elementary OS

cannot install freya "boot record missing"

Asked by Paula Fether

I've used UNetbootin on both my ASUS N56V laptop (intel core 17-3610QM, 2.3GH) and an older Dell Inspiron zino HD to download elementaryos-freya-amd64.20150411.iso and create a bootable USB stick. But regardless of which machine downloaded the ISO and created the USB boot drive, the Dell says that the boot record is missing. Both USB burns went smoothly and gave no errors. Both machines are currently running Luna 0.2.1.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
elementary OS Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
bonbonboi
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
bonbonboi (bonbonboi) said : 		#1

Hello Paula,
How did you image your USB flash memory disk?

Revision history for this message
Paula Fether (plaf) said : 		#2

Hi bonbonboi,

I used UNetbootin and chose the ISO I had downloaded manually. Also, the flash drive is a 16GB PNY.

Revision history for this message
Paula Fether (plaf) said : 		#3

Correction: the precise error message is "no default or UI configuration directive found!", and then it asks for "boot:". I also tried a different USB port in case the other port had just gone bad or something. If I just boot normally and look at the contents of the stick, everything seems to be there as far as I can tell.

Revision history for this message
Best bonbonboi (bonbonboi) said : 		#4

I see, give it a try with dd command, steps: 1- insert your usb stick 2- unmount usb stick 3- open terminal and issue this command (change numbers to reflect your system's settings) $sudo dd bs=4M if=[ur.iso] of=/dev/sd[that 1 letter]
e.g.: sudo dd bs=4M if=elementaryos-freya-i386.20150411.iso of=/dev/sdb 5- wait till it finish 4- try again to boot the other laptop with that usb stick.

Revision history for this message
Paula Fether (plaf) said : 		#5

I tried what you said, and here's the exact terminal line I entered:

sudo dd bs=4M if=elementaryos-freya-amd64.20150411.iso of=/dev/sdb6

I got the 6 from entering lsusb

But unfortunately it still gives the same error. I also made sure the stick was unmounted before running the dd command.

Revision history for this message
Paula Fether (plaf) said : 		#6

Update: realized that I wasn't supposed to put the 6 at the end and it seems to be booting now. Thanks!

Revision history for this message
bonbonboi (bonbonboi) said : 		#7

You welcome.

Revision history for this message
Paula Fether (plaf) said : 		#8

Thanks bonbonboi, that solved my question.