Installing LM on a SSD

atanere said:
Man, I'm glad you have the patience to keep going! You may can get out of this, or it may be the simple fix is to just reinstall Mint again and start over. But I guess I'd also like to ask at this point what your final install steps were? That is, did you go with "use entire disk" or "something else?" If you picked "something else," how did you structure the partitions?
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O7. Ok so I tried the manual portioning last attempt but that wasn't useful so this time I went with the straight, "entire disk" option. My thinking was that, as you had suggested, remove any human component (me). I'll post one more in a bit here to update.
 


So this morning I again tried to boot and it went to the selection screen (the second picture in the post above), to another error which stated something like"need to load kernel first" or something like this. I then "hit any key to continue" and it took me to the grub. This time it gave me the "hdo" error (I tried the top two options, first picture in the above post) from the grub menu. Finally I hit the power button and very quickly (1-3) seconds it loaded linux.
My apologies as I shut it down and tried to get a photo of each step and error but after I shut it down and got some coffee, cleaned, etc, came back and booted it it started and booted linux straight away without any selection screen.
 
PcBuilderEd said:
My apologies as I shut it down and tried to get a photo of each step and error but after I shut it down and got some coffee, cleaned, etc, came back and booted it it started and booted linux straight away without any selection screen.
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My mistake here I think I just hibernated on this last point, so the error maintains.
 
So, did you do a re-install, or not?

Did you verify the SHA256 checksum of your downloaded Mint .iso file? Or re-download it? Maybe I missed if you followed up and covered those bases with Wizard. Since you're still having trouble, you definitely want to be sure that you are starting off with a solid download that is not corrupted.

Hibernation can be a problem with some computers. The link I gave back in Post #33 recommends disabling hibernation in Mint, and gives directions how to do that.

My turn for alcohol... will try to type a garbled reply again later! LOL :confused::D
 
Starting at post thirty I did a fresh install from a separate ISO download. I didn't verify the download however so I'm going to try and figure that part out now. Sorry I'm trying to keep up but I'm moving at my tech limit lol.
 
Tech limit... alcohol limit... that's about the same thing, right? :D I gotta work day shifts again starting tomorrow, so will check back with you as I can. Keep at it... you're almost there.
 
OK fellas apologies ive hit a bit of a wall here, how does one verrify the ISO? I have the USB I used to install linux and trying to check the download. Ive read the linux mint tutorial but having some noob issues. I have the USB called MYLINUXLIVE plugged in, but cant find an ISO anywhere. Im IN Linux Mint btw. I have also tried using the comman line as they stated in the tutorial but it doesnt recognise the drive. Or im typing it in wrong <<<<likeliest scenario.
 
PcBuilderEd said:
OK fellas apologies ive hit a bit of a wall here, how does one verrify the ISO? I have the USB I used to install linux and trying to check the download. Ive read the linux mint tutorial but having some noob issues. I have the USB called MYLINUXLIVE plugged in, but cant find an ISO anywhere. Im IN Linux Mint btw. I have also tried using the comman line as they stated in the tutorial but it doesnt recognise the drive. Or im typing it in wrong <<<<likeliest scenario.
Click to expand...

The .iso file is what you downloaded from Linux Mint... you have to verify that .iso file BEFORE you burn it to the USB or DVD. Putting it on the USB is a special process, and you used some special program, or else you could have simply copied the .iso file (which does not work... it won't boot).

It is the original .iso file that you need to verify.... so that can't be on your Mint hard drive, right?

So, assuming (yeah, it might apply to both of us - LOL).... assuming you downloaded the .iso to your Windows hard drive, you will need to get a Windows tool to verify the checksum. I can't attest to these, but a quick Google found:

https://raylin.wordpress.com/downloads/md5-sha-1-checksum-utility/ (I think Wizard also listed this one in Post #29)

https://quickhash-gui.org

If you deleted the original .iso file that you downloaded, then there's not way to tell if your USB is good or not (except by usage, which kind of seems to be failing you, or something is failing you with those errors you showed us). If you have that original .iso file, then you need to check the SHA256 SUM against that provided by Mint (here). Mint describes a "method" to do this comparison, but you don't need a "method".... just compare their string of characters to the string of characters you generate with the checksum program that you install. Yes, its tedious, but you have to check them carefully... they must match exactly.

