Can't install Linux Mint from DVD

[Thor Thorsson]

Hi!

Can someone please help me install Linux Mint Cinnamon.
When starting my pc from the Linux Mint dvd I get to the grub menu.
After pressing enter I get this error message:

Motherboard: Asrock Z270 Taichi.
AHCI is enabled in bios.

 

[Brickwizard]

Welcome to the forums

Why Linux fails to load/install direct to HDD, common reasons
1] Corrupt download [check SHA sum]
2] bad burn to installation medium [try again] [if you used Rufus then try Balina-etcher]
3] Wind 8.2 and higher quick start/fast boot or secure boot not disabled [doesn't normally apply to older versions]
4] defective pen-drive/dvd
5] hardware fault,
5A] If old style HDD run integrity check
5B]if SATA SSD check for hidden partition at the beginning of drive [this will stop Grub from loading] and delete it before re-installing Linux
If M2.NVMe check, your system is NVMe compatible [not all older kit is]

 

[Brickwizard]

Addendum... if you are using a DVD then use A dvd-r and not a RW, and burn at the slowest speed as a bootable disk
also if you are using DVD is your machine is probably quite old 32 or 64 bit?

 

[Thor Thorsson]

Addendum... if you are using a DVD then use A dvd-r and not a RW, and burn at the slowest speed as a bootable disk
also if you are using DVD is your machine is probably quite old 32 or 64 bit?

Thanks Brickwizard!

- I'm using a DVD-R

- I burned a new DVD. This time at a slower speed, 8X. The burning program verified the burn. This time I got the following error message after pressing enter at the grub menu:

- My machine is from 2018 so it's not especially old. It's 64 bit. Motherboard: Asrock Z270 Taichi.

Is there something else I can do to make the installation proceed?

 

[Brickwizard]

Is this on a desktop/tower? then this may be the problem




Credit: The original idea came from the from this conversation:
This boot problem with the message:

AHCI controller unavailable!

is related to the ASMedia ASM1061 chipset which simply does not work with CD / DVD / BluRay drives! The reason is, that it is not ATAPI compatible. I know it sounds weird, but trust me and read down.
Strangely, on older versions of the kernel (those of Ubuntu 14.04 for example), there was no problem with the boot.

---

There is a solution to this problem though:
Re-connect your CD / DVD / BluRay drive to another SATA port not linked to the ASMedia ASM1061, see the configuration of the ports in the manual for your motherboard.

 

[Thor Thorsson]

Is this on a desktop/tower? then this may be the problem




Credit: The original idea came from the from this conversation:
This boot problem with the message:

is related to the ASMedia ASM1061 chipset which simply does not work with CD / DVD / BluRay drives! The reason is, that it is not ATAPI compatible. I know it sounds weird, but trust me and read down.
Strangely, on older versions of the kernel (those of Ubuntu 14.04 for example), there was no problem with the boot.

---

There is a solution to this problem though:
Re-connect your CD / DVD / BluRay drive to another SATA port not linked to the ASMedia ASM1061, see the configuration of the ports in the manual for your motherboard.

I opened up my desktop computer and found 4 SATA-ports. I shifted the DVD drive to another of these ports. I didn't help. It seems all my SATA ports are linked to the ASMedia ASM1061.

I have SATA Express ports as well in my computer but I assume I can't connect my DVD drive to any of those.

Maybe an expansion card which gives me SATA ports not linked to ASMedia ASM1061 will be the solution. Maybe one of these: https://www.amazon.com/sata-expansion-card/s?k=sata+expansion+card

So, could it be I can't install Linux on my Asrock Z270 Taichi motherboard? Or is there a solution?

 

[Alexzee]

Thanks Brickwizard!

- I'm using a DVD-R

- I burned a new DVD. This time at a slower speed, 8X. The burning program verified the burn. This time I got the following error message after pressing enter at the grub menu:
View attachment 17641

- My machine is from 2018 so it's not especially old. It's 64 bit. Motherboard: Asrock Z270 Taichi.

Is there something else I can do to make the installation proceed?

If you have a usb thumb drive available use Balena Etcher to make the .iso image of Mint bootable and use that to perform the installation.
https://etcher.balena.io/

Once Linux Mint has been made bootable on the thumb drive plug it in and reboot and go into your BIOS.
After you are in the BIOS go to the 'boot section' and make the thumb drive the first device in the boot list.
Save the changes and reboot.
The installation should start for you upon rebooting from the BIOS.

 

[Brickwizard]

It would be far easier and cheaper in the long run to use a good quality branded USB thumb drive and using Balena etcher to write the ISO files to the USB and boot from that, [I would expect it to skip the AS card and use the onboard intel graphics]

 

[Thor Thorsson]

If you have a usb thumb drive available use Balena Etcher to make the .iso image of Mint bootable and use that to perform the installation.
https://etcher.balena.io/

Once Linux Mint has been made bootable on the thumb drive plug it in and reboot and go into your BIOS.
After you are in the BIOS go to the 'boot section' and make the thumb drive the first device in the boot list.
Save the changes and reboot.
The installation should start for you upon rebooting from the BIOS.

