Hi there.
Since I'm using Windows10 on decade-old hardware (can't upgrade to Windows11 even if I wanted to) I've decided to check out what Linux is all about. After a couple of flowcharts wanted to try out Mint. Bought a fresh USBstick, downloaded the ISO, flashed it with Balena Etcher, created a separate partition on a HDD in the case I decide to fully install it.
Trying to boot I get the options to select any bootable media, but choosing either UEFI or the other option to boot from the USB drive I get to a menu where I can select to boot to Live or in compatibility mode (among others), but whatever I choose I end up with rolling errormessages, main one being /init: line 38: can't open /dev/sr0: No medium found
Googling around I've tried unplugging the USB and using it in another port, enabling/disabling stuff in the bios (but I have no idea where to start or what stuff actually does) but nothing really works.
After some time (10+ minutes) of rolling errors I get the prompt to boot from URL (or something), haven't tried that yet as I don't know if the network is even enabled...
So I have the next questions: Where do I begin with troubleshooting? Is there a way to interrupt the stream of errors it keeps spitting out for more than 10 minutes? Once the errors stop I seem to be in a full screen terminal with an unsuccessful boot, can I try to get it to boot from there?
Update: Ventoy seems to be more promising, it's got a nice menu and I can choose which bistro to load, but currently it's loading Mint quite a long time...
I suspect it's loading everything it can at once, but at least I can see the Mint logo for longer than 10 seconds in a splash screen.
But 15 minutes later it seems to be still loading...
Will update when I can
Update 2: YES! It got past the boot errors by unplugging the USB and plugging it back in.
Life is calling, so it'll take a while before I can start figuring out why my mouse isn't working (or how I can install without a mouse), but at least I can confirm that Linux works on my PC.
I haven't personally tried etcher but I read in a similar post that it oftenly led to errors when booting from usb-sticks, you could try Rufus instead and see if it works better.
Got recommended to try Ventoy or Rufus instead of Balena, so I'll be reflashing once I'm home again. Thanks for the quick response
+1
If nothing works, you could also try a native command
dd.watch -d lsblksudo dd if="/home/$USER/Downloads/filename.iso" of=/dev/sdc bs=1M status=progress conv=fsyncif (input file) = path to file - here it's the downloads folder - just change the file name after the slash
of (output file) = here we'll use the device instead - enter the device you saw popping up - it should be /dev/sdX - don't add a number after (i.e. /dev/sdc, not /sdc1)
To stop a command (almost) anytime, press Ctrl+C. To enter a command you used already, press Up (↑).
GL!
E: don't instead of dont