<Solved>LMDE4 install - not finding a boot disk

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jxb
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<Solved>LMDE4 install - not finding a boot disk

Post by jxb »

Hi I've installed LMDE4 once about 6 months ago (successfully) on a separate machine and then tried
recently to use the same CD (since debian went from buster to bullseye) on a recently acquired HP Probook 470 G3.

First installation on the HP laptop seemed to work mostly but ran into issues with repositories having
changed from stable to old stable in between my installs from the same Cd.. After putting a Win10 pro image
back over the HP (because I wanted
to check out what was going on with stable old stable stuff) and verify I could restore - the HP I'd recently
bought second hard. I then retried installing from the iso on the CD again. Seems like the install works - no error
messages -instructions to remove install media - but when I actually try to boot from either the SSD or HDD
I get a can't find Boot device message. Then I seem to have trouble getting into the boot menu - though I
can get in with either the live CD or with windows 10 installation media to boot from.

I think it may be something to do with grub not being able to cleanly install on either the SSD or the HDD a
second time on the same machine that formerly had windows 10 without me doing something.

I'm hoping for suggestions on where to read further - I'm confident my CD with LMDE4 is good
as its worked a couple of times (except that its before the buster to bullseye change) and that
the HP laptop can support LMDE4 because it almost was working - booting before.

I'm getting into trouble I think with reinstalls or boot parameters and not knowing how to proceed
effeciently. Can I be helped with some pointers to some things to read or try?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Aztaroth
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Re: LMDE4 install - not finding a boot disk

Post by Aztaroth »

jxb wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 6:08 am First installation on the HP laptop seemed to work mostly but ran into issues with repositories having
changed from stable to old stable in between my installs from the same Cd..
To solve this, just apply Xenopeek's recipe in the first pinned post of the LMDE list :
viewtopic.php?f=245&t=355148
jxb wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 6:08 am After putting a Win10 pro image
back over the HP (because I wanted
to check out what was going on with stable old stable stuff) and verify I could restore - the HP I'd recently
bought second hard. I then retried installing from the iso on the CD again. Seems like the install works - no error
messages -instructions to remove install media - but when I actually try to boot from either the SSD or HDD
I get a can't find Boot device message. Then I seem to have trouble getting into the boot menu - though I
can get in with either the live CD or with windows 10 installation media to boot from.

I think it may be something to do with grub not being able to cleanly install on either the SSD or the HDD a
second time on the same machine that formerly had windows 10 without me doing something.

I'm hoping for suggestions on where to read further - I'm confident my CD with LMDE4 is good
as its worked a couple of times (except that its before the buster to bullseye change) and that
the HP laptop can support LMDE4 because it almost was working - booting before.

I'm getting into trouble I think with reinstalls or boot parameters and not knowing how to proceed
effeciently. Can I be helped with some pointers to some things to read or try?
Long stories have their charm, but are no match for an inxi -Fxxxz when trying to solve a computer issue. :wink:
Even from a live ISO it would be welcome.
dual boot LMDE4 (mostly) + LM19.3 Cinnamon (sometimes)
jxb
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Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2021 5:38 am

Re: LMDE4 install - not finding a boot disk

Post by jxb »

Thanks for reply. I did see xenopeeks post and will try again when I get back to that
point again.

I've run the command inxi -Fxxxz on the HP laptop (which isn't internet connected yet).
But I'm not sure how to show its results here?

I took a picture of the screen output, emailed it to myself on this internet connected
machine which I use to access this forum. But the resulting image even reduced is
109kb (a bit big still -sorry -I'm seeing a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark in
the status) and attached.

Image
jxb
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Re: LMDE4 install - not finding a boot disk

Post by jxb »

Sorry for being doppy - here is the output from the "inxi -Fxxxz"

mint@mint:~$ inxi -Fxxxz
System: Host: mint Kernel: 4.19.0-8-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.4.8 wm: muffin 4.4.2
dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: LMDE 4 Debbie base: Debian 10.2 buster
Machine: Type: Laptop System: HP product: HP ProBook 470 G3 v: N/A serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter>
Mobo: HP model: 8102 v: KBC Version 40.73 serial: <filter> UEFI [Legacy]: HP v: N78 Ver. 01.52 date: 04/27/2021
CPU: Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-6200U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Skylake rev: 3 L2 cache: 3072 KiB
flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 19200
Speed: 500 MHz min/max: 400/2800 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 500 2: 500 3: 500 4: 500
Graphics: Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 520 vendor: Hewlett-Packard Skylake GT2 driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0
chip ID: 8086:1916
Device-2: AMD Topaz XT [Radeon R7 M260/M265 / M340/M360 / M440/M445] vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: amdgpu
v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 1002:6900
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: amdgpu,ati,modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 520 (Skylake GT2) v: 4.5 Mesa 18.3.6 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes
Audio: Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3
chip ID: 8086:9d70
Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-8-amd64
Network: Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 v: kernel
port: 4000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168
IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Intel Wireless 8260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 4000 bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 8086:24f3
IF: wlp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives: Local Storage: total: 1.03 TiB used: 12.9 MiB (0.0%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: HGST (Hitachi) model: HTS541010A9E680 size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm
serial: <filter> rev: A7J0 temp: 25 C scheme: MBR
ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: SanDisk model: SD7SN6S-128G-1006 size: 119.24 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 1006
temp: 29 C scheme: MBR
Partition: ID-1: / size: 3.84 GiB used: 12.9 MiB (0.3%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 39.0 C mobo: 0.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 36 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info: Processes: 189 Uptime: 6m Memory: 7.69 GiB used: 769.0 MiB (9.8%) Init: systemd v: 241 runlevel: 5 Compilers:
gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: bash v: 5.0.3 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.32
Aztaroth
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Re: LMDE4 install - not finding a boot disk

