[SOLVED] Invalid Partition Table! (again)

_DeF_ · Post by **_DeF_** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 10:33 am

Hi everyone,

I am a linux newbie, so please forgive me if I just haven't managed to come across the correct information yet (or recognise it if I had come across it).

I recently installed lmde 4 from a USB stick from BIOS (I wiped the ssd, selected the LVM option, installed the grub on /dev/sda), and am now getting the Invalid Partition Table! error every time I boot up. Pressing enter then bypasses the error message and everything seems to work as normal from then on.

I have read the other forum posts regarding this topic, but they aren't entirely relevant to me in that the poster was using different hardware, or was dual booting their system. I am using an old reconditioned Dell latitude E6430s, with a replacement Samsung ssd.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As I am not yet confident enough to try something that I am not sure will actually fix the problem, and potentially just make things worse!

Thanks in advance for any help.

JerryF · Post by **JerryF** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:44 am

Try installing LMDE 4 without the LVM option. Let us know what happens.

AndyMH · Post by **AndyMH** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 2:46 pm

I wiped the ssd

How did you do that? If you just deleted the existing partitions, okay. If you wiped it, you will need to put a partition table on it.

_DeF_ · Post by **_DeF_** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:31 pm

Hi Jerry,

The error report was still there without the LVM option selected.

Hi Andy,

I just used the stock installer you are presented with via USB stick installation. In the 'Installation Type' section, I selected the 'Automated Installation' option. It just says 'Erase a disk and install LMDE on it' underneath that check box.

Sorry I can't be more specific than that.

AndyMH · Post by **AndyMH** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:56 pm

Not an LMDE user, but should have worked. Suggest you boot the mint install stick, run gparted on it and create a new partition table on the SSD. In gparted it is device > create partition table. If you are booting in legacy mode choose an msdos partition table, if booting in UEFI mode choose a gpt partition table.

Then, if UEFI boot, with gparted, create a small (100MB) partition, format fat32 and set the flags esp and boot on it (when you have created the partition, right click on it and manage flags). This is your EFI partition and is where the installer will put the bootloader files (grub). If booting legacy ignore this. Note, in the installer, when asked where to put grub, you specify the drive, e.g. sda, not a partition, e.g. sda1.

Create a single ext4 partition using the rest of the SSD (I'm assuming LMDE will use a swap file and doesn't need a swap partition).

Install mint, when you come to the screen showing the partitions on your SSD, tell it to use the ext4 partition you created and use it for /.

rene · Post by **rene** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:11 pm

I expect the message to be a BIOS issue and the below seems to confirm, even if in the context of another Dell system. I.e., also try if you have a newer BIOS available.

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-u ... tate-drive

_DeF_ · Post by **_DeF_** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:37 pm

Thanks very much Andy, your instructions for the UEFI boot option sorted it out. I am very grateful for all your help.

Thanks anyway Rene for your suggestion, too.

Best wishes everyone

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[SOLVED] Invalid Partition Table! (again)

[SOLVED] Invalid Partition Table! (again)

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Re: Invalid Partition Table! (again)