I inserted a thumbdrive and used the program Unetbootin to make the iso-image bootable. Then I restarted the computer from the thumbdrive. The grub menu appeared as before but I got the same result as before when pressing enter: "AHCI controller unavailable". Are my USB-ports also linked to ASMedia ASM1061?

 

[bob466]

I haven't burnt a Mint ISO to a DVD for years...much better to use a Flash Drive.

Burn the ISO to the Flash Drive with Etcher...re-boot tapping the correct key that brings up the Boot Menu...select your Flash Drive and hit Enter and go from there.

 

[Alexzee]

I haven't burnt a Mint ISO to a DVD for years...much better to use a Flash Drive.

Burn the ISO to the Flash Drive with Etcher...re-boot tapping the correct key that brings up the Boot Menu...select your Flash Drive and hit Enter and go from there.

Ditto-
I gave the whole tower of DVD's away years ago.
In fact, the desktop I built a few years back doesn't have a cdrom drive.

 

[Alexzee]

I inserted a thumbdrive and used the program Unetbootin to make the iso-image bootable. Then I restarted the computer from the thumbdrive. The grub menu appeared as before but I got the same result as before when pressing enter: "AHCI controller unavailable". Are my USB-ports also linked to ASMedia ASM1061?

Unetbootin is problematic and shouldn't be used.
"Balena Etcher" or "Ventoy" is a sure bet.

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

www.ventoy.net

Looking here I think there is a high probability that the usb ports are linked to the ASM1061.

ASM1061|ASMedia Technology Inc.

ASMedia Technology was founded in 2004 and went public in 2012 (stock code: 5269.TW). Headquarter is located in Taiwan. ASMedia specializes in high-speed interface technologies with strong expertise in high-speed SERDES in house development. Company strives for continual innovation and the...

www.asmedia.com.tw

 

[Thor Thorsson]

Thanks for all your comments!

This is the situation right now:

• DVD installation fails.
• USB installation fails. Tried all USB ports. USB 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1.

I get "AHCI controller unavailable" after pressing enter at the grub menu.

USB thumbdrive with Linux Mint Cinnamon is ok. I tested it in another pc running an Asus motherboard and it run all the way to the Linux home screen.

Could it be the SATA ports and the USB ports are all linked to the ASMedia ASM1061?

What do you think? Shall I try to install an older version of Linux Mint Cinnamon? And then upgrade the installation to the current 21.2.

Or is there another solution?

 

[Brickwizard]

was this a Win 7/ early Win 8 machine ?
this is a flyer but may work, try installing in Legacy [bios] mode

 

[Thor Thorsson]

was this a Win 7/ early Win 8 machine ?
this is a flyer but may work, try installing in Legacy [bios] mode

Hi again!
I believe I have the option to start the USB thumbdrive in either UEFI or Legacy mode. This is my boot manager when starting the computer:

As you can see I have two options regarding the KingstonDataTraveler USB thumbdrive. As I understand it the thumbdrive starts in Legacy mode when choosing the highlighted option. I have tried it and it doesn't help. I still get the "AHCI controller unavailable" error.

 

[Brickwizard]

going off line shortly, one last thought from me for now

you appear to have a hybrid system, raid on [in bios] is known to cause problems on some machines

 

[Thor Thorsson]

I must say I am surprised! I googled around about my problem and found this thread: Is ASMedia ASM1061 SATA3 Controller supported under Linux? A bit down the site etham says:

"This took a lot of time to understand, but in fact the ASMedia ASM1061 works well with Linux... as long you do not connect a SATA DVD drive! If you do it, the kernel boot freezes with the message "AHCI controller unavailable!".

So I opened up my computer and disconnected my DVD-drive. Then I started my computer from the Linux Mint USB thumbdrive.

And the installation started! Now I have Linux Mint Cinnamon installed!

Thank you all for your support! And thanks to Brickwizard who set me on the right track when pointing to the ASMedia ASM1061 chipset.

 

[Alexzee]

I must say I am surprised! I googled around about my problem and found this thread: Is ASMedia ASM1061 SATA3 Controller supported under Linux? A bit down the site etham says:

"This took a lot of time to understand, but in fact the ASMedia ASM1061 works well with Linux... as long you do not connect a SATA DVD drive! If you do it, the kernel boot freezes with the message "AHCI controller unavailable!".

So I opened up my computer and disconnected my DVD-drive. Then I started my computer from the Linux Mint USB thumbdrive.

And the installation started! Now I have Linux Mint Cinnamon installed!

Thank you all for your support! And thanks to Brickwizard who set me on the right track when pointing to the ASMedia ASM1061 chipset.

Looking around for information usually produces good evidence and possible solutions.
Glad to hear you have Linux Mint Cinnamon installed.

Don't forget to launch your Update MGR and perform your first update to your new system.
Enjoy!

 

[Brickwizard]

Good... now don't forget to set up Timeshift [or other recovery app]

 

[Hillbilly H]

Good... now don't forget to set up Timeshift

Timeshift is our Friend!