Lenovo proprietary machine, ugh.

[cloasters]

Howdy friends and neighbors. I'm trying to install Mint 14.1 64-bit Cinnamon on my Lenovo desktop machine, running Win7 64-bit. I changed the drive boot order in BIOS, but the beast doesn't attempt to boot from the CD drive. Any help would be appreciated!

[ThunderRd]

George, is the CD drive showing up in the correct place in the BIOS, usually SATA/IDE settings or something to that effect? If it does, is it running properly otherwise, and is the media OK?

What kind of CD drive is it, IDE or SATA? Also, does the CMOS 'hold' the setting to boot from the CD, or is the setting reverted when you reboot and look in the BIOS manager?

I know this stuff is pretty basic, but let's get it out of the way.

[Aedan]

It's a Lenovo machine - you might find you can hit "F12" before boot happens to get a boot device selection screen. If you still have issues, make sure the CD is readable and bootable.

[chrisbard]

The disc might not be bootable?

[Daniel ~]

Any disk might not be bootable, just something to check off the list.

[Daniel ~]

George, does your box come with an install disk? Can your box boot to that?

If not see if your docs tell you anything about using your restore disk. What ever it takes to use that "Should" work for your mint install disk.

[cloasters]

The machine came without a Win7 64-bit disc, so I bought one to go. Whaddaya know, it's a DVD. Which does me no good with this Lenovo box, 'cause I stupidly/absentmindedly ordered it with a CD drive. Hopefully the hidden partition will be useable if it's ever needed!

[Aedan]

You could try downloading a CD image from http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/iso.html (grab one of the DOS ones - it's about 2Mb) and try booting from that.

[Daniel ~]

You will also have to download a CD version of Mint.... George if you've got the bucks, I'd go ahead and get a DVD player, everything is going that way and you will bump into this again. They go for under $20.00 most times.

[cloasters]

My computer ace friend that lived across the hall moved to Everett. Let me see if he can help with removing the CD drive and replacing it with a DVD compatible drive without leaving a gaping hole in the front of the case.
As this beast is so enthused about booting from the CD drive is there any hope that it could boot from a Linux thumb drive? I just ordered a 32 plus a 64 Gb Cruzer from Amazon.

[Aedan]

What model is it? It should have a label with the "Type" number on it. For instance one machine I have has "Type 4391-B51" on it's label.

[booman]

USB baby!
Follow my guide on installing Mint with a USB drive:
USB Guide
I know it says "Gigabyte motherboards" but it works for any motherboard too.

Otherwise, try burning another CD because maybe that ISO didn't burn correctly or something happend during the burning proccess.
Does it boot up on other computers?

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by cloasters

My computer ace friend that lived across the hall moved to Everett. Let me see if he can help with removing the CD drive and replacing it with a DVD compatible drive without leaving a gaping hole in the front of the case.
As this beast is so enthused about booting from the CD drive is there any hope that it could boot from a Linux thumb drive? I just ordered a 32 plus a 64 Gb Cruzer from Amazon.

You can download a CD version, or at lest you use to be able to!

[booman]

CD versions are almost obsolete for these desktop distros. Everyone wants their browser, office, image editors and a few games when they install.

[Daniel ~]

Is why I suggested a DVD drive...but circumstances vary and I wanted George to have choices...":O}

[booman]

DVD? What is that?

[Daniel ~]

Ask Cloasters he has one of them installed!!

[booman]

you can install a DVD?
What kind of Processor does it have? how much RAM?

[robbie]

I wish I lived closer to help ya out my friend.

[booman]

So did you ever get Mint 14 installed?