I heard Mint is supposed to be the simplest distro to get started with but my experience so far (following the setup guide on the website) has been:
- Download ISO
- Check ISO (seemed fine)
- Burn image… crash
- Burn image in administrator mode
- Boot from USB via BIOS… crash
- Boot from USB via Bios in safe mode
- Download multimedia codecs… crash
- Not download multimedia codecs… also crash?
And that’s where I am presently, it runs fine off the USB albeit a bit slow, and I know its connected to the internet because I can browse lemmy on it and make annoying posts on the Linux community. I knew Linux was going to be more work than windows but this feels like a ridiculous level of effort right out of the gate, I worry that even if I somehow get it running I’ll spend 10x more time fixing it than actually using it.
anytime I see linux + crash and no hardware specified, I assume it’s Nvidia and stop reading.
It’s sad that hardware issues can prevent linux from working. One has no way to know the core of the issue…
If it’s crashing when even burning the ISO, it’s not Mint.
I mean I got past that part as per the list. I’ve installed a custom win10 on the same laptop using the same USB before and it worked flawlessly. So far Mint just seems to be far more finicky about hardware than win10.
Yeah but if the crash is happening when burning the ISO then that’s the problem of whatever software and OS you’re using to do that, i.e. the ISO burning tool and Windows. An ISO is an ISO. As described, this problem is nothing to do with Linux. Phew! Once you fix this issue you’ll find Mint is easy peasy and you won’t look back. So keep at it.
Try a different USB
Try unetbootin on windows to create the liveUSB
sounds like the machine has an issue like bad ram/failing hd or something… ive installed mint on hundreds of machines with random hardware and never had these issues…
what machine did you make the stick with that crashed?
Yup, get a recovery/tool ISO and run a memory test.
Doesn’t The Linux Mint ISO also offer to run Memtest86+?
Otherwise: https://memtest.org/
I’ve never installed Mint, but I’ve had a patriot memory stick go bad, and the RMA process involved sending both sticks to Patriot. Never buying from that garbage company again…
I have a bunch of there SSD’s and they have been working fine for a few years. Not super performant but they also have been reliable especially for the cost.
I think computer ram is just easily damaged in shipping.
I followed the instructions to use Etcher, etcher itself crashed but it was a pretty easy fix running it in administrator mode and apparently a known issue. Its weird because the live preview works fine. The stick was made on the same machine I’m trying to install linux on.
that definitely indicates some kind of hardware failure
etcher sucks ass. I read about it even breaking usb sticks, I’ve had it fail the flashing too multiple times. in mint I use the preinstalled usb flashing tool, in other distros popsicle and in windows rufus.
Reporting back, rufus fucked it up even more, laptop is now bricked. I know y’all are gonna say it has nothign to do with Linux but it was working perfectly for years right up until today when I tried to install Mint.
(Bricked as in boots up but won’t boot to the Linux preview OR windows, possibly salvagable with a windows boot stick but currently a paperweight)
It probably would have done the same if you had tried to install Windows or BSD.
You should use a different USB drive and boot something like memtest86+ and let it run through. Or if it’s something like a Dell with built-in diagnostics, run that. You need to rule out failure of the different components. I’m guessing it’s the drive, but it could also be RAM.
Usually, the Linux installers have memtest86+ built in, as well as media verification. I’d do the verification if you haven’t already, then memtest.
Mentioned in a different comment but I have installed a custom win10 on this same laptop with this same USB stick before.
That doesn’t mean that your laptop hasn’t developed a problem in the meantime. As someone else said, you had problems before you ever tried booting from the USB stick, so before Mint ever ran on the hardware. It looks like a hardware issue.
A bad ram is hard to find in many cases since data in memory will just randomly corrupt. It might be totally fine for the most part but then an app will crash or data will get corrupted.
I would run a men test for a few hours to see if you have a bad ram. Ram is one of the first things to go bad after storage.
This sounds like a hardware issue. Did you get to the installer phase? Linux don’t touch your disk until you hit install and then confirm.
I’ve tried Etcher many times and I feel like I’ve had issues every time, unfortunately. I don’t remember the exact issues, but I recall both having problems with writing ISOs and with booting them. I would highly recommend Rufus instead, which has been much more consistent for me.
Sounds like your USB is fucked to be honest.
Define crash: exception thrown, Windows crashing, hard freeze…etc
Sure sounds like you have a bad USB drive to me if it’s only happening when using this USB device. Error messages would be helpful.
Just want to say this it sucks that you’re experiencing issues with something that should be so easy, always frustrating when something like that happens. Can assure you it’s not an issue with Mint though, hopefully this doesn’t put you off from using such a great distro.
- Download ISO
- Create bootable USB
- Boot from USB
- Install
- profit
This was my experience with Mint.
Add “Horribly mangle the system while experimenting with obscure pre-alpha open source customization software” and you have my experience with Mint.
Lol why the downvotes? I was just trying to be humorous! Y’all need to develop a sense of humor.
Yes but that’s user-induced.
You should learn about containers and virtualization. You can experiment for a while and then blow it all away. Podman and virtual manager are your friends.
Oh, it was absolutely in a VM. I had a blast breaking stuff and not having to stress about it. It’s the best way to learn how systems work, IMO.
After reading the new behavior I’m fairly confident it’s hardware failure from the laptop, most likely the drive. I’ve experienced odd install failure behavior like this before which was a sad going bad.
OP has said a few times that they have installed windows from the USB previously without issues. Please remember that all hardware will eventually go bad. Just because it worked in the past, that doesn’t guarantee it would work today.
No, I wouldn’t expect any issues with Mint.
- what’s your hardware
- you say burn, but then mention USB, what are you using to create the install media? If I’m making a bootable usb in windows I exclusively use Rufus and haven’t had issues to date
Seconding rufus. I dont use anything else. This is the way.
Fedora Media writer and Etcher are fine as well
Disks works for this on Ubuntu / Pop_OS too
Gnome disks will work on anything gnome based. It isn’t great for writing images though. I would rather just use dd since I’m on Linux already
To add to this, if you’ve only been trying to write the ISO to a USB drive this whole time have you tried different USB drives as well?
This definitely wasn’t my experience, what USB drive are you using?
If you’re looking for a good USB drive I highly recommend the standard Sandisk Ultra (the bulky usb3.0 one) , it’s very performant and reliable for the price.
