I did look around for other posts about this, but haven't seen anything related to my specific problem. Installing Linux Mint 14 Cinnamon (32 bit) from LXF DVD167, everything appears to go smoothly until the very end, when the 'busy' cursor never stops spinning, not even if I leave it for 20 minutes afterwards. Nor am I ever given the expected end-of-installation message (remove the disc, reboot).
Despite this, I can manouvre, look around, and use the still-spinning cursor to exit from the system and shut it down using the 'shutdown' button/tab in the bottom left corner. But if I do, it won't boot when I restart the PC - the HDD is not even recognised as bootable.
This is over-installing on a 40GB hard drive, on which I am allowing the installer to remove all previous content and create new partitions, in other words, to use the whole drive. I've been through this process several times, and I notice that when I'm in the process of reinstalling, the installer asks me if I want to install mint alongside 'Mint 14 Nadia' or replace it - so as far as the installer is concerned, there is a fully formed installation of Mint already on the drive. I just can't boot it, because the installer seems to fail to make the disc bootable.
Before starting installation from the live CD, I have been careful to make sure I have a working internet connection.
I believe the HDD is OK - it previously had a working installation of Debian 6 on it.
Any suggestions?