No grub on install of LMDE on external HD

[rfharabin]

I am trying to get Mint Debian Cinnamon 64 on my 120GB external HD and have messed up the install multiple times. After the install my BIOS allows me to pick what to boot up from by pushing F9 and it shows my internal and external USB devices. But when I choose my 120GB external HD to boot Mint LMDE from all I get is a blinking curser in the upper right hand corner. No keyboard yet so I have to shutdown by holding the on button of the case for five seconds.

This is what I have on my external 120 GB drive using a thumb drive with mint 17 and Gparted.

/dev/sdd1 ext4 20GB boot
/dev/sdd2 swap 20GB swap
/dev/sdd3 ext4 60GB home
/dev/sdd4 ntfs 14GB xfer

I put in the " /" and "home" during the install process.

I go through the install screens to the one that shows the HD's and pick out the 120GB external, then the next screen gives a choice of where the grub goes. I do not touch the check box and change the option below from sda1 to sdd1. Looking at this via my thumb drive mint 17 shows that everything seems to be installed. But It does not work for me. On restarting and choosing the 120GB HD to boot from all I get is the cursor mentioned above.
I did this the last two days, if My memory is wrong and things are confusing let me know and I will format and go through the process again taking notes.

Any ideas would be very much appreciated.

[ofb]

Any ideas would be very much appreciated.

At first blush it sounds reasonable. What I'd do at this point is back up and first confirm that Cinnamon likes your graphics card by booting a live-iso session and installing the proprietary driver there.

[gtsfer]

Do you remember if there was an option for "sdd" without a partition number for Grub? I'm not completely sure, but Grub usually goes on a device, not a partition within it. I could be wrong here. I do remember putting my Grub on "sda" and not "sda1" though for instance.

You can try what ofb suggested (installing the driver in live mode) for starters too. Linux Mint Debian is a little more difficult to install if I remember back that far. The installer in general was not so nice as the main editions were.

[GeneBenson]

Hi rfharabin,

What is installed on your internal HD? Hopefully not Windows. If you have another Linux installed then try this. Boot into that Linux and then in a terminal enter: sudo update-grub.
It should then discover your LMDE. Reboot, but don't hit F9. Once it gets to the Grub menu LMDE should be listed there.

P.S. gtsfer, grub can be installed to a partition. If you have more then one Linux installed then grub is normally installed in the MBR for the first Linux and for each subsequent Linux grub is installed in the same partition as that Linux is. You just need to do a "sudo update-grub" in the first Linux each time a new Linux is installed or one of them gets a new kernel.

[gtsfer]

You just need to do a "sudo update-grub" in the first Linux each time a new Linux is installed or one of them gets a new kernel.

This may indeed fix your issue. Be aware that this will put Grub on whatever device you are booted to per your BIOS setting. Optionality you can query for where the installed OSes are first...

Code: Select all

sudo os-prober

And assuming you don't need to re-mount anything manually you could..

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

As Gene pointed out. Thanks for the notes on that too Gene.

[rfharabin]

Thanks for the replies guys.
I see that some history is needed. I have Win7-64 HP as my main operating system on my disk 0 or sda1. I had Mint 13 on this external HD put there over a year ago to play with and learn and it loaded just fine with everything it needed was on the 120GB external HD. I loaded it up using the F9 Key while booting up the computer. Last April I put mint LMDE on the 120GB External HD and it installed OK but put grub on my disk 0 (sda1; my goof) so that it would load as my default operating system. This was a problem on patch Tuesday as I have a program in Win7 that I want to keep running 24/7. Also if if we have a brief power outage I do not have the external HD on a UPS, so when the power comes back on the computer will not boot. It stops at the grub and this is a nuisance. Trying to setup Win7 as the default in the boot process I messed mint up royally. I goofed up the password process so bad that I decided to nuke and pave. Now if I install LMDE with /sda1 for the grub, I will be OK but when I tried install LMDE with grub on sdd1 it did not install the grub anywhere that I know of.

