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Thread: Trying to install Lubuntu on an old laptop. Installation gets stuck on the "Preparing

  1. #11
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    Oct 2017
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    Re: Trying to install Lubuntu on an old laptop. Installation gets stuck on the "Prepa

    Interesting, I tried that and now I get, "An attempt to configure apt to install additional packages from the CD failed"
    It told me that the installation finished, I restarted, and it just boots to a black screen with a blinking underscore. Do I need to manually configure some sort of boot menu or something? or did the installation actually fail?

    By the way for the first 20 gigs, by "unused" did you mean unallocated? because thats what I have it as right now right now.

    EDIT: Tried again and now I get an [Errno 30] Read-only file system: '/target/boot/vmlinuz-4.10.0-19- generic'

    So it appears that the hard disk is not in good shape. I wish there was some way to at least install the OS. I was never planning on putting important information on the laptop. It'd just be nice to have a functioning (free) laptop to be able to take places, rather than lug my desktop.
    Last edited by mateoamero; October 20th, 2017 at 11:28 PM.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
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    Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
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    Ubuntu Development Release

    Re: Trying to install Lubuntu on an old laptop. Installation gets stuck on the "Prepa

    I'm don't know if Lubuntu comes with gnome-disk (disks) app, it likely doesn't being a 'lightweight' O.S.. If there were a way to install and run 'disks' or an app with similar function, you could check the SMART status and see if there were disk errors. I'm not positive but I think Xubuntu includes the 'disks' app on the live image. On an older machine, it's well to check the condition of the RAM and hard drive. Hard drives don't live forever and a spinning hard drives in a portable machine that may be moved or bumped while reading/writing is at greater risk IMO.

    I had a somewhat similar problem with an older machine born with Windows ME so vintage around year 2000. It simply would not install Lubuntu, Xubuntu or their variants. I think it was a video incompatibility but I was able to install MX15. I would think any machine that would run Windows XP should be able to install the lighter *buntus. SODIMMs are pretty cheap on Ebay if you want to upgrade this machine and if adding memory doesn't involve much disassembly.
    Last edited by kurt18947; October 21st, 2017 at 02:26 PM.

  3. #13
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    Nov 2011
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    /dev/root
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    Hidden!

    Re: Trying to install Lubuntu on an old laptop. Installation gets stuck on the "Prepa

    Lubuntu does come with Disks alias gnome-disks. And I think it is a good idea to use it to check the S.M.A.R.T. data of the disk. See this link,

    Answer at AskUbuntu - scroll to 'Maybe the disk hardware is damaged'

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
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    Re: Trying to install Lubuntu on an old laptop. Installation gets stuck on the "Prepa

    Sorry for the late reply, it is not often I have the time to mess with this old laptop. I have tried the Disks program, and initially it said "Disk is OK" but with a few thousand or so "Bad sectors".

    I then tried doing a Self-test, and now it says SELF-TEST FAILED. I have tried the Short, Extended and Conveyance tests. I am not knowledgeable at all of this type of stuff so I am not really sure what this means. Does it mean that this laptop is trash? If so it is no big deal to me. The laptop is definitely not worth trying to replace the hard drive in my opinion if that is the only option. Could I try making the proposed linux partition even smaller and then installing?

  5. #15
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    Re: Trying to install Lubuntu on an old laptop. Installation gets stuck on the "Prepa

    I'm afraid that the hard disk drive is bad. It might not be worthwhile to buy a new hard disk drive, but you might find a used one in another old computer.

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
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    Reykjavík, Ísland
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    13,647
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    Xubuntu

    Re: Trying to install Lubuntu on an old laptop. Installation gets stuck on the "Prepa

    Quote Originally Posted by mateoamero View Post
    By the way for the first 20 gigs, by "unused" did you mean unallocated? because thats what I have it as right now right now.
    You could try to leave a big chunk (80 GB) unallocated and see if it works better using only the last 40.

    Have you tried installing from the minimal ISO?
    Last edited by mörgæs; October 25th, 2017 at 08:36 AM.
    Bringing old hardware back to life. About problems due to upgrading.
    Please visit Quick Links -> Unanswered Posts.
    Don't use this space for a list of your hardware. It only creates false hits in the search engines.

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