MB: ASUS A8V-VM SE CPU: AMD Sempron 3200+ Memory: 1.5gig OCZ DDR 400 HD: (2) Samsung 320gig SATA DVD/CDROM: BenQ DW1620

Below is the error I constantly got when trying to install either Mint 8 or 9:

BusyBox vX.XX.X(Ubuntu X:X.X.X-XXXXXX) built-in shell (ash) Enter ‘help’ for a list of built-in commands.

(initramfs) mount: mounting /dev/loop0 on //filesystem.squashfs failed: Input/output error Can not mount /dev/loop0 (/cdrom/casper/filesystem.squashfs) on //filesystem.squashfs

Before blurting out my fix (extremely simple), I wanted you all to know that the following did not work: 1. I upgraded my BIOS to the latest from ASUS. 2. I removed 1 HD (recommended from other posts). 3. Tried mounting the CDROM manually. 4. Downloaded/burned to another CD (1 time for Mint LXDE — 1 time for Mint 8 — 3 times for Mint 9) just in case I had the wrong burn speed, or bad downloads. 5. Reseated everything (just in case). 6. Talked/Begged in a very calm tone to the computer.

Finally, just for giggles I threw an old HP CDROM in and wouldnt you know it.. installed fine (I’m posting from it now).

I have no idea why the disk(s) I tried did not like the BenQ CDROM (maybe it was because it was a DVD/CD device?).. but once I installed the OS, I took the HP CDROM out, put the BenQ back in, and rebooted. With the CDROM as my 1st boot option, the BenQ ran the LiveCD just fine.

It shouldnt be this hard to install an OS, and I know Linux Mint isnt the only distro with this problem, as I have seen a lot of other distro’s with the very same issue. However this problem is evident everywhere Linux is, so there needs to be a more concerted effort based on making Linux more accessible to the masses. Otherwise, Linux will always be the problem child for the totally initiated and never taken seriously by everyday users with no time to troubleshoot these issues.