As far as My graphics card I have looked at every one of the other mint distro's and they all will load and my screen is working just fine as is Mint LMDE when I load it off of the DVD. Would not this mean that there is no problem with the graphics card? What seems nice to me about LMDE is not having to update mint every year a the Ubuntu distro's need to be up to be updated.

As far as how long I have been working on this, we are both in our seventies and I haven't had to give our pharmacist my name when picking up a prescription in a long time, we are well known there and there is never a month go by without a doctor appointment.. Also, our fiftieth anniversary and I am a soccer nut. The World Cup brought everything to almost a halt for the month. If you are not into soccer there are 208 teams involved in this tournament and the tournaments to decide who will play in the 2018 World Cup start next year.

[gtsfer]

As far as My graphics card I have looked at every one of the other mint distro's and they all will load and my screen is working just fine as is Mint LMDE when I load it off of the DVD. Would not this mean that there is no problem with the graphics card?

If it works in live mode, the answer is probably yes, there is most likely no issue with your graphics card / drivers. Can you run this command in Terminal and copy/paste the results back here? Let's start with the basics and see what you have in that system.

Code: Select all

inxi -Fx

You can change the order of things in Grub so you don't have to reinstall anything from scratch. You could make the first entry (default) Windows without too much trouble. Just an fyi on that. Run those commands posted above as well if you can too and post those results back as well.

[rfharabin]

Will do but first, just in case it helps, when I had LMDE installed last it put some grub on my disk 0, Win7 internal HD but if the 120 GB exterior HD was off the boot process would stop with an error message that had a bunch of numbers and letters. This showed that although there was grub on the sda1 (interior HD) the boot choice menu etc was installed on the sdd1 (120GHB exterior HD).

I am using my USB thumb drive to run your command.

mint@mint ~ $ inxi -Fx
System: Host: mint Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana

Machine: Mobo: TAR model: H77MU3 version: 6.0 Bios: American Megatrends version: 4.6.5 date: 04/25/2012

CPU: Quad core Intel Core i7-3770K CPU (-HT-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 27935.6
Clock Speeds: 1: 1600.00 MHz 2: 1600.00 MHz 3: 1600.00 MHz 4: 1600.00 MHz 5: 1600.00 MHz 6: 1600.00 MHz 7: 1600.00 MHz 8: 1600.00 MHz



Graphics: Card: NVIDIA G94 [GeForce 9600 GT] bus-ID: 01:00.0
X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) FAILED: nouveau Resolution: 1440x900@59.9hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NV94 GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.0 Direct Rendering: Yes

Audio: Card: Intel 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-24-generic

Network: Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 02:00.0
IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: b8:97:5a:17:cb:c3

Drives: HDD Total Size: 3152.3GB (30.4% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB temp: 0C
2: id: /dev/sdb model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB temp: 0C 3: id: /dev/sdc model: FA_GoFlex_Desk size: 1000.2GB temp: 0C
4: USB id: /dev/sdd model: Patriot_Memory size: 31.6GB temp: 0C 5: USB id: /dev/sde model: 1200BB_External size: 120.0GB temp: 0C
Partition: ID: / size: 3.9G used: 56M (2%) fs: overlayfs ID: swap-1 size: 20.97GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap

RAID: No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present

Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: 27.8C gpu: 68.0
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 202 Uptime: 13 min Memory: 524.2/7950.3MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.2 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4
mint@mint ~ $


If you are looking at the HD's, this is easier to read. Number 5 is my exterior HD.

Drives: HDD Total Size: 3152.3GB (30.4% used)
1: id: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB temp: 0C

2: id: /dev/sdb model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB temp: 0C

3: id: /dev/sdc model: FA_GoFlex_Desk size: 1000.2GB temp: 0C

4: USB id: /dev/sdd model: Patriot_Memory size: 31.6GB temp: 0C

5: USB id: /dev/sde model: 1200BB_External size: 120.0GB temp: 0C Partition: ID: / size: 3.9G used: 56M (2%) fs: overlayfs ID: swap-1 size: 20.97GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap

[gtsfer]

That's very good, it helps. In fact that's excellent with the screen shot too. Just one more command for now so we can see what OSes are installed and where they are, OK? You can run this one from the thumb drive as well.

