Are HDD drivers required for installing any Linux distros?

Have tried in the last three months to install many Linux distros from USB live bootable on flash sticks onto USB flash sticks, Puppy, LXLE, Zonrin, Peppermint, Linux Lite, and Xfce, all ended up with a same failure: [Ermo 30] Read only file system.

The motherboard is an old one, G45T AM2 V:1.0 and the BIOS is American Megatrends V.02.16. I suspect if the hard drive drivers on this motherboard might have issues and cause the installation failures.

Your advices, please.

More likely your hard disk is damaged in some way. Check SMART, study logs - live distros have them in usual places.

yes, you need to check the logs, if your disk is damaged you will see the traces. But I think "[Ermo 30] Read only file system" itself has no any meaning without context. So would be nice to know more about the situation.

Originally Posted by Jofto [Ermo 30] Read only file system.[/COLOR][/B]

1. I think this error message means your HDD is no longer bootable.
But you may still be able to access the files (e.g /home) on the HDD from a different drive which has a newly installed Linux distro.

In my experience HDDs die after about 10 years. So if your HDD is older then you've got your money's worth!

2. If you can't boot a Linux distro from USB - then you may need to go into BIOS and enable the 'boot from USB' function.

The motherboard is an old one

3. Your motherboard uses DDR2 SDRAM which was released in 2003.
20 years ago.
it is possible your BIOS doesn't support 'boot from USB'. If not, then
does your BIOS support 'boot from CD'? This way you can install a Linux distro with a CD-RW and boot from that.

4. If all else fails and you're feeling the pinch then - Raspberry Pi!
I still don't have one but you can be back online at low cost (like smartphone).

Originally Posted by lvm_ More likely your hard disk is damaged in some way. Check SMART, study logs - live distros have them in usual places.

Thank you.
There is no HDD. All the installation are from a USB live bootable on a flash stick onto another USB flash stick. Both of the live sticks and the target sticks are changed many times for different installations.

Originally Posted by Jofto Thank you. There is no HDD. All the installation are from a USB live bootable on a flash stick onto another USB flash stick. Both of the live sticks and the target sticks are changed many times for different installations.

That does not really matter. You need to check the logs and explain the situation better. Otherwise hard to say anything.
The "permission denied" is a general error message, we cannot guess what is the root cause.

And in general no HDD required, it should work with usb stick too.

Originally Posted by pan64 yes, you need to check the logs, if your disk is damaged you will see the traces. But I think "[Ermo 30] Read only file system" itself has no any meaning without context. So would be nice to know more about the situation.

Thank you.

The following is the full text of the failure message, trying to install Xfce:
[Ermo 30] Read-only file system:'/target/usr/lib/python3.10/http/_pycache_/_init_cpython-310.pyc'

How many different target USB devices have you tried? Are you able to boot any USB media and use a partitioner to read and write on your proposed target? USB devices can turn RO when they lose write reliability or capability. That's when if their warranty has not expired you utilize it.

What you could be running into is inconsistent device names between the installer and the BIOS, and the RO status is actually on the booted device, not the target device.

Originally Posted by willow-herb 1. I think this error message means But you may still be able to access the files (e.g /home) on the HDD from a different drive which has a newly installed Linux distro. In my experience HDDs die after about 10 years. So if your HDD is older then you've got your money's worth! 2. If you can't boot a Linux distro from USB - then you may need to go into BIOS and enable the 'boot from USB' function. 3. Your motherboard uses DDR2 SDRAM which was released in 2003. 20 years ago. it is possible your BIOS doesn't support 'boot from USB'. If not, then does your BIOS support 'boot from CD'? This way you can install a Linux distro with a CD-RW and boot from that. 4. If all else fails and you're feeling the pinch then - Raspberry Pi! I still don't have one but you can be back online at low cost (like smartphone).

Thank you.

"your HDD is no longer bootable."
There is no HDD involved. Flash stick only for both the live bootable and the target.


"go into BIOS and enable the 'boot from USB' function."
ACHI is set in BIOS.
Xfce's installer recognize both live bootable flash stick and the target flash stick or memory card.

"BIOS doesn't support 'boot from USB'."
It was a year ago, I had Win7 installed onto a Toshiba MK1032GSX which was connected to one of the USB ports and ran the OS for many months. It did then support boot from USB.

"install a Linux distro with a CD-RW and boot from that."
Do you mean install a Linux distro onto a DVD and run it as a live CD?
Won't it be too slow?

Originally Posted by mrmazda How many different target USB devices have you tried? Are you able to boot any USB media and use a partitioner to read and write on your proposed target? USB devices can turn RO when they lose write reliability or capability. That's when if their warranty has not expired you utilize it. What you could be running into is inconsistent device names between the installer and the BIOS, and the RO status is actually on the booted device, not the target device.

Thank you.


"How many different target USB devices have you tried?"
Nine flash sticks, 2gb to 16gb, and one memory card, 32gb.

"Are you able to boot any USB media"
I was a year ago, installed Win7 on a small HDD from my old laptop, and ran the OS for many months. It was via a USB port as an extermal HDD. Now? Do not know.

"use a partitioner to read and write on your proposed target?"
Do not know. Not yet tried.
But, in the process of installing Xfce or other distros, the installer did the formatting and partitioning on the target flash sticks.


RO?
What do they stand for?

"inconsistent device names between the installer and the BIOS,"
Do you mean the nine different flash sticks and one memory card?

"the RO status is actually on the booted device"
Do you mean the RO status is actually on the USB live bootable flash stick? I use different flash sticks for making USB live bootables every time I make a new USB live bootable of a different disto.

Originally Posted by Jofto Thank you. The following is the full text of the failure message, trying to install Xfce: [Ermo 30] Read-only file system:'/target/usr/lib/python3.10/http/_pycache_/_init_cpython-310.pyc'

Would be nice to know exactly how did you try to install what (and where). And in general what are you doing. This is a quite unusual location (/target/usr/lib/...) and a I'm pretty sure it is intentionally read only (/target/something), but your system wanted to overwrite that file, which would be normal in a regular case (in case of /usr/lib/whatever). So it means for me this is not a regular install, but something else.

Originally Posted by Jofto RO? What do they stand for?

[Ermo 30] Read only file system.

"inconsistent device names between the installer and the BIOS," Do you mean the nine different flash sticks and one memory card?

I mean the BIOS might read one stick as sda and another as sdb, while a kernel/driver might trade their names, leading to attempts to access the wrong one. If you get an installation media completely started, you can usually Ctrl-Alt-F2 to reach a shell prompt from which you can use many common tools, such as free, df, fdisk -l, mount, and more, so you can determine which stick is which from the installer's POV.

"the RO status is actually on the booted device" Do you mean the RO status is actually on the USB live bootable flash stick? I use different flash sticks for making USB live bootables every time I make a new USB live bootable of a different disto.

The question is what filesystem does the error apply to? You shouldn't need to write to the installation media once it's been burned, so RO on it is OK. If the stick you wish to install on is RO, that's probably an extreme problem, but it may depend upon what is on it to start with. New sticks aren't always empty, often littered with Windows-only-ware or other obstacles to normal usage.

[QUOTE=Jofto;6417098]Have tried in the last three months to install many Linux distros from USB live bootable on flash sticks onto USB flash sticks, Puppy, LXLE, Zonrin, Peppermint, Linux Lite, and Xfce, all ended up with a same failure: [Ermo 30] Read only file system.


My first thought is that the flash stick(s) onto which you are trying to install the various distros is locked in Read-only mode. I've had many a flash stick die that way.

I'm gonna guess when you install, the system has already grabbed the target disk via automounter. Some installers can drop to a shell and see if it is mounted per mr mazda.

Here is another thought.
If the device you are trying to install to has already had an ISO image burned to it while trying to do an install, the system may see that device as read only since an iso9660 file system is usually read only.
If that is the case, the fix may be nothing more than to use fdisk or gdisk and remove the partition on that device then repartition it to the original size and write that partition. Then finally remove that partition again and try to install onto that now totally unallocated device.

It may easily be that some artifact from having the iso image written there is faking it into believing it is read only. The ability to change the partitions would prove that is false and the device is actually writable.