Trouble Booting an Old PC from a Live USB

Check if your USB ports are functioning properly. Sometimes one port may be broken. It’s also a good idea to try booting from another USB drive—if the drive isn’t showing up at all, there could be an issue with the drive itself or the way it’s been set up as a boot drive.

If you can get into your BIOS settings, check if there's an option to select the boot device manually. Sometimes it’s just a matter of adjusting that order!

This PC should be able to boot from USB, so let's look at a few things. If you have USB 3.0 ports, try to use a USB 2.0 port instead, as older BIOS versions usually have better compatibility with them. Also, ensure your USB stick is correctly set up to boot. If you're unable to boot from USB after that, consider burning your Linux distro to a CD/DVD or using a tool like PLOP to create a boot disk. It can facilitate booting USB devices even with older hardware.

There are two different versions of the Linux installer you should be aware of: one is for basic BIOS, and the other is for UEFI. Since your BIOS is older, it’s possible it only supports one type. You might want to double-check which installer version you're using, as sometimes the installer itself can also be faulty. It’s worth exploring that angle first.

Make sure your USB drive is formatted correctly. Sometimes issues arise from the drive's file system, so double-check that it’s set up properly for booting.