Installing from LiveCD - General Error mounting filesystem

[Guest]

Hi all,

I really need help. I downloaded "kubuntu-10.10-desktop-i386", checked the MD5 (which was correct) and burned the ISO.
After I choose "Start Kubuntu" from the CD, it takes a while, but then I get the following message:

General error mounting filesystem.
A maintenance shell will now be started.
CONTROL-D terminate this shell and reboot the system.

Can someone tell me, what's wrong or what I am doing wrong or maybe my laptop is to old?

2 GB RAM
Intel Celeron M 1,5 Ghz
80 GB RAM

Help is really appreciated!

Mark

[Snowhog]

Re: Installing from LiveCD - General Error mounting filesystem

If you are getting this from a LiveCD, I would suspect the integrity of the burn. That the md5sum of the downloaded .iso was correct doesn't necessarily mean that the resulting 'burn' to CD was okay.

What software did you use to burn the .iso to CD? Is the CD of good quality (inexpensive CDs can produce bad burns)?

[dibl]

Re: Installing from LiveCD - General Error mounting filesystem

I agree with Snowhog -- it sounds like some issue between the CD that you burned, and the optical drive on your computer. Things to try:

- burn the downloaded ISO on a different computer/optical drive
- get a different brand of blank CDs, and burn one of those
- swap in a different optical drive into your computer and try that one

[Guest]

Re: Installing from LiveCD - General Error mounting filesystem

Thanks for the replies.

I tried it now with three different brands - Verbatim, Sony and Platinum. I used Nero, IsoBurner and the internal Windows Burner. I get the same result. I also burned a LiveCD with my new laptop.

What really confuses me is that if I put these discs into my new laptop, the LiveCDs are working (all of them)

Would it be possible to install Kubuntu on an external drive using my new laptop and then just plug in the external drive in my old laptop and start from this drive? Or will there be any problems due to drivers?

Mark

[dibl]

Re: Installing from LiveCD - General Error mounting filesystem

Interesting problem there. The error message doesn't say which filesystem it had trouble mounting - I wonder whether there could be some problem with the hard drive in the old lappie. One thing you could do, to investigate that angle, would be to make a Parted Magic Live CD, and boot that, and then run the hard drive test, and look at the existing partition(s) on the hard drive. If you don't intend to continue using the OS that is on it, you could (a) do Device > New Partition Table to make a new partition table on it (choose MS-DOS type), and (b) make new partitions, in advance of installing Kubuntu.

http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

Then, the other idea is to burn an "Alternate" Kubuntu installation CD. It uses a character-mode installer, rather than the ubiquity installer that is on the Live CD. It's possible that would make a difference.

Finally, better run "memtest86" or some reliable memory test on the old lappie. The initramfs loads into memory, so if there were a problem there .....

[MoonRise]

Re: Installing from LiveCD - General Error mounting filesystem

Or it could just be the CD-ROM drive is bad. I have an old lappy that has similar issues when trying to upgrade it using CD-ROM. What's worse is it is so old that it can't boot from USB so in general I've had to stop upgrading it. Not saying to do that here, but it could be the CD-ROM drive.

[Detonate]

Re: Installing from LiveCD - General Error mounting filesystem

I highly recommend a live USB drive as the way to install. Much less prone to the common errors with CDs. And much faster. Flash drives are cheap. I keep several loaded with the install for Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and I have one with Gparted. They work great. Are you sure your machine won't boot from USB? What BIOS does it have?