[SOLVED] Refuses to boot

[DoYouKubuntu]

So I'm finally ready to upgrade from my beloved 14.04 to 19.10. I downloaded its 64-bit version from Kubuntu.org, verified its checksum both on the hard drive and the DVD I wrote it to, they're identical to Ubuntu's. So WTF is the problem?! I reboot, press F7 to enter boot options, highlight the DVD, press [enter] as instructed:



The screen goes blank, I hear a beep, I see a large, flat cursor momentarily in the upper left corner, then it proceeds to boot up normally with 14.04. What am I missing?!

(Sorry for the awful pic, but I literally could not hold my phone steady enough to get a better shot. Hopefully, you can make out that I do have the DVD highlighted.)

[claydoh]

The usual troubleshooting steps to look at:

Was the disk burned at a slower speed? Have you tried any other disk burning software? What settings did you use?
Can you try different brands of disks?
USB sticks are MUCH more reliable and dependable for this task.

My memory is not great on this topic, I have not burned an optical disk in pretty close to a decade

Do you have a drive cleaner thing?


https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootFromCD may have some useful info, if a bit old.

[DoYouKubuntu]

I don't have any USB sticks. I verified with System76 before ordering the discs that they were compatible with my laptop. (I'd forgotten that I already had some 4.7GB discs, so I bought more.) I used the default settings in the same software I previously used to burn a 14.04 disc--which I used to install 14.04 on the same laptop.

I feel lost. If the checksums match...shouldn't that be enough?

It's funny: I've spent well over two weeks getting to this point. Long story, but I had a lot of cleaning up and backing up to do. So, finally, I'm all set and ready to go...and I can't!

[GreyGeek]

It looks like IsoLinux is not seeing the initrd on your CD. Have you checksummed the CD? You've checksummed the ISO itself. Did you use the verify option on K3B when you burned the disk? (Like Claydoh, I have not burned a CD in 10 years and I am relying on "memory" )

[DoYouKubuntu]

Yes, I verified it in K3b. I'm writing another disc right now to see if that helps...

[claydoh]

Not that the system is ancient, but cd/dvd burners do go bad or degrade, or perhaps get dirty, and burning at a slower speed can help with this.

Looking at BIOS settings may help, if a firmware update for some reason changed a setting there since you last booted from a DVD. Hopefully someone can add their suggestions in this regard.

[Qqmike]

Just thinking out loud now ...

IF you have a newer PC, say 2011 or newer, then it is 64-bit (for sure) and it's "BIOS" would run in UEFI mode--and so a download should be 64-bit and you'd boot the PC using the DVD in UEFI mode and so on.

If it's an older machine, would there be a 48-bit vs 64-bit issue? I mean, a 64-bit DVD would not run on a 48-bit machine, etc. You were running 14.04, probably 48-bit (as I did, on an older PC).

[vinnywright]

make sure your burning as a disk image , not a data disk .



VINNY

[DoYouKubuntu]

It's all good, guys!



Will write more later.

[claydoh]

[DoYouKubuntu]

Okay, I'm back. I'm using my phone right now, as I needed to lie down for a bit. But the laptop is up and running 19.10 and is blazingly fast! I have a whole lot to do before I'm "done" (are we ever really done tweaking our computers?), and will start tackling that in the morning.

The first thing I did was install Synaptic. I like it, I know it so well I can use it with my eyes closed, by golly!, and that's that.

Now I have to do various things I rely on, like setting its static IP address, enabling root logins, creating my preferred directory structure, installing SeaMonkey--and copying all its mail over, and making its tabs different colors, and adding some add-ons that haven't been available for years...

At some point, I get the fun of exploring its plethora of settings, which will likely take hours. I really take the time to delve deeply into its appearance settings, but I don't mind. Actually, I enjoy it. It's always so amazing seeing the beautiful things people come up with--and make available for us to use!

By the way, I followed Claydoh's link and even though I was sure I'd done everything correctly, I stepped through their Kubuntu instructions and burned another disc. Which worked. *shrug* So thank you, Claydoh!

[jlittle]

I've had my own saga over the last day or so, so it's encouraging to hear of someone else winning.

Burning optical media is not just old, what superseded it, writing the iso to a USB stick, is now being superseded IMO. Just find something to copy the iso to, a backup drive, NAS, USB stick, a drive in the computer, even the one you'll be installing to, even a DVD-RW, boot to grub somehow, and do an iso boot. Getting the grub incantation right can be tricky, but it's getting easier. I wish I'd found this method years before I stumbled on it. It can save a lot of mucking about.

[Qqmike]

Well, GRUB 2 came with some new stuff, like loopback and Boot From ISO, as my how-to (2009) touched on (with examples):
GRUB 2, continued from Post #1
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post193706

[DoYouKubuntu]

Things are looking good so far on day 2! My beautiful icons are installed, konsole looks the way I like, my external drives have been cranking away copying backed-up files over, etc.

I was pleasantly surprised that my 50' long Ethernet cable wasn't needed at all--everything happened over Wi-Fi. I may now actually have the cable put in the garage--along with my other computing artifacts. I'm not quite ready to throw the stuff away yet, you know? I mean, you just never know when you're going to need a parallel-port Zip Drive!

One thing I can't find is the Dolphin single-click setting to open directories. Anyone know where it's hiding?

I've had my own saga over the last day or so, so it's encouraging to hear of someone else winning.

So what's going on with you, John?

[claydoh]

One thing I can't find is the Dolphin single-click setting to open directories. Anyone know where it's hiding?

I had to search System Settings to find it, as it has moved from Dolphin to there.
It is under Workspace Behavior >> General Behavior now
I *think* it should be there for Plasma 5.16 in Kubuntu 19.10, it definitely is there for 5.17 which if interested, can be found here
Look under Desktop Behavior >> Workspace