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Mint 9 - no system startup screen [SOLVED, mostly]

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 12:06 am
by runbei
A (very) bad thing happened when I installed Mint 9:

No system startup screen - i.e., no possibility of pressing F2 to boot into BIOS setup.

This is particularly critical since Mint 9 inherits the Ubuntu bug where the system doesn't see USB drives - in my case, an external USB hard drive and a USB stick.

The solution offered when I posted about that indicated I should either run the command

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe -r floppy
which fails; or I should reboot as indicated here:
...restart the computer and next to the "Floppy" setting in the BIOS I selected "Disabled" instead of "Legacy Floppy" - problem solved, as soon as Ubuntu booted, automount was working again and my USB devices were showing up in Nautilus again.
Because neither solution works, I'm pretty much stuck. I would strongly advise anyone using USB drives to wait for a real solution before installing Mint 9. Looks my only option is to reinstall Mint 8. ?

P.S. Actually, Mint 9 did 2 (two) very bad things on install. It over-wrote my /home directory, would you believe, even though I told it not to format it in the installer. I did back up critical files, but some fairly important stuff is lost - my mistake, granted, but highly unexpected.

P.P.S. On the ThinkPad T43, I can't press the "blue ThinkPad button" during startup to "bypass normal startup options." This is the screen that appears when you first turn on/reboot the laptop. In Mint 8 I believe it worked.

Re: Mint 9 - no system startup screen, etc.

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 1:26 am
by vincent
Mint will not and cannot overwrite the contents of your BIOS or change it in any way. The only thing you can do to alter your BIOS is to "flash" the BIOS, which requires booting into DOS/Windows to run a specific flash utility given to you by your computer manufacturer. As such, you should still see your BIOS screen...unless you messed around with it too much and broke something. But if you broke your BIOS, you wouldn't even be able to boot. Weird...

The same problem doesn't exist for me. I can use USB drives just perfectly with Mint 9. In fact I used a Mint 9 Live USB to install it on my computer. :P

Re: Mint 9 - no system startup screen, etc.

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 10:22 am
by runbei
Vincent - I'm deeply grateful for your replies, here and on my other question (re partitioning). Thanks. What I'm seeing is that when I either reboot or start cold, there is no screen that gives me the option to press F2 for BIOS options. I wonder if it's a Grub problem. ? Anyways, I will probably reinstall (partitioning correctly).

Re: Mint 9 - no system startup screen, etc.

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 10:34 am
by feed3
vincent wrote:Mint will not and cannot overwrite the contents of your BIOS or change it in any way... if you broke your BIOS, you wouldn't even be able to boot. Weird...
+1 andddd...
runbei wrote:A (very) bad thing happened when I installed Mint 9: ... no possibility of pressing F2 to boot into BIOS setup.. I would strongly advise anyone using USB drives to wait for a real solution before installing Mint 9..
totally weird..not to mention, a bit funny.. :lol: i suggest the op to go here http://computer.howstuffworks.com/bios.htm and have some reading for that "basic of the basics" thing.. or else, your computer might turned and transformed to optimus prime!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: Mint 9 - no system startup screen, etc.

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 10:41 am
by runbei
Vincent - Eureka. I AM able to get to the BIOS. It was late last night, and instead of pressing the "Access IBM" button to "bypass normal startup options," I pressed the power button (repeatedly). If you aren't smiling...

Anyway, I will keep the thread and not delete it, since Mint 9 should show the normal F2 BIOS option/setup screen at startup. Thanks for your help.

Oh - P.S. After accessing the BIOS, I changed the floppy disk setting to "disabled," and now I am able to see the external hard disk and flash drive. So, problem (mostly) solved.

MORE: This seems to be related to the following "known issue" listed for Ubuntu 10.04:
Boot options hidden by default on Desktop and Netbook CDs

The Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop and Netbook CDs feature a new boot interface that is noninteractive by default. To configure advanced boot options, press any key at the first boot screen.
Anyways, will try "pressing any key" although I'm reassured the Access IBM key does work.

Re: Mint 9 - no system startup screen, etc.

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 10:44 am
by feed3
runbei wrote: Anyway, I will keep the thread and not delete it, since Mint 9 should show the normal F2 BIOS option/setup screen at startup. Thanks for your help.
joke aside, you need some reading buddy.. go the link up there and do some googling, then you will know why.. happy MINTing.. :)