Thinkpads Forum

I also put this in the hardware section, hope I'm not violating any rules: Admin note: Ah, yes it does . Locking other thread.

I have spent hours and hours trying to figure this out myself, so if I am missing something simple- please forgive me.

I am trying to load Mint 14 (XFCE) on a 2007 ThinkPad T60. I just installed a new SSD after the old hard drive crashed.

I mistakenly put the file on a CD not realizing the file was over 700 MB. However, the computer gives me the initial 'Linux Mint' page before shooting an error message.

I have since tried burning the OS on two different DVDs using two different ISO sources using my wife's Mac. The ThinkPad doesn't recognize these discs.

I also moved the ATA into 'compatibility mode' but this did nothing.

Now the computer won't even recognize plop on a CD to try booting from a pen-drive.

Any ideas?

Update: I tried creating a bootable usb drive but BIOS is still not recognizing anything.

To start with the obvious: Did you change the boot order? F12 or change it in bios. If so, are you sure your cd drive is ok? I have a few older thinkpads that can read most cds, but they struggle with live cds and install disks. Try with an external cd drive.

I would also download the distro image again, or perhaps another image like ubuntu, burn it to a new disk and try again. You should at least be able to run something like ubuntu as a live cd, if not the fault is probably in your cd drive or your settings.

I installed ubuntu 12.04 to a new hard drive (not ssd) in my x60 last year and it was a smooth and fast install.

Elchund

Thanks for the reply:

-I did indeed prioritize the DVDRAM drive when booting from discs (CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R) and then USB when running from a bootable thumb drive.

-I tried installing Mint 10 (instead of the 'current' 14) as an alternative but didn't have any luck with that either. Would trying a whole 'nother distro make a difference?

If you happen to have any other ideas, I'm quite desperate.

No harm in trying another distro...you may have just had a bad download though. It happens, more often that not with some distros. Did you check the MD5SUM before burning to disk or prepping the USB drive?

Tried another distro with no luck. Also, I was struggling to check the MD5SUM on a mac, so figured trying a variety of distros would make that move superfluous.

Any other ideas?

Just scanned through your posts again, and I don't see any mention of the methods used to burn the DVD or prep the USB drive. In either case, you cannot just copy the files to a USB drive, or burn a data DVD. You must burn the DVD as an ISO, using ISO mode in you burning app, and you must use a tool like unetbootin or dd to make a bootable USB drive. Is that what you've been doing already?