Linux Mint 17.1 MATE blinking cursor error, no grub menu

[bengalman211]

Hello, when I boot linux mint mate 17.1 from my live cd usb, it works perfect (no internet connection for some reason?) I install it successfully all is good untill I reboot. I get my bios screen like any other OS but then I go straight to a blinking cursor screen. control alt delete still reboots the system but there is no button I havent tried to push/hold down to try to get open a grub menu. There is a fix that seems to work for some people (located at bottom) but since i get it to connect to my wireless internet it doesnt work for me. Thanks in advance for all help! P.S I do have an AMD processor and a radeon hd 5450 graphics card if that's relevant. Thanks for all help!

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && boot-repair
sudo boot-repair

[Derek_S]

Hello bengalman211 - Are you sure that your installation was successful? Usually a blinking cursor in the upper left corner of the screen indicates that your BIOS could not find any operating system installed on your hard drive. A plain black screen or scrambled screen indicates you have an issue with a video driver, or either the wrong one or a lack of one to be more specific.

As far as your Wi-Fi connection is concerned, you need to do that manually, it does not occur automatically when booting into a live session of Linux Mint. (It is automatic after you've installed Linux Mint.) Try clicking the Wi-Fi symbol located on the right side of the Taskbar, then see if your Wi-Fi router's SSID appears on the list. If it does, then click on the SSID, and you should be prompted to enter the your security password. In a couple of seconds you should be connected.

Edit: Only use yannubuntu boot-repair as a last resort. I've had mixed results with it in the past and recommend fixing your boot issues manually if at all possible.

[bengalman211]

Yes. I get to a screen at the end and it says install complete and it asks if you want to keep testing mint or reboot now. When I reboot, it is a blinking cursor. Thanks for responding!

[wayne128]

You have AMD/ATI HD5450 graphic card.

You can go to this thread and follow the steps there.
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=122257

[bengalman211]

I have seen that thread also but as i stated i dont get a grub menu. It just goes straight to blank blinking cursor screeen. Thanks for replying!

[Cosmo.]

When you reboot and see your start screen from the firmware, press and hold the shift key, this should show you the grub menu.

[bengalman211]

Maybe it helps to say im not dual booting windows with linux. Until linux works i do not have any os on my pc. I have tried holding down left shift during boot but it just makes my pc freeze on my mobo bios screen until i let go, it goes straight to blinking cursor after that. Thanks for responding!

[Derek_S]

Hello bengalman211 - Can you please tell us the make and model of this machine (or motherboard)? I'm trying to figure out if your machine's BIOS uses MBR boot or if it uses UEFI boot. One thing you can do is to go into your machine's BIOS settings and see if the terms "Secure Boot", "UEFI Boot", "Legacy Boot", or "CSM Boot" are used anywhere. If you cannot find any mention of these terms, I think it's safe to assume your machine is using MBR boot. Please post back to confirm or deny if this is the case.

[bengalman211]

It uses UEFI. It is a custom built computer (by me) and the mobo is an asrock a785gm-le.

[Derek_S]

Hello bengalman211 - Thank you for the new information. I think your problem might be caused by your hard drive not having a GPT partition table installed on it prior to performing the first installation. You should attempt another installation using this procedure:

1.) Go into your machine's BIOS settings and verify these two things: that UEFI boot is set to enabled and that Secure Boot is set to disabled. Then save your settings and exit using the F10 key.

2.) Boot your machine using your Linux Mint installation media. Go to the Menu and navigate your way to the disk utility Gparted. Once you open it, examine the partition table that is displayed in the lower part of the panel. Use the tab on the right side to toggle between dev/sda, dev/sdb, dev/sdc, and so on. Once you are certain you have the correct device, go up and click "Device", then select "Create New Partition Table". You will see "ms-dos" appear as the default choice. This is NOT what you want if you're installing in UEFI mode. Instead, click the tab where you see "ms-dos" displayed, and a new sub-menu will appear. Select "gpt" from this new menu, then click "Apply". In a few seconds, the lower panel will refresh itself and you will see a single line marked "unallocated" appear. Now you have a new GPT partition table installed on the disk. You can exit Gparted at this point.

