Laptop stuck in OS install loop

[Garrett]

I inherited a pretty decent laptop a while ago and have just discovered why.. It's stuck in an installation loop, saying something like unexpected interruption please reboot. There is no installation disk, do I have any options that don't involve spending money?

 

[Wally]

OS?
Error message?


Laptop Brand and Make?
 

 

[ible]

pop in a linux installation cd/usb and make that boot first (using the bios).

 

[Mr_Loon]

Does it start to load the OS?


When does it produce the error message?
Can you get to the recovery console?

+ What Wally asked

 

[Garrett]

pop in a linux installation cd/usb and make that boot first (using the bios).

Can you advise on the best version for a laptop? I've no experience with Linux and have ovbiously made some kind of error installing Ubuntu as there is nothing showing on the Desktop & I haven't a clue how to fix.. it will eventually be going to my Sister who will most probably be using primarily for browsing/gaming.

 

[ible]

Can you advise on the best version for a laptop? I've no experience with Linux and have ovbiously made some kind of error installing Ubuntu as there is nothing showing on the Desktop & I haven't a clue how to fix.. it will eventually be going to my Sister who will most probably be using primarily for browsing/gaming.

Hm, well, the basic install should be just fine for most laptops, and you can retry that.  If you have smaller RAM or something, I'd definitely recommend something like Lubuntu for being more lightweight.  I use Lubuntu anyway because I don't want my computer wasting time compositing super graphical effects, but it is a little bit more work to figure out how to configure things from the user land.  Linux Lite is based on Lubuntu, but makes things a little bit easier to configure settings-wise.  It also makes installing Skype and Google Chrome super easy, but it is based on the "long time support" (LTS) release, so its base software isn't as up-to-date, though that doesn't really matter if you're using Chrome (which should be more recent).


I recently installed Linux Lite for a relative, and the only problem I've had with it is that the computer usually freezes during shutdown, but if I turn off the splash screen I think it might work.  (At least, that seemed to work for another installation of mine.)