Crash during update led to error copying CD/rom then Invalid partition table

Hello,

I had installed lubuntu 24.04 via a usb driver into my Dell Lattitude E6430 with plans to test lubuntu out before upgrading the laptops hardware to top spec. However, during an update (unsure of the number, it was a month or so ago now and irrelevant, I believe, to my problem) my laptop crashed and since then has failed to load past bios settings. Initially I get the error “Invalid partition table”. Secondly, when I tried to recover the device through the inbuilt recovery settings, no matter what I tried I always got an error in relation to a lack of CD/ROM capability. Therefore, I tried reinstalling 24.04 Lubuntu onto the laptop permanently and it now fails to enter anything other than BIOS, only showing the code “Invalid partition table” upon startup.

My question therefore is simple, does this error mean my laptops storage is corrupted/ failing due to the initial crash or, have I dug myself a whole trying to fix it. As I couldn’t find the original lubunutu installer thread I used to create the USB installer / driver I initially used to get Lubuntu working.

As of now I cannot get Lubuntu to load on the device, also I have installed a new upgraded to a new CPU 3rd gen Intel i7 2440k, and upgraded to 2 sticks of 4GB DDR3 ram (definitely compatible as was preinstalled in later Latitude laptops of the same platform. Therefore the system is fresh other than the 240GB SSD that was installed when Lubuntu was working on the device.

My technical knowledge is retail coworker at best and I am over my head with Linux already I just didn’t want to throw away my old laptop. If this is an uncommon or ‘confusing’ problem I am willing to give up the ghost and move on if need be, as I fear (as mentioned prior) I have dug this hole myself.

Cheers,

Jake.

Do you have a liveUSB with a recent version of Ubuntu on it? Can also be Lubuntu or any other flavour.

If yes, are you able to boot the laptop and get to the Try or Install phase?

If the answer to the above two points is yes then this is what I recommend:

Boot the laptop and choose to Try (whichever version you have).

Once at the desktop, open a terminal and run this command:

lsblk -e 7 -o NAME,SIZE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINT

Copy the terminal output and paste it into your reply. Highlight the text and press </> in the composer to wrap with code tags.

Hopefully, this will tell us more and then we can move forward.

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