Post by Aztaroth »

jxb wrote: Mon Oct 25, 2021 9:04 pm Drives: Local Storage: total: 1.03 TiB used: 12.9 MiB (0.0%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: HGST (Hitachi) model: HTS541010A9E680 size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm
serial: <filter> rev: A7J0 temp: 25 C scheme: MBR
ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: SanDisk model: SD7SN6S-128G-1006 size: 119.24 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 1006
temp: 29 C scheme: MBR
Partition: ID-1: / size: 3.84 GiB used: 12.9 MiB (0.3%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102
That's the issue. You have a 128Gb Sandisk SSD and a 931 Gb Hitachi HDD and there is only one partition of 3.84 Gb with an error. By the way, both of your disks use MBR partition scheme and we may guess something's gone really bad in the boot sector which isn't readable anymore. Wouldn't be surprised if it's related to your Windows escapade.
You'll probably need a fresh installation on the Sandisk SSD.
However, check first in your BIOS, if it has UEFI capacities. This would allow to use a much safer partitioning scheme (GPT), at least on the SSD. Also post output of :

Code: Select all

lsblk
to get infos about what's still standing about your disks volumes.

PS : Post outputs between code brackets (the </> icon on the toolbar over the post editor). That will make them more readable.
dual boot LMDE4 (mostly) + LM19.3 Cinnamon (sometimes)
jxb
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Re: LMDE4 install - not finding a boot disk

Post by jxb »

That's the issue. ... there is only one partition of 3.84 Gb with an error.
Thanks!
both of your disks use MBR partition scheme and we may guess something's gone really bad in the boot sector which isn't readable anymore. Wouldn't be surprised if it's related to your Windows escapade.

Yes
You'll probably need a fresh installation on the Sandisk SSD.
However, check first in your BIOS, if it has UEFI capacities.
BIOS definitely does have UEFI capacities. Almost too many. Like its been set up to be managed - perhaps even to have the BIOS upgraded
as a one of a large set by an IT dept rather than by a single end user like me. I haven't found out how to change the existing boot order yet though
I expect I'll be able to now.

I can get to the BIOS with the escape key and/or F10 after pressing the start button - then I can choose from the Boot menu what to boot from. I wasn't clear enough about that in my original post.

Because the Hp laptop is new to me it has some BIOS features that I'm not yet fully familiar with like TPM embedded security 1.2 and DriveLock and I thought they might have been constraining my writing new boot records to existing disks. I seem to be able to get around Drivelock with a factory reset. There is nothing on the drives I want - just full unimpeded by Microsoft (forcing Win 10) or HP write access.
[UEFI capabilities] would allow to use a much safer partitioning scheme (GPT), at least on the SSD.
Here's the output of

Code: Select all

lsblk
mint@mint:~$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0 7:0 0 1.7G 1 loop /lib/live/mount/rootfs/filesystem.squashfs
sda 8:0 0 931.5G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 8.1G 0 part
└─sda2 8:2 0 923.4G 0 part
sdb 8:16 0 119.2G 0 disk
├─sdb1 8:17 0 8.1G 0 part
└─sdb2 8:18 0 111.1G 0 part
sr0 11:0 1 1.9G 0 rom /run/live/medium
mint@mint:~$
Aztaroth
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Re: LMDE4 install - not finding a boot disk

Post by Aztaroth »

It becomes difficult for me to make a decent suggestion because MBR partitioning is not what I know best.
Of course, it would be easy to tell you to use UEFI boot, GPT table and reinstall on SSD, but even if I would do this, perhaps someone who has a better knowledge of MBR partioning could help you better out.
However, if you wanna try it, I'll keep an eye on it. TPM is not a problem as long as you can easily disable it if necessary, means the first boot you will perform would send log errors beginning with something like
kernel: tpm_crb MSFT0101:00: [Firmware Bug]: ACPI region does not cover the entire command/response buffer
as explained here https://unix.stackexchange.com/question ... nse-buffer, the main difficulty for solving the issue being to be able to disable TPM.
dual boot LMDE4 (mostly) + LM19.3 Cinnamon (sometimes)
jxb
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Re: LMDE4 install - not finding a boot disk

Post by jxb »

it would be easy to tell you to use UEFI boot, GPT table and reinstall on SSD
And in fact that's what I've done - and I can now boot LDME4 from the SSD. That gives me a base
understanding I can build on.

My original problem - not finding a boot disk after running the LDME4 installation process is solved.
Thanks - your assistance was exactly what I needed. :D
Aztaroth
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Re: <Solved>LMDE4 install - not finding a boot disk

Post by Aztaroth »

Glad I could provide some help.
All the best for your LMDE4 journey.
dual boot LMDE4 (mostly) + LM19.3 Cinnamon (sometimes)
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