Linux no boot after install!

remixislandmosic

New Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2019
Messages
10
Reaction score
2
Credits
0
Hello. I have the motherboard out of an Acer Aspire One Cloudbook I am using for an HTPC.

Celeron N3060
2gb LP DDR3
32gb EMMC

This system originally had Windows 10 which ran slowly for obvious reasons. I installed Lubuntu which ran fabulously. I wanted to play around with android X86, and I found my USB WiFi adapter did not like Android.

I went to install Linux back on this machine (this time popos) and the live CD would boot, but after install and restart the laptop said "no bootable device", even after settings the EMMC to the top of the boot order. I tried Lubuntu, and the live CD booted, but the laptop wouldn't boot after install.

Why will Linux suddenly not boot?

I even tried installing windows 10 again, which installed and booted fine. Then I went back to install Linux and it still would not boot after install.
I have tried using both rufus and etcher to make the live CD on my 128gb USB, and they both had the same result.
 


To get Ubuntu loaded I followed the steps laid out in this great blog post: http://bernaerts.dyndns.org/linux/74-ubuntu/340-ubuntu-install-acer-aspire-cloudbook-431 The gist is to go into the BIOS with F2 and move the USB drive up to the top boot priority. Then reboot and install Ubuntu 15.10 as normal from a USB stick. However on reboot the machine will fail to load Ubuntu because secure boot is enabled (ugh), but it's a simple matter of going back into the BIOS and flipping a few levers to confirm that the Ubuntu OS on the drive is what you want secure boot to use.
Source -
 
Actually, scratch that. It began to boot, but gave me a " end kernal panic - not syncing ufs unable to mount root fs on unknown block (0,0)
 
From what I've read, it could be a faulty grub config or a problem with the kernel. Which version of Ubuntu did you try to install ?
 
Well lets make sure you are using grub (since you dealt with UEFI options).
Press ESC when booting and tell us if it brings you to a grub shell or something. If if doesn't work press shift and report back here.
 
Pressing esc yields this: I don't believe this is what should happen.

Pressing nothing on boot yields this: "end kernal panic - not syncing ufs unable to mount root fs on unknown block (0,0)"

Pressing shift on boot does the same as pressing nothing.
 
Your kernel can't seem to find the initrd image.
You need to update the UEFI boot command (I don't know what you exactly did to make the kernel boot) and provide an intird as parameter. The question is : is your system (BIOS) letting you set manually the UEFI boot command ?

The other option would be to try reinstalling and checking that your install key is booted in UEFI mode. The part of the installation that automatically sets the boot command seems to only work if the installer was booted in UEFI mode.
 
(I don't know what you exactly did to make the kernel boot)
All i did was set secure boot to look for the .efi file located on the EMMc.
The question is : is your system (BIOS) letting you set manually the UEFI boot command ?
Not sure, but the above may explain this.
The other option would be to try reinstalling and checking that your install key is booted in UEFI mode. The part of the installation that automatically sets the boot command seems to only work if the installer was booted in UEFI mode.
You may be on to something. I will try rufus in uefi mode.
 
In the mean time, ill try lubuntu which does allow uefi.

If lubuntu works, the csm will be the issue.
 
Created lubuntu bootable. The. Installing lubuntu failed. Tried installing again, and after fricking wit the bios, it boots.

So the issue is with the uefi/csm bit
 
(...this time popos...)

I have to read that twice to make sense of it, I am still getting used to Pop!_OS

0cd7RxV.gif


(Wizard appears in a puff of smoke, catches an ember in his robe, walks past his pantry and sets fire to a cereal box, and exclaims "Pop - O(h) S(xxx) as it goes off like a firecracker)

Someone rang?

I have Pop!_OS 18.04, rather than 19.04 because I usually go for the LTS (Long Term Support) versions rather than the flash in the pan point releases.

