Linux install went horribly wrong

Nunud

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Hey there... I'm in trouble...

I wanted to install a Solus MATE distro, because it is supposed to work well on older PCs... So I put it on a USB drive, and lauched a clean install... Erased everything that was there after a backup...

But when it was time to restart, the PC did'nt even see the hard drive... The only boot options are now the live USB drive, and the firmware boot...
So I tried restarting without the USB drive inserted, and the computer did'nt even know what to do...

Not really a total newbie, but not being a technical guy either, I'm at a loss here... And it's been a week! :/

I even posted questions on other Linux forums, but not luck so far...

I tried re-formating the hard drive, but Gparted gives me a list of formats that is a mile long... I have no idea what those are...

Here's a screenshot: https://postimg.cc/QBGN2YqC

But then again, maybe it's not even a format problem?!

A little help please?

Thanks for reading...

Cheers!
 


Hey there... I'm in trouble...

I wanted to install a Solus MATE distro, because it is supposed to work well on older PCs... So I put it on a USB drive, and lauched a clean install... Erased everything that was there after a backup...
. . . did'nt even know what to do...
. . .
A little help please?

Thanks for reading...
HOW did you erase everything, @Nunud?
What are your hardware specs and which distro was on the hdd prior to your failed attempt?
I even posted questions on other Linux forums, but not luck so far...
Probably because you don't give adequate information!
 
G'day Nunud, and Welcome to linux.org

your first sentence...""So I put it on a USB drive, and lauched a clean install.""

Does that mean that you used a program to "burn" the ISO to a usb drive, then changed the boot order so the pc would boot to the usb drive, booted to the Solus and then clicked on the Install Solus Mate icon on the desktop to actually install it..............or does it mean something else entirely ?
 
It's a formatting problem. LVM, FAT & ext4?

3.3 GB is totally inadequate for Solus!

Try partitioning again after wiping the drive clean once more.
https://www.lifewire.com/use-gparted-to-partition-hard-drive-2205693

gparted-ex.jpg

Don't need to go this complex, but you see root partition (/) is 24GB with a swap and a /home

Suggest reading attachment, too
 

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It IS at the top of Getting Started, Wile E.

I pinned it there, and locked it there. Maybe get yourself a pair of Acme specs?

Wiz
 
you need to download MATE iso file , then clean your USB and copy your MATE iso file in USB.
after that burn your MATE iso file in USB using sotware like rufus. then insert USB in the port and enter BIOS after laptop or pc startup black screen. then choose USB as boot option.
 
Hey there! First a collective thank you to all who replied!

Now I can go back and make individual responses! :)
 
HOW did you erase everything, @Nunud?
What are your hardware specs and which distro was on the hdd prior to your failed attempt?

Probably because you don't give adequate information!

Hi @sp331yi

I erased my hard drive from inside the Solus installer, when it warned me that it was going to wipe it clean...

I'm not withholding any info... It's just that, despite the fact that I have used Linux for more than 4 years now, I'm still not very tech savvy, and I just would'nt know what the relevant info is, before I'm asked a question! :)

My previous distro was Enso OS 0.3.1

And here's what Solus has to say about all the specs:

Code:
System:
  Host: solus Kernel: 5.4.12-144.current x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
  v: 9.2.0 Desktop: MATE 1.22.3 Distro: Solus 4.1
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: N56VB v: 1.0 serial: <root required>
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: N56VB v: 1.0 serial: <root required>
  UEFI: American Megatrends v: N56VB.202 date: 01/21/2013
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 24.6 Wh condition: 25.6/57.7 Wh (44%)
  model: ASUSTeK N56--52 status: Unknown
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-3230M bits: 64 type: MT MCP
  arch: Ivy Bridge rev: 9 L2 cache: 3072 KiB
  flags: avx lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 20753
  Speed: 1197 MHz min/max: 1200/3200 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1198 2: 1198
  3: 1197 4: 1197
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics vendor: ASUSTeK
  driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0
  Device-2: NVIDIA GK107M [GeForce GT 740M] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nouveau
  v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.6 driver: intel,nouveau
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ivybridge Mobile v: 4.2 Mesa 19.3.2
  direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio
  vendor: ASUSTeK N56VZ driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0
  Device-2: NVIDIA GK107 HDMI Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
  bus ID: 01:00.1
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.12-144.current
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
  port: e000 bus ID: 03:00.0
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: 60:6c:66:49:2b:c7
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK N56VZ
  driver: alx v: kernel port: d000 bus ID: 04:00.0
  IF: enp4s0 state: down mac: 60:a4:4c:71:84:c2
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 702.39 GiB used: 76.3 MiB (0.0%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD7500BPKT-80PK4T0
  size: 698.64 GiB
  ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB model: Flash USB Disk size: 3.75 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.65 GiB used: 76.3 MiB (4.5%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 68.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nouveau temp: 62 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 3900
Info:
  Processes: 190 Uptime: 4m Memory: 3.30 GiB used: 1.26 GiB (38.2%)
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: N/A Shell: bash v: 5.0.11
  inxi: 3.0.37
 
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G'day Nunud, and Welcome to linux.org

your first sentence...""So I put it on a USB drive, and lauched a clean install.""

