no grub loader after the installation!

[athinita]

Hi! I'm trying to install linux mint 17.1 cinnamon at a Compaq CQ58 laptop that has windows 8.1 preinstalled.
I have desabled quick start up at the power options of win8.1
I have resised the volume to create space for linux mint (30Gb)
I have disabled secure boot and enabled legacy support at bios
I have succesfully installed linux mint 17.1 from a dvd
And when I reboot there is no grub menu, it runs win 8.1! Linux mint is hidden and I can't access it!
Have I done something wrong? Do I miss something?
I have tryed the procedure 2 times (the second time after deleting the linux and the swap partitions by the disk managment of windows and creating free space again).
I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Any help would be very aprecieted! I won't try it for the third time unless I find out what I'm doing wrong.
Please help!
Thank you!

[wayne128]

Not sure what happened.

if you can type a few command codes into the terminal , copy the result and post here, it will help people to understand your hard disk partitions and LM17 installation.

Here are the steps to troubleshootL

1. boot and run your computer with LM17.1 DVD or USB

2. open a terminal, type sudo su to get into a # prompt

3. then type these codes, one at a time, copy terminal results and paste onto this forum.

Code: Select all

fdisk -l

Code: Select all

parted -l

Code: Select all

ls /sys/firmware

Code: Select all

uname -a

Code: Select all

os-prober

[athinita]

Thank you very much for your reply.
I've done what you suggested and here are the results:

mint@mint ~ $ sudo su
mint mint # fdisk -l

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.


Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xa50d7054

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 976773167 488386583+ ee GPT
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.
mint mint # parted -l
Model: ATA ST500LT012-9WS14 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 420MB 419MB ntfs Basic data partition hidden, diag
2 420MB 693MB 273MB fat32 EFI system partition boot
3 693MB 827MB 134MB Microsoft reserved partition msftres
4 827MB 453GB 452GB ntfs Basic data partition msftdata
5 453GB 453GB 1049kB bios_grub
8 453GB 481GB 27.6GB ext4
9 481GB 485GB 3867MB linux-swap(v1)
6 485GB 485GB 472MB ntfs hidden, diag
7 485GB 500GB 14.9GB ntfs Basic data partition hidden, msftdata


Warning: Unable to open /dev/sr0 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/sr0
has been opened read-only.
Error: Can't have a partition outside the disk!

mint mint # ls /sys/firmware
acpi memmap
mint mint # uname -a
Linux mint 3.13.0-37-generic #64-Ubuntu SMP Mon Sep 22 21:28:38 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
mint mint # os-prober
/dev/sda4:Windows 8 (loader):Windows:chain
/dev/sda7:Windows Recovery Environment (loader):Windows1:chain
/dev/sda8:Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca (17.1):LinuxMint:linux
mint mint #

I'm not a linux expert at all. I've just been using linux mint without any problems at my pc and I follow instructions. I don't know how to deal with this situation and I'm not sure I can handle it. This laptop belongs to a friend who wanted to try linux but it looks like I will disappoint her... I don't understand the meaning of the three basic data partitions. Is it possible to do something?

[wayne128]

From your attached information:

mint mint # ls /sys/firmware
acpi memmap

2 420MB 693MB 273MB fat32 EFI system partition boot
3 693MB 827MB 134MB Microsoft reserved partition msftres
4 827MB 453GB 452GB ntfs Basic data partition msftdata
5 453GB 453GB 1049kB bios_grub

Your hard disk was installed with Win8.1 in UEFI mode.

Now your Linuxmint, unfortunately was booted in bios-mode and installed in bios-mode.

So now you have a hybird, a mixed mode installation, making it difficult to handle dual booting with Win8.1

Of course it is possible to do something about it.

However, it is easier for you to simply do it from beginning, boot in UEFI mode and install in UEFI mode.

Here is what you should pay attention:
1. You must prepare your bootable media (DVD or USB flash) so that it is UEFI bootable.
2. Once you boot up computer, you must choose the UEFI-DVD or UEFI-USB to boot it.
3. You should then make a check using the same command

Code: Select all

ls /sys/firmware

check that it has an EFI folder.
4. Once you know the above steps are correct, you can then install LM17.1 onto a partition,
the installer is now UEFI capable and would automagically detect the ESP partition , install the grub-efi and provide you with a dual boot entry.


note:
of course it is good for you to delete those old bios-mode-LM17.1 partitions before reinstallation in UEFI mode, however it is also OK to delete these partition while running UEFI-LM17.1

[athinita]

It's the first time I deal with win 8 and UEFI. I have prepared a usb stick and a dvd but none of theme is uefi bootable. So I wasn't well prepared at all...
It's not that simple to prepare an Uefi bootable disk or usb stick (from what I read in this forum) so I have to take my time, do it at home at my own pc and try again to install linux mint at my friends laptop some other day.
Next time I'll be well prepared and I hope everything will be ok. And I'll post at the forum my success (if there is any). At the moment I can't do anything else.
Thank you very much for your reply, for your time and for your help.!