3.) I recommend rebooting the machine to ensure that your installation media detects your BIOS settings and detects the new GPT partition table on the disk. Proceed with installation as you did previously. When you are finished, reboot and select the hard drive as the boot device and everything should be all right. If you have any issues or problems, please post back.

[bengalman211]

Now during the installation i get an error installing grub:

Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda' failed. This is a fatal error.

[bengalman211]

You should also know i have two harddrives. One is a 130 gb ssd and the other is a 1tb hdd. I am installing on the hdd. Ssd is labeled sda and the hdd is labeled sdb in the linux live cd.

[Derek_S]

You should also know i have two harddrives. One is a 130 gb ssd and the other is a 1tb hdd. I am installing on the hdd. Ssd is labeled sda and the hdd is labeled sdb in the linux live cd.

This changes everything, and I wish I had known this from the start. Give me a minute to re-read the entire post and make sure I didn't miss anything else. Then I'll post back.

[Derek_S]

Hello bengalman211 - Hopefully, this is something very simple. If not, we'll have to start from scratch.

Go into your BIOS settings and see which drive is listed first in the boot order. Is it the SSD or the 1TB drive? Try putting the 1TB drive ahead of the SSD in the boot order and try booting the machine. Hopefully, you've been trying to boot from the wrong device all along. If that doesn't work, post back and we'll begin again from scratch.

[bengalman211]

Sorry to just now give you that information. Currently the 1tb hard drive is listed first and always has been. Ever since i formatted both drives the ssd has not shown up on the options to boot from i believe the cause is because there is no partition created on it. Apologies for not sharing that info. Thanks for all your help.

[Derek_S]

Hello bengalman211 - All right, let's start over. If it's not too much trouble, open the case and temporarily disconnect the SATA cable for the SSD drive. With only one drive connected to the system, it will eliminate any possible chance of grub being installed to the wrong device during installation. Then go back and repeat the process I outlined in my previous post. Please double-check these items:

1.) In your BIOS settings - Make sure that Secure Boot is set to disabled and UEFI Boot is set to enabled. Make sure that the 1TB drive is at the top of the boot order.

2.) Using Gparted - Do not use the default "ms-dos" setting when creating a new partition table on the 1TB drive. Be sure to click where you see "ms-dos" displayed and select "GPT" from the drop-down menu instead. Then hit "Apply".

3.) Installation - Just let the installer do it's thing. Don't try to take a hands-on approach and use the "Something Else" option. The installer should create and format the necessary partitions all on it's own, and install grub to the correct location. If this succeeds, you can go back at a later date and experiment with using the "Something Else" option if you want to. For now, I want to eliminate any settings or choices that might cause the installation to fail.

Not important for now, just curious: Did the SSD appear in your BIOS boot menu previously, before you tried formatting it? Or it never appeared at all?

[bengalman211]

No trouble at all to open it up. I am doing your instructions as we speek. And yes, the ssd has previously shown up in the boot order.

[bengalman211]

Okay i disconnected my ssd drive, switched my bios to temporarily boot from my live usb and an error occured:
Syslinux: Error: no configuration file found <new line> no default or ui configuration directive found! <new line>

Boot:_



I found this link and should i persue the first answer in your opinion or should i burn a whole new iso (i can do it fast my internet only takes 7 minutes to download it.)
http://askubuntu.com/questions/30374/bo ... tive-found



Edit: i am recreating the live boot usb.

[Derek_S]

Hello bengalman211 - One surprise after another. It's strange that your installation media booted previously and now fails. Maybe changing the BIOS settings is a part of the problem. If you have access to a Windows based machine, and you have a USB flash drive available, I recommend using Rufus to create a bootable USB flash drive using the .iso image. I've found it to be very dependable whether it's used to boot a UEFI system or MBR system. You can download Rufus here: https://rufus.akeo.ie/

Just be aware of two things: First, where it says "Partition scheme and target system type", be sure to select "MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI computers". Second, where it says "Create a bootable disk using", be sure to select "ISO Image". Then click the small disc symbol to the right of that and navigate to the folder where your .iso file is located. When you are all set, click the "Start" button.

[bengalman211]

Alright i have created the new usb flash drive with your referred program and am now going back to the aforementioned steps. I know there have been lots of issues Thanks for staying with me through this.