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Zorin Install Problems

newzoringuy

Wed Aug 08, 2012 8:34:28 pm

Hey everyone. I'm new to Linux, but consider myself far above average when it comes to Windows.

I am attempting to install Zorin on a PC of mine. I had a friend that recommended Crunchbang, so I downloaded it on my Windows laptop, burned the ISO, and installed on a blank harddrive on my tower. The install went fine, but I didn't like Crunchbang. After doing some research, I decided I wanted to try Zorin and Mint. So I downloaded the iso files for both operating systems on my Windows laptop. I burned each to a DVD, but my tower won't boot from either DVD. I thought maybe something went wrong while burning them, so I tried booting with them on my Windows laptop (the live edition) and both discs worked. I am actually using the live Zorin on my Windows laptop right now.

Can someone help me out? When I try to boot from the Zorin or the Mint DVD on my tower, the computer stops booting and says it's in grub rescue mode. Any help would be appreciated.

madvinegar

Wed Aug 08, 2012 8:40:51 pm

First of all make sure that you have downloaded the correct iso, meaning 32bit and 64bit. A 32bit system will not run an 64bit OS DVD.

Secondly you can try creating a live USB instead of a live DVD. Even if your Bios does not support usb booting, follow my guide here

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2113

newzoringuy

Wed Aug 08, 2012 8:48:15 pm

madvinegar wrote:First of all make sure that you have downloaded the correct iso, meaning 32bit and 64bit. A 32bit system will not run an 64bit OS DVD.

Secondly you can try creating a live USB instead of a live DVD. Even if your Bios does not support usb booting, follow my guide here

http://www.zoringroup.com/forum/viewtop ... f=6&t=2113


I tried creating a USB as well and it didn't work. Your suggestion about 32 bit vs 64 bit is probably what I did wrong.

Can you tell me, since I'm on the live version of Zorin right now (love it by the way), how can I tell if it's 64 or 32 bit? **Edit... I just went to the Zorin download page and I'm 95% sure I clicked the 32 bit download

madvinegar

Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:02:02 pm

To check the iso, open terminal and write
Code:
uname -m


To check your cpu architecture open terminal and write
Code:
lscpu


If the result is x86_64, the system is 64 bit
If the result is i686, then the system is 32 bit

madvinegar

Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:08:38 pm

Could you also advise specs of your PC?

newzoringuy

Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:10:24 pm

madvinegar wrote:To check the iso, open terminal and write
Code:
uname -m


To check your cpu architecture open terminal and write
Code:
lscpu


If the result is x86_64, the system is 64 bit
If the result is i686, then the system is 32 bit


I did what you said in terminal and I did download 32 bit.

Can you think of anything else? Maybe if I could get to a DOS prompt and try to install from there??

newzoringuy

Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:13:17 pm

madvinegar wrote:Could you also advise specs of your PC?


It's a tower that I built years ago, but it's a Pentium 4, 1.6 Ghz with a half gig of ram. It's not the newest thing, but I think it should be able to install Zorin. It's had Windows XP on it with no problems in the past.

madvinegar

Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:14:24 pm

I have asked for the specs of your pc because there is a chance that it does not support pae-iso.

You can check this by either downloading and trying out zorin 5.2 32bit (http://zorin-os.com/zorinos5.html) or by creating a non-pae iso of Zorin 6 following this guide:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2307

newzoringuy

Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:20:08 pm

madvinegar wrote:I have asked for the specs of your pc because there is a chance that it does not support pae-iso.

You can check this by either downloading and trying out zorin 5.2 32bit (http://zorin-os.com/zorinos5.html) or by creating a non-pae iso of Zorin 6 following this guide:

http://www.zoringroup.com/forum/viewtop ... f=6&t=2307


I will try downloading Zorin 5.2

If that works and it installs, I assume I can then upgrade from 5.2 to 6?

Thanks for your help.

madvinegar

Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:24:42 pm

No, actually you cannot upgrade from 5.2 to 6. You need to do a fresh install.
Therefore, you will have to create a non-pae iso of Zorin 6 as per the guide I told you.

newzoringuy

Thu Aug 09, 2012 3:04:29 pm

madvinegar wrote:No, actually you cannot upgrade from 5.2 to 6. You need to do a fresh install.
Therefore, you will have to create a non-pae iso of Zorin 6 as per the guide I told you.



Ok, I followed the guide, but the computer still wouldn't install it. It tried to load Crunchbang from the Hard drive. So then I downloaded Zorin 5.2 and burned it on a DVD, and again, it tried to load Crunchbang from the hard drive. So finally, I put in the crunchbang CD and it read from it and tried to install crunchbang. I'm at a loss here.

Wolfman

Thu Aug 09, 2012 5:30:51 pm

Hi,

I have a question, did you burn the disk at the slowest possible speed??????. If you didn't, it could well lead to such problems as you are experiencing now, ie, read/write errors on the drive.

Regards Wolfman :D

newzoringuy

Thu Aug 09, 2012 5:44:17 pm

Wolfman wrote:Hi,

I have a question, did you burn the disk at the slowest possible speed??????. If you didn't, it could well lead to such problems as you are experiencing now, ie, read/write errors on the drive.

Regards Wolfman :D


Yes I did, I burned it at 2x and the discs all work on my laptop.

Wolfman

Thu Aug 09, 2012 5:59:53 pm

Hi,

did you try first booting the disk before you attempted to install, or did you try and install directly from the disk without first booting to see if it would run??.

Did you try the 2nd option in the list which is safe graphics mode??.

Regards Wolfman :D

newzoringuy

Thu Aug 09, 2012 7:21:37 pm

Wolfman wrote:Hi,

did you try first booting the disk before you attempted to install, or did you try and install directly from the disk without first booting to see if it would run??.

Did you try the 2nd option in the list which is safe graphics mode??.

Regards Wolfman :D


It never takes me to the option to boot from cd. When I turn the computer on, the dvd drive light comes on and you can hear it spinning like it's reading the disc, but then it automatically boots from the hard drive. The bios is set for it to boot from the DVD drive though, as I made sure by putting a crunchbang cd in and it did go to the cd menu. Is it possible that my bios won't allow me to boot from a DVD? The Zorin image is too large to be burned on a regular CD, but the crunchbang image fit on a normal cd. So maybe that's the problem? It is a DVD drive though, and if I loaf crunchbang, the computer will read the files on the Zorin DVD inside of cruncnbang

madvinegar

Fri Aug 10, 2012 5:48:46 am

Could you please post exactly the error message you get, or even better take a photo of the screen with the error, and post it back here?

Wolfman

Fri Aug 10, 2012 5:51:27 am

Hi,

take a look at the tray of your optical drive (disk drive and look and see if it says "DVD" on it, if it doesn't, it is only a CD drive and you will never be able to boot a DVD from it.

Does your PC support USB booting, you can check in BIOS and do a USB install if it does!!.

If not supported, see this guide:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2113

If supported, see this guide:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal- ... -as-1-2-3/

Regards Wolfman :D

madvinegar

Fri Aug 10, 2012 6:16:40 am

Could point WM and I have already raised it (see my 2nd post in this topic), but newzoringuy already tried that and it did not work.

newzoringuy

Fri Aug 10, 2012 10:56:59 am

It's an LG DVD ROM

I tried to boot via USB. My computer supports it in the bios, no luck there either

I'm at a complete loss

madvinegar

Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:42:00 am

madvinegar wrote:Could you please post exactly the error message you get, or even better take a photo of the screen with the error, and post it back here?