linux - Can't boot OS from USB drive, showing black screen with blinking cursor

06
2014-01
  • Bibo

    I have a problem with booting from a USB flash drive. I have Acer TimelineX 3820TG. I have Windows 7 Home from Acer and I installed Mandriva OS from USB(from USB because this Acer doen't have a DVD drive). It was OK, but I want reinstall Windows 7 and so I did. Now I have Windows 7 Professional and it wrote over Mandriva's GRUB.

    It wasn't a big problem. For a while I was just using Windows 7 but now I am thinking that I need some OS with Linux and I am thinking about Ubuntu. But when I tried to boot from USB with Ubuntu I get a black screen with a blinking cursor after the BIOS POST.

    I was trying many applications to create a bootable USB drive and many versions of Ubuntu (and other Linux distributions), but nothing worked. I tried to Google for answers but I found many problems where all booting goes to black screen but in my problem Windows 7 boots fine from disc but from USB doesn't work.
    Can anyone help me?

    • Answers
  • Nathaniel Bannister

    Just to make sure I'm getting the right question:

    • Your computer is an Acer TimelineX 3820TG, which as a mobility unit has no optical drive
    • The computer shipped with Windows 7 Home Premium
    • You wiped it with Mandriva which you installed sucessfully via USB
    • You decided you didn't like Mandriva and reformatted the computer with Windows 7 Professional, also from a USB Key
    • You decided that you'd like to dual boot with Ubuntu/
    • However after multiple attempts to create a USB Install disk, including using the Universal USB Installer, you can't get the machine to go past the blinking cursor

    It sounds like your flash drive may be the issue here and it may need to be re-paritioned.

    Did you try checking the Erase flash drive box in the U-USB Installer?


    • Related Question

    boot - Arch Linux shows a blinking cursor instead of a booting installer
  • fakedrake

    Arch Linux shows a blinking cursor instead of a booting installer. I ran

    sudo dd if=archlinux-2010.05-core-i686.iso of=/dev/sdb1

    and checked the MD5 sums.

    I tried to boot it on two different PCs and got the same result: instead of booting GRUB — or anything useful, for that matter — it just showed a blinking cursor at the top left corner of the screen.

    The machines became unresponsive to any kind of input, the flash drive LED didn't seem to blink or shiver at all and there seemed to be no other activity whatsoever.

    I tried using another flash drive, but the machine completely ignored it, booting Windows "normally."


    • Related Answers
  • cjh

    You are meant to copy it to the device itself, not a partition, so it should have been

    sudo dd if=archlinux-2010.05-core-i686.iso of=/dev/sdb

    The problem is the computer is looking at /dev/sdb and seeing nothing there (grub would usually reside here on a normal partition) and either booting windows or doing nothing. You need to copy the install media into the root of the device so that your BIOS can find it.

    Please see here for more information https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Official_Arch_Linux_Install_Guide#Preparing_the_Installation_Media