I have an Acer laptop with an i5 7th gen processor and a 940MX Nvidia card. I've always used Windows, but after watching PewDiePie, I decided to dive into Linux and chose Arch right away. I followed a one-hour manual video for installation, but kept getting the message 'Checking Media: Fail' after following all the steps correctly.
To try to get a working system, I switched to Linux Mint and got the live version running from a USB stick. However, upon rebooting, I faced the same 'Checking Media: Fail' message again.
I've even consulted ChatGPT and tried various suggestions like changing the boot priority and manually placing GRUB files, but it seems like there's an issue with my bootloader. I've seen others with similar problems on Acer laptops online. Am I out of options, or is there still a way to fix this? I really wanted to move away from Windows, but now I'm stuck without a functioning system. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
It sounds like a frustrating situation! First off, every time you try rebooting after installation, make sure you remove the installation media from the USB. Also, try connecting to the internet via an Ethernet cable during installation rather than Wi-Fi, as that can help avoid some issues. If it's still failing, you might want to check how many EFI partitions are set up—if Windows is still installed, having multiple EFI partitions can confuse the UEFI firmware.
When do you see the 'Checking Media: Fail' message, exactly? Is it during the boot sequence or when you try to install? Screenshots or detailed descriptions of the steps could really help us understand better. If you were able to run the live system, there might still be a way to troubleshoot the bootloader issue.
Right! Let's get all the details. The more info you provide, the easier it’ll be for us to help you out.
I’d recommend checking the integrity of your installation media. Sometimes the ISO can get corrupted during download or transfer. If you’re using a USB stick, consider reformatting it and writing the ISO again, then check the SHA256 or SHA512 hash of the ISO to ensure it’s clean before you install.
Good point! Sometimes, UEFI can be tricky. Also, you could consider using a tool like Ventoy to prepare your installation media—it can simplify the process, and you can do it directly from Windows.