Unable to boot
SansTabulaRasa
New Member
To preface, I’m fairly new to playing with tech. I installed Linux mint onto an acer laptop and deleted the pre-installed windows 10 OS off the drive after backing up my files. I’m guessing I deleted some key boot files when messing with the hard drive partitions, since after installing and restarting I got a prompt saying there wasn’t a bootable device.
Attempting to reinstall without touching partition options didn’t help, and running Boot Repair with the recommended option twice didn’t work either. Boot repair instructed me to boot it through UEFI instead of Legacy, but I can’t get it to run using UEFI. Any help would be appreciated.
Here’s a pastebin boot repair provided if it helps: http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/DpTd4q3ySn/
Condobloke
Well-Known Member
G’day SansTabulaRasa, and Welcome to linux.org
I will summon the Wizard for you. He usually handles stuff like this with ease.
Condobloke . Outback Australian :: LINUX IS THE ANSWER. LINUX MINT used EXCLUSIVELY here.
I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people that annoy me.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly …. Especially in C19 times.
It has been said that time heals all wounds. I don’t agree. The wounds remain. Time — the mind, protecting its sanity — covers them with some scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone. Rose Kennedy.
wizardfromoz
Administrator
Yeah thanks Brian
G’day Without a Clean Slate? and welcome to linux.org
1. Have you been into the UEFI side of your BIOS previously? Have you set a password there?
2. How did you delete Windows 10, and do you have a way of restoring that (USB stick or disk)?
3. What medium are you using currently to communicate with us if the Acer is not working?
I’ll have more questions.
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
Daviboy
Member
It looks like to me that you ran Lime and installed. all you need to do is reboot on laptop hold the Bios key on boot-up. Usually F12 for a laptop. for a PC OZ is right, you have to set your Bios to read the USB.
The usb is coming up with that message because to OP on your system, even if it’s Lime, can’t read the usb.
Let me know how you get on.
SansTabulaRasa
New Member
Yeah thanks Brian
G’day Without a Clean Slate? and welcome to linux.org
1. Have you been into the UEFI side of your BIOS previously? Have you set a password there?
2. How did you delete Windows 10, and do you have a way of restoring that (USB stick or disk)?
3. What medium are you using currently to communicate with us if the Acer is not working?
I’ll have more questions.
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
1. I used the UEFI side of my BIOS to install linux mint from a USB. I didn’t set a password in the BIOS, though I did set a password in the mint installer to encrypt the hard drive, don’t know if that’s related.
2. I used the mint installer to wipe the hard drive including Windows. I don’t have a way to restore Windows prepared.
3. I’m communicating on mobile now, though I can also borrow a friend’s Mac to communicate here.
Thank you for your help
Daviboy
Member
Look at Poorguys article here 😉
Guidance, please
SansTabulaRasa
New Member
Look at Poorguys article here 😉
Guidance, please
Daviboy
Member
Condobloke
Well-Known Member
@SansTabulaRasa I dont blame you for being confused.
@poorguy I see your name. but I see no sign of you, mate !!
Sanstabularosa. possibly a better distro to try might be Linux Lite
A link to download from HERE Please be aware that Linux lite 32 bit is only supported until sometime in 2021
Hopefully you can update to a 64 bit machine in that time
There are other 32 bit distros. but not too many. you are seriously limited
Condobloke . Outback Australian :: LINUX IS THE ANSWER. LINUX MINT used EXCLUSIVELY here.
I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people that annoy me.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly …. Especially in C19 times.
It has been said that time heals all wounds. I don’t agree. The wounds remain. Time — the mind, protecting its sanity — covers them with some scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone. Rose Kennedy.
Daviboy
Member
@Condobloke I know the selection isn’t there as yet, but there are new Distros being released weekly as Linux becomes more popular. Linux lite are just empty shells without the added apps. The lowest shell I have seen is around 2Mb but on average Distros for Linux come to 2Mb — 16Mb I haven’t really seen any bigger except windows weighing in at 50Mb. So there is a wide range of light Distros and more to choose from. No wonder it’s getting confusing out there.
I have turned in to a right Distro slut, changing Distro weekly (Which is good) as I get the feel and flavour of the new Diastro of the week! LOL
captain-sensible
Well-Known Member
@Condobloke I know the selection isn’t there as yet, but there are new Distros being released weekly as Linux becomes more popular. Linux lite are just empty shells without the added apps. The lowest shell I have seen is around 2Mb but on average Distros for Linux come to 2Mb — 16Mb I haven’t really seen any bigger except windows weighing in at 50Mb. So there is a wide range of light Distros and more to choose from. No wonder it’s getting confusing out there.