Code: Select all

sudo os-prober

[rfharabin]

It didn't work I think. It only shows the exterior HD but do we need more. That is the one I am trying to boot up to.


mint@mint ~ $ sudo os-prober
/dev/sde1:LMDE Cinnamon Edition (1):LinuxMint:linux
mint@mint ~ $

[gtsfer]

That's ok but I'm a little confused now. Are you still able to boot into Windows? I'm a little surprised that os-prober only shows LMDE so that's why I ask. Can you run this command so we can be sure of what you have there?

Code: Select all

sudo parted -l

[wayne128]

Thanks for the replies guys.
I see that some history is needed. I have Win7-64 HP as my main operating system on my disk 0 or sda1. I had Mint 13 on this external HD put there over a year ago to play with and learn and it loaded just fine with everything it needed was on the 120GB external HD. I loaded it up using the F9 Key while booting up the computer. Last April I put mint LMDE on the 120GB External HD and it installed OK but put grub on my disk 0 (sda1; my goof) so that it would load as my default operating system. This was a problem on patch Tuesday as I have a program in Win7 that I want to keep running 24/7. Also if if we have a brief power outage I do not have the external HD on a UPS, so when the power comes back on the computer will not boot. It stops at the grub and this is a nuisance. Trying to setup Win7 as the default in the boot process I messed mint up royally. I goofed up the password process so bad that I decided to nuke and pave. Now if I install LMDE with /sda1 for the grub, I will be OK but when I tried install LMDE with grub on sdd1 it did not install the grub anywhere that I know of.

As far as My graphics card I have looked at every one of the other mint distro's and they all will load and my screen is working just fine as is Mint LMDE when I load it off of the DVD. Would not this mean that there is no problem with the graphics card? What seems nice to me about LMDE is not having to update mint every year a the Ubuntu distro's need to be up to be updated.

@rfharabin,

Your description above seem to indicate something..

and your inxi seems to also say you have a rather new Motherboard with , possibly a new type of firmware

mint@mint ~ $ inxi -Fx
System: Host: mint Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana

Machine: Mobo: TAR model: H77MU3 version: 6.0 Bios: American Megatrends version: 4.6.5 date: 04/25/2012

and when you are running live, you are not using LMDE... but LM17cinnamon


OK, here I need to probe a few things so that it is clearer on your issues.

Please do these:
1. Plug in your USB, which has LM17 cinnamon.
2. Reboot, hit F9, on the 'boot menu', please do this: describe what you can see on all the boot entries.
3. Look for duplicate of USB flash, see if there is one within EFI menu, UEFI menu or with a prefix EFI or UEFI.
4. Copy exactly the description on the USB flash you choose to boot the computer and post here.
5. Once you are running LM17 cinnamon in live mode, open a terminal, type these codes and copy the results of the terminal output including the code, put these text into a code tag ( so that it is easier to read)

Code: Select all

sudo fdisk -l

Code: Select all

sudo parted -l

Code: Select all

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

Code: Select all

ls /mnt/EFI

Below are two other questions
6. I assume you are able to boot and run Win7.
Please describe what you need to do, what you see on the screen after reboot and before getting into Win7 first screen..

7.. As you are attempting to install LMDE to external USB drive, 160G, I want to know these:
7a.. If you plug in the USB drive, do you wish to boot 'automatically' from USB drive and run LMDE?
7b.. if you unplug the USB drive, and you are trying to boot into Win7, do you wish to have the computer directly boot into Win7 without you getting into 'bios setup'??, it is OK for you if you have to get into 'bios setup'?
7c.. are you able to get into your 'bios setup', and set your boot order such as it will be:
UEFI: Usb drive
UEFI: Usb flash
Hard Disk
UEFI: DVD..
??

