13.04 Desktop/unetbootin - md5 correct, but "invalid or corrupt kernel image"

[DiagonalArg]

Hi all. I'm trying to install 13.04 desktop, 64 bit on a USB. I've done it before, but it's now it's not working. When I make the USB and try to boot it, I get the dreaded "invalid or corrupt kernel image". The md5 is fine, and when I "test the disk for defects" instead of trying to boot ubuntu, I get "Check finished: no errors found". Anyone have any idea what's up??

[Edit: I'm on a ThinkPad, by the way: T60p]

Thx/
DA

PS. Unrelated question for after I get beyond the previous issue. I'd like to replace casper-rw by a partition. How do I tell ubuntu to look for a partition instead of the file?

[codymsisson]

Team,

I am having similar issues. I have downloaded the Ubuntu 13.04 .iso image from different sources (http & torrent), I have used both UNetbootin and USB Image Writer to create the USB, I have used multiple USB drives, and I have tried to boot the USB in multiple devices. Each time I get the same "corrupt kernel" message. It appears that the md5sum checks out. I am able to re-write another distro.iso image to the USB drive and boot without any issues. I have tried to eliminate all the external possibilities and it appears that the issue is related to the file. Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance

[sudodus]

Hi DiagonalArc and codymsisson :-)

and welcome to the Ubuntu Forums codymsisson.

If the iso image file is good and the USB drive is good, cloning it with a tool like USB image writer should work. My experience is that Unetbootin is good, usb-creator-kde is good and dd (nicknamed 'disk destroyer' is good if you double-check and triple-check to avoid typing errors).

I have tested making persistent live USB drives yesterday and today mainly using usb-creator-gtk, which is buggy in Lubuntu but still possible to use. I used the Lubuntu 32-bit and 64-bit desktop iso files. Which sub-version are you testing?

- Ubuntu desktop 12.04 LTS 64-bit (the original from April 2012) or
- Ubuntu desktop 12.04.2 LTS 64-bit (the second point release)?

- DiagonalArc has a ThinkPad T60p
- What is your computer specs, codymsisson: cpu, ram, graphics chip/card.

- It is also important to know which system you are using to create the live USB drive:
which distro, version and flavour of linux or which Windows or MacOS?

- And finally, it is important to know about the USB drive, brand name, model, size and how it was used before. Sometimes you need to overwrite it with zeros and start all over with gparted to make a FAT32 partition. The USB pendrives are primarily make for file transfer, not booting, and they are not quite standardized, so some are easier and others harder to use for booting. They are also rather easy to damage. It is also possible to boot another external drive, for example a USB HDD or an eSATA HDD or even a flash card.

[codymsisson]

Sodudus, thank you for the response. I apologize for not providing more detail.

I am running Linux Mint 14-Cinnamon on a new Clevo W240 laptop (same as the System 76 Lemur Ultra). I have been using Linux for a while and have run several different distros in my many machines.

I did try USB Image Writer and UNetbootin but I am not familiar with usb-creator tool (I will need to check it out). Using a combination of USB Image Writer and UNetbootin, I burned the Ubuntu 13.04-iso to three different flash drives and one SanDisk SD card. Thinking that the USB drives were the issue, I formatted two of them completely (overwrite all data) using the Disk Utility and formatted them to FAT32. I do not know what the model numbers are for the USB drives, but they have been in use for a while. I frequently use these particular USB drives to load new distro's on my machines (I have several desktops in my office that I play with). I had a similar thought about the USB drives being the issue. As a test, I loaded a different iso on to one of the drives and put it in one of my desktops, the Linux Mint 15 distro started right-up.

I went and purchased some new USB drives today. I intend to give them a shot. I will let you know if there is any change.

Again, thank you for the feedback.

[sudodus]

Sodudus, thank you for the response. I apologize for not providing more detail.

I am running Linux Mint 14-Cinnamon on a new Clevo W240 laptop (same as the System 76 Lemur Ultra). I have been using Linux for a while and have run several different distros in my many machines.

I did try USB Image Writer and UNetbootin but I am not familiar with usb-creator tool (I will need to check it out). Using a combination of USB Image Writer and UNetbootin, I burned the Ubuntu 13.04-iso to three different flash drives and one SanDisk SD card. Thinking that the USB drives were the issue, I formatted two of them completely (overwrite all data) using the Disk Utility and formatted them to FAT32. I do not know what the model numbers are for the USB drives, but they have been in use for a while. I frequently use these particular USB drives to load new distro's on my machines (I have several desktops in my office that I play with). I had a similar thought about the USB drives being the issue. As a test, I loaded a different iso on to one of the drives and put it in one of my desktops, the Linux Mint 15 distro started right-up.

I went and purchased some new USB drives today. I intend to give them a shot. I will let you know if there is any change.

Again, thank you for the feedback.

Did you try the md5sum of the whole iso file (you find the md5sum at UbuntuHashes (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuHashes))?

It is obvious that you have experience of making USB install drives. I usually succeed with dd, simply cloning the iso file to the USB pendrive, for Ubuntu 10.04 desktop iso files and newer (Linux Mint 9 and newer).

I normally use either an imaging tool or Unetbootin or usb-creator, not a combination. How did you combine them?

-o-

I'll check ... I cloned Ubuntu 13.04 64-bit with the following command


sudo dd if=ubuntu-13.04-desktop-amd64.iso bs=4096 of=/dev/sdx

where x is the appropriate drive letter (no partition number, only a letter for example c while a is usually the internal HDD or SSD). Double check and triple check that the drive letter points to your intended target USB drive!!! dd asks no questions. A small typing error makes you overwrite an internal drive.

I tested it in a new Toshiba laptop with intel i5 in UEFI and CSM (old BIOS) modes. Ubuntu boots in both modes.