I have turned in to a right Distro slut, changing Distro weekly (Which is good) as I get the feel and flavour of the new Diastro of the week! LOL
they do say there is a time line :
Windows -> puppy or other -> ubuntu -> slackware or arch . The one flaw in the whole Linux universe is that ego’s or lack of business acumen prevent talent coalescing around one distro adding their talent , providing support for users(ok rehat is an exception) and developing a business model. Microsoft on the other hand doesn’t have loads of flavors but simply one distro, the financial model is Ok and they put all efforts behind it.
Well-Known Member
To preface, I’m fairly new to playing with tech. I installed Linux mint onto an acer laptop and deleted the pre-installed windows 10 OS off the drive after backing up my files. I’m guessing I deleted some key boot files when messing with the hard drive partitions, since after installing and restarting I got a prompt saying there wasn’t a bootable device.
Attempting to reinstall without touching partition options didn’t help, and running Boot Repair with the recommended option twice didn’t work either. Boot repair instructed me to boot it through UEFI instead of Legacy, but I can’t get it to run using UEFI. Any help would be appreciated.
Here’s a pastebin boot repair provided if it helps: http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/DpTd4q3ySn/
Have you tried to set your PC to UEFI mode? Do that then reinstall the operating system.
Also, after reinstalling, when you restart the machine, be sure to remove the «Live» usb you used to install from.
It will help others to help you if you provide the exact make and model of your computer, including a few hardware specs’
Daviboy
Member
wizardfromoz
Administrator
That link is dead, for now, that may or may not change (the Thread is still active).
The link referred to by @Daviboy was one of three provided by @poorguy — the first one, in fact.
Its direct link is here
and is well worth a read.
However it was not authored by @poorguy but by Brian @Condobloke , whom you have already «met» in this Thread (lovable dog avatar).
Folks please note
Things have gotten confused here, with much well-intentioned input working from false assumptions, perhaps.
I would like to get us back on track to help the OP (Original Poster, that’s you, SansTabulaRasa) get a good outcome.
@SansTabulaRasa can you please tell us the following:
1. Computer Brand, name, model number
2. Go into your BIOS and tell us the BIOS utility – Name, Version, Revision, may also have a date eg
InsydeH20 Setup Utility Rev 3.7 (date perhaps) and System BIOS Version 1-60
This may not be at your entry point but on a Main page. Also from there
3. Total Memory Size 8192 MB (substitute your own figure)
I will start putting together a package which will clarify and hopefully assist.
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
SansTabulaRasa
New Member
That link is dead, for now, that may or may not change (the Thread is still active).
The link referred to by @Daviboy was one of three provided by @poorguy — the first one, in fact.
Its direct link is here
and is well worth a read.
However it was not authored by @poorguy but by Brian @Condobloke , whom you have already «met» in this Thread (lovable dog avatar).
Folks please note
Things have gotten confused here, with much well-intentioned input working from false assumptions, perhaps.
I would like to get us back on track to help the OP (Original Poster, that’s you, SansTabulaRasa) get a good outcome.
@SansTabulaRasa can you please tell us the following:
1. Computer Brand, name, model number
2. Go into your BIOS and tell us the BIOS utility – Name, Version, Revision, may also have a date eg
InsydeH20 Setup Utility Rev 3.7 (date perhaps) and System BIOS Version 1-60
This may not be at your entry point but on a Main page. Also from there
3. Total Memory Size 8192 MB (substitute your own figure)
I will start putting together a package which will clarify and hopefully assist.
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
1. It is an Acer Aspire E5-575
2. InsydeH20 Setup Utility Rev. 5.0 & System BIOS Version 1.27
3. Total Memory 4096 MB
Thank you for the assistance
wizardfromoz
Administrator
Cheers Mate for the info — guessed well with the Insyde, eh?
4 GB RAM, not big, but way big enough that you do not need to be using lightweight Linuxes.
Do you know if it is Mint Cinnamon or Mint MATE or Xfce? (I may have missed that).
1.Your USB stick, or the burn of the .iso to it, is defective
2. You need to be able to get UEFI running in the BIOS if you are going to use that .iso under UEFI conditions.
I will explain in more detail, and reference the Pastebin report as soon as I get a chance.
In the meantime, take a bit of a read (maybe on another computer if hard on the phone) of this
and see the similarities in the Pastebin report to your circumstances.
The other fellow was using Ubuntu and on MBR (dos) instead of UEFI, but otherwise they are almost identical.
Gotta go for now
SansTabulaRasa
New Member
Cheers Mate for the info — guessed well with the Insyde, eh?
4 GB RAM, not big, but way big enough that you do not need to be using lightweight Linuxes.
Do you know if it is Mint Cinnamon or Mint MATE or Xfce? (I may have missed that).
1.Your USB stick, or the burn of the .iso to it, is defective
2. You need to be able to get UEFI running in the BIOS if you are going to use that .iso under UEFI conditions.
I will explain in more detail, and reference the Pastebin report as soon as I get a chance.
