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The problem is, my BIOS is Aptio 2008, and none of the instructions online can be used, because they all refer to items that don't exist on my installation. I need to make a bootable CD or USB drive, or install a newer Ubuntu over the network - I don't care which. I can't find any instructions that can be executed on my system. More details: ASUS G73jw, ubuntu 14.04 LTS, Intel Core i7, 64 bit. I have downloaded ubuntu-20.04-desktop-amd64.iso, and it resides in my downloads folder and on a new usb drive. But BIOS doesn't allow boot from usb. Thanks.

user1695839
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    The question is vague. What "items" don't exist? Why can't you make a bootable USB? Please edit your question to be specific. You will get better advice with a clear definition of the problem. – user535733 Jul 17 '22 at 20:05
  • Exactly this ^^^ The method to install any current release is the same that you used for 14.04. And certainly you didn't just downloaded and copied the ISO to the USB stick, you must have used some tool to "burn" the ISO. – ChanganAuto Jul 17 '22 at 21:03
  • Yes, I thought this was the case. Do you happen to know what tool was available in 14.04? About the other comment: I have been flamed for being too verbose. Should I quote entire sets of instructions and specify what "items" are not available? This is certainly possible, although tedious for me and people trying to help, if it's unnecessary. – user1695839 Jul 17 '22 at 21:12
  • You write the ISO to any device your system will boot & thus can install from. Ubuntu tutorials exist for writing an ISO to thumbdrive, optical media etc using Ubuntu, Windows or macOS if you look. Optical media is not recommended on modern releases (it can take a long time!) but it's a re-install as 14.04 release-upgraded to 16.04 & that's EOSS. (Optical media is best avoided from 20.10 & later releases; okay for up to 20.04 though & maybe suitable for 22.04.1 again as work is progressing on improving that) – guiverc Jul 17 '22 at 21:13
  • And an ASUS G73jw is 12-13 years old. Although it has a good-ish (in its heyday) Nvidia graphics card still supported by the 390 drivers branch (but who knows for how long?) and should run the vanilla Ubuntu reasonably well, a lighter flavor like Xubuntu or Lubuntu will certainly work better, snappier. Maxing out the RAM and replacing the old and slow HDD by a SSD will improve performance but it's up to you to decided if the investment is worth it. The SSD can be reused for a new machine if you wish; the RAM not so much. – ChanganAuto Jul 17 '22 at 21:14
  • I'm sorry, I misspoke. I used the "startup disk creator" to "copy" or "burn" the downloaded iso files to the fresh usb stick. However, in BIOS, the only boot options are the HDD and the CD-ROM drive. I have been unable to find instructions for booting from the usb that match my BIOS, or that can be interpreted in the light of my particular BIOS. – user1695839 Jul 17 '22 at 21:21
  • You could create a partition and boot the partition instead (so using the hdd option). – Rinzwind Jul 17 '22 at 21:28
  • Sorry, new comments arrived while I was writing my last one, so we're a bit out of sequence. Guiverc refers to ubuntu tutorials - these are the ones that I was unable to use, because they expect more recent BIOS. I run java programs from Netbeans, and 14.04 crashes (or else NetBeans crashes - it's not obvious which one fails) and so I thought it would be wise to upgrade. Hence this thread. Having received considerable advice, at this point, the most direct question is how to persuade the BIOS to force booting from usb? Thanks again. – user1695839 Jul 17 '22 at 21:28
  • When grub runs, type "c" and get to the command line. From there, if you can see the USB and its files, you can run them. Next best case from that point is just trying to boot the ISO off your hard disk -- see answers here for the grub command to do that. – ubfan1 Jul 17 '22 at 21:38
  • What happens, if you hold ESC while powering on? It should give you more features in the Aptio bios – kanehekili Jul 17 '22 at 22:11
  • I QA-test current releases & can install releases up to 19.04 on machines from 2002 & up, and all releases on hardware from 2005 & up. A 2008 BIOS implies pre-uEFI to me so there shouldn't be a problem as long as ISO is written using appropriate method for release being used (with correct software). Do note some firmware contains bugs that mean the thumb-drive can take ~12 mins to boot; thus it feels like failure if you don't wait long enough; but given optical media can take >60 mins & it's only during installation it's not that long. Booting from hdd is fast, but you need space.. – guiverc Jul 17 '22 at 22:52
  • Start from the beginning and follow the official tutorial. – Nmath Jul 18 '22 at 00:28
  • answering: ubfan1 - on this machine, grub runs without asking-for/allowing input, so I don't know when to type "c". Then I think your link got lost: "see answers here for the grub . . ." – user1695839 Jul 19 '22 at 16:25
  • sorry, got kicked out of "comments". -------answering Nmath: this is the first thing I tried and the instructions refer to BIOS elements that don't exist for me. ------Answering karel: these are the instructions I used to create the startup usb drive that I have successfully created. I can't tell if my answers to kanehekili or guiverc got lost. – user1695839 Jul 19 '22 at 16:37
  • oops yes, looks like those answers were lost. --------answering kanehekili: holding "esc" does bring up a different dialog prior to entering BIOS (or not), but the options therein are the same as in BIOS entered any other way. -------answering guiverc: I'm not sure about uEFI - the first line in the BIOS boot menu is UEFI Boot, but I have tried with that enabled or disabled. You say "with correct software": should I be using something other than the "startup disk creator" that came with ubuntu 14.04? Thanks everyone. – user1695839 Jul 19 '22 at 16:41
  • By correct software I'm talking about a version appropriate for the ISO/release you're writing. If you're using a fully-upgraded software program you should be fine, but do note 14.04 reached EOSS in 2019, some software (community supported two years earlier), with ESM support continued for some packages only via snap packages & I have no intention of checking to see if you followed the ESM docs for trusty. I don't know in which camp startup disk creator falls in (ie. 2017 EOL, 2019 EOL, ESM or snap only ESM) as I only rarely write ISOs with it for QA & with a supported version. – guiverc Jul 22 '22 at 02:11
  • Only supported releases of Ubuntu (standard or public support) are on-topic for this site. Ubuntu 14.04 LTS is EOL (end-of-life) thus off-topic, and Ubuntu 14.04 ESM is in extended support and supported by Canonical via Ubuntu Advantage thus also off-topic here. Refer https://askubuntu.com/help/on-topic https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EOLUpgrades https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2019/05/02/ubuntu-14-04-trusty-tahr-reached-end-of-life-on-april-25-2019-esm-available/ – guiverc Jul 22 '22 at 02:12
  • As ISO format started changing during 2020 (it's not a single type; ISO9660 is very broad); your 14.04 software should write older Ubuntu ISOs correctly, including original release 20.04 ISOs (which pre-date the cdimage changes that started post-20.04 release), however as 14.04 was EOSS prior to that, no QA was performed using a trusty system with any of 20.04 media, let alone later media that changed (20.04.2 & later being released after 20.10 ISO which was the first release with it changed). Personally I'd expect original 20.04 ISOs to successfully write, but opinion only. – guiverc Jul 22 '22 at 02:20

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