Can't get laptop to recognise bootable USB stick
by Steve W from LinuxQuestions.org on (#6ETXP)
I've been installing Linux on PCs since 2007, but this is the first time I've had so much hassle just getting one particular laptop to even recognise the USB is present when I try to boot it up for the first time, prior to installation.
Although, this is the first time I've tried to install a 64-bit Linux onto a 64-bit laptop. I don't know whether that's a relevant factor.
The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite L450. It has 2GB RAM. The laptop I use presently is a 32-bit HP with 1GB RAM, running Mint 18.1, so it's time for an upgrade. I originally tried Mint 21.2 MATE, and the new laptop recognised the stick and booted as normal. However, when trying it out I loaded Firefox and one webpage and it was already using 1.9GB of the 2GB, so I thought I'd better try a lighter version than MATE.
I downloaded the ISO for Mint 21.2 XFCE instead, checked the MD5sum and all that, but the Toshiba refused to recognise the USB stick on booting. I inserted it before switching on the laptop, selected Setup, but the USB was not present in the boot order. I tried multiple times. I do not have any other 64-bit machines on which to try it.
I then downloaded the ISO for Mint LMDE. This was recognised on bootup but I gave up this distro before installing as it's so radically different from what I'm used to and it kept hanging.
I then downloaded XUbuntu 22.04 ISO, unpacked it to the stick using DD in a terminal (I had been using the Mint "USB image writer" before that), but the Toshiba still doesn't want to recognise it. So I've had two successes (with booting, but I didn't like the distros) and two failures. The failures are the lightweight distros I would probably get on with. Except the USB stick isn't being recognised as bootable.
I notice with a GParted analysis of the stick, the Boot flag is not present on sdb1 but on sdb2. Should it be? Are there any other setup Boot options I should be trying?
This is the first time I've even had this much trouble getting a distro to live boot for the first time. Thank you for any assistance you can give.
Although, this is the first time I've tried to install a 64-bit Linux onto a 64-bit laptop. I don't know whether that's a relevant factor.
The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite L450. It has 2GB RAM. The laptop I use presently is a 32-bit HP with 1GB RAM, running Mint 18.1, so it's time for an upgrade. I originally tried Mint 21.2 MATE, and the new laptop recognised the stick and booted as normal. However, when trying it out I loaded Firefox and one webpage and it was already using 1.9GB of the 2GB, so I thought I'd better try a lighter version than MATE.
I downloaded the ISO for Mint 21.2 XFCE instead, checked the MD5sum and all that, but the Toshiba refused to recognise the USB stick on booting. I inserted it before switching on the laptop, selected Setup, but the USB was not present in the boot order. I tried multiple times. I do not have any other 64-bit machines on which to try it.
I then downloaded the ISO for Mint LMDE. This was recognised on bootup but I gave up this distro before installing as it's so radically different from what I'm used to and it kept hanging.
I then downloaded XUbuntu 22.04 ISO, unpacked it to the stick using DD in a terminal (I had been using the Mint "USB image writer" before that), but the Toshiba still doesn't want to recognise it. So I've had two successes (with booting, but I didn't like the distros) and two failures. The failures are the lightweight distros I would probably get on with. Except the USB stick isn't being recognised as bootable.
I notice with a GParted analysis of the stick, the Boot flag is not present on sdb1 but on sdb2. Should it be? Are there any other setup Boot options I should be trying?
This is the first time I've even had this much trouble getting a distro to live boot for the first time. Thank you for any assistance you can give.