I bet it’s down to that graphics card, it’s ancient and I doubt supported by the default driver. It is supported by the nvidia-304 driver, so I would boot it to compatibility mode, then install the nvidia driver (once the OS is installed).
There’s no problem with the 32bit version, stick with it (no reason for x64 on that machine)
Thanks for the replies all. As best I know the PC does Not have UEFI only BIOS it’s circa ’07 as is the graphics card. I know virtually nothing about BIOS/EUFI, the current PC is set to CD/DVD then the HDD, always has been.
Unfortunately I have no idea what, where, ‘nomodeset kernel boot parameter’ is, does or how to install it.
I’m not desperately bothered about installing Linux on the current PC. What I was/am trying to do is find out how to install Mint 17.2 64bit on a new PC with the minimum of hassle and NOT having to keep swopping back to (this) old PC to keep in touch and seek advice.
For information purposes:- with the 32bit version running in ‘compatibility mode’ on this old PC I have managed to open .docx .xlsx .pdf stuff from the current HDD (seen as Local) in LibreOffice, so that’s o/k. I’ve accessed a few websites so that seem o/k.
What I have Not managed to do yet is find out how to set up email access. Also there was a lot of stuff ‘greyed’ out, inability to change screen res, US english only etc.etc. but I expected some of that if it’s in compatibility mode.
Not being able to get the email working is a cause for concern; re keep swopping back to the old PC. IMAP / POP3 settings? don’t know how to set it up?
I now have the New PC. It’s still in its box.
Case Antec NSK4480 Black 380W
Motherboard ASUS H81M-Plus (socket 1150)
Processor Intel Core i5-4460 4x3.2 1150
Hard Drive 240GB 2.5 SSD
Memory 8GB DDR3 Dual Channel
CD Rom Drive 22x DVD+/- R/ R/W D/L Black
Sound Card (onboard) ALC887 8-Channel Audio CODEC
Networking Gigabit LAN
It has UEFI and has (should have been) set up to boot from CD/DVD then the SSD.
I have downloaded the 64bit version of Mint and burnt it to a disk.
However AVG did throw out a Trojan(s) ‘Malsign.Generic.5D3’ on 3 occasions.
Do I need to download again with AVG disabled and burn another image to a DVD?
When I have the 64bit up and running the old (this) hard drive is going in the new PC (hopefully seen as Local) so I have access to all my previous stuff.
Any comments, recommendations much appreciated.
omicron
use this in Windows:
http://www.md5summer.org/
to check the md5 checksum of the downloaded ISO image, and check it against the md5’s published by Mint:
So if you’re using the Mint 17.2 Cinnamon 64bit edition from here:
http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=190
you can see the md5 checksum should be
b8a0651bb0086519fbf7a70fc12db17e
if they match, you’re okay to burn it to either a DVD or USB stick
Thanks for the last reply Mark that’s encouraging. The link to the website was where I got the iso download from. Also the link for the checksum worked. I ran it and got the correct checksum. I had already burnt the image to a DVD so hopefully it should be good.
I think I’m going to give up on the 32bit version on this PC, I can only get it to run in compatibility mode and a lot of options appear to be greyed out, screen res for one.
I’m thinking of trying the 64bit version on the new PC.
Unfortunately I still have another query. With the new PC there was a DVD for the motherboard. On it there are folders:- ‘isolinux’ and ‘LinuxDrivers’. I’m not aware they were put on the PC.
I was not even aware the motherboard came with its own disc?.
So, will the Install of the 64bit have All the necessary drivers etc. Or, would it be wise to turn the PC on with that (the motherboard disc) in first before trying to install the 64bit Mint?.
omicron
Boot to the LiveCD/Live USB and see how it runs … if it runs okay, install it and we’ll check if there are proprietary graphic drivers or anything that needs tweaking post install.
But the best way to check if you need to find any drivers is just to see if everything works in a live session by selecting “Try Mint 17.2” when asked by the LiveCD/LiveUSB
If anyone out there is still listening, it looks like I’ve got Linux Mint up and running on the new PC. It was relatively straight forward really, put the disc in, turned the PC on and waited. The Mint screen came up, clicked on Install, waited, answered the question, waited, clicked on Restart, waited, it opened the CD/DVD draw, took the disc out.
The confusing thing was the screen res., couldn’t initially see the Menu. I then spotted it (about 2x2 pixels) in the extreme bottom left corner. I’ve since changed the res and everything seems to be there, as well as two black stripes down either side of the monitor. I think the first thing I need to sort out is the screen res., but I’ll try another part of the forum to see if I can find an answer to that.
Still hopping between old/new PC at the moment till I get a bit more competent with Linux.
I would like to say Thanks to All for your patience, help, advice, etc.
I’m now looking forward to experimenting to get stuff how I like.
omicron
Which graphics card do you have and which drivers are you using … what’s the output from:
sudo lshw -C display
and if you fire up “Additional Drivers”, are any proprietary graphics drivers being offered to you … if so, which ?
Thanks for the latest reply Mark. I don’t have a graphics card. From previous advice I opted Not to have one and use the HD4400 graphics built into the CPU (Intel Core i5-4460 4x3.2).
The output from sudo lshw -C display is:
[sudo] password
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: 06
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
resources: irq:49 memory:f7800000-f7bfffff memory:e0000000-efffffff ioport:f000(size=64)
As yet I have not been able to find “Additional Drives” ? In Admin > Driver management is greyed out and shows None in use.
I have had a look round the Intel, Asus and Samsung websites but don’t really know what I’m looking for.
omicron
Forget it … if you have an intel graphics card there’s no additional drivers to install … the intel drivers are open sourced, so already included in the kernel 
Looking back … I’m not 100% sure whether you’re now suffering any problems or not ?
Thanks for the reply Mark. I have found the problem – ME. Initially the display was not the full width of the monitor. After a bit of investigation, I went through the Menu on the monitor. Whad’ye know ! By going to “install/reset” Everything jumped to full width/height no problems. It seems it was set for the old nvidia driver.
Promise I will try harder next time.
Thanks for all the help.
omicron