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I have a laptop whose hard drive has failed (beeps upon startup and displays "no boot device"). I would like to install Ubuntu from a live USB onto another USB, from which I will boot the computer in the future. I created a live USB with a flash drive formatted to FAT32 on a Mac computer using unetbooting. It has 14.04.4 on it. I have unplugged the harddrive and removed the tray from the target computer (Lenovo ideapad u430).

My steps:

Upon inserting the live USB and the empty 16 GB USB (also formatted to FAT32) into the laptop, I am taken to a Ubuntu menu.

I click the option "install Ubuntu."

I immediately given the message:

"error: invalid magic number.
alloc magic is broken at 0x94e4a440: 94d69540
Aborted. Press any key to exit."

This is all that happens. I have tried this exact process with 16.04 and I get the same results; I am fairly confident that the USB was set up properly in each case. I am very much a newbie and do not know what to try from here. I appreciate any and all help you guys may have to offer.

Aaron
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SethO
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    Did you try the "Try Ubuntu" option? Did you hashcheck the downloaded ISO? Did you media check the USB (last option after "try" and "Install")? – ubfan1 May 13 '16 at 15:38
  • What is hashchecking? Each option (try w/o installing, install, oem install, check for defects) gives the same message as above except the "alloc magic" is broken at a different location (or at least different numbers and letters are displayed). – SethO May 17 '16 at 20:59
  • You might want to take a look at my answer here if all other attempts fail. http://askubuntu.com/a/769124/522934 – Videonauth May 17 '16 at 21:36

1 Answers1

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  1. Did you md5sum check the downloaded ISO file? See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM Check the number against the listing in the link for your release listed at http://releases.ubuntu.com under the MD5SUMS link.
  2. If using a CD/DVD, did you burn the disc as slowly as possible? See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto
  3. Did you select the media check before trying to install? https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/CDIntegrityCheck
  4. Did you ever do a "memory check" (perhaps another live-media menu choice) on your PC?

Doing the above can save you a lot of time struggling with a bad install media.

ubfan1
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