G'day @remixislandmosic and welcome to linux.org :)

Are you aware that
  1. Your version of the Pop!_OS has an end of life around 20 January, anyway? You can read about it here https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=popos and you should make friends with distrowatch.com - they are useful
  2. This distro is developed by System 76, a computer manufacturer, for shipping with their PCs, a good read is about a year old here https://itsfoss.com/pop-os-linux-review/
I installed mine under UEFI conditions no problems, probably using a Linux command

dd

for burning to stick. But I have not really put it through its paces yet. I run anywhere between 60 and 100 LInux at a time, and so I am always doing something, and priorities get reshuffled.

While your Lubuntu is working, you might want to make the acquaintance of Timeshift, I have a Thread here

https://www.linux.org/threads/timeshift-similar-solutions-safeguard-recover-your-linux.15241/

and Linux Lite, an excellent distro, also have it in their Manual, here

https://www.linuxliteos.com/manual/tutorials.html#timeshift

If you install Timeshift you could take a full snapshot and place it on a 8 - 16 GB USB stick, and then if anything goes wrong, you can rollback with ease. Same applies if you get the Pop!_OS up and running.

Ask any questions on Timeshift at my Thread, or I am happy to enteratain questions on Pop!_OS that I can answer with my limited experience in that regard.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
tbh i went popos since it has steam preinstalled. And looks nice.

Even though my internet isn't terrible, sometimes downloading an iso can take 15 min or more, so i grabbed this version of popos from a folder i have filled with isos.

Ill try timeshift with lubuntu and use your advice should i want to use popos later on.
 
Some of this depends of your BIOS/UEFI

Some computers have a "one size fits all".
Everything is either Legacy BIOS or else everything is UEFI.

4647


But more often on newer systems, I see options "per boot device".
For example, you can boot from the network on Legacy BIOS if you want to, but you boot from the hard drive with UEFI enabled.

4648


Some computers will auto-detect your boot media and boot from whichever boot system type it finds.

4649


Usually there is a package like "syslinux", this usually installs the boot files under /biosboot

In UEFI there is a directory at /boot/efi/EFI thisi usually has two directories beneath it.
(not always) BOOT and (distro name) like redhat or fedora.

The distro folder will have the grub.cfg boot menu. Also this is usually where the
shim.efi files are (there are different shim files depending on whether your distro supports "secure boot" or not.

The BOOT folder will have the actual BOOTx64.EFI bootloader.

Having said all that... "most" newer Linux distros on "Live" USB's, will have both. It just uses whichever one your BIOS is set to.
 
On EFI systems, there will be an "invisible" file system. It doesn't get mounted to the linux filesystem.

[root@en1d05b5 ~]# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 238.49 GiB, 256060514304 bytes, 500118192 sectors
Disk model: CFast 3ME4
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: gpt
Disk identifier: 78DFB194-F746-4335-BB25-A54D5EAD215C

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 391167 389120 190M EFI System
/dev/sda2 391168 6682623 6291456 3G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda3 6682624 298317823 291635200 139.1G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda4 298317824 361232383 62914560 30G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda5 361232384 403175423 41943040 20G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda6 403175424 445118463 41943040 20G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda7 445118464 461895679 16777216 8G Linux swap
/dev/sda8 461895680 470284287 8388608 4G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda9 470284288 478672895 8388608 4G Linux filesystem

Note: the efi filesystem is limited to 200 Meg. That may seem small, but
keep in mind, under the old legacy BIOS, /biosboot can only be 2 Meg.

/boot is usually where the current "full kernel" files are.

/boot/vmlinuz-5.3.7-301.fc31.x86_64
/boot/vmlinuz-5.3.8-300.fc31.x86_64
/boot/vmlinuz-0-rescue-ae11143703914ca9bc8e043eb1d9c891
/usr/lib/modules/5.3.7-301.fc31.x86_64/vmlinuz
/usr/lib/modules/5.3.8-300.fc31.x86_64/vmlinuz
 

Members online


Top