[karlchen]

Hello, rfharabin.

Code: Select all

mint@mint ~ $ inxi -Fx
System:    Host: mint Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana

Could it be that you have been talking about Linux Mint 17 64-bit all the time, but not about LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition)?

Or did you just use a Linux Mint 17 live system in the course of your thread about LMDE? If so why not use an LMDE live system instead?
(A bit confusing, the more so, because Linux Mint 17 and LMDE are not really compatible with each other.)

Karl

[gtsfer]

.... as I have a program in Win7 that I want to keep running 24/7. Also if if we have a brief power outage I do not have the external HD on a UPS, so when the power comes back on the computer will not boot. It stops at the grub and this is a nuisance. Trying to setup Win7 as the default in the boot process I messed mint up royally.

7a.. If you plug in the USB drive, do you wish to boot 'automatically' from USB drive and run LMDE?

From what I have gathered so far, rfharabin is looking to set Win 7 as his default boot OS. I am going to sit back and watch for the most part, all help is appreciated on this one guys.

[rfharabin]

[quote="gtsfer}From what I have gathered so far, rfharabin is looking to set Win 7 as his default boot OS. I am going to sit back and watch for the most part, all help is appreciated on this one guys. [/quote]

[quote="gtsferFrom what I have gathered so far, rfharabin is looking to set Win 7 as his default boot OS. I am going to sit back and watch for the most part, all help is appreciated on this one guys. [/quote]
Soon I will be back in mint again, on Win7 now.

[rfharabin]

That's ok but I'm a little confused now. Are you still able to boot into Windows? I'm a little surprised that os-prober only shows LMDE so that's why I ask. Can you run this command so we can be sure of what you have there?

Code: Select all

sudo parted -l

mint@mint ~ $ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA WDC WD10EZEX-60Z (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 106MB 105MB primary ntfs boot
2 106MB 1000GB 1000GB primary ntfs


Model: ATA WDC WD10EZEX-60Z (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 1000GB 1000GB primary ntfs


Model: Seagate FA GoFlex Desk (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 32.3kB 1000GB 1000GB primary ntfs


Model: Patriot Memory (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdd: 31.6GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 4129kB 31.6GB 31.6GB primary fat32 boot, lba


Model: WD 1200BB External (scsi)
Disk /dev/sde: 120GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 21.0GB 21.0GB primary ext4
2 21.0GB 41.9GB 21.0GB primary linux-swap(v1)
3 41.9GB 105GB 62.9GB primary ext4
4 105GB 120GB 15.2GB primary ntfs

[gtsfer]

That's a good start, but I would look closely at Wayne's post too. Run the commands he suggested as well. He's much better at this Grub "stuff" and I think he's onto something with UEFI. Without all this info we run the risk of messing things up rather than making it all "better".

And see Karlchen's questions too. I know it's a lot, take it one step at a time. You don't have to do it all at once. You can do 2 posts to get what Wayne requested and then reply to what Karl asked too. These answers will eliminate some of our confusion.

Please do these:
1. Plug in your USB, which has LM17 cinnamon.
2. Reboot, hit F9, on the 'boot menu', please do this: describe what you can see on all the boot entries.
3. Look for duplicate of USB flash, see if there is one within EFI menu, UEFI menu or with a prefix EFI or UEFI.
4. Copy exactly the description on the USB flash you choose to boot the computer and post here.
5. Once you are running LM17 cinnamon in live mode, open a terminal, type these codes and copy the results of the terminal output including the code, put these text into a code tag ( so that it is easier to read)

Code: Select all

sudo fdisk -l

Code: Select all

sudo parted -l

Code: Select all

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

Code: Select all

ls /mnt/EFI

6. I assume you are able to boot and run Win7.
Please describe what you need to do, what you see on the screen after reboot and before getting into Win7 first screen..

