redwhiteandblue
Member
Hello,
I'm hoping someone here can suggest something to solve this problem because I'm completely stumped.
I'm fairly new to Linux but not new to building PCs. The machine I'm trying to install on is one I built in 2011 using what were then bang up to date components. It currently consists of:
Intel i3 2120 processor
Gigabyte GA-H67M-UD2H m/b (no graphics card, just the onboard Intel graphics)
8Gb of DDR2 RAM
WD Caviar 500Gb HDD
Crucial BX500 120Gb SSD
The HDD has Windows 7 on it which had been running absolutely fine all the time I had used it up until about four years ago. At that point I built a new machine and this one became spare. I decided it would be useful to start learning how to use Linux as part of what I do is to run websites on LAMP servers. So I put the SSD in it, installed CentOS 7 and disconnected the HDD. So now it would boot into CentOS 7. But I never really used it much, and a few days ago I decided it would be better to put a more user friendly Linux version on it - ultimately I want to have Apache running on it so I can use it for web development purposes.
I tried the latest version of Linux Mint Cinnamon. Downloaded, burnt onto a USB stick with Etcher, inserted into old machine, changed the BIOS to boot from USB first, and tried to install. But, it would crash before getting to the end of installation. When I say crash, the keyboard and mouse would become unresponsive and screen would be frozen.
Linux Mint has the option to install in compatibility mode so I tried that. Doing that will get me through the install process, but then after reboot it will crash soon after the desktop appears. Either within a few seconds, or after trying to open something like Firefox or the file manager. It would be random, not at the same point each time.
So I thought maybe this isn't the OS for this machine, let's try Linux Mint Mate.
Nope, same thing.
I tried an older version of Linux Mint. Same thing.
So then I tried Ubuntu Desktop. The same thing is happening - crashing during the install process. And same with Manjaro, same with Xubuntu. Again with Xubuntu, it will crash during the install process unless I install in "safe graphics" mode, then it will install but crash after reboot.
I've used two different USB sticks so I don't think that's the problem.
So by now you're thinking it's a hardware issue. Well I ran a BIOS memory test and it's fine. And, if I unplug the SSD and reconnect the HDD, it will boot into Windows 7 and that will run very happily and do tasks like playing Youtube videos, encoding things with Handbrake, etc etc.
So now you're thinking, maybe it's the SSD failing.
Nope. The last thing I have tried is installing Xubuntu in dual boot mode alongside Windows 7 on the HDD. It still crashes soon after the desktop appears.
How can it be that this hardware will happily run Win7 but none of the Linux distros I've tried? It's not an unusual hardware combo. Can it be something to do with the onboard graphics? Where do I start trying to find the cause? I've tried turning all sorts of things on and off in the BIOS - quick boot is disabled, legacy USB has been disabled and enabled, nothing makes any difference.
I'm hoping someone here can suggest something to solve this problem because I'm completely stumped.
I'm fairly new to Linux but not new to building PCs. The machine I'm trying to install on is one I built in 2011 using what were then bang up to date components. It currently consists of:
Intel i3 2120 processor
Gigabyte GA-H67M-UD2H m/b (no graphics card, just the onboard Intel graphics)
8Gb of DDR2 RAM
WD Caviar 500Gb HDD
Crucial BX500 120Gb SSD
The HDD has Windows 7 on it which had been running absolutely fine all the time I had used it up until about four years ago. At that point I built a new machine and this one became spare. I decided it would be useful to start learning how to use Linux as part of what I do is to run websites on LAMP servers. So I put the SSD in it, installed CentOS 7 and disconnected the HDD. So now it would boot into CentOS 7. But I never really used it much, and a few days ago I decided it would be better to put a more user friendly Linux version on it - ultimately I want to have Apache running on it so I can use it for web development purposes.
I tried the latest version of Linux Mint Cinnamon. Downloaded, burnt onto a USB stick with Etcher, inserted into old machine, changed the BIOS to boot from USB first, and tried to install. But, it would crash before getting to the end of installation. When I say crash, the keyboard and mouse would become unresponsive and screen would be frozen.
Linux Mint has the option to install in compatibility mode so I tried that. Doing that will get me through the install process, but then after reboot it will crash soon after the desktop appears. Either within a few seconds, or after trying to open something like Firefox or the file manager. It would be random, not at the same point each time.
So I thought maybe this isn't the OS for this machine, let's try Linux Mint Mate.
Nope, same thing.
I tried an older version of Linux Mint. Same thing.
So then I tried Ubuntu Desktop. The same thing is happening - crashing during the install process. And same with Manjaro, same with Xubuntu. Again with Xubuntu, it will crash during the install process unless I install in "safe graphics" mode, then it will install but crash after reboot.
I've used two different USB sticks so I don't think that's the problem.
So by now you're thinking it's a hardware issue. Well I ran a BIOS memory test and it's fine. And, if I unplug the SSD and reconnect the HDD, it will boot into Windows 7 and that will run very happily and do tasks like playing Youtube videos, encoding things with Handbrake, etc etc.
So now you're thinking, maybe it's the SSD failing.
Nope. The last thing I have tried is installing Xubuntu in dual boot mode alongside Windows 7 on the HDD. It still crashes soon after the desktop appears.
How can it be that this hardware will happily run Win7 but none of the Linux distros I've tried? It's not an unusual hardware combo. Can it be something to do with the onboard graphics? Where do I start trying to find the cause? I've tried turning all sorts of things on and off in the BIOS - quick boot is disabled, legacy USB has been disabled and enabled, nothing makes any difference.