<html><head></head><body><div><br></div><div>Hi Brian,</div><div><br></div><div>Sometimes I have had more luck booting a USB drive by using the “Boot menu” and selecting the drive from the list rather than trying to change the boot order in the BIOS settings. It’s a once off selection each time the PC boots, you might need a different key rather than F2, you could try F12 or ESC or look up how to get the boot menu for your model of Lenovo.</div><div><br></div><div>Also since Mint is a “live” distribution you should be able to boot it from the USB drive itself without doing an install, so if you can borrow a PC you can test out the USB without doing any harm to the PC ( just make sure you don’t go ahead with the full install!)</div><div><br></div><div>You shouldn’t need to format the USB stick first as the flasher should write the correct format. </div><div><br></div><div>Cheers Mike.</div><a target="_blank" href="https://proton.me/mail/home" rel="noreferrer"></a><div class="protonmail_quote"><br><br>-------- Original Message --------<br>On Thursday, 06/11/26 at 21:21 Brian Diamond <<a href="mailto:lowlyn@gmail.com" dir="ltr" rel="noreferrer">lowlyn@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="protonmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">I need some assistance with setting up Linux on an old Lenovo laptop.</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">I used my desktop, a late 2013 iMac to download the necessary files.<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>I am stalled at Catalina V1I0.15.7</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">I downloaded Mint Cinnamon from the Linux Mint website and formatted a 15 G USB drive to ExFat on the Mac.<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>I then used BalenaEtcher V1.19.25 to flash the Cinnamon Iso file to the USB drive.<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>When I booted the Lenovo and held down F2 it entered the Lenovo Setup Utility.</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">I have disabled Secure Boot.<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">Administrator and User passwords are not set.</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">Boot Mode is [UEFI] and the USB drive is set to Number 1.</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">When rebooted it failed to recognise the USB drive and defaults to “Preparing Automatic Repair”</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">Diagnosing your PC</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">Your PC did not start correctly</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">Options “Restart” or “Advanced Options”</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">Select “Advanced Options”</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">Select “Use a Device”</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">I have tried all the options under “Use a Device”. The light on the USB flashes for a moment and then the laptop reverts to “Preparing Automatic Repair”</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">I have also tried unetbootin-mac-702.dmg to flash the USB drive with the same result as a drive flashed with Balena Etcher.</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">A few years ago I successfully installed Linux on some old PCs without any problems.<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>I cannot remember what I did then.</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">The laptop is an old one from the Warrane Mornington Neighbourhood Centre.<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>I volunteer there at the Repair Cafe.<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>When they asked if anyone knows how to install Linux I put my hand up.<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>The laptop will be given away through the Centre to anyone who needs but cannot afford a laptop.</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">I suspect that there is something wrong with how the USB drive is set up.<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>I only have enough computer knowledge to be dangerous.</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">Any help will be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">Cheers.</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000">Brian.</p>
<p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000"><a href="mailto:lowlyn@gmail.com" rel="noreferrer">lowlyn@gmail.com</a></p><img src="cid:ii_mq9dfg040" alt="Pillow.jpg" width="42" height="42" style="margin-right: 0"><p class="gmail-p1" style="margin: 0; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica Neue; color: #000"><br></p></div>
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