MINT 18.3 will not load-no access to BIOS

[budgiebandolier]

Upgraded to 18.3 without any problems then yesterday it will not load and there in no access to BIOS as my first thought was to reinstall, GRUB menu comes up but unable to select any item and then it boots automatically with no problems after 30 secs. See attachment..........but keyboard will not let me input anything. Any thoughts for my problem? Have tried to reset the BIOS by removing the battery, is my only action so far.

[JerryF]

I don't think it's a BIOS problem.

Have you tried booting a live DVD or USB of Mint?

[budgiebandolier]

Thanks for your reply. The computer will not read the USB drive just goes to the view in the attachment.

[FriendDavid]

Hello

I have a similar situation in that this AM, I deleted some old installations of many Linux Dists including the install of 18.3 that I did just yesterday. The disk was all fragmented and I needed to clean house. The install of 18.3 went very smooth yesterday so I was lulled into thinking that I, newbie, could just tweak things. Turned into a nightmare. Almost lost my main Win 10 and secondary Win 7 as well as having no Linux Mint 18.3. Pulled out a new download of Ubuntu Linux 17.10 which went on like a nightmare with none of the clarity of Mint but it went on and it found my loaded stuff on the 3rd disk as well as Win 7 on a small SSD and Win 10 on a 480GB SSD and it built me a Grub to go to the Windows loader where I can get to 7 or 10 as well as load Mint 18.3 or Ubuntu 17.10. All that I did was to declare the Ext4 and SWAP under Windows and point Ubuntu to them. It might be messy but it worked and that to me is all that I can ask when it was saving me.

I wish that I could have one bootloader to select from the 4 but it is sweet to have them all working. I tried using GPT on the 1TB Linux disk but the Ubuntu loader did not really like that, asked me if I wanted to force it and I backed off because of the terseness of the warning.

[JerryF]

Thanks for your reply. The computer will not read the USB drive just goes to the view in the attachment.

Can't read the entire screenshot you made.

[fabien85]

GRUB menu comes up but unable to select any item

but keyboard will not let me input anything.

so basically the computer doesnt react to the keyboard.
This is also why you cannot get access to the BIOS.

I would start by testing the keyboard on another computer, and vice-versa connecting another keyboard on this computer.

@FriendDavid: this seems a completely different problem, please start your own thread for help.

[FriendDavid]

Hello to all,

Needless to say, I am new to really being in the Linux world. That said, I am truly old school, starting back in 1965 with punched cards and 4K of core memory. Enough history.

1. I was able to solve my problem by downloading and installing Ubuntu 17.10 Desktop and it cleaned up the Grub menu so that Windows Boot Manager was added as an option as well as Mint Cinnamon 18.3. I do not like that I have to go to Windows Boot Manager to select Windows 10 or to select Windows 7. I am a bit leery of EasyBCD though it purports to handle the situation, it burned me once badly so I am a bit gun-shy, I want to learn more about the boot parts first. I do like Visual BCD, it seems more straightforward and lets you see thing but it does not seem to fully address Linux world. I want a single boot so any help towards that would be greatly appreciated.

2. I do need assistance with getting Virtual Box to run on Mint 18.3, I have tried to install it many times and it says it needs 3 support items and I try to install the whole shooting match but it never finishes installing. This is a critical piece of software for me so ALL HELP is APPRECIATED!

I NEED INFO ON HOW TO INSTALL ORACLE'S VIRTUALBOX ON MINT CINNAMON 18.3!

Thanks to all in advance.
FriendDavid

[Moem]

FriendDavid, you really need to start a thread of your own. You're now hijacking budgiebandolier's topic with entirely unrelated questions, that's not cool. Browse to the forum section where you want to post a topic and then look for the [NEW TOPIC] buttons, there's one above the list of existing topics and one below.

Also, don't type entire sentences in all-caps. That comes across as shouting and it doesn't make people want to help you more.

[FriendDavid]

Hello to all, sorry for hijacking and good bye on this thread all together as I have solved the problems on installing VirtualBox.

Going to establish a new thread.

Have a great day,
David

[budgiebandolier]

I have tried keyboard and no problem on another machine. Another keyboard on problem desktop would not work to access BIOS, Any other advice would be welcome.

[JOPETA]

Can't read the entire screenshot you made.

This is the same screen (is a Linux Mint system/kernel warning so you can not go to BIOS from here) the options are very clear so need to try one of them .

• • 

In this case the problem was after working in Windows (dual boot) and a checking was pending. Booting Windows and doing device checking the problem was solved (also disabled fast start-up/hibernation in Windows and Fast boot and secure boot in UEFI/BIOS settings)

budgiebandolierneeds to be more quickly on pressing keys to access BIOS as soon as power on computer, avoid GRUB to charge default option (you know, pressing left shift key repeatedly to get GRUB menu or pressing scape key if it is already loads,...(in some machines Alt+Ctrl+Dell restarts to try again w/o pressing power boton)

I really don't know is it is a Dual boot (nothing about Windows is said) but maybe booting a Live DVD/USB and checking partitions (fsck or using gparted) would help. Good luck.

[JerryF]

I have tried keyboard and no problem on another machine. Another keyboard on problem desktop would not work to access BIOS, Any other advice would be welcome.

What is the make and model of your computer?

[budgiebandolier]

This machine has only had Mint on it for the last 3 years and has been updated as a new version was available. I have been been quicker than quick hitting the f11 key on loading......but it goes to the grub screen and then loads after 30 seconds with the Mint 18.3 splash screen and then defaults to what I have posted earlier. It is an old machine with a AsusRock motherboard, AMD CPU, 320GB hard drive and Nividia graphics card, I am a bit vague on details as I cannot get the details without opening the box.
No loss of data as I have everything of importance elsewhere thank goodness.....might just try another hard drive. I am happily using 18.3 on a laptop to type this without any problem,

Thanks for all advice given, even the hi-jacker!!!!

[budgiebandolier]

I have reset the BIOS jumper now and have access to reinstall an operating system.....having more than one machine does not put you under any pressure to rush!!