The USB device is a cheap Sandisk Cruzer Blade 4 GB pendrive.

If nothing else works, try the dd method and test booting from the USB drive in more than one computer! The problem might be the computer setting or the USB drive.

New computers with UEFI are tricky to boot, because the manufacturer or vendor is often persuaded to lock it to prevent running anything but Windows. Disable fast boot and secure boot, try with and without UEFI, if it is possible to change these settings in the boot (BIOS) menu system!

But if you are running Linux Mint, it should run also Ubuntu, which indicates that the problem is the USB drive.

Have you tested more than one USB port?

[sudodus]

I posted an updated version of a script to make the dd cloning method much safer. It is the same command as in post #5, but you are guided by the script, which reduces the risk to write to the wrong drive.

See this link to the tutorial

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1958073

[DiagonalArg]

I reported the issue to the unetbootin forum. There was an error in unetbootin that has been corrected, but I am still having problems. You can have a look here:

https://answers.launchpad.net/unetbootin/+question/230199

Version 584 was just pushed through to my ubuntu update today.

[DiagonalArg]

(Note there that if I remove "persistent" from the boot script, things work. Getting persistence to work is now my issue.)

[sudodus]

I have tested Ubuntu's startup disk creator for a few days. usb-creator-gtk is buggy in Lubuntu 13.04 and 13.10, but works in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. But I know


usb-creator-kde

works in most (probably all) versions, also to create persistence. But if you already have a USB live system, you can make it persistent manually. See these links

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1885392&p=11546560#post11546560

and

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/how-to-create-a-larger-casper-rw-loop-file/ (http://www.pendrivelinux.com/how-to-create-a-larger-casper-rw-loop-file/)

[codymsisson]

I re-downlodd the 13.04 iso and purchased a new USB. Using UNetbootin, I received the same currupt kernel error. I then tried with USB Image Creator and the iso booted up just fine. Thank you for taking the ime to help. I apprciate it.

[amireldor]

I seem to be having the same issue with Ubuntu 13.10. It happens with both Ubuntu and Ubuntu-GNOME. The ".iso" is fine. Correct md5sum and also working on a virtual machine.

It must be the persistence stuff DiagonalArg mentioned... Though I never enabled any persistence features when I tried burning the iso to the USB drive. With UNetbootin, I chose 0MB on the 'reserve space' control. Moreover, I tried with 'dd' and the booting did not work. Maybe a bug should be reported?

[sudodus]

Hi amireldor,

If the md5sum is correct, chances are very high, that the iso file is correct too.

Please describe your situation in more detail!

- What is going wrong? Please describe in detail how it fails!
- What hardware have you got? Pendrive, Computer brand name and model? The pendrive and computer might not 'like' each other. See this link (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick#Prerequisites) and this link (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick#Booting_the_Computer_from_USB).
- What version of Ubuntu 13.10 in the computer where you run Unetbootin? 32-bit or 64-bit? Is it updated to the lastest update/upgrade?
- What version of Unetbootin?

Have you tried to boot another computer with the pendrive?

I am amazed that the dd method failed for you and suggest that you try the dd method with mkusb, that makes that method safer. See Ubuntu Forums tutorial "Howto make USB boot drives"
(http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1958073)

[amireldor]

Hi sudodus, thanks for the response!


Computer: ASUS NS55SF latptop
Image: Ubuntu GNOME amd64
Pendrives tested: SanDisk 4GB and a Transcend 16GB which I got my hands on just now.

I've just tried these pendrives and reporting back:

Windows 7 using UNetbootin 583 to Transcend.
"Error loading operating system", there was no UNetbootin boot menu. Also worth noting is that the pendrive was not formattet. The files that were on it before were still there after UNetbootin did its magic.

I then booted to (an already installed) Debian 7 and tried `dd` without any `bs=...` block size options to the same Transcend. Booted, and it worked! I decided to test the SanDisk, so I booted the Debian again and `dd` with `bs=...`, rebooted from the SabDisk. I got to the GNOME boot menu, but when I tried the "test without installing" option I got a bad kernel image.

It is strange however, that the same SanDisk pendrive was used to install that Debian about a week ago.

The SanDisk might be faulty, or have some funny secret software in it from SanDisk that wants to manage my files happily, and it is not removed after formats.

IIRC, I used a UNetbootin from the Debian repositories also (before), and when booting, I could choose different options from the UNetbootin menu, but they fail with the invalid/corrut kernel image message (Ubuntu GNOME 13.10 with correct md5sum). Some other options from the menu do manage to boot *something* but it fails with some "squash.fs" error or something related. This also happened on another computer, though not tested thoroughly.

[sudodus]

If cloning/flashing with dd works from Debian, I'm pretty sure it works from an Ubuntu flavour operating system too. I have good experiences from Sandisk Cruzer Blade 4GB, but there might be other Sandisk models with problems, or as you wrote, it might be faulty.

Some versions of Unetbootin might not work well, particularly with a new version of an operating system. Usually such problems are fixed some weeks after the release date of that OS version. But dd is old and very well debugged. I think it does not need much updates between OS versions. There are reasons though, why it is nick-named 'disk destroyer', and that is why I made mkusb to make flashing with dd safer. See this link (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1958073).

I don't think any software files survive on a pendrive when you flash the iso file to it with dd, because it overwrites the drive at a low level beginning at the bootloader. There might be data content from files behind the end of the image of the iso file, but there is no way a file system can know about it. Tools like PhotoRec might find it. And if there is a read only part of the pendrive with a CD-rom-like partition, it will stay, but it will usually not interfere with booting from the 'normal' part of the pendrive, where you can edit partitions, add file systems etc.