1

I just got a new Acer Aspire 5 A515-56 laptop. I'm trying to install Ubuntu on it, however while installing, I keep getting an error message that says [Errno 5] Input/output error.

Error Message

After reading through similar questions, here are some things I have tried.

  • I tried installing Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 20.04 (I downloaded both iso files from the official website).
  • I tried using a different bootable drives (note that both were microSD).
  • I tried installing it the "normal way" as well as the "safe graphics" way (as my laptop does have Intel Iris Xe Graphics).
  • I tried every combination of "minimal installation"/"normal installation" and "update while installing"/"install third party software"
  • I tried using Etcher, Rufus, and Startup Disk Creator to flash the USB drives.
  • In the BIOS, I enabled F12 boot and disabled Secure Boot.
  • I have tried using different USB ports.
  • I tried disabling VMD in the BIOS.

So far everything has led to errno 5.

UPDATE: Here is the output of verifying the ISO:

thomas@computer:~$ gpg --keyid-format long --verify ~/Downloads/SHA256SUMS.gpg ~/Downloads/SHA256SUMS.txt
gpg: Signature made Thu 11 Aug 2022 07:07:33 AM EDT
gpg:                using RSA key 843938DF228D22F7B3742BC0D94AA3F0EFE21092
gpg: Good signature from "Ubuntu CD Image Automatic Signing Key (2012) <cdimage@ubuntu.com>" [unknown]
gpg: WARNING: This key is not certified with a trusted signature!
gpg:          There is no indication that the signature belongs to the owner.
Primary key fingerprint: 8439 38DF 228D 22F7 B374  2BC0 D94A A3F0 EFE2 1092

And

thomas@computer:~$ sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt 2>&1 | grep OK

ubuntu-22.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso: OK
Thomas
  • 11
  • The error & message (CD/DVD is a huge clue; as that your installation media) highlights issues with your ISO, be it the ISO so did you validate it as per documentation for you unstated ISO; you didn't specify if desktop/server/etc) OR in my experience the write of ISO to media; did it write correctly & verification of the write complete successfully (refer to my "Media Checks" answer in that duplicate; or other question found in comments). Do note the software you mention can re-write (non-clone write) an ISO so it differs to the original which can cause this error. – guiverc Feb 20 '23 at 05:10
  • A lack of RAM on your device can also cause this issue (usually you experience this on VMs though; as it's less than 1GB of RAM which most devices have), but checking logs on the system (what I use in the duplicate I tagged) can provide more clues. ps: I suggest writing the ISO using a pure-clone option, and not any of the re-format ISO options available on some software. – guiverc Feb 20 '23 at 05:11
  • @guiverc I feel silly but that verification link does indeed lead me in the right direction. I followed the instructions and my ISO is not valid. The tutorial suggests downloading another one from a "known good source". Where might this be if not the official website? – Thomas Feb 20 '23 at 05:23
  • @guiverc I just read into zsync as you suggested and I will give it a shot. Thanks for your help! – Thomas Feb 20 '23 at 05:34
  • I almost always use the official site (cdimage.ubuntu.com) but I'm downloading hundreds of ISOs per annum (for QA purposes) and mostly it's via zsync.. Alternative mirror sites can be listed here https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+cdmirrors though when I use a mirror; I usually download the checksum from the official site for comparison (zsync does a verification at the end, so if it confirmed a valid ISO was obtained I trust that if the install just occurred). ps: no need to feel silly, we're all learning! – guiverc Feb 20 '23 at 05:53
  • Thanks so much for your help @guiverc. I downloaded a new ISO and verified it according to the official tutorial. The ISO was valid and I flashed it to my USB drive (using Etcher) but the installation failed again. Still Errno 5. – Thomas Feb 20 '23 at 07:57
  • Ubuntu ISOs differed in minor ways from 20.10 onwards; because Ubuntu is built for multiple architectures; and a decision was made to ensure all ISOs for a given release boot the same way regardless of architecture.. meaning ISOs can vary from one release to another in format... This means if you direct clone nothing more needs to be done, but if using software that doesn't clone you must use a version of the software capable of correctly writing that ISO or you'll get error(s) like you experienced.. That's why I mentioned clone more than once... I don't use etcher or rufus though – guiverc Feb 20 '23 at 08:10
  • 1
    I just tried again without using 'Rufus' or 'Etcher' (I followed the tutorial found here: https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-usb-stick-on-ubuntu#1-overview) but still got Errno 5. – Thomas Feb 20 '23 at 09:16
  • I now agree with you that there is something else at play here which is likely machine specific (I mentioned RAM/VM issues where this can occur, but I don't know your device & haven't looked it up [ie. spec wise etc] but suspect you have sufficient RAM). You can ask new question or we can vote to re-open; if it's a BIOS/uEFI config issue I'm ill equipped to advise sorry.. – guiverc Feb 20 '23 at 09:23
  • 1
    Possible duplicate of "errno 5 - input/output error" when trying to install Ubuntu – karel Feb 20 '23 at 10:07
  • Did you verify the hashes of the downloaded ISO files? Please post results of your MD5 hash verification. – Artur Meinild Feb 20 '23 at 10:56
  • @Artur Meinild I added an update to show the output. Thanks! – Thomas Feb 20 '23 at 11:02
  • @Thomas you verified the file containing the hashes of the ISO, but you don't verify that the ISO matches that hash. – muru Feb 20 '23 at 15:09
  • 1
    @muru I just added the output of 'sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt 2>&1 | grep OK'. Please let me know if that's what you meant. Thanks! – Thomas Feb 20 '23 at 18:36
  • Hi all, thanks again so much for your help. You were really kind and offered some great advice - it is much appreciated. I ended up buying a new usd thumbdrive and trying it instead, it worked! I guess there is something wrong with my micro SD to USD adapter. Best regards – Thomas Feb 20 '23 at 22:29
  • Don't forget USB thumbdrives are a cheap consumable... As I'm involved with QA and thus writing hundreds of ISOs to media per annum, I have a bin here that regularly gets filled with dead or unreliable ones & why media validation is so important... Flash media is made to $COST, low-cost consumable unlike a hdd/ssd etc which has diagnostics built in (ie. data on ssd/hdd's is important; flash media is temporary & always stored in multiple places). Every time you write data to a thumb-drive you risk its destruction (ie. damage & inability to re-write data to the area that 'blew') – guiverc Feb 20 '23 at 22:35
  • @guiverc Good point. Strangely, my micro SD's still seem to function perfectly fine for file storage purposes. I suspect my micro SD to USB adapter somehow spooked the install. That being said, I am pretty clueless to many computer-related things haha. Thanks again for all the help! – Thomas Feb 20 '23 at 22:51
  • Don't forget when a part goes dead on flash-media; it may still work (ie. store a pattern such as 11110000 but no other value). You can successfully write data to it & get it off, you just suffer corruption (if video file, wrong colors or a glitch on the image for a second or fraction of second, & on rare occasion worse), but it matters with code which requires precision. You can perform verifies on data to ensure validation, but don't forget most data has no corruption-detection, being your responsibility as a user. I'll suggest validating your media if data security/precision matters – guiverc Feb 20 '23 at 23:07
  • I will keep that in mind going forward, thank you! – Thomas Feb 20 '23 at 23:11

1 Answers1

0

Turns out my micro SD cards (or perhaps the micro SD to USB converter) are faulty. The solution was to use a different USB drive. When using a new drive, the installation went flawlessly. Though this answer may not be all that instructive, I hope the troubleshooting I described and discussion in the comments help future users. Many thanks to @guiverc for the guidance!

Thomas
  • 11