Problem With Unetbootin (Or, Perhaps, Me)

Question

As I mentioned before, I'm having a lot of stability issues on Lubuntu 13, so I'm trying to upgrade to the alternate install of Lubuntu 14.04, as my computer has about 500MB RAM.

I went to UNetbootin as I usually do, but this time around in creating the USB, I got a strange screen that said "UNetbootin", and within the box was a statement saying "Hit tab to edit options" or something like that.

The weird part is that on the bottom there was a timer ticking down when it'll automatically reboot, but every time it reaches zero it simply starts over again, indefinitely. If I do hit tab, it puts me in a "boot:" prompt, I think, and whatever I enter, it simply says it can't kind the kernel image.

I've never had this kind of trouble with UNetbootin, so I don't know what to make of it. So far I've tried:

Reformatting the USB and making sure it's FAT
Upgrading to the latest version of UNetbootin
Doing an md5sum on the .iso to verify that it's not broken (it isn't)
Fooling with the memory value on the UNetbootin command box, to see if having a value originally set at zero was the problem

I've spent quite some hours deleting files, rebooting over and over again, and so on, so right now I'm at a loss as to how to progress further.

Any input would be much appreciated.

EDIT: I also must mention that due to connection problems, I had to get a friend put the alternate .iso on a flashdrive for me, so I'm pretty much stuck with installing it or of getting an ultra-small system like Puppy Linux. It's just not feasible for me to download another .iso. Plus, I'd like to stick with the alternate install, for while my computer might be able to handle the standard edition, due to all the screwups, CPU freezes, and whatnot I'd just like to try a hardware friendlier version.

EDIT2: I'm exploring, doing trial and error, and whathave you, and I'd also like to mention that I did do an md5sum (if I wrote that correctly) to verify that the file is complete and not corrupted.

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 01 '14 at 03:25

I've given up on unetbootin. I download the .iso to my home directory and use dd.

In a terminal window, you'd type sudo dd if=inputfile.iso of=/dev/sd* bs=1M where inputfile.iso is your lubuntu iso, /dev/sdc is the usb thumb drive and /dev/sdc is the device your usb thumb drive is. Get the if and of right, because dd will overwrite stuff in a flash.

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 01 '14 at 03:02

2

The issue is that you're trying to use the alternate install ISO - UNetbootin only supports creating bootable USBs of the standard (-desktop) ISO at this time. 500MB is enough RAM to boot and install from the standard Lubuntu ISO.

answered Aug 01 '14 at 03:02

geza

21

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 03 '19 at 00:00

1

This is a known bug.

The fix is to update from ppa:gezakovacs/ppa.

It appears that this might not always work for Ubuntu 18.04.
In that case the fix is to run it like this:

sudo QT_X11_NO_MITSHM=1 unetbootin

edited Jul 03 '19 at 00:00

zx485

2,865

answered Jul 02 '19 at 20:34

Jyotirmoy Bhattacharjee

11

manowar_manowar · Answer 4 · 2022-03-28T16:36:14.927

0

I try to unetbootin and my computer not boot from usb. But ubuntu startup disc creator is work fine.

edited Mar 28 '22 at 16:36

answered Mar 23 '22 at 10:44

manowar_manowar

160

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 01 '14 at 01:34

If you already have the ISO on your computer, making a bootable flash drive with Unetbootin is relatively easy. Open Unetbootin. Select Disk Image and then the location on your computer. After that select OK and sit back and wait the 20 minutes or so to create your bootable flash drive. With 500 MBs of RAM you should not have any problem with the standard Lubuntu install in lieu of the alternate install

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 01 '14 at 01:46

I had similar issues with Unetbootin, today in fact. If you look around Linux sites you'll see many references to issues with this tool. Today I used the Universal USB Installer from this site:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

and I got a clean Live CD run on Ubuntu whereas earlier today I had the exact issue you describe (when I used Unetbootin).

(edit: This is a Windows tool. They make a Linux one here

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/

but I did not try it since I created my USB on a Windows machine.)

score 0 · Answer 7 · edited May 29 '15 at 17:55

Well I have been using Xubuntu 14.04 LTS with latest kernel upadets etc. Recently I tried to make different Live USB distros by Unetbootin and each time failed after tried to boot from USB in the BIOS.

When I do exactly same procedure with Windows based Rufus software I had no issue at all. I think this is completely about Unetbootin bug to create Bootable flash.

System:    Host: ThinkPad-Edge-E530c 
Kernel: 3.18.11-031811-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.6.3) 
           Desktop: N/A Distro: Ubuntu 14.04 trusty
Machine:   System: LENOVO product: 33662UU version: ThinkPad Edge E530c
           Mobo: LENOVO model: 33662UU Bios: LENOVO version: H0ET95WW (2.55 ) date: 01/20/2014
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-3630QM CPU (-HT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 19156.5 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 1376.250 MHz 2: 2345.062 MHz 3: 1237.781 MHz 4: 1354.500 MHz 5: 1223.343 MHz 6: 1283.437 MHz 7: 1289.625 MHz 8: 1411.781 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 
           X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ivybridge Mobile GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card: Intel 7 Series/C210 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.18.11-031811-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller 
           driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 2000 bus-ID: 0c:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: b8:88:e3:e7:a5:c2
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter driver: rtl8192ce port: 4000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: e0:06:e6:cd:4c:c1
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 120.0GB (8.8% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: OCZ size: 120.0GB temp: 30C 
Partition: ID: / size: 30G used: 9.9G (36%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 0.28GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0 
Info:      Processes: 245 Uptime: 20 min Memory: 930.8/7579.8MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.2 
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.11) inxi: 1.9.17

Problem With Unetbootin (Or, Perhaps, Me)

7 Answers7