Unable to install or even run Linux Mint on Asus X70io laptop
 

Hi folks,

I'm very new here and equally new to Linux of any description. I assume it's kind of like Unix, but free. I used a Unix box back in the late 90's, but that's it.

So when I discovered that Linux could resurrect my old XP box, I decided to give it a go. It's great! I admit, I need more RAM as it still runs like a snail on Valium, but now it works.

Eager to try it on something with a little more va-va-voom, I tried to install it on an old 32bit Asus laptop, running Windows Vista - in French.

Now I may live in France, but I'm not French and an "AZERTY" keyboard is a nightmare when you're used to a "QWERTY", so I changed the keyboard and set about installing Linux Mint using the same DVD I'd burned to get the old XP box running - so immediately, you know that works (both being 32 bit).

Sadly, despite having adjusted the BIOS settings to boot from the DVD drive, nothing happened. I could hear the disc running, but within seconds, up popped the beginning of the Microsoft Windows boot sequence.

Not to be outdone, I went back into the BIOS to reset the boot sequence to begin with USB (external) followed by DVD and finally HDD, burned a USB flash drive with the installation software and started again. This time, the USB flickered a few times then dammit all, the Microsoft boot sequence began again.

So hitting the internet, I tried to find out about what might be causing this to happen. There is no legacy setting on the BIOS, so clearly, that's not the issue and judging by the fact that both the disc and USB drives had been flashing or making noise, they had been accessed, but the laptop flatly refuses to boot into live Mint.

I've read more forum entries on failure to boot issues than I can count, all to no avail. Despite being a newbie here and to Linux, I have over 25 years with Windows-based systems and am feeling a bit of a plonker with not being able to resolve the issue myself.

So I'm reaching out to you guys - and gals - in the hopes that someone may have the answer. I cannot think of anything I have done that would prevent a different OS from being loaded, but I suppose I must have.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Did you download Linux Mint from the official Mint site?
After downloading the iso file, did you do an md5 checksum on it to verify the download was good?
How did you burn it to the DVD? Their should be an option to "burn as an image". If you simply copied the iso to the DVD it will not boot.
If this computer originally came with xp, it may not be capable of booting from a usb so have you ever booted any usb on the machine?

Yes, it was downloaded from LinuxMint.com

Yes, the download was verified and was actually used to create the installation disc for an XP box - successfully.

This was to have been my second installation, but this time over Windows Vista. However, the machine seems to have other ideas.

I now have doubts about the Asus's DVD drive, but the USB works perfectly, so there shouldn't have been an issue.

As of about an hour ago, I got my Win 7 disc through the post and will be installing that first. Vista was in French and a complete mystery to me as my command of French is a little too limited to make my way through the minefield that is a Windows Vista Laptop with questionable hardware.

Thank you for taking the time to answer.

Try holding down the power button to shut down Windows. Then see if you can boot Linux.