CANNOT RUN LIVE LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS OR INSTALL LINUX

N

NICHOLAS W

Guest
Hello,

I have had exposure to Linux in the past (principally Mandrake & Knoppix), and have experimented with various Live Distributions.

My Mother's Laptop runs Windows XP, and has recently been riddled with malware. I have successfully run Live distributions of Knoppix 7.2.00 & Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on it earlier this year. However, following the malware (most of which has been removed) I cannot run any live distributions or install Linux on the C drive (there is 50 Gb free). The following Distributions won't run in live mode or install successfully alongside XP (required as my Mother uses Picassa & needs access to it until her Laptop will run Linux):

Debian 7.4 Live (Never Worked)
Knoppix 7.2.00
Ubuntu 12.04.41 LTS (Never Worked)
Zorin 6.2 LITE (this did load in Live mode - once - but froze before I could use it. It never loaded again)
Arch Linux Small (Never Worked)
Mint Linux 13 Cinnanom (Never Worked)
plus Linux based rescue discs
REDO BACKUP Live 1.0.4 (Never Worked)
TRINITY RESCUE KIT 3.4 build 372 (Never Worked)
SYSTEM RESCUE CD x86.41.0 (Never Worked)
Installation Discs:
OPEN SUSE 13.1i586 (Never Worked)
DEBIAN 7.4.0 Wheezy. (Never Worked)

In practically every instance the Live CD/DVD gets as far as selecting Live Mode, and even appears to be working (judging by the extensive activity of the DVD ROM drive), then the screen goes blank and eventually disc activity stops. In a very few instances (principally Ubuntu) there is an error message B43/VCODES.FW, with a link to the relevant website. I havc downloaded/run the drivers mentioned but nothing changes. Even installation fails after the Partition Manager of Zorin, and no other distro even got that far.

I have tried loading distributions on Flash Drive unsin pendrivelinux but despite the BIOS settings being set to boot from USB then DVD then C drive none have loaded - the results are identical to the CD based OSs.

I really don't know how to proceed - I cannot erase XP & Picassa until Linux works & I cannot run Linux at all. Since Linux won't run even in Live mode there seems to be no point in replacing the built in (scsi) drive until it does, I have run out of ideas. All suggestions will be gratefully received.

Regards

Nicholas W

The Computer is a Fujitsu Siemens AMILO PRO Pentium V3515.
 
Last edited:


A LiveCD runs entirely from the CD/DVD-ROM and has nothing at all to do with the Hard Disk.

You say:
there is 50 Gb free
Is it blank? Is formatted? How is it formatted?

Have you tried burning the ISO to a USB stick and booting from that? http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

Picasa is "possible" on Linux. despite Google withdrawing support for Linux.
For Linux, Google has bundled Wine with the Windows version to create an installation package rather than write a nativeLinux version, but this version is severely out of date (the latest Windows version, however, can be run with Wine; see the Linux section)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picasa
 
A live CD runs entirely from the CD/DVD-ROM and has nothing at all to do with the Hard Disk.

Is it blank? Is formatted? How is it formatted?

Have you tried burning the ISO to a USB stick and booting from that?
Picasa is "possible" on Linux. despite Google withdrawing support for Linux.
..............
Thanks for your suggestions. I am aware that Live Linux distributions run entirely in RAM, but nevertheless none of them will now. None.Zero.

Second, I have tried to boot Live Distributions via a Flash Drive, as mentioned above. The results were identical to the DVD based OSs - initial activity, select live mode in some cases, USB activity light flashing conyinuously, screen goes blank, Flash Drive activity eventually stops.

Finally I'll be happy to run Picassa in Linux/Wine, but untilLinux works at all the issue does not arise.

Thank you again for your suggestions.
 
Can you try your various Linux LiveCDs in another machine?

If they work there may be something wrong with the Laptop.

If they don't work there may be something wrong with your disk "burns".
 


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