bootable USB installation not booting
 

Hello, so I followed a tutorial on YouTube and used balenaEtcher to burn Mint Cinnamon on a USB. When I access the boot menu in the BIOS the USB device is present but when I click Enter on it nothing happens. This is true for 2 old PCs running obsolete Windows (7 & 10 respectively) that I am trying to give new life to with a Linux OS. However, on a third PC (even older and previously running Windows 7), the installation process was as smooth as the tutorial.
Therefore, if it isn't a matter of the USB not working, nor the PC being too old..what is the issue? And how can install Linux using the USB? (I've also tried booting lighter distros to see whether that might help but I get nothing every time I click Enter, regardless of the distro I'm trying to boot via USB.
Thank you in advance for your kind attention

In bios disable secure boot, fast boot. May have to disable fast boot under windows advance power settings.

Which release version of Mint are you using? You could post the actual name of the iso file. Mint iso files should be capable of booting and installing in both UEFI and Legacy/CSM mode.

Do you have an option to boot the USB in UEFI mode as well as Legacy? Are the windows installs on the computers which don't boot UEFI. What hardware (manufacturer) are you using?

Welcome to LQ, johnnylanza.

Ignore this if you know what you are doing. A common newbie error in building a boot usb is to run <dd if=some.iso of=/dev/sdX1>

That leaves in the patrition table, which causes issues. The correct syntax is <dd if=some.iso of=/dev/sdX> You write to the drive, and lose whatever is on the partitions, but it boots.

I am using the latest version from their website Mint Cinnamon 21.3 64-bit. I believe this PC is able to boot in Legacy as well as UEFI. The manufacturer on the one that I'm having issues with is ACER, the other is Packard Bell (which i eventually managed to boot from USB and install Mint Cinnamon, please refer to the update thay I posted in the main thread). Many thanks for your assistance.

I definitely don't know what I'm doing so I appreciate all the help I can get! I'm a total noob and not very tech savvy, I simply go online and follow tutorials. So I must ask for more detailed instructions if you can bare with me. I I wrote a more or less detailed step by step guide in the main thread that allowed me to boot from USB, but while it worked on one laptop the other is still giving me problems. Thank you very much for your assistance.

One PC (Pakard Bell) i can only access through BIOS (as I don't have a password for Windows), and the options available under Main are Quiet Boot (Display the logo screen during boot) & Network Boot (Disables or enables PXE boot to LAN), both of which are Enabled. Keep in mind that I am not very tech savvy.

The other PC (ACER) i have access to Windows, accessed the Settings and selected Restart under Advanced Reboot and it just got stuck rebooting in Windows (do not turn your PC off showed up)...so I powered it off and back on again and accessed the BIOS using F2, and under Main both Network Boot and F12 Boot Menu are Disabled. Under Boot on the other hand Secure Boot is Enabled.
I pressed F5 to Change Values and Secure boot/ UEFI simply dissappeared from the screen, saved changes and rebooted but nothing happened..so I pressed Enter on Secure boot and pressed F9 (Setup Default) and then F10 (Save and Exit). Upon a fresh boot the Secure boot/UEFI was visible again.
Nothing seems to change even after fiddling around...sorry for the lengthy step-by-step description, I'm not very tech savvy, but thank you so much for your input.

What is the name of the iso you are using? On the acer with the usb plugged in, press the esc key at power up, do you get a option for a boot menu?

If these computers are only capable of booting in Legacy then they are likely ten or more years old. How much RAM do you have on each computer? Did you compare the minimum hardware requirements for Mint with the specs of your computers? When you boot either computer and access the BIOS, do you see any reference to UEFI?

UPDATE:
I power up the PC, press F2 to access BIOS.
under Main, I enabled F12 Boot Menu (prevously disabled), then press F10 (Save & Exit), then powered off.
powered the PC up again and press F12, the USB is visible so select and press Enter

On the Packard Bell the USB loads Linux Mint Cinnamon 21.3 and I am able to see the desktop and everything seems to be fine, so I will proceed installing.

On the Acer however, I'm still having issues:
-if i start Linux in compatability mode i am able to get all the way to the desktop, but the mouse on the laptop is not recognized (I also tried with a wireless mouse and nothing happens, unfortunately i do not have a wired mouse to try and see if works).
if i Start Linux normally it will show the Mint logo and for a few seconds i am able to move the mouse around, but then the second the desktop appears it ends up booting back to ACER and then Windows...


By pressing F2 I enter the BIOS, enable F12 Boot menu. Then in Boot there is:
Boot Mode: [UEFI] under which there is
Secure Boot: [Enabled]
I then select Boot Mode and select Legacy, after which Secure Boot disappears and the Boot Mode is in Legacy. I save and exit by pressing F10.
Restarting the PC now the Linux screen is the official one, while in UEFI the options to boot Linux were in GNU GRUB. In the first case, when I start Linux it causes a recurring loop in which I always return to the Mint screen to start Linux, while in the second case with UEFI enabled I finally get to the Mint desktop but only for a second, then it automatically restarts with Windows ...I apologize but I'm not very tech savvy, I don't know a lot of the terminology and procedures.

Thank you all for all kind assistance and continued help

I now seem to be able to boot the USB, after pressing F2 to access the BIOS, under Main I enabled the F12 Boot Menu. So when i power up the PC again i press F12 and that brings me to a different BIOS from where i can see the USB, I press Enter and now I am able to boot from USB.
However, under Boot in BIOS, there is:
Boot Mode: (UEFI) and directly under it is
Secure Boot: (Enabled)
after which I select Boot Mode and select Legacy, which deletes Secure Boot, now it is in Legacy.
I save changes and exit with F10.

Restarting the PC in Legacy the screen now presents the Linux official start-up page with the option to run Linux, I press Enter but after some time it just loops back to the start-up screen.
Restarting the PC in UEFI on the other hand presents the Linux start-up menu in GNU GRUB, which eventually loads the desktop but only for a second, after which the PC just reboots in Windows...

The PCs are not that old and I have been successful on installing Mint Cinnamon on an even older PC so I didn't bother to check the specs as it should definitely work on this.
Thank you for all your assistance

The name of the ISO is Mint Cinnamon 21.3 (i hope i understood the question). Please check out my latest post in the thread where I outline the steps i followed. They worked on the Packard Bell, but the ACER is still giving me headaches.

Some Acers require a supervisor password in the BIOS firmware to make changes that would allow you to install another OS. You might try setting that.

The thing is i can boot other live USBs such as AntiX or Puppy Racy without passowrd, and seemingly regardless of whether i boot in UEFI or Legacy. So I might wrong but I don't think that's the issue. It's strange because I'm not having any success with Linux Mint (tried Cinnamon and XFCE), despite the specs being modern enough. As i hit Enter i get to the LM logo but as soon as I can move the mouse my screen goes dark and starts flickering...

UPDATE 2:
-in UEFI Secure Boot mode I am unable to run Antix (needs to download kernels), but at least I am able to get to the menu
-in Legacy mode, when i start the PC it now gives me the terminal screen and does not detect any bootable device, says to insert bootable device and press any key, but it simply won't recognize it and get thi recurring message despite several attempts...the only option is to restart and hit F12 Boot Menu and access the live distro from there.
-in either case however, I'm still unable to load Mint (Cinnamon or XFCE)