But having wrote all that, and just waking up to the fact you said you are in Mint now! Is it working correctly? Your reinstall was at Post #30, but you had problems after that. So I guess I'm still concerned that you may not have a clean install. But still, for future reference, it's really a good idea to make a habit of verifying checksums for any Linux distro before you install it. :D
 
Na still having boot issues. I was trying to verify the download from the USB stick but you stated the obvious there that its no longer an ISO file since I created the live usb.....
SO my other question is can I reinstall mint from within mint? IE download an ISO, check it, and install it or would I need to create another USB? It seems since I cant verify the current version its difficult to troubleshoot. So im considering doing a new install. One of the problems is the boot isues seem to be different each time. Sometimes I need to go to the advanced boot options, other times it must be booted from the grub, other times I have to hit the power button... Is there a bootable usb program from within Linux you fellas like?
 
No, you can't install Mint from within Mint. But you can download the .iso to Mint and use it to verify the checksum, and then burn that new .iso to your USB stick.

If you download the .iso --- then open a terminal and enter

Code: 
cd Downloads

then

Code: 
sha256sum linux (and hit the TAB key)

You've just learned a new Linux trick: auto tab completion. After starting to type the .iso filename, hitting TAB will finish printing it out in the terminal for you. If you have similar files it will stop when it needs you to manually distinguish between the file names. This is very handy! :D

So, the output above should have given you a very long string of characters to compare against the text file I linked to above. Of course, you have to match the version that you downloaded (I guess 18.2 Cinnamon).

In another thread, Wizard recommended the program Etcher to use to burn a .iso file to a USB stick. I have tried it too and it does work very well. There are others, and you can actually just use another simple Linux command, but I don't want to go there right now (it's quite a dangerous command if you use it incorrectly).

OK, gotta run... 4:30am comes way too soon.
 
Alright. I did a fresh install of Linux mint. I created the live boot USB using etcher and this time verified the download in Linux. Installed it and get basically the same errors... hrmm. Any ideas.
 

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What, you still here?!?! Sorry, just kidding. :( This sure is unusual to be this difficult. And troubleshooting difficult problems can be long and tedious. Ruling out a bad download was important though... it is often a common source of trouble. I think we can safely assume that you have a solid USB installer though (but even that assumption is not a total 100%).

So, I am also assuming that you did just a basic install of Mint, entire disk, no encryption or LVM, and all that.

You call all of this "basically the same errors"... and you may be right. Each of your screen caps are different, but I agree that the core error is "kernel panic." Wikipedia lists a few possible causes for kernel panic, so let's consider some... and what might we do to figure this out. (And hopefully Wizard or other smarter people jump in to help! :confused::D)

1. Any add-on hardware? This shouldn't mean your new SSD, but at least make sure there are no peripheral devices connected while you're working on this (no printers, scanners, any external devices, etc). This is not likely the problem, but there is some chance that Mint does not like your SSD and/or it wants an additional driver for it.

2. Malfunctioning RAM? This is actually a good possible suspect. My own belief is that most kernel panics are RAM related, though it might be an addressing problem and not necessarily RAM failure. At one point in your screen caps you could see an option for memtest86+ and this could help diagnose a problem with RAM. However, it takes a LONG time to complete, so you might start it up in the evening and let it run all night.

Another quicker RAM test, but not so thorough, is to open the compartment under your laptop and remove one of the chips (if you have two... I think you have 8GB, so I am hoping that it is 2 chips of 4GB each). Anyway, if there are two, remove the top one and try to boot the computer. If it runs well, maybe that chip is bad. If it still runs poorly, then swap the chips and try it again. If it runs well with each chip, but not both together, then swap switch one is in the bottom position... this could especially be true if different brand chips are used. Mint should really run fine with only 4GB if it seems that one of the chips is not performing properly. Be careful, but with a handle like @PcBuilderEd I figure you know what you're doing. :D

3. Missing device driver? This might be tough to figure out. It kind of goes along with #1 (add-on hardware) and/or possible problems with RAM addressing. Anything particular weird or different about this laptop?

4. Unable to locate a root file system? Well, yeah... your newest screen cap was very specific on this one, so it is also a very likely suspect. But it's getting late, and I need to wrap this one up for tonight. A quick Google showed me these, but I have not read them all completely. But other people solving this problem means that you can probably solve it too.

Check this: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2325051 (This was the shortest and quickest possibility. It is for Ubuntu, but Mint is based on Ubuntu so very possible to be the same. Of course you have an install USB to boot on instead of a DVD.)

Check this one carefully: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1751574 (Try reading and see what you get out of this one.)

Check this one carefully too: https://forum.manjaro.org/t/kernel-...to-mount-root-fs-on-unknown-block-0-0/4620/10 (This is a different approach.)

