Take a look at our
ThinkPads.com HOME PAGE
For those who might want to contribute to the blog, start here: Editors Alley Topic
Then contact Bill with a Private Message

Problems with CD drive and bootable CD's

Linux on ThinkPads
Post Reply
Message
Author
jdoutt
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:49 pm
Location: MA

Problems with CD drive and bootable CD's

#1 Post by jdoutt » Mon Jul 01, 2013 4:32 pm

I've been trying to install flavors of ubuntu 12.04 on my Thinkpoad T30 with 1M memory
At boot, CD's of ubuntu, subuntu, lubuntu are not recognized by the system

Those same CD's do boot fine in a desktop Dell

Also, I can boot a CD of Puppy Linux on the T30.

Anybody have any suggestions on what to try next?

Neil
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 3074
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2005 5:41 pm
Location: Paragould AR USA

Re: Problems with CD drive and bootable CD's

#2 Post by Neil » Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:22 am

Optical drives of the T30 vintage almost always fail to boot from CD-RW disks, for me anyway. They work best with factory pressed disks, but will sometimes work with CD-R disks burned at the lowest possible speed. Burn at too high a speed, and they are almost guaranteed to not work.
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

jdoutt
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:49 pm
Location: MA

Re: Problems with CD drive and bootable CD's

#3 Post by jdoutt » Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:15 am

Thanks for the suggestion .... I'll try burning a CD at a low speed and try again.

I did create a bootable USB drive (using UNetbootin). It booted fine on the Dell, but again failed to be recognized on the T30.

(correction on the original post: subuntu should be replaced b y xubuntu!)

Perhaps I should back up and ask a different question:
The T30 has an ancient version of kubuntu on it. It's so old that I can't update it nor am able to upgrade it to a newer revision. I want to replace it with (hopefully) the LTS version 12.04 of ubuntu (or one of it's "flavors").
Any suggestions as how to do that?

Is there a way while running LINUX to point to the initialization files for another LINUX version and start executing them?


The CD reader is working fine - I can see files on the CD - just can't boot from it. Same for the USB ports

jdoutt
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:49 pm
Location: MA

Re: Problems with CD drive and bootable CD's

#4 Post by jdoutt » Tue Jul 02, 2013 1:57 pm

I followed the suggestion of Niel, and burned a copy of xubuntu 12.04 to DVD at the lowest speed I could.

The resulting CD now does boot in my T30, and the installation is almost finished!

Thanks so much ........


(still wondering why the copy on the USB did not work)

Neil
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 3074
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2005 5:41 pm
Location: Paragould AR USA

Re: Problems with CD drive and bootable CD's

#5 Post by Neil » Tue Jul 02, 2013 2:03 pm

jdoutt wrote:The CD reader is working fine - I can see files on the CD - just can't boot from it. Same for the USB ports
Makes me wonder if maybe you burned data disks rather that in iso mode. Are you using image burning software like "Imgburn"?

On another note, when using CDs or USB, does it start to boot, that is. do you see a boot loader (Grub) starting to load the Linux kernel, or does it seems as if there is no disk (or usb) present?
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

jdoutt
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:49 pm
Location: MA

Re: Problems with CD drive and bootable CD's

#6 Post by jdoutt » Tue Jul 02, 2013 2:39 pm

Hi Neil,

I had created the bootable USB drive using UNetbootin on a windows machine. That machine booted OK into xubuntu from the USB
, so I know it is good.

The original CD's were created on a windows machine using Roxio. They were burned OK: I booted one into xubuntu on that same windows machine.

So I know that the image was burned, and not just the data



On the T30, I used F12 to force the boot device - to either the CD drive or to the USB drive. It appeared to not recognize either device - after a brief pause it came up with the 'normal' GRUB selections.

Neil
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 3074
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2005 5:41 pm
Location: Paragould AR USA

Re: Problems with CD drive and bootable CD's

#7 Post by Neil » Tue Jul 02, 2013 2:55 pm

I don't know then...looks like you've got all the bases covered.

Only other option I can think of is take the hard drive out of the T30 and connect it to a newer computer and install the newer Xubuntu. There is usually no problem with Linux booting in a different computer than what it was installed in, unlike Windows.
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

Neil
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 3074
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2005 5:41 pm
Location: Paragould AR USA

Re: Problems with CD drive and bootable CD's

#8 Post by Neil » Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:28 pm

jdoutt wrote:I followed the suggestion of Niel, and burned a copy of xubuntu 12.04 to DVD at the lowest speed I could.

The resulting CD now does boot in my T30, and the installation is almost finished!
I totally missed this post. Must have been posted while I was writing my comments posted right below it. So I kept rambling on about a problem that had already been solved.
jdoutt wrote:(still wondering why the copy on the USB did not work)
There are a few USB sticks that just can't be made to boot for some reason or another. I used to have a couple that wouldn't boot for anything. So, if you have a different USB drive from a different manufacturer, give that one a try, it'll probably work fine.
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

jdoutt
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:49 pm
Location: MA

Re: Problems with CD drive and bootable CD's

#9 Post by jdoutt » Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:53 pm

Thanks so much Neil for your suggestion.

The slow-burn of xubuntu booted up fine and I was able to install it to the hard disk.

Now, after rebooting, have installed all the updates and am compiling wine :)

All seems to be well.


(At some point I'll see what happens with a different USB drive)

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “Linux Questions”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 39 guests