LLAAC
December 15th, 2012, 04:13 PM
So, I had 12.10 (64-bit) installed and I think autoremove removed a necessary package.
Once I rebooted, I had graphics problems and couldn't select any desktop environment to boot into. Using LightDM - which now suddenly had a black cursor instead of the usual one - if I clicked on GNOME, it would still boot into Unity, etc. Once it did boot in, it appeared something was wrong with the graphics in that, well, nothing appeared right. There was no desktop background, opening a window and then closing it would still leave the image of the window there, etc.
What I eventually did was go through my history log and reinstalled the packages that were removed by autoremove (one of them was a generic header, which I thought seemed like a massive red flag). Didn't help. At all.
So I decided to reinstall the system. This is my problem.
I can't boot into my live USB. Every time I do, I'm simply taken to the GRUB "minimal bash-like interface" screen.
MD5 on the ISO is a perfect match. In fact, this is the exact same ISO that I installed 12.10 with just a couple of days ago. Tried it again with a 12.04 ISO, same thing, only the GRUB version at the top is different.
It's strange because I can boot into the regular operating system, but not the live USB, so I don't know what's going on.
I really have no idea what to do. I can't use a live CD because my laptop has no optical drive.
I tried it on another computer and it booted fine. So there's obviously something going on with my laptop.
Oh, speaking of, here are the specs (I don't know if they even matter considering I had Ubuntu installed without any problems before, save for wireless, which I fixed with backports modules - might be the problem, I don't know):
HP Pavillion Sleekbook 14
Intel® Core™ i3-3217U (1.8 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache)
Intel HM77 Express Chipset
4GB RAM
500GB HDD
Intel HD Graphics 4000
The problem seemed to occur directly after I tried to boot a Crunchbang live USB. I had created a bootable USB, but somewhere along the line, I think I messed something up. I managed to boot it, but I think UNetbootin transferred the files wrong (maybe left old files from 12.10 on or something) because it gave me the "Try Ubuntu without installing", etc. screen even though it was a #! USB. When I selected that, it booted into regular Ubuntu, but the install icon simply said "Install RELEASE" instead of the version number. When I went into that install, it had the regular Ubuntu installer, but it was just listed as "GNU/Debian", I think, where it had the option to install with 12.10.
And to get that #! USB working, I had to enable Legacy support on the BIOS. When I realized something was wrong with that USB, I powered off and disabled Legacy support like it was initially. Also, SecureBoot is off and always has been since I installed Ubuntu, which I did to replace Windows 8, so there's no Windows or any dual boot issues.
I really don't understand what's going on. I can't boot into any live USB without being directed to that GRUB screen. And I have no idea what to put in there, because all the support I've seen relating to that screen is directed at the actual hard drive install, not the live USB as I'm experiencing.
I've created the USB using UNetbootin (Windows AND Ubuntu versions), and the Linux Live USB Creator for Windows. All responded the same way. I've formatted and reformatted the drive several times to "cleanly" create a live USB, and same problem. Always.
I'm waiting for my Fedora ISO to finish downloading to see if that yields any results, but I'm pessimistic about that at the moment.
Once I rebooted, I had graphics problems and couldn't select any desktop environment to boot into. Using LightDM - which now suddenly had a black cursor instead of the usual one - if I clicked on GNOME, it would still boot into Unity, etc. Once it did boot in, it appeared something was wrong with the graphics in that, well, nothing appeared right. There was no desktop background, opening a window and then closing it would still leave the image of the window there, etc.
What I eventually did was go through my history log and reinstalled the packages that were removed by autoremove (one of them was a generic header, which I thought seemed like a massive red flag). Didn't help. At all.
So I decided to reinstall the system. This is my problem.
I can't boot into my live USB. Every time I do, I'm simply taken to the GRUB "minimal bash-like interface" screen.
MD5 on the ISO is a perfect match. In fact, this is the exact same ISO that I installed 12.10 with just a couple of days ago. Tried it again with a 12.04 ISO, same thing, only the GRUB version at the top is different.
It's strange because I can boot into the regular operating system, but not the live USB, so I don't know what's going on.
I really have no idea what to do. I can't use a live CD because my laptop has no optical drive.
I tried it on another computer and it booted fine. So there's obviously something going on with my laptop.
Oh, speaking of, here are the specs (I don't know if they even matter considering I had Ubuntu installed without any problems before, save for wireless, which I fixed with backports modules - might be the problem, I don't know):
HP Pavillion Sleekbook 14
Intel® Core™ i3-3217U (1.8 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache)
Intel HM77 Express Chipset
4GB RAM
500GB HDD
Intel HD Graphics 4000
The problem seemed to occur directly after I tried to boot a Crunchbang live USB. I had created a bootable USB, but somewhere along the line, I think I messed something up. I managed to boot it, but I think UNetbootin transferred the files wrong (maybe left old files from 12.10 on or something) because it gave me the "Try Ubuntu without installing", etc. screen even though it was a #! USB. When I selected that, it booted into regular Ubuntu, but the install icon simply said "Install RELEASE" instead of the version number. When I went into that install, it had the regular Ubuntu installer, but it was just listed as "GNU/Debian", I think, where it had the option to install with 12.10.
And to get that #! USB working, I had to enable Legacy support on the BIOS. When I realized something was wrong with that USB, I powered off and disabled Legacy support like it was initially. Also, SecureBoot is off and always has been since I installed Ubuntu, which I did to replace Windows 8, so there's no Windows or any dual boot issues.
I really don't understand what's going on. I can't boot into any live USB without being directed to that GRUB screen. And I have no idea what to put in there, because all the support I've seen relating to that screen is directed at the actual hard drive install, not the live USB as I'm experiencing.
I've created the USB using UNetbootin (Windows AND Ubuntu versions), and the Linux Live USB Creator for Windows. All responded the same way. I've formatted and reformatted the drive several times to "cleanly" create a live USB, and same problem. Always.
I'm waiting for my Fedora ISO to finish downloading to see if that yields any results, but I'm pessimistic about that at the moment.