<Sort of solved> "Unable to find a medium containing a live file system"

[smhardesty]

I hope this is the correct place to post this problem. I'm attempting to install Linux Lite 3.4 64 Bit on my wife's laptop. It is a Lenovo B50-45. Hardware is an AMD A6-6310 APU, 4 GiB RAM, with AMD Radeon R4 Graphics. The hard drive is 500GiB and she has absolutely nothing saved on it. Her main use is email and some Internet surfing.

I'm sure the problem I'm having is actually related to the stupid UEFI. I say I'm sure, but I guess if I was sure I'd have solved the problem. Anyway, I have tried both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Lite, WattOS, and Xubuntu installs. The exact same problem occurs with each of the different distros. The laptop doesn't have an optical drive so I'm attempting to install from a USB stick. I have created the Live stick using both MintStick and UNetBootin. I never even get the Live stick running. It locates the USB stick, gives me the first splash screen with options to boot live, boot in safe mode, etc, then with Lite I get the yellow splash screen with the feather on it for approx 45 seconds, then that leaves and I have a black screen with command line messages.

The first message that pops up is:  (initramfs) Unable to find a medium containing a live file system
Then there are 5 errors and the final message is:  [ 158.248149] usb usb3-port1: unable to enumerate USB device

Then it just hangs there. I have tried different settings in the BIOS, or UEFI, or whatever it's called now. I know that at some point I was able to figure the thing out because it's running Mint 17.3 Rosa right now. I'm sure I wouldn't have changed any settings in the BIOS between the last time I loaded Mint and now so I should have been able to load a Live stick now. Maybe it's in the way I'm creating the USB stick. I format the stick before every time I write an image to it. And the stick loads up just fine on the G50-45 that I use.

Anybody have any ideas? I'm sure open to any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

[gold_finger]

EDIT:  Just read your post under Introductions section of forum and see that you're not a beginner to Linux.  Skip past everything I wrote yesterday (in black) and go directly to bottom of this post (in blue).



Are you planning on dual-booting with Mint, or replacing Mint with LL?


If planning to dual-boot, boot into Mint, open a terminal and post back here with output of following command to display your current partition structure:

Code:

sudo parted --list

LL can not boot nor be installed in UEFI mode, so you need to make sure the USB is being booted in Legacy/Bios mode (may be referred to as CSM in the UEFI Settings for boot mode).


Computer may have a special key assigned to bring up a per session Boot Menu (not the main UEFI Setting/Setup Menu).  If you can use that it should show two choices to boot the USB -- one UEFI, one non-UEFI -- pick non-UEFI option.


EG.
Dell computers -- <F2> = main UEFI Settings; <F12> per session Boot Menu


HP -- <Esc> shows options to use either <F9> or <F10> for Settings or Boot menus.


Possibly you could see a quick message on screen during POST telling you what key to hit for Boot Menu.  Otherwise, lookup user manual for the computer to find out.


If you are booting in Legacy mode and still have problem, try making USB with the dd command as per Help Manual here.




EDITED INSTRUCTIONS:


USB boot problem may be due to boot mode.  LL can only boot in and be installed in Legacy mode, so make sure you choose that mode for booting the USB.

Don't know what mode you installed Mint in before, but if it's in UEFI mode then drive is using GPT partitions.  No need to change that to install LL in Legacy mode.  Just do your usual partition setup, but make sure you add one extra partition -- a small (1-16MB), unformatted partition flagged as "bios_grub".  Doesn't really matter where you put that partition.  Direct boot loader installation to /dev/sda, not the "bios_grub" partition.

If you are booting in Legacy mode, but still experiencing problems, create USB with dd command instead and try again.

[smhardesty]

Thanks for your reply, gold_finger. After I got off the computer yesterday I had time to relax a bit and while watching the boob tube I had a thought. I don't believe the problem is with the BIOS or UEFI. The reason I say that is because I'm having no trouble booting to the Live stick at all. Every distro I tried booting up experienced the same problem and that was not with being seen or being booted to. I was able to at least begin booting to the Live stick with every distro I tried. Each attempt reached the second splash screen, then went to command line and gave the first of the errors.

