Score:1

Ubuntu

errno 5 While installing Ubuntu on an Acer laptop

Thomas

2/20/24, 5:05 AM

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.

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

116

1 + 19

acer

system-installation

usb-installation

guiverc

2/20/24, 5:10 AM

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

2/20/24, 5:11 AM

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.

Thomas

2/20/24, 5:23 AM

@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

2/20/24, 5:34 AM

@guiverc I just read into zsync as you suggested and I will give it a shot. Thanks for your help!

guiverc

2/20/24, 5:53 AM

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!

Thomas

2/20/24, 7:57 AM

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.

guiverc

2/20/24, 8:10 AM

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

Thomas

2/20/24, 9:16 AM

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.

guiverc

2/20/24, 9:23 AM

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..

karel

2/20/24, 10:07 AM

Possible duplicate of ["errno 5 - input/output error" when trying to install Ubuntu](https://askubuntu.com/q/65830/)

Artur Meinild

2/20/24, 10:56 AM

Did you verify the hashes of the downloaded ISO files? Please post results of your MD5 hash verification.

Thomas

2/20/24, 11:02 AM

@Artur Meinild I added an update to show the output. Thanks!

muru

2/20/24, 3:09 PM

@Thomas you verified the file containing the hashes of the ISO, but you don't verify that the ISO matches that hash.

Thomas

2/20/24, 6:36 PM

@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

2/20/24, 10:29 PM

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

guiverc

2/20/24, 10:35 PM

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')

Thomas

2/20/24, 10:51 PM

@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!

guiverc

2/20/24, 11:07 PM

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

Thomas

2/20/24, 11:11 PM

I will keep that in mind going forward, thank you!

Score:0

Ubuntu

Thomas

2/22/24, 2:14 AM

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!

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