5. Try another distro... perhaps this could be the least trouble to get you started with Linux. At least you could probably get something up and running more quickly without all the expert-level skills that you are acquiring! :D

Anyway, let us know which, if any, of these possible roads you wish to go down next, and we will try to help.
 
You all must think me rude (well, I am, but that's beside the point) ... I have not had an email notification from the end of page 2, must be a glitch.

I will digest page 3 asap and get back here.

Regrets

Wizard
 
The email thing is kind of funny, or seems like it. I've turned it off again... I only turned it on to test when another user was complaining about it.

I may be wrong, but when I had it on it seemed like it's behavior followed these 2 conditions:

1. It won't email you for you making your own posts. (Makes sense to me.)
2. It only emails you ONCE when there is a comment to the thread. If true, you might find the first single email, and maybe you missed that one. But then it won't send more emails until you log in and actually visit the thread again.

The behavior of #2 would be similar to that of the "flag alerts"... when it tells you, "There may be more posts after this." Hmmm, thinking about this a little more... the "flag alert" should have also clued you in that there were further comments to this thread, even if you did not come and vist the thread and read the comments. But after you logged out, I don't know if you would get further "flag alerts" with every new comment and every time you return and log in.

Hmmm, or maybe I've had too much beer. Or maybe not enough! :confused::D

Anyway, enough off-topic from me for now. Hoping Ed is making progress!
 
Got a notify on your post above, beer drinking buddy, so I'll try to keep holding my mouth the right way (lips pursed around a beer currently)

I'll try a triage approach here first, as our priority is to get this OP up & running.

Just a first up, on the Manjaro idea - works for Manjaro, I used the same source in the last 12 months, but MJRO is currently not in my stable, love it but it is a PITA for sharing, as its own advocates say at your link.

The Manjaro idea likely won't work here, as regards the reference to "/etc/mkinitcpio.conf" - that is a file specific to Arch-based Distros ... but hey, what do I know?

Subject to what the OP learns from the other suggestions you have dutifully provided, I would advocate treating the issue as if he had been delivered to a grub> prompt or a grub rescue> prompt. It can't hurt.

@PcBuilderEd

Mate, if you have no joy from above, you could try this:

  1. Boot your computer and keep tapping/holding the Shift key to get a Grub Menu, if it does not default to one (we can give you a permanent Grub Menu once you get in, if you like)
  2. At Grub Menu, choose the option 'c' to get a command line, you will be presented with a prompt of grub>
  3. Type in and enter "ls" (as in list), you will be presented with one or more outputs that might look like (these are zeroes) (hd0,1) or (hd0,gpt1) ... could start with just (hd0) &c. Record those outputs. Users employing MSDOS/MBR will have "msdos" for "gpt"
  4. From here we have no need for the msdos/gpt.
  5. Type in and enter the first candidate in your list as eg "set prefix=(hd0,1)/boot/grub". You may get errors, if so, move on and repeat with the next choice. One of them will "stick", that is your root partition. Once you have success, type in an enter the following
  6. insmod normal ... and then type in an enter
  7. normal
It may well be that that will boot you in, if not, we can repeat and include further steps with insmod and initrd.

If you are successful in booting in, get yourself a Terminal open and enter the following, with your password where required:

  1. sudo update-grub followed by
  2. df ... df will show you in /dev/sdXY terms where your root partition is, as opposed to the hd0 references. My output for df in the Mint MATE I am in looks like this
    Code: 
    Filesystem     1K-blocks    Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev             4054088       0   4054088   0% /dev
tmpfs             815524    9688    805836   2% /run
/dev/sda12      20510716 6681952  12763808  35% /
tmpfs            4077612    1056   4076556   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs               5120       4      5116   1% /run/lock
tmpfs            4077612       0   4077612   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda3         292276   31284    260992  11% /boot/efi
cgmfs                100       0       100   0% /run/cgmanager/fs
tmpfs             815524      40    815484   1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sdb1        1855008 1855008         0 100% /media/chris/Linux Mint 18.2 MATE 64-bit
    and the one that just shows "Mounted on" as / is where I am, that is /dev/sda12 for me
  3. You can then choose one of the following
    Code: 
    sudo grub-install /dev/sda1
    or
    Code: 
    sudo grub-install /dev/sda
    - I would advocate just sda no number.
  4. Once completed, reboot and see how you go
Gotta fly, back soon

Wiz
 
atanere said:
What, you still here?!?! Sorry, just kidding. :( This sure is unusual to be this difficult. And troubleshooting difficult problems can be long and tedious. Ruling out a bad download was important though... it is often a common source of trouble. I think we can safely assume that you have a solid USB installer though (but even that assumption is not a total 100%).