7.. As you are attempting to install LMDE to external USB drive, 160G, I want to know these:
7a.. If you plug in the USB drive, do you wish to boot 'automatically' from USB drive and run LMDE?
7b.. if you unplug the USB drive, and you are trying to boot into Win7, do you wish to have the computer directly boot into Win7 without you getting into 'bios setup'??, it is OK for you if you have to get into 'bios setup'?
7c.. are you able to get into your 'bios setup', and set your boot order such as it will be:
UEFI: Usb drive
UEFI: Usb flash
Hard Disk
UEFI: DVD..

And Karl's query as well...

Could it be that you have been talking about Linux Mint 17 64-bit all the time, but not about LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition)?

Or did you just use a Linux Mint 17 live system in the course of your thread about LMDE? If so why not use an LMDE live system instead?
(A bit confusing, the more so, because Linux Mint 17 and LMDE are not really compatible with each other.) Karl

[rfharabin]

Hello, rfharabin.

Code: Select all

mint@mint ~ $ inxi -Fx
System:    Host: mint Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana

Could it be that you have been talking about Linux Mint 17 64-bit all the time, but not about LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition)?

Or did you just use a Linux Mint 17 live system in the course of your thread about LMDE? If so why not use an LMDE live system instead?
(A bit confusing, the more so, because Linux Mint 17 and LMDE are not really compatible with each other.)

Karl

I am using a USB thumb drive with the regular Mint 17 (Ubuntu type) on it to look at the external 120GB external HD that has Mint LMDE on it but I cannot get it to boot as it should. My computer will boot up into Win7 normally as I want it to do. If I want it to boot into LMDE my BIOS allows me to hit the F9 key while booting and then it shows all my internal HD's and all my external USB devices where I pick which one to boot from. This post is from my USB Thumb drive with Mint 17 Cinnimon on it. My External 120GB HD has LMDE on it and I have not been able to ge it to boot from the external HD for lack of grub I assume. I f I go much further into detail and histtory it will be long and maybe confusing. I must get off hte computer soon fora while.

Long story maybe too short, I could get LMDE to boot by letting install on my disk 0 (sda1) but this causes problems and the LMDE install process allows one to pick where the grub goes but it did not work for me and I could not figure out why. I need it on sdd or what shoews up[ as sde1 when I use my Thunb drive to boot into Mint 17.

[rfharabin]

Wayne and gstr;

I will be back as soon as I can. I must get some other things done including the lawn that the local weather has not been cooperating with me on and it will take me a long time to do some of the stuff.

[rfharabin]

@rfharabin,

Your description above seem to indicate something..

and your inxi seems to also say you have a rather new Motherboard with , possibly a new type of firmware

mint@mint ~ $ inxi -Fx
System: Host: mint Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana

Machine: Mobo: TAR model: H77MU3 version: 6.0 Bios: American Megatrends version: 4.6.5 date: 04/25/2012

Code: Select all

MoBo from last summer, early 

and when you are running live, you are not using LMDE... but LM17cinnamon


OK, here I need to probe a few things so that it is clearer on your issues.

Please do these:
1. Plug in your USB, which has LM17 cinnamon.
2. Reboot, hit F9, on the 'boot menu', please do this: describe what you can see on all the boot entries.

Code: Select all

First, my BIOS only allows two boot choices so I have my DVD/CD first then my Internal HD with Win7. If I want to boot from another HD or USB key I must hit F9 during the boot process.

Code: Select all

            Please Select boot device

SATA; ATAPI   iHAS3244 A   {This is my DVD/CD}
SATA: WDC  WD10EZEX-60ZFAO
SATA: WDC  WD10EZEX-60ZFAO
WD   1200BB   External 
     Patriot  Memory PMAP
Enter Setup

3. Look for duplicate of USB flash, see if there is one within EFI menu, UEFI menu or with a prefix EFI or UEFI.

Code: Select all

No can see.  If I recall correctly there is something about UEFI in my BIOS and it refers to something  I felt no need to learn

4. Copy exactly the description on the USB flash you choose to boot the computer and post here.

Code: Select all

Patriot 32 GB 150 MH  This is fast and I can pui a lot on it.

