Unable to Boot for USB - BIOS???

horriblicious · February 9, 2021 at 1:25 AM

I have successfully (I think) loaded the USB stick to boot LibreELEC. It is, of course, not working. All I get is a blinking cursor in the upper-left screen. It is a functional, but old PC. How old? Motherboard is using an AMIBIOS circa 2005. (It does have the option of booting from a USB drive and that is the primary boot device setup in the BIOS). But it is a "BIOS". Is BIOS why this is not working? If so, what can I do other than changing hardware?

**chewitt** · February 9, 2021 at 2:15 AM Official Post

We don't have an issue booting in EFI or legacy BIOS modes (in fact BIOS is easier). What CPU and GPU are in the box?

horriblicious · February 9, 2021 at 2:55 AM

CPU is an AMD Sempron 2600. It is an ATI graphics card but I would have to check for the actual model #. SIS chipset.

horriblicious · February 9, 2021 at 4:27 AM

ATI x1300 series card. AGP card (I forgot those even existed). SIS 848A chipset.

**chewitt** · February 9, 2021 at 5:02 AM Official Post

I'm not sure what the issue is, but modern Kodi isn't going to run well on something that old, and while LE is lightweight we focus on the latest chips not older stuff so even if you get past the boot problem I wouldn't guarantee video output let alone hardware acceleration. If you're able to boot a desktop distro like Ubuntu that might be a better option. If you really want to run LE, any generation of Raspberry Pi board will trump the current archaeological exercise by a wide mile.

**S80_UK** · February 9, 2021 at 11:17 AM

I cannot be certain, but a Sempron of that age may not have support for the 64 bit instruction set. On some Sempron models dating from the time that 64 bit was introduced, there can be Semprons of the same basic model with and without 64 bit support, the difference between them being denoted by only a letter in the part number. As chewitt has commented, even if you can get the software to run, the performance it likely to be very poor indeed.

szvan · February 9, 2021 at 12:27 PM

I, i've got same issue, did you test the LE 7.03 generic X86/64 version?

With myTurion 64 and ATI Radeon 1100 on laptop ACER aspire 51, just LE 7.03 installation works fine.. (with kodi 16)...
It seems to be a non suitable graphic chipset for the new LE versions...

horriblicious · February 9, 2021 at 2:10 PM

Ah well. While things are a little dull, it sounds like I am taking on too much effort for too little gain. I also think the CPU is old enough to be 32-bit only. Too bad. To the scrap heap it goes, and I have already started looking at other hardware, like the Pi. Thanks for your replies.

horriblicious · February 9, 2021 at 3:07 PM

Hi Szvan - Interesting idea. I have not tried that, so let me give that a try...

**Klojum** · February 9, 2021 at 3:25 PM Official Post

I thought AMD was basically the founder of 64-bti instructions in chips, so even a Sempron should work with LibreELEC => Sempron - Wikipedia

A bigger problem is likely the (onboard) graphics card.

horriblicious · February 9, 2021 at 3:47 PM

I looked at the same Wikipedia article and then checked the hardware. Sempron 2600+. That's a Socket-A 32-bit chip (confirmed via a 2005-ish version of SiSoft Sandra running on WinXP). I don't think any of the builds here are for 32-bit Linux, so I expect failure with the LE7.03 build... and failure is what I have.

**S80_UK** · February 9, 2021 at 4:08 PM

Quote from Klojum

I thought AMD was basically the founder of 64-bti instructions in chips, so even a Sempron should work with LibreELEC => Sempron - Wikipedia
A bigger problem is likely the (onboard) graphics card.

You're correct about AMD, but the 64 bit instruction set came in with Athlon 64 and was also migrated to the Sempron range, but there are some prior to 64 bit, and a few which made the switch during their lifecycle. As the article says, that was in the second half of 2005. There are two versions of the Sempron 2600+ and the OP just happened to draw the short straw in this case.

32 bit... https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/AMD-Se…DA2600BOX).html

64 bit... https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD-Se…2600BXBOX).html

horriblicious · February 9, 2021 at 4:33 PM

Quote from Klojum

I thought AMD was basically the founder of 64-bti instructions in chips, so even a Sempron should work with LibreELEC => Sempron - Wikipedia
A bigger problem is likely the (onboard) graphics card.

I have a very early Sempron so not 64-bit. IIRC, both Intel and AMD were trying to extend the instruction sets (I am not that technical, so someone can correct my technical description faux-pas) at the same time. Both came out and everyone that mattered (except Intel) preferred the AMD implementation. After some understandable kicking and screaming, Intel agreed and implemented the AMD version for 64-bit. So not the founder, but they developed a better (faster? cheaper? simpler?) version.

harrym · March 21, 2021 at 3:13 PM

Two USB stick with Libreelec 9.95 installation - no way to boot. Freezing at boot process - propably invalidable prepared boot medium. Old motherboard with Intel G31 chipset.

And of course. USB creator is again blocked by Microsoft Windows.

**Klojum** · March 21, 2021 at 6:40 PM Official Post

Quote from harrym

Two USB stick with Libreelec 9.95 installation - no way to boot. Freezing at boot process - propably invalidable prepared boot medium. Old motherboard with Intel G31 chipset.
And of course. USB creator is again blocked by Microsoft Windows.

I have had my share of image-write problems. The only tool working 100% for me is Rufus under Windows.