /etc/default/grub.

When you say it is not letting you boot to a cd, how then did you install it originally?

@jefro I believe the OP has disabled grub & has Ubuntu as default OS to boot.
I've seen the command to enable grub to show at boot but forgot where.
Also there is a hotkey to show grub at boot it's the Esc key.
Maybe you can lead him to it.
The OS isn't broken grub is hidden.

Quote:

My re-installation is even worst now. Few seconds after Ubuntu boots, I get the msg. that system has a problem.

If you provide the exact message, we might be able to solve it.

Quote:

And it's not letting me boot from cdrom any more at all (to re-install Mint or try Xubuntu) it boots strait into Ubuntu, no GRUB. I double checked BIOS again for the boot sequence; cdrom is very first. And I can hear it spinning when I reboot, it just doesn't read it. And it doesn't read any cd's, not just live cd's I created (I tried XP, same result).

I would suspect a hardware failure if you're not able to boot from CDrom; maybe time to blow the dust out ;) You can disconnect your HD and test it.
Do you have an option to change the boot device (without going deep into the bios)? Newer systems have this by pressing e.g. <F12>; it gives the option to boot e.g. from CDrom or HD or ....

Quote:

The OS isn't broken grub is hidden.

If the system boots to Ubuntu while the CD is in, it simply means that the system ignores the CD and the problem is not with grub.

With regards to grub:
keep <shift> pressed immediately after the POST till the menu shows; alternatively a permanent change can be made in /ect/default/grub. The red line below has usually the value 0 at the end; remove the value (as shown) and you will get the menu.

Code:

# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update

# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.



GRUB_DEFAULT=0

GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=

GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true

GRUB_TIMEOUT=10

GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""



# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)

#GRUB_TERMINAL=console



# The resolution used on graphical terminal

# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE

# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'

#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480



# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux

#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true



# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries

#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true"



# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start

#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

To 'activate' the above change, run the below command

Code:

wim@wim-desktop:~$ sudo update-grub

[sudo] password for wim: 

Generating grub.cfg ...

Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-43-generic

Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-43-generic

Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic

Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-generic

Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin

done

wim@wim-desktop:~$

Thank you guys.
It's amazing that you willing to dedicate your time to help somebody somebody you don't even.
Linux community rocks!

I was able to get into GRUB with a hot key, but it has no option to boot into cdrom.
I really don't think it's the hardware, because up until I started to play with Ubuntu there was no indication of any problems.
It just got to be something that I messed up.

[QUOTEWhen you say it is not letting you boot to a cd, how then did you install it originally?][/QUOTE]
It was booting into every live cd before I installed Ubuntu 12.04, It actually gave me hard time right at the end of installation, when it said:" your installation was a success please reboot" it never let me reboot unless i would force the system to shutdown. But prior to that Mint Maya was working great.

I will try other suggestions in your comments, but it's a lot to digest for a newbie. :-)

thank you.

"I really don't think it's the hardware,"
I get the feeling more than a few of us think it is.

"It was booting into every live cd before I installed Ubuntu 12.04"
Then it should still today. Something other than Ubuntu has changed.

You need to rule out this issue. A normal modern computer with a known working optical drive and a known good optical disk should boot. Since you said it did work at one time it proves to me that at one time that was all true.

It's not my optical drive!

I can open open live CD's from inside Ubuntu. it shows me every file that is written on cd. and it plays other media from cd's.
But it doesn't boot from cd rom.

Here is an internal error msg. that i'm getting from Ubuntu:

ExecutablePath
/usr/bin/jockey-gtk
package
jockey-gtk 0.97-Oubuntu7.1
problemtype
Crash
title
jockey-gtk crashed with DBusException in call_blocking():org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown:the name:1.69 was not provided by any .service files
traceback
.var.log.jockey.log

...and further down is the long list of basic info

I don't known if this is related to my issue or not..

Once again, thank you everybody

What is dmesg saying?
or /var/log/messages

You and I are both stubborn. :)

I keep saying that if it did work correctly at one time it should still. I have never heard of anything ubuntu could do that would damage or change that. Just because it can read a live cd still doesn't prove it will boot correctly. If it booted correctly then it would prove it is OK.