Code: Select all

I use Unetbootin as it will allow me to put a multible things on the thumb drive.  Menu shown below

Default
Start Mint Linux 17
Start Linuxx Mint 17 compatibility mode
Intergrety check
Memory test
Start Linux Mint~~~~~~~
Start Linux Mint~~~~~~Compatitbility mode
Check Integrety of medium

{ there is a timer on this so it is hard to get exactly.  It is new to me so have have some learning to do but the second Mint choice (sixth one down) did nothing.} 

5. Once you are running LM17 cinnamon in live mode, open a terminal, type these codes and copy the results of the terminal output including the code, put these text into a code tag ( so that it is easier to read)

Code: Select all

sudo fdisk -l

Code: Select all

mint@mint ~ $ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 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: 0x9341a43b

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048      206847      102400    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2          206848  1953521663   976657408    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 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: 0x9b71dd43

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            2048  1953519615   976758784    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204885504 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525167 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
Disk identifier: 0xa4b57300

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1              63  1953520127   976760032+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdd: 31.6 GB, 31625052160 bytes
88 heads, 24 sectors/track, 29246 cylinders, total 61767680 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
Disk identifier: 0x0c90fade

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdd1   *        8064    61767679    30879808    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Disk /dev/sde: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders, total 234441648 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
Disk identifier: 0x00065bcb

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sde1            2048    40962047    20480000   83  Linux
/dev/sde2        40962048    81922047    20480000   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sde3        81922048   204802047    61440000   83  Linux
/dev/sde4       204802048   234440703    14819328    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
mint@mint ~ $ 

Code: Select all

sudo parted -l

Code: Select all

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

Code: Select all

ls /mnt/EFI

Code: Select all

mint@mint ~ $ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
mint@mint ~ $ ls /mnt/EFI
ls: cannot access /mnt/EFI: No such file or directory
mint@mint ~ $ 

Below are two other questions
6. I assume you are able to boot and run Win7.
Please describe what you need to do, what you see on the screen after reboot and before getting into Win7 first screen..

Code: Select all

 It goes through the boot process the same as when I first installed Win7.  There is a Ad screen for the MoBo 
( I think) then the screen that lists the name of the BIOS and tells one to hit delete for BIOS setup or F12 for updating the BIOS, Then ater a time it shows the HD's installed below the  BIOS note.  I have never looked at it very close.  It is on a timer that when it times out it starts loading Win7.
If I want to boot from sometthing else I hit F9 when the sceen for the BIOS shows.

7.. As you are attempting to install LMDE to external USB drive, 160G, I want to know these:
7a.. If you plug in the USB drive, do you wish to boot 'automatically' from USB drive and run LMDE?

Code: Select all

No I want it to boot Win7...When I want to boot into LMDE I want to hit the F9 during the boot process.

7b.. if you unplug the USB drive, and you are trying to boot into Win7, do you wish to have the computer directly boot into Win7 without you getting into 'bios setup'??, it is OK for you if you have to get into 'bios setup'?

Code: Select all

I want it to boot into Win7.  On patch Tuesday I download updates automacticly and I want it to go into Win7 as I have some programs I want to run 24/7 even if I am not home.  Also this allows me to start the computer and leave the room.

7c.. are you able to get into your 'bios setup', and set your boot order such as it will be:
UEFI: Usb drive
UEFI: Usb flash
Hard Disk
UEFI: DVD..
??[/quote]

Code: Select all

No...I can only set two choices.  I have it  set to go to my DVD/CD first then to my Internal HD Disk 0; Win7  I must hit the F9 key while booting up to get to anything else.

The next time I update my computer I will tell him exactly what boards etc I want