Ubuntu

ISOs burned from 12.04 will not boot

Asked by Gene Bray

Downloaded 12.10 i386 desktop iso from Ubuntu. Burned image per instructions on Ubuntu site for making bootable DVD. The DVD will not boot on a AMD dual processor system (AMD MPX 2000+ w/2GB memory & 72 GB of HD space on a SCSI HD system) with a Sony DRU-830A DVD/CD reader/writer. Tried to burn directly from prompts after inserting a blank DVD; Nautilis crashed every time I attempted this. Burned from K3b (my preferred burner) and the DVD would not boot. Burned from Brasero; same result. Not really surprised since I suspect these burner all use the same underlying software to actually burn the DVD. The DVDs will all boot on two other systems. I cannot ever remember having any issues with burning DVDs and booting on this system. As an alternative, I tried a Linux Format DVD (LXF 166). The computer boots to the live OS, I start the install process, but the installer crashes after I provide the user ID information (installer disappears and quits, and I can start the process again from the live OS. I have the same issue in making a bootable image for Linux Mint 13. I have made bootable CDs or DVDs for every version of Ubuntu starting with 9.04 and Linux Mint starting around 10. Now 12.10 will not boot. Very frustrated right now over not being able to install 12.10 or Mint 13 (Mint 14 requires PAE which is not supported on the system which will not boot the DVDs I'm making).

How do I get a bootable (and installable) version of 12.10?

Tonight I burned both ISOs on a different computer (running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS) and get the same results with regard to the DVDs not booting. My conclusion is the issue is not related to the computer on which I burn the DVDs but in the burn process.

Just burned the DVD using Windows 7 and the default MS burner. Same result. DVD will not boot.

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Gene Bray
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Revision history for this message
Thomas Schmitt (scdbackup) said : 		#1

Everything points to the DVD drive by which you want to boot.
It seems that it cannot properly read your DVDs whereas other
drives can.

And no, not all burn backends are the same.
K3b probably used growisofs for burning, Brasero probably used
my libburn.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

Did you MD5 test the ISO you downloaded?

Revision history for this message
Gene Bray (genebray) said : 		#3

@ Andrew. Yes the MD5 check sum was checked and is valid.

@ Thomas. Thank you for your comment on the back ends.

@ All. What I do not understand is why the DVD reader in the target machine will boot commercial (i.e., Linux Format and others) DVDs with out issue and will not boot what is burned from Ubuntu or Windows when I burn the Ubuntu 12.10 iso or Linux Mint 13 iso.

I am doing more testing to see if I can find more detail which might help.

Tested Ubuntu 12.04 LTS iso. DVD version will not boot. CD will. Linux Mint 13 with either Mate or Cinnamon desktop will not bot. Tested with multiple commercial DVDs from Linux publishers like Linux Format and Linux User. All their DVDs will boot.

It would appear the issue has to do with either the way the Ubuntu 12.04 writes the DVD which I doubt since writing the DVD using Windows default burner the DVDs will not boot in the target computer. Or, more likely, what is written to the boot record on the DVD is not recognized by the target system so it does not think the source is bootable.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#4

Try a non-Debian based distribution like Mandriva.

Revision history for this message
Thomas Schmitt (scdbackup) said : 		#5

> the target machine will boot commercial (i.e., Linux Format and others) DVDs
> with out issue

Well, if these are factory-pressed DVD-ROM or CD-ROM, then their
physical properties differ much from those of burned DVD.

> Or, more likely, what is written to the boot record on the DVD is not
> recognized by the target system so it does not think the source is bootable.

Lemme see.
  http://artfiles.org/linuxmint.com/linuxmint.com//stable/13/linuxmint-13-cinnamon-dvd-64bit.iso

It is made by genisoimage, has an isohybrid MBR for BIOS, El Torito for BIOS,
no GPT for EFI, no El Torito for EFI.
The El Torito record points to file /isolinux/isolinux.bin.

Looks quite conventional. Not the most modern ISOLINUX setup
(which would have GPT and EFI El Torito), but well in use since
years.

> I tried a Linux Format DVD (LXF 166). The computer boots to the live OS,

In that case, the boot record worked. Everything else is a matter of
DVD filesystem content.
I still suspect that the DVD drive produces read errors.

> Yes the MD5 check sum was checked and is valid.

I assume you checked the image file.
Did you check whether the DVD is fully readable by the drive in
question ?

If you have installed program "isosize", do:

blocks=$(expr $(isosize linuxmint-13-cinnamon-dvd-64bit.iso) / 2048)
echo "Blocks: $blocks"
dd if=/dev/dvd bs=2048 count=$blocks | md5sum

Watch for error messages of dd. Compare the reported MD5 with the one
of the image.

Revision history for this message
Thomas Schmitt (scdbackup) said : 		#6

It comes to me that you do not need program "isosize" because you
have the original image. Obtain its size by e.g. "ls -l" and divide it
by 2048. That will be the value for dd option "count=".

Revision history for this message
Gene Bray (genebray) said : 		#7

Looks like the problem is resolved with regard to the booting. Was able to boot a Ubuntu User DVD and watch the install process after the Ubuntu splash screen came up via F1 key. Noted lots of IO errors. Cleaned DVD read/write head and now it will boot DVDs that I produce.

Apologies for opening a ticket on a hardware issue that I should be resolved on my own.

Another problem which is occurring and I will open a new ticket(s) on it. Ubuntu 12.10 Live install crashes and locks the computer during Live install. Ubuntu 12.10 install crashes. Will get log files for new trouble ticket. Linux Mint Maya (13) Live boots without issue. Linux Mint Maya install crashes. Have the log files from that.

Thank you for your help and again my apologies.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#8

Mint is not supported by the Ubuntu community. It has its own support and community

Revision history for this message
Gene Bray (genebray) said : 		#9

I know Mint has its own support community. That is where I posted the bug. Added the comment here because Mint uses a lot of Ubuntu and the issue(s) maybe related.