In the meantime, take a bit of a read (maybe on another computer if hard on the phone) of this
and see the similarities in the Pastebin report to your circumstances.
The other fellow was using Ubuntu and on MBR (dos) instead of UEFI, but otherwise they are almost identical.
Gotta go for now
wizardfromoz
Administrator
I am doing a bit of brainstorming over the Pastebin report, this part to do with your USB stick (my highlighting
Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sdb: 3.8 GiB, 4009754624 bytes, 7831552 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 0 1,449,983 1,449,984 17 Hidden NTFS / HPFS
The part in red is typically associated with a Windows Recovery partition — has this stick been used for Windows Recovery before?
I have more questions, but I will structure them better soon.
SansTabulaRasa
New Member
I am doing a bit of brainstorming over the Pastebin report, this part to do with your USB stick (my highlighting
The part in red is typically associated with a Windows Recovery partition — has this stick been used for Windows Recovery before?
I have more questions, but I will structure them better soon.
No, I have not used this USB for Windows Recovery; it was a new stick fresh out of the packaging.
I appreciate the work you’re putting in on my behalf
wizardfromoz
Administrator
Curious . never mind, for now.
I am mindful you are on your phone, so some of the links I suggest for reading/acting upon you may need to read later, and maybe bookmark some for when you are up and running.
IMO our focus should be in 3 areas —
- Establishing that what is on your USB stick is valid
- Once 1. is established, getting a Linux installed (Linux Mint 19.3 ‘Tricia’ Cinnamon or other, regardless) so that.
- Your computer has an OS (operating system)
WIZARD’S GLOSSARY
Clem — is Clement Lefebvre, born French, lives in Ireland — founder and CEO, Project Manager of Linux Mint
Devs — the Developers of our Linux Mint Distros
Distro — a distribution of GNU/Linux (Linux), such as Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Manjaro to name a few.
OS — operating system, can include MS Windows. Apple’s Macintosh, GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, Unix and others.
Families — are groups of Linux distros, that are based on the Family of the same name, There are five (5) Major Families, plus a bunch of Independents and Others. The five are (not in order of preference or importance)
- Arch — eg Manjaro, Arcolinux, KaOS
- Debian — eg Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Robolinux, Peppermint
- RedHat aka RPM (Redhat Package Management system) — eg Fedora, centOS, Mageia, openSUSE
- Gentoo — eg Sabayon, Calculate
- Slackware — eg Puppy, Porteus
THE AREAS
1. Establishing that what is on your USB stick is valid
I don’t believe we established where you had gotten your downloaded .iso from. I would recommend from one of only 3 places —
- The distro website itself — eg Linux Mint linuxmint.com
- DistroWatch — distrowatch.com, who typically link to either of the distro website itself, or else
- SourceForge or other reliable source, such as DistroWatch links to when you click to download
If you haven’t got your ‘Tricia’ from there, let us know from where.
Before you downloaded, or imediately after, you should have checked the .iso ‘s hashsum.
At linuxmint.com when you choose to download your distro, you will go to a page where it says, in part
. and if you click that you eventually get that for your distro, the SHA256sum is
You can check this in Windows, or in Macintosh, as well as Linux.
In Macintosh, go to its command line interface, establish the path to your .iso and enter eg
where for /path/to/file/ you substitute where it is located.
If you don’t get the above figure, don’t use the .iso.
GPG that Mint mentions is fine, but no need for now, I can explain more later.
2. Once 1. is established, getting a Linux installed (Linux Mint 19.3 ‘Tricia’ Cinnamon or other, regardless) so that.
You may want to consider putting on a 32-bit Mint instead — just for now.
If you choose that option, you would just need to adjust the iso name and the SHA256 to match to reflect that (above instructions).
32-bit gets a bad rep — it simply has a few less apps, because some apps require 64-bit architecture and some software devs are no longer writing for 32-bit. Likewise some Distros are no longer supplying.
Mint is, for now.
From your Boot Repair output (Pastebin) it appears you have an ideal environment for Linux 64-bit, that is — UEFI support, and GPT partitioning.
However (unless you can find a switch in BIOS to flip from Legacy to UEFI) you are for now stuck with MBR (Master Boot Record). You can install a 32-bit Mint under MBR on your computer, and just follow the installer directions to use the entire disk.
That will ensure that
3. Your computer has an OS (operating system)
. and anything else you want we can leave to Ron (lateR on)
See what you reckon, have a think, ask questions, Google stuff.
I know these timezone differences are a nuisance.
We have any number of people who can help — I would just ask them to consider the plan I have suggested. Tweaking is fine.
BTW — if you choose to re-burn the .iso to the stick
1. Format to FAT32 (can be used on all OSes)
2. Try Etcher as a burning solution, or UnetBootin
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