Bootloader installation problems - Mint 19.1 XFCE

[joga]

Hi All,

Recently I tried to squeeze some extra life out of an elderly MacBook 1.1 (2006 vintage; model A1181; 1.83 GHz 32-bit Core Duo processor) by installing Mint 19.1 XFCE edition. As the CD drive wasn't working very well, I opted to create a boot USB drive, according to the instructions given here: https://astrofloyd.wordpress.com/2014/0 ... n-macbook/

Everything seemed to work fine - I was able to run Mint as a live 'disk' (if that's the word). I then wiped the 60 GB MacBook HDD using GParted, created a new partition table (ms-dos) and created the following partitions:

/dev/sda1 20 GB Ext4 Primary
/dev/sda2 40 GB Extended
/dev/sda5 30 GB Ext4 Logical
/dev/sda6 7 GB Swap Logical

The partition sizes shown above are approximate and for illustration purposes. I intended that /dev/sda1 should be the primary boot partition containing the operating system and /dev/sda5 should be the /home partition, containing my data.

Everything seemed to be going fine with the installation to the HDD until the last stage, when I got an error message saying that it wasn't possible to install the bootloader at the specified location (/dev/sda1). The pop-up box gave me the options of (a) choosing a different location to install the bootloader, (b) continue without installing the bootloader or (c) cancel the installation. No matter which option I selected, nothing subsequently happened when I tried to execute the choice - the entire system seemed completely frozen. Eventually I had to simply force a switch-off and abandon the installation.

Since then, the MacBook still runs the live distro fine, but it's not ideal and I'd like to get Mint properly installed to the HDD.

I was wondering if anyone might have experienced a similar problem and could advise at all on a solution? I suspect there may have been a partitioning problem, because when I run GParted again, there's no mount point shown in the graphic for either sda1 (should be mounted as '/') or sda5 (should be mounted as '/home'). When I select any of the partitions and then go to the menu for that partition, the option to mount the partition is greyed out - it won't let me mount any partition.

Now I'm not saying this actually IS the problem, but it's the only thing I can currently see that looks odd and my feeling is that I need to re-partition and re-format the disk. However, I'd like to ask for opinions on this.

Can anyone offer any advice on this at all? Thanks.

Regards,

joga