I'm leaning towards something being amiss with the way I'm creating the USB stick. I tried creating with MintStick and UNetBootin, and also tried each of the 3 USB ports on the laptop, 2 of which are USB3 and 1 being USB2. I did try using both Legacy and UEFI in the BIOS settings and still received the same error. I never thought about GPT versus MBR as being a possible problem, but I do, in fact, have both laptops using GPT. I know I can edit the partition using Mint's Disk Utility. I might try flagging the partitions as "Legacy BIOS Bootable" before my next attempt to boot the Live stick. Not sure it would make a difference, but it's sure worth a try. I'm also going to create the USB via dd.

I'll post progress or problems later today.

[smhardesty]

Well, that didn't work either. The first thing I did was check to see if the laptop was set for MBR or GPT. It was already setup using MBR. So I double checked to be sure everything was set for legacy mode in the BIOS and it was. Next, I formatted a 64GB USB flash drive as Win32, then created the bootable stick via the dd command. I got the same, exact result. It boots to the welcome screen, after the 10 second countdown it begins transferring files and the yellow splash screen with the feather appears, then right to the command line errors.

I'm in the process of downloading the latest Linux Mint. Since that's the only thing I've ever run on either of my laptops I figure it's worth a try, just to see if this thing will boot to a live stick loaded with Mint. I guess I'll post results later.

[firenice03]

Just to toss in added info:
Most likely you're UEFI (turn off/set to Legacy) also disable SecureBoot

Mint has a UEFI installer which is why it seems easier.. LL "not yet" but once disabled its fine...

Link for keystrokes: https://fixfreeyourpc.blogspot.com/2015/...s-and.html or https://www.dtonias.com/lenovo-b50-lapto...boot-menu/

LL Manual for SecureBoot and UEFI info: https://www.freecinema2022.gq/manual/start.html#secboot

Some additional info: https://www.freecinema2022.gq/forums/tutor...y-enabled/

[gold_finger]

Every distro I tried booting up experienced the same problem and that was not with being seen or being booted to. I was able to at least begin booting to the Live stick with every distro I tried. Each attempt reached the second splash screen, then went to command line and gave the first of the errors.

Maybe it's the graphics card -- you might need to use "nomodeset" to boot until after install, then you can install proprietary driver at that time.  Boot with Mint 17.3 installed on computer now and post back following terminal output so we can see full specs of computer:

Code:

inxi -Fxz

I'm leaning towards something being amiss with the way I'm creating the USB stick. I tried creating with MintStick and UNetBootin,....


... created the bootable stick via the dd command. I got the same, exact result.

You've now tried a variety of ways to make USB, so don't think that is the problem.  Leaning toward graphics card being the culprit; or maybe something changed with the newer kernel on LL (and others) vs. one used by Mint 17.

I'm in the process of downloading the latest Linux Mint. Since that's the only thing I've ever run on either of my laptops I figure it's worth a try, just to see if this thing will boot to a live stick loaded with Mint.

Yes, good idea.  I was thinking the same thing since you were able to install it before.  Honestly, I'll be surprised if Mint Xfce 18.1 works and LL doesn't because they're both very similar.


If you are able to boot new Mint USB normally, confirm that it got booted in Legacy mode with this command:

Code:

ls /sys/firmware

If you see "efi" in the output, it's booted in UEFI mode.  If not, you're correctly booted in Legacy mode -- which we want in this case so we can compare apples to apples.

[smhardesty]

I'm really pulling my hair out now. I tried booting in safe video mode, but that didn't help either. About the only difference was that I watched all the commands roll by as opposed to seeing the second splash screen for a time.

Then, worse news. I downloaded Mint 18 and created a fresh, bootable stick. That won't even work now. So my next move with it will be to download Mint 17 and attempt to boot to it. I have to pinpoint the actual problem. This is one of those things that is REALLY going to bug me.

As for your suggestions and recommendations, gold_finger, when I get back on her laptop I'll post the results of inxi -Fxz. Yes, I'm thinking right along with you as far as something being slightly different between Mint 17 and all these later release distros, so I am going to try Mint 17 again. Att his point I have NOTHING that will boot on that laptop.

Some of the other things I tried included booting some of the sticks I created here on my laptop. Every one of them booted just fine. There isn't a LOT of difference between my laptop and hers. Mine is a Lenovo G50-45 with an AMD A8-6410 APU, 4 GiB RAM, and AMD Radeon R5 Graphics × 4. The two laptops were purchased about 4 months apart and were originally loaded with Windows. The day I received each laptop I did a complete wipe of the hard drives, then installed Mint 17 on them. The funny thing is that I used the same, exact USB stick to load each one with. That stick has been formatted and used for many other purposes since, but it was the same one I used to load with.

I also have 2 different sticks I've been using to ensure I don't happen to have a bad stick, but that was never a real consideration since multiple distros each experienced the same problem at the same point in bootup. I really want to have Lite installed on both these laptops, but at this point I'm certainly considering just about anything with hers.

I did take time yesterday to try one other thing. I used Synaptic to do "complete removals" of pretty much every app and package on her laptop. Then I ran the autoremove command, and then did a full version upgrade. Once that was finally done I went back in and made the few tweaks I usually do and then, one by one, reinstalled the apps/packages she uses. I made certain to delete the hidden directories for each of the apps in her home directory so no traces of old problems were left on the machine. Once all done I did quite a bit of web surfing, emailing, doc creation, etc, etc. That machine is just too slow for the hardware it has. I've just GOT to get a fresh install done on it. At this point I'm actually considering buying an optical drive for the sole purpose of installing a new distro!

[smhardesty]

Just had a thought. I'm downloading Linux Mint 17 Rebecca right now. I was thinking about hopefully being able to boot to the USB stick I create with this ISO and at least being able to get a fresh install on her laptop then doing a version upgrade on it. That's when the thought crossed my mind. What about installing an older version of Lite, then doing a version upgrade? I'm not familiar enough with Lite to know what versions are upgradeable to the current version, or which version is based on an older Ubuntu release.

[smhardesty]

Well, that didn't work either. I'm unable to boot to a freshly created stick with Linux Mint 17.1 loaded on it. I get the same error at the same point. I even went to the BIOS and tried about a half dozen different combinations of settings. I let the bootup take it's own course, then tried selecting "Compatibility Mode". Same results. Below is how I have the BIOS set. If you see something I should change, holler. There are a total of 5 pages in the BIOS.

PAGE 1
This is the Information page, with no user configurable options.

PAGE 2
Configuration page
USB Legacy - Enabled
SATA Controller Mode - AHCI

PAGE 3
Security - None Set

PAGE 4
Boot
Boot Mode - Legacy Support
Boot Priority - Legacy First
USB Boot - Enabled
PXE Boot To LAN - Disabled

PAGE 5
Exit
OS Optimized Defaults - Other OS (as opposed to Win8 64 Bit)

[smhardesty]

Almost forgot, gold_finger. Here is the result of inxi -Fxz.

Code:

System:    Host: cindy-laptop Kernel: 3.19.0-32-generic i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.8.2)
           Desktop: MATE 1.14.1 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18 Sarah
Machine:   System: LENOVO product: 20388 v: Lenovo B50-45
           Mobo: LENOVO model: Lenovo B50-45 v: 31900056WIN
           Bios: LENOVO v: A1CN24WW(V1.12) date: 10/17/2014
CPU:       Quad core AMD A6-6310 APU with AMD Radeon R4 Graphics (-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB
           flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm) bmips: 14372
           clock speeds: max: 1800 MHz 1: 1200 MHz 2: 1200 MHz 3: 1800 MHz
           4: 1000 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Mullins [Radeon R4/R5 Graphics]
           bus-ID: 00:01.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: [email protected]
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD MULLINS (DRM 2.40.0 / 3.19.0-32-generic, LLVM 3.8.0)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 12.0.6 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2
           Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Kabini HDMI/DP Audio
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:01.1
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.19.0-32-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 2000 bus-ID: 06:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter
           driver: ath9k bus-ID: 07:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-3: ASUSTek USB-N13 802.11n Network Adapter (rev. B1) [Realtek RTL8192CU]
           driver: rtl8192cu usb-ID: 001-003
           IF: wlan1 state: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (3.4% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD5000LPCX size: 500.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 23G used: 6.4G (30%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-2: /home size: 427G used: 811M (1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 10.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda1
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 45.8C mobo: N/A gpu: 45.0
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 172 Uptime: 16 min Memory: 731.0/3500.9MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35