So, I am also assuming that you did just a basic install of Mint, entire disk, no encryption or LVM, and all that.

Be careful, but with a handle like @PcBuilderEd I figure you know what you're doing. :D

This is an assumption of proportion which can cause things like dams to crack, major fires, plane crashes...
Lol good to hear this isn't "standard." My goal here is for an alternative to windows so I'll keep moving until I hit a real impenetrable wall. I'm going to start troubleshooting this tonight. I would prefer to not open this computer up at all. I have built a pc before but this really is past my limit. If this were an old pc which I didn't need that would be an option but if it gets to that I would probably attempt to reinstall windows. If that is unsuccessful then I could take it to a repair store. I'll write a post later hitting your points. Thanks again for all your responses!
Sorry the quote got lost.
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@PcBuilderEd @atanere

You & The Viewers might find this of interest.

https://www.linux.org/threads/hash-checking-rare-tips.13544/

The OP could use it to totally eliminate any prospect of a bad download and burn, and in conjunction with choosing, on booting the USB

"Check the integrity of the medium"

... rule out any problems with the content of the stick (will likely hang a little at "Checking /casper/filesystem.squashfs).

Other than that, I have other ideas if the OP is interested. But have to go for now, can't live on beer alone (who said that?).

Wiz
 
wizardfromoz said:
@PcBuilderEd @atanere

You & The Viewers might find this of interest.

https://www.linux.org/threads/hash-checking-rare-tips.13544/

The OP could use it to totally eliminate any prospect of a bad download and burn, and in conjunction with choosing, on booting the USB

"Check the integrity of the medium"

... rule out any problems with the content of the stick (will likely hang a little at "Checking /casper/filesystem.squashfs).

Other than that, I have other ideas if the OP is interested. But have to go for now, can't live on beer alone (who said that?).

Wiz
Click to expand...

Whoa... that is awesome!
 
thankee thankee thankee

@TheOP

Mate, keep doing the voodoo you're doing, by all means, and if you are not comfortable going into your hardware system (I know I am not, I prefer software alternatives) then don't. My suggestion of checking cable connections was sourced from the Net, where it solved one User's Kernel Panic (there can be a number of causes for this, which makes it troublesome).

But you have a 500GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD at your disposal and that still gives you options.

If you want to try atanere's suggestion of installing another Distro, it might just do the same thing and leave you more frustrated. At the same time, it would help to eliminate the Distro as being incompatible with your hardware.

If you take that option, then I would try Ubuntu MATE 16.04 (better than Unity, I feel) or Zorin OS12.

You have said that ultimately you would like "3 to 4 or so" Distros on there, and a little brainstorming leads me to speculate:

Q. What if the establishment of a new Partition Table, from msdos to gpt ... did not "take" correctly?

If that is so, then you could use your stick's GParted (or a GParted Live stick) to set up as msdos, then repeat the install. Ubiquity will accommodate the change and guide you accordingly.

Of course that would bring you back to the 4 Partition Rule, but with 500GB that is not such a drama,

You would have, say, your Distro of first choice on /dev/sda1, and maybe or maybe not a /dev/sda2 and /dev/sda3 in place to fulfill certain functions. In any event you could use the whole drive, and when it comes to choosing to install another, you would shrink the space to allow for an Extended Partition (Linux will allocate it as /dev/sda4) under which you can place Logical Partitions (not limited to 4) starting with eg /dev/sda5, /dev/sda6 ... holding your new Distros.

Just food for thought, but it's 6 weeks down the track since you started this Odyssey, and I feel for you that we have not yet got you up and running.

Cheers

Wiz
 
Hey fellas just wanted to update. I'm doing the memory test now and believe we are at 23 hours... I did another hike today so was mia and am volunteering tomorrow but should be back tomorrow night. I'm assuming the test will be finished by then. Yeah no stress I take all options and consider them and if I had to I could open the thing up, but that's when I see a propensity to break things. Mostly because I'm the one doing it But it is always an option. I've considered that gpt issue as well wiz and it couldn't hurt to repartition it tbh. I'm actually happy with one distro if that's where we end up. I wanted one distro I could use as a main and one focused on privacy, one for photo or video editing and a last one as a science distro. From what I've heard at least I could accomplish all of these things with one distro... that works for me. So we will make it, just hit an error and once we destroy this error we are back to awesome. Lol yah surprised t took this long but truthfully I'm a lot more comfortable with oss and drives etc. . I'm getting a ton out of it and am really grateful for your guys' extreme help and persistence. The other is I'm hoping others could use these threads. so much good reference material in these!
 
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