New Intel 320 SSD wont boot - Thinkpad E325

[murak]

I got a Lenovo Thinkpad E325 wich I changed the hard drive on to a Intel 320 120gb SSD. Bios recognizes the drive and I can install Linux Mint Debian on it. How ever when I restart it wont boot. First it seems as if it tries to boot from the network card wich dont work since there is no cable inseted etc.. then it says "Operating system not found".

I tried to set sata to "Compatability mode" in Bios and also update the bios to latest version.

This is probably not a Mint problem, but I do need help =)

EDIT: Also the SMART status from the Control Center says the drive is healthy and I can benchmark the drive, so it must not be broken right?
EDIT2: Does this have anything to do with me using EFI bios? There is a option in bios to use legasy bios instead of EFI, I have not tried this yet, as it seems risky. Anyone with experience?
EDIT3. I have tried using the Legacy Bios option and this changed nothing.

It seems that the laptop newer even tries to boot from the ssd on boot up or it fails and goes directly to try and boot from the next option (be it usb, network etc..)
When I hit F12 and choose the Intel SSD to boot from, the screen goes blank for 2 seconds then the previous menu appears again.

If more info is needed I will provide. Thanks!

[proxima_centauri]

* Moved to LMDE Installation & Boot forum

[spandey]

You may need a different GRUB for EFI. Try installing GRUB-EFI.

[murak]

You may need a different GRUB for EFI. Try installing GRUB-EFI.

thank you for your reply. I tried changing to Legacy bios but nothing changed. The thing is that I dont know how to re compile a kernel with GRUB-EFI included, are there pre made isos especially for EFI?

[spandey]

Just check this https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFIBooting and https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s ... ion/166162

hope it will be of some help.

[murak]

Just check this https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFIBooting and https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s ... ion/166162

hope it will be of some help.

Thanks, I had a look at the links. How ever I tried to boot with Legacy Bios enabled and nothing changed. I also updated the first post. This is proboably a problem with my laptop so I created a thread on Lenovos support forum. Ill post the solution here if&when I find it.

And, if anyone got an idea, do not fear to tell =)

Thanks!

[spandey]

Did you create a separate EFI partition before installing LMDE?

[murak]

Did you create a separate EFI partition before installing LMDE?

No, I tried different ways of partitioning the drive, following diferent guides, but I have not made a separate EFI partition. However if I remember correctly the regular mint 11 did a EFI partition when I let it control the partitioning. That is to say I just let it do a standard install. I already tried to install with legacy bios enabled in Bios and the drive would still not boot, just for the record.

If I want to do a separate EFI partiton, how big should it be? Should it be the first partition? What attribute do I set it to? (boot or / etc..)

Thanks!

[spandey]

It should be around 100 MB.

If you have tried installing regular MINT 11, was it successful install. If yes, here is the trick..after install before rebooting just install..grub-efi then reboot.

After system Updates itself..don't forget to reinstall grub-efi again.. this works for my friends PC..
If you have time please try this. In the meantime let me think about process for LMDE as it uses legacy GRUB not GRUB2. Please do the install in UEFI mode only not in legacy mode.

[murak]

It should be around 100 MB.

If you have tried installing regular MINT 11, was it successful install. If yes, here is the trick..after install before rebooting just install..grub-efi then reboot.

After system Updates itself..don't forget to reinstall grub-efi again.. this works for my friends PC..
If you have time please try this. In the meantime let me think about process for LMDE as it uses legacy GRUB not GRUB2. Please do the install in UEFI mode only not in legacy mode.

Thanks alot, I will try this tonight. I´ll report back soon.

EDIT: For some reason i cant install Linux Mint 11, installer crashes at the end, while installing GRUB2. The integrity of the usb stick is ok. I can swear I did succed once to install it.. LMDE installs every time.

Can you recommend how to format the drive? Something like this?:

SDA
-sda1 "EFI-boot" 100mb
-sda2 "/" 110000mb (rest of the drive)
-sda3 "swap" 3900mb

Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E325, AMD E-350 1.6ghz, 4gb ddr3 ram, Intel SSD 320 Series 120gb. Latest bios 1.11
Thanks!