Hi everyone! So here's a little background—I'm a trash collector and stumbled upon an old laptop in the trash at a trailer park. I brought it home, found it was running Windows 7 with some old data, and decided to upgrade it. I swapped the hard drive for an SSD and want to install Linux on it using an external 2TB Seagate drive. I created the installation media with Balena Etcher. However, when I boot, I just get a screen, and if I use compatibility mode, it throws a CPU soft lock error. I'm eager to dive into Linux but feeling stuck! Any suggestions?
3 Answers
When you boot Linux Mint from the external hard drive, it should act like a live USB. Are you seeing any loading bar or is it just stuck? You should be able to run Linux Mint in live mode without officially installing it. How far does the boot process get before it hangs?
Have you checked if Secure Boot is turned off in your BIOS? Sometimes that can cause issues with booting from external drives. Let me know if you find that option!
First off, which Linux distribution are you trying to install? It sounds like you're having some trouble clarifying your setup. Are you using a CD-ROM, USB drive, or your external hard drive? Also, make sure to mention how you created your installation media, as that could be crucial!
I'm trying to install Linux Mint from the external hard drive. I got the ISO from the official site and used Balena Etcher to make the bootable drive. I booted from the external drive on another laptop, so it seems like it's an issue with my old HP 2000.
I can't find the Secure Boot option in the BIOS, unfortunately. It’s being a bit tricky.