Does that mean that you used a program to "burn" the ISO to a usb drive, then changed the boot order so the pc would boot to the usb drive, booted to the Solus and then clicked on the Install Solus Mate icon on the desktop to actually install it..............or does it mean something else entirely ?

Hi... Thanks for the welcome amigo!

I used a little program called Balena Etcher to put an ISO on my USB drive, used that to boot, and then I erased my disk from inside the Solus installer when I was asked if it could do it, at the first install...
 
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you need to download MATE iso file , then clean your USB and copy your MATE iso file in USB.
after that burn your MATE iso file in USB using sotware like rufus. then insert USB in the port and enter BIOS after laptop or pc startup black screen. then choose USB as boot option.

Actually, I discovered later on that Solus had a special app packaging format (not mentionned in the youtube review that led me to Solus in the first place), so when this weird experiment is over, I'm immediately going back to a more classical distro... Maybe even to my old beloved Enso OS...

I need to try Sonic Pi and LBRY, and they wouldn't work on this distro! :/

Thanks for your suggestion, but would that help if the formating is wrong? Wouldn't I find my self in a similar situation with a different OS?

Right now I'm only interested in Solus as long as it is needed to solve this Solus mess! Then I'm out! :)
 
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OK thanks... I'll go read the tutorial... But why can't I have just one big partition?

You can blame that on Microsoft if you want to. There was a time you could.
At the very least the boot-entry partition has to be separate.

If you are running under a UEFI-BIOS it will be /boot/efi
If you are running under a legacy-BIOS it will be /biosboot

This is normally a vfat FAT32 partiton. Fat32 is a Microsoft file system, not a Linux file system.
Some newer Linux's now have tools that let you use msdos/fat filesystems. But it's not filesystem type that Linux likes to use natively.

There was a period of time Microsoft and Intel specifically did this on purpose to keep people from loading other OS's (such as Linux). Now this is brushed under the carpet and everyone says this is for "secure boot". But you could do secure boot without it. In fact virtually all BIOS's let you disable secure boot if you want to, so that excuse doesn't really hold water.
 
It sounds to me that all you have done is quite ok.

If you were going to format the hard drive, it would be to ext4

I would have thought the installer would have taken care of that.....Solus appears to be advanced enough....but maybe not. It cant do any harm to format it yourself.

When you click on the "install" icon on the Solus live desktop....it then does its thing and installs.....when that process finishes you should take the usb out.....and then reboot. (I usually hit the 'reboot' and just pull the usb out as the pc slows down to 'zero'...before starting back up again.)

Give it another go.
 
@Nunud

Solus is a fine Independent distro.

The basic classic partitioning scheme is a root (/) a /home partition and a smallish swap partition (size dependent on how much RAM is installed).

However, 3GB RAM limits your distro choices to 32bit distros, with probably a 2GB swap partiton. You can go 64bit if you want, but it would limit your performance and be a waste, IMHO, with only 3GB RAM

I'd recommend MX 19.2 here: https://www.getmyos.com/mx-linux-mx-19-2-patito-feo-june-2020-official-32-bit-64-bit-iso-download

You may wish to do the automatic partitioning option; after install update and upgrade, Optionally install nVidia driver from Menu (control panel, I believe) and install restricted codecs if so desired. Then reboot.

An easy install of Number One rated distro according to distrowatch.com. It's pretty, too.

Can't blame your frustration, but it will dissipate upon learning more and using MX Linux (you'll be pleased)

Here is your driver -- for reference later
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/160182/en-us
 
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When you used the partition manager that came with Solus did you create a new ext 4 partition to install Solus on?

Looking at the screenshot that you posted of Gparted it shows that you already have a ext 4 partition on /dev/sda 3 that is 694.43 Gib.

You also have a 3.73 GiB partition for the Solus System that's on /dev/sda 2.

If the 3.73 GiB partition is for your Solus System that's not the right size for a Linux distribution.
You'll need at least 25 Gig's. Also, you will need to make at least a 1 to 2 Gigabyte swap partition as well. And, make your "ext 4 partition bootable".

I suggest that you delete those partitions mentioned above with the partition manager that comes with Solus and start a fresh installation creating partitions best suited for your install.
 
Hey guys!

Sorry for this silence... Having to redo the reboot sequence every 20 minutes (because of systematic freezes), and reconfigure the keyboard layout and wifi password every single time, makes it difficult to take part in the discussion...

But I'm still around... I just want to make sure I have the time to maybe fail once or twice at partitioning the disk, when I give it a try...

Thanks for all your answers, I'll be back soon!
 
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Hi guys!

So I was finally able to take a little care of the computer... Read through the tutorials, and watched some videos...

After making a "safe" test with only two partitions (My old Apple reflexes, one for the system and one for documents), both with ext4, I launched another install attempt...

But when asked what partition to choose as a mount point, Solus does display them in the list, but look at that "Next" button on the screenshot... It's greyed out! And even de the "Format" tick-box is unresponsive... :/

PS: I'm sure Solus is a fine distro, I didn't say it wasn't... But in my case it did screw up my old PC pretty good, and that app packaging thing should be more prominently advertised I think...

Screenshot at 2020-08-11 03-33-57.png
 

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