New User: failed trying to create a bootable flash drive on Windows XP

[T6&sfpER35%]

i could never get a distro to install from a USB , I use DVD instead and it never failed .

[mastablasta]

i could never get a distro to install from a USB , I use DVD instead and it never failed .

this usually solves it. make sure you burn as image.

also you can try another USB boot creator like balena etcher, yumi or linuxliveUSB cretaor (lili). sometimes they ar enot up to date and they do not create the image well and for osme reason i couldn't get certain images working. balena etcher seem to be doing it well.

balena: https://www.balena.io/etcher/
yumi: https://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-m...t-usb-creator/
lili: https://www.linuxliveusb.com/

• Your machine is old and under-powered. I have a Dell Optiplex that is almost identical—a little more powerful in fact. It will run Ubuntu like a pig on a poke. Better to run Xubuntu, Mate, Budgie or Lubuntu on that dinosaur.
• If you have not changed anything on it, then the video subsystem will be a real pain in the neck. It will likely choke and die on a modern OS. If you can, change the video card for something more powerful.

this is true. video chip is actually the issue here. i have same CPU o(or from same era i think mine has higher Ghz). but i have GT 730 nvidia card inside and can run many newish games (let's say up to about 2013 and some new indie games) without issues. i also have windows XP on the other disk. i went with Kubuntu instead of Ubuntu. you need free space (un-formatted) or empty disk to install the OS to. i made the move with empty disk.

widnows XP is not such an issue as long with working antivirus and firewall. it's been 2 years since i ran it last. i kept it on the other disk while i am trying to get my favourite games from there to run on linux. i made a small shortcut called boot2win, that would reboot a PC to windows only once. this was made so that my kid could easily switch to windows games. but we moved many to linux now and he got himself a better PC, and he now plays new games in linux there. when i get a new PC i plan to move all stuff to linux and use VM for any windows only things. not many remain so far. so i haven't booted windows in 1 and a half year as i can get most stuff to run in wine/playonlinux or proton. ž

performance? well widnows XP had 4 GB ram with PAE kernel + dedicated/separte GPU VRAM, but didn't really utilise it well. much of ram was taken by windows and antivirus stuff. on linux about 450 MB is take by OS, the rest is free for apps. games generally work better. some are working slightly slower and produce some lag (Oblivion, Hitman). not quite sure how to get around it. i am sure there is a setting or library i could use but do not have too much time to tinker. if i had a new CPU they would work with no issues. overall performance is a lot better than on windows XP.

[caseyatthebat]

Dear Esteemed Forum Mates:

Here's the latest:

Gave up on ShopLinuxOnline.com; they never replied, not sending my credit card into the unknown!

Action: Reformatted the USB stick with FAT32, used UniversalUSBInstaller with Ubuntu-Mate 18.04.5 to make a new LiveUSB.

Result: 1. Boot attempt on Dell E521; same USB-Zip; no boot
2. Tried on old Dell Inspiron 5100 Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.40GHz 384MB RAM;it loaded! VERY SLOW; desktop worked; doesn't connect to internet, times out.
Re-booted, chose Check Disk For Errors, no errors found.
Figured the laptop didn't have enough resources.

Back to Dell E521

Actions: 1. Made bootable DVD on the DVD-RW drive (Properties said it was working properly)
Used Ubuntu-mate 18.04.5 with CDBurnerXP to burn. It said it was successful

Results: 1. Booted on the laptop but chugged and chugged and froze up on desktop; rebooted, chose Check Disk For Errors, no errors found.
Figured not enough resources again.
2. E521: F12> DVD-RW>enter
Boots but doesn't load. Long error messages and suggestions about what to do; I don't understand it.

Here goes:

[   0.381341] .. MP_BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO_APIC
[   0.739823] do_IRQ:0.55 No irq handler for vector
[   0.819698] Kernel panic-not syncing:IOAPIC+timer doesn't work Boot with apic=debug and send a report. Then try booting with the 'noapic' option.
[   0.819749] CPU:0_PID:0Comm:swapper/0 Not tainted 5.4.0-42generic #46~18.04.1 Ubuntu
[   0.819792] Hardware name: Dell Dimension E521/0UW457, BIOS 1.1.4_12/09/12006
[   0.819835] Call Trace:
[   0.819884] dump_stack+0c60/0c86
[   0.819926] panic+0xa8/0x276
[   0.819967] check_timer_0x5a5/0x5db
[   0.820007] ? radix_tree_lookup+0xc/0x10
[   0.820049] ? irq_to_desc+0x14/0x20
[   0.820088] setup_IO_APIC+ox150/0x199
[   0.820128] apic_intr_mode_init+0x108/0x10f
[   0.820168] x86_late_time_init+0x1d.0x24
[   0.820208] start_kernel+0x428l/0x4e6
[   0.820248] i386_start_kernel+0x5l/0x53
[   0.820288] startup_32_smp+0x164/0x168
[   0.820336] --- [End kernel panic - not syncing:IO-APIC +timer doesn't work
! Boot with apic=debug and send a report. Then try booting with the 'noapic'option.]---

So the kernel is in a panic and it has something to do with timing in the BIOS but I don't know what to do with the suggestions.

Getting closer but no cigar yet! Learning things, that's good! Any directions for me? Many, many thanks!

[CelticWarrior]

[ 0.819698] Kernel panic-not syncing:IOAPIC+timer doesn't work Boot
with apic=debug and send a report. Then try booting with the 'noapic' option.

If using the old BIOS boot then in the same screen where you're asked for language selection you should see an additional menu at the bottom with one of the options being F6. Inside there should be the 'noapic' option among others.

Is this your Dell Dimension E521? Yes, it's quite underpowered in current standards but should work with light DE variants like Ubuntu-MATE, Xubuntu or Lubuntu. Use 64-bit for continuity of usage, 32-bit is as good as dead at least in what concerns the Ubuntu family.

[DuckHook]

…Getting closer but no cigar yet! Learning things, that's good!

An admirable sentiment. Most new users throw up their hands with extreme frustration when they run into problems as difficult as yours. Kudos to your good cheer and tenacity.

Perhaps you can try what the error message itself suggests:

…try booting with the 'noapic' option.

During the boot process, instead of letting GRUB automatically run through to the login screen, insert the noapic option into the kernel as a boot parameter. General instructions for adding boot parameters are here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

Old, but you can probably still get the general idea.

There's another hint in your error output which I've highlighted:

[   0.381341] .. MP_BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO_APIC

…so you can try upgrading your BIOS. I don't know anything about your MOBO so you would have to research how to do that on your own.

If you are feeling especially generous with your time and patience, you can also try booting with the debug option set, then send the log to the kernel maintainers, but this is a lot to ask of a newbie.

Perhaps best to forget about contributing back just yet and stick to solving the boot issue.