HP DV6 Not recognizing MX18.1 installation Thumb Drive

[wnmatson]

Gentlemen,

I have a very old HP laptop

wayne@wayne-HP-ENVY-dv6-Notebook-PC:~$ inxi -f
CPU:       Dual core AMD A6-4400M APU with Radeon HD Graphics (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB
           clock speeds: max: 2700 MHz 1: 1407 MHz 2: 1540 MHz
           CPU Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm aes aperfmperf apic arat avx bmi1 clflush cmov cmp_legacy constant_tsc
           cpb cpuid cr8_legacy cx16 cx8 de decodeassists extapic extd_apicid f16c flushbyasid fma fma4 fpu fxsr
           fxsr_opt ht hw_pstate ibs lahf_lm lbrv lm lwp mca mce misalignsse mmx mmxext monitor msr mtrr
           nodeid_msr nonstop_tsc nopl npt nrip_save nx osvw pae pat pausefilter pclmulqdq pdpe1gb perfctr_core
           perfctr_nb pfthreshold pge pni popcnt pse pse36 rdtscp rep_good sep skinit ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2
           sse4a ssse3 svm svm_lock syscall tbm tce topoext tsc tsc_scale vmcb_clean vme vmmcall wdt xop xsave

I have tried installing or running LIVE, perhaps 5 different Ubuntu based distros, all installed and performed fine. I have also tried installing non Ubuntu based distros including MX Linux 18.1, none allowed installation on the HP.

In the case of non Ubuntu based, upon booting from usb stick into bios, my system would not even recognize the installation medium, and so of course I was not able to select it to boot from.

Can anybody suggest what differences there may be between Ubuntu based and non Ubuntu based installation media, and how I may correct for this dilemma?

Thank you Gentlemen

[j2mcgreg]

Computers of that vintage rarely had the capability to boot via USB.

According to the specs on this site:

https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-dv6/

your laptop is equipped with a DVD burner. Your best bet for success would be to burn the MX18.1 iso to a dvd and then use that dvd as an install source.

[Stevo]

Computers of that vintage rarely had the capability to boot via USB.

According to the specs on this site:

https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-dv6/

your laptop is equipped with a DVD burner. Your best bet for success would be to burn the MX18.1 iso to a dvd and then use that dvd as an install source.

Except that Ubuntu USB sticks don't have any trouble booting with it. It might come down to what program the MX stick is being created with, but the DVD option should work 100%, assuming that the checksums for the ISO are good.

[BitJam]

Since Ubuntu does boot, I don't think making a dvd will help. I think it is probably a BIOS configuration issue. A Google(linux on HP-ENVY dv6 Notebook PC) found other reports of similar problems including a complaint that a live-cd/dvd would not boot. One thing that worked for someone was to disable secure boot (and enable legacy boot) in the BIOS/UEFI settings (assuming the machine has UEFI).

I'm not certain your machine has UEFI since that depends on the exact model name/number. Perhaps you can find a solution if you do a similar search. I'd sure like to know why Ubuntu works while the others don't but we don't have enough information (yet).

[wnmatson]

Thank you gentlemen,

Booting from DVD results are same as attempting booting from USB stick.

Additional Info:

Notebook Model: HP Envy dv6 Notebook PC
Product Number: C2M17UA#ABA
System Board ID: 182D
Bios Version: F23
Bios Vendor: Insyde
Ser. Number: 2CE3030TB3

From the Bios boot menu, there is a choice to "Boot from EFI File. I see nothing about UEFI or Legacy on this machine.
Perhaps this machine is just to old?

Tnx

[Stevo]

I used to have just about the exact same laptop (from late 2012 or so, I think). The model # is the same, as are the CPU and APU/GPU. It did come with Windows 8, UEFI, and Secure Boot, but after some messing around with Windows, I just switched it in the "BIOS" to legacy boot and wiped out Windows in favor of MEPIS 12 at the time. I was able to boot and install from a USB stick, though I forget how I made it--maybe with Unetbootin at the time.

Do you have Secure Boot turned off in the UEFI setup?

At least on many Acer laptops, the Insyde BIOS also requires you to set a security password before you can access many of the security options.

[wnmatson]

Further:

Both Ubuntu based and non Ubuntu based USB installation medium were tried having been burned with "Etcher" and again with "MX18 - USB Image writer" tool. No difference, No Joy!

[BitJam]

Again, I suggest you use a search engine to see how others have solved this problem
Googe(linux HP Envy dv6 Notebook PC).

Here was one solution: HP Envy dv6 laptop unable to boot to Linux, Live CD's, etc.

I'm still very curious about why Ubuntu is able to boot without having to change BIOS settings. If you make a live-usb with a live-usb-maker program on MX then you could try mounting the main partition and creating a hidden file and directory. Let's say it is mounted at /media/MX-live-usb/

Code: Select all

cd /media/MX-live-usb
sudo mkdir .disk
sudo cp version .disk/info
cd

This is a wild stab in the dark. You could also try changing to EFI booting. EFI is an earlier name for UEFI.

[wnmatson]

I got into BIOS, "Secure boot" is now disabled, "Legacy Support is now enabled. When rebooting the machine and tapping F9 it enters BIOS and gives me a list of boot devices, which NOW shows the USB stick containing MX18. However when the MX18 USB Stick is selected,, it responds "Unknown File System" and "Kernel Must Be Loaded First". This same USB Stick was used to install MX18 on this System76 Kudu Pro, and worked just fine!

I have tried EFI with no joy, In the past I have as you suggested searched the web in general for others with same problem/cures. As you may have noticed their machine either loads Linux LIVE or not, mine however handles Ubuntu based USB installation media wonderfully, non-Ubuntu based USB installation media will not even load!

The same non-Ubuntu based USB installation media that "will not work" on the HP, will work on my System76. I always verify my MD5SUM upon download completion, and use a recognized GUI LIVE USB burning app.

I am by no means an expert on such matters, however it seems of logic that there must be a difference in the system or methods used by non-Ubuntu based USB installation media and Ubuntu-based. Most machines may not notice the difference, mine does!

I was hoping there might be an easy resolve that I had missed???

I thank one and all for the efforts you have put into this issue, and apologize for the frustration!

I will check back here on a daily basis.

Thanks to All!

[BitJam]

It looks like you're making some progress!

How are you making the live-usb? Does the "Unknown File System" error occur before or after you get to the bootloader screen? If you are not doing it already, I suggest you try making a live-usb with a tool that uses the "dd" command such as our dd-live-usb CLI tool. I believe it is also an option in the GUI live-usb-maker tools.

Edit: Since you have already made a live-dvd, I think you should be able to get the live-dvd to boot using the right BIOS settings. This might have been the solution in the link I posted above. The live-dvd and a "dd" live-usb are the same bit for bit so they have the same file system.