Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
Not needed Brian. I originally set this out as a crib sheet all members can use.
Solved 23.04 LTS will not boot after install.
- Thread starter DxHum
- Start date
Solved issue
The slogan « Fix once, break many » verifies again and again, unable to retain what "works" when finally it does i'm afraid! I too seen Mint succeed with its install (once i patched it, before proceeding with Rufus i think...) then eventually observing it perform self-destruct over an auto-update. It may just fail at the ultimate bootloader stage while in fact a second setup from a different Linux might actually prove aware enough to recover the previous install to integrate it via its own GrUB menu - something i've observed being done often since 2 Linux OSes typically occupy the space of a single Windows one... Another utility that made significant progress happens to be 'rEFind' but that's only for those dealing with a valid EFi candidate; copies of 'SGD204s2B2-x86_64_efi-CD.iso' hang around too with a similar limitation.
Why LMDE and not Mint? That's a mystery for sure but it still seems to me like you'll need hints and there's got to be a few breeds that can at least boot then hopefully allow HardInfo to be added "live" if not simply present already.
I reason any script involved must be made suitably aware of the whole configuration 1st for it to work safely and efficiently, which possibly implies some hardware-specific driver/kernel. For example i noticed Ventoy also has UDF and ISO9660 complements, and of course MBR/BiOS is generally assumed - too bad if if it's GPT/uEFi instead, or go figure when a driver exists but the script will ignore it nonetheless, etc... As an annecdote, Ubuntu insisted to touch (format) my Windows EFi System Partition despite all attempts to force it to ignore that completely.
Lets hope invisible/reserved system partitions ain't gone with it if any; i remember AMI's 'aptio'' uEFI-BiOS had 2... Anyway, in presence of Windows one could have tried to install 'Grub2Win' and save its .cfg file still having a working system at hand to peek inside and document the next step. Questions relative to Secure Boot, BitLocker and Raid are likely to arise - which even exposes to a potential risk of "bricking" the machine unless there's a readily-available remedy. Etc, etc!
Thank you for the extensive and informative reply. There is much for me to digest here.
As an alternate OS, many have suggested Mint. I will take a look at it.
The issue for me where moving to a new distro is all of the time I've been spending with Ubuntu goes out the window. I've learned my way around on it and would hate to have to start over.
But what strikes me most is the word "RAID" in your reply. The system does have on board RAID, which is enabled. I don't have raid setup, but it is enabled. Perhaps disabling it would help?
THIS has possibilities.
When I use the disk utility to examine the partitions, there is a small partition which precedes the boot partition.
Are you suggesting I delete this partition and try again? I'd be willing to give that a try if that is what you're suggesting.
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
Ubuntu is based on Debian, Mint 21 is based on Ubuntu, Mint LMDE6 is based directly on Debian, in short 99% of what you have learned so far is transferable between Debian based distros
Condobloke
Well-Known Member
Absolutely not. Apart from a few things being in different positions, you should feel quite at home
Yes, disable it.
Also, if Secure boot is enabled...disable that too
And Fastboot if it is present.
What is the drive in your pc ?
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
first try and establish what this partition is, if its of no use to you then deleting it may be your only option , as Linux likes to install grub at the beginning of the allocated drive
This is huge!
I have (2) SSD drives.
First is a 240 gig which I will use for the OS.
Second is a 1TB that I will use for storage.
Also, there are 3 modes under the controller; IDS, RAID and AHCI. It can not be disabled, so I did set it to AHCI.
Condobloke
Well-Known Member
AHCI is cool
Deleting that partition can do no harm, and may help
Deleting that partition can do no harm, and may help
Well... I deleted the partition, but it still asked for a bootable disk. I booted up using the install DVD and when I looked at the drive with disk utils, the partition was back.
Disk utils identify that boot partition as "BIOS Boot"
There's more in the alphabet soup i could have mentioned, like AHCI indeed, whatever. A pause may seem desirable so you can gain better perspective from seeking additional information, e.g. before making any changes... Puppy has HardInfo too.
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
OK lets have another think.
if you switch the machine off, put the USB in the slot, switch on, and using the short boot key, open the drive list and select the USB then enter, does it load to ram in test mode [if no then the fault is with the ISO download/Burn to USB/ faulty USB] If yes then there is either a problem with the drives or your method of installing.
so if its method, at what point during the process does it fail to install
if you switch the machine off, put the USB in the slot, switch on, and using the short boot key, open the drive list and select the USB then enter, does it load to ram in test mode [if no then the fault is with the ISO download/Burn to USB/ faulty USB] If yes then there is either a problem with the drives or your method of installing.
so if its method, at what point during the process does it fail to install
Yes... I am methodical in my pace. A pause until after dinner may be wise.
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
Bedtime for old wizards in an hour here
The install doesn't fail. It completes, then it ejects the install disk for it to be removed. Then tap "enter" so the machine reboots. It is on the reboot that I am prompted to insert bootable media.
And yes, from the short boot, the thumb drive with the 24.04 does appear in the menu along with the SSD and DVD as options.
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
turn the machine off now turn on tapping ESC [this normally brings up the grub menu [fingers crossed]]
if you have grub menu, select Ubuntu [or whatever distribution] ADVANCED OPTIONS and enter
now select grub [update bootloader] and run when finished select normal boot and see if it works
No boot media found on reboot spells install failure to me but it doesn't mean there's no way to boot at all. From a live session using 'GParted', does the "gpt" string show up on its left-side panel with the destination drive selected?
Fair point. I can't argue.
