11.10 Fresh Install "Unable to find a medium containing a live file system"

[MechaHeretic]

I realize this issue has already been beaten into the ground, but i still have yet to find a proper solution to the issue.

Problem:
Downloaded 11.10 64x ISO from ubuntu
Created Bootable USB stick (instructions directly from Ubuntu Installation Guide)
Computer boots to the Ubuntu splash screen, select "Run Ubuntu from USB stick" (trying to test it before installing it)
Lots of white text on black background.
Ubuntu logo with 6 dots below it lighting up in sequence for about 10 seconds
Back to black screen with white text
Pauses with:

BusyBox v1.13.3 (Ubuntu 1:1.13.3-ubuntu11) built in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.
(initramfs) Unable to find a medium containing a live file system(numbers in first line approximate, don't remember exactly, but it's the same ones everytime)

So far i've tried:
MD5SUM check on iso = Fine
creating a CDROM copy of Ubuntu = same issue
Swapping USB ports (all 6 on my machine) = same issue (5-year old box = no usb3)
Changing boot priorities in BIOS just in case = same issue
Re-creating USB boot stick = same issue
Disable AHCI in bios = American Megatrends BIOS = no AHCI support in the first place.

My computer:

Gateway DX4720-03 x64-based PC
Pentium Dual-Core E5200 @ 2500GHz
BIOS: American Megatrends a7399NG2.202
SMBIOS 2.5
4gb RAM
600GB SATA HDD
nVidia GeForce 7350 LE

I'm going to try to create a bootable 10.04 USB stick to see if it's the 11.10 that's being weird, but from what i've read so far, people are having the same issues.

Again, i apologize for posting with the same problem, but every thread i've scoured seems to end with everyone being happy about switching USB ports or disabling AHCI, neither of which have worked for me :(

[wojox]

I had a hard time with the install as well. Ended up using Unetbootin and going with the 32 bit version and it worked finally.

[MechaHeretic]

Thanks for the response, trying that right now. Is there some kind of advantage Unetboot has over the Universal USB Installer provided by the Ubuntu homepage?

I'm also trying a different USB stick to see if, for some reason, it didn't like that brand....

[wojox]

Is there some kind of advantage Unetboot has over the Universal USB Installer provided by the Ubuntu homepage?


Dunno I usually use dd and it wasen't working so Unetbootin is my second go to. :P

[MechaHeretic]

Blah, same issue, but this time with a nice little miniature blue UnetBootin screen in the upper left hand corner. This happens for both the 11.10 32x distro and 11.10 64x distro. I also received the same error from both 32 and 64-bit 10.04 releases.....

This doesn't work with my 16gb Kingston nor 2gb PNY usb stick.....

Also, if it's significant, with the Universal USB installer and 64x 11.10 release, after the "unable to find a medium..." message it would start trying to "mount" (i think is the word) USB devices 4, 5, 6, and 7, but returning an error message each time and freezing after 7.....

What the bleep is going on?

Alright, here's what it's saying after the freeze:


3.345234 (random) nouveau 0000:02:00.0: Output DVI-I-1 is running on CRTC 0 using Output A
3.345234 [drm] nouveau 0000:02:00.0: 0xC5E6: Parsing digital output script table
3.345234 [drm] nouveau 0000:02:00.0: Setting dpms mode 0 non tmds encoder (output 1)
4.050026 [drm] nouveau 0000:02:00.0: Output DVI-I-1 is running on CRTC 0 using output A
4.050026 [drm] nouveau 0000:02:00.0: GPU lockup - switching to software fbcon
4.050026 Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 180x56

BusyBox v1.13.3 (Ubuntu 1:1.13.3-1ubuntu11) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

(initramfs) Unable to find a medium containing a live file system

70.640021 usb 1-7: device not accepting address 7, error -110
70.760019 usb 1-7: new high speed USB device using ehci-hcd and address 8
70.640021 usb 1-7: device not accepting address 8, error -110
70.760019 usb 1-7: new high speed USB device using ehci-hcd and address 9
70.640021 usb 1-7: device not accepting address 9, error -110
70.760019 usb 1-7: new high speed USB device using ehci-hcd and address 10
107.451261 usb 1-7: device not accepting address 10, error -110
107.451324 hub 1-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 7
Except for all those first numbers in the last couple of lines, that's a letter for letter reproduction of the error message i've been getting. This is taken from the 10.4 64x release off of the Universal USB Installer on my 16gb Kingston.

Would my NVidia GeForce have anything to do with this error....? I know linus and nVidia haven't had a fair-weather relationship in the past....

[MechaHeretic]

Shameful bump. Still having the same issues and wondering if my GeForce is to blame.

[Flynsarmy]

This won't help OP, however it might help others. I was getting OPs error but after enabling AHCI in the BIOS (while still running the 11.10 64-bit installer with ahci=off) everything worked fine.