Failure to install Linux - what am I doing wrong?

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Lizard1977

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#318777 20-Feb-2025 08:53

I have an old PC which I built back in 2009, and which is still running reasonably well for what I need it for. However, Windows 10 support ends later this year, and I'm not quite ready to replace it. I will be doing that eventually, but I'd really like to keep this running for another 12 months or so. I've never really used Linux, apart from experimenting with some Live Boot discs over a decade ago. But I thought it might be worth a shot to see if I can eke out another 12 months of my PC.

I downloaded a Kubuntu iso and used Balena Etcher to flash a USB stick, then rebooted my PC, but it didn't boot from the USB - just went straight to Windows. So I went into BIOS and checked the boot order - it was set to Removable Device first and HDD second. I tried again. Same thing. I changed the boot order to only boot from a Removable Device, and when I rebooted it said it couldn't find a boot device.

I wondered if there was something wrong with the iso, so I downloaded Mint Linux and tried that. Same issue. I tried a different tool for flashing the iso - using Rufus this time - but it was the same issue.

I'm not a PC newbie by any means, but I was a bit stumped by this. There seems to be no reason why it shouldn't boot from the USB stick (I've done this in the past with Windows upgrades, and I know this is fairly standard procedure for Linux installs) but I can't think what else to try. Any advice?

mentalinc

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#3344801 20-Feb-2025 08:57

Try different USB ports, try the ones on the back of the PC not on the case.

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nzkc

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#3344804 20-Feb-2025 09:13

Screenshot of the bios boot order might help here.

Sometimes "removable device" refers to CD or FDD only. USB is often its own option. And possibly the age of the PC prevents booting from USB. Hopefully not. Also you often have the option to explicitly choose the device to boot from when in the bios - if it has that try it.

reven

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#3344816 20-Feb-2025 09:20

What bios, F8 is usually bootmenu. Or the bios may have a boot menu option aswell.

If the boot menu opens, but USB not found, try a diffferent port or a different usb stick.

richms

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#3344854 20-Feb-2025 10:56

IME bioses from back then were crap with UEFI boot and would often boot as legacy which then will not be able to access many devices etc. It may not be able to UEFI boot from removable.

There will be 2 options in the boot list for the USB stick if legacy is enabled when you choose it in the bios setup, you need to choose the UEFI one to have it boot properly.

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Lizard1977

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#3344880 20-Feb-2025 12:36

Thanks for all those suggestions:

Tried multiple USB ports (front and back), and it made no difference.
In the BIOS, removable device is listed distinct from CD as an option in the boot order. Also, I've booted an install of Windows 10 from a USB stick in the past, so I know it can boot from a USB stick.
Pretty sure it's AmiBIOS, but I can't recall what version. The motherboard is an Asus P7P55 motherboard from around 2009 though.

openmedia

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#3344889 20-Feb-2025 12:57

Try forcing BIOS boot over UEFI and see if that works.

Some firmwares are set to auto-select and that can cause problems. So force BIOS boot and then force UEFI boot.

Also I've seen issues where USB2 ports won't boot USB3 drives.

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SpartanVXL

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#3344988 20-Feb-2025 16:03

It will be uefi or legacy given the age of the system. Check what kind of usb you are making, if anything try fall back to legacy if you still can.

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KiwiSurfer

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#3345006 20-Feb-2025 16:20

Can you see if you can boot a Windows USB stick -- just to rule out an issue with the Linux image -- as you mentioned this has worked in the past.

Also try a different USB stick if you can. Bonus points for different brands and different capacity.

Do you have other options other than removable device and hdd? Some BIOSes have strange names for the options that boot off USB.

Can you test the USB stick in another computer to make sure it boots?

As for UEFI etc, I'm sure most Linux distros support both UEFI and older BIOS so not sure if that is the issue TBH. Debian is a distro that supports both UEFI and BIOS off the same image, so maybe try their memstick image.

d3Xt3r

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#3345034 20-Feb-2025 19:06

1. Check if there's an updated BIOS firmware for your motherboard. I can see on the ASUS website that there have been several updates for the P7P55 series which "improves USB compatibility".

Interestingly, in the P7P55D manual, I see no mention of UEFI, so it looks like your BIOS might be fully legacy. Although that shouldn't really matter for Linux.

2. Check your BIOS options again. On old AMI BIOSes, there is no dedicated USB option, but your USB drive should show up under "Hard disk drives".

3. If you can't see your USB in the above screen, you may need to enable the "Legacy USB support" option.

Note that it doesn't matter which bootable program / ISO you've used, the BIOS doesn't care about it at this stage. If it's not detecting the USB at all then it's probably a bad/incompatible USB, or the relevant USB options in the BIOS aren't enabled.

5. Older PCs may not like modern high capacity USB drives (>16 GB). Try an old/smaller USB (eg <= 4GB) if you've got one.

roobarb

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#3345190 21-Feb-2025 08:36

Lizard1977:

I have an old PC which I built back in 2009..

Can you boot from a real CD-ROM, or even PXE?

Andib

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#3345203 21-Feb-2025 09:21

Make sure the Partition system is MBR & Target System is BIOS in Rufus, it will default to GPT & UEFI I'm guessing your 2009 PC doesn't support.

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Lizard1977

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#3345250 21-Feb-2025 12:16

Success! I went back into BIOS and Legacy USB was enabled. But I noticed the USB stick I was using was USB3.0, so I tried it in the USB3 port. I also used the F8 boot menu option and forced it to boot from the USB stick and that did the trick.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

cddt

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#3345272 21-Feb-2025 13:03

Welcome to Linux :)

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