Cannot boot from CD or external USB

[Colin Law]

On 23 August 2014 07:14, Thomas Blasejewicz <thomas at s7.dion.ne.jp> wrote:
> (2014/08/23 3:28), NoOp wrote:
>>
>> On 08/22/2014 04:06 AM, Thomas Blasejewicz wrote:
>> ...
>>>
>>> * The live CDs - I tried a few of them - ALL work just fine when
>>> inserted into the Windows machine on my desk.
>>> It is therefore probably safe to assume, that those are OK too.
>>>
>>> Conclusion:
>>> -> the hardware seems to OK
>>> -> the live CD seems to be OK
>>> Task: find a way to "run" the program and install the "damn thing"
>>> (14.04) .
>>> Is there such a way to get into those programs, or do I have to be
>>> satisfied with 12.04 for eternity (in the not so distant future the
>>> community will tell me, support has ended and I should update my system
>>> ...)?
>>
>> F9 at first boot indication will usually give you a menu so that you can
>> select what to boot from.
>>
>> You can install from ISO:
>> <https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/ISOBoot>
>> Easy way to boot to 14.04 from ISO is to use grml-rescueboot:
>> <https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/ISOBoot#grml-rescueboot>
>> after following the grml instructions, downloading and placing the 14.04
>> ISO in /boot/grml & 'sudo update-grub' reboot and you'll see the 14.04
>> grub menu entry that you can boot into.
>>
>>
> Regarding Mr. Colins question: I ALWAYS booted from CD and did this
> countless times with multiple versions of different Linux flavors

So you used to be able to do this but now can no longer (assuming you
have tried the same CDs that you used to).  Therefore something is
broken.

> (I will try with a Windows CD tomorrow (I guess I still have one somewhere)
> Regarding Mr. Kassube's suggestion: when I try to upgrade to 14.04 the
> computer tells me, my current graphic card or something are
> not really suited for the new version and I am advised to stay with 12.04.
> That (the old hardware) is precisely why I wanted to try something lighter,
> like Lubuntu. So, upgrade does not work.

Install lubuntu-desktop first and check that works.  Then upgrade to
14.04 and you can boot into lubuntu.  However it is probably not a
good idea to upgrade without checking that the machine runs on lubuntu
14.04 first, so you still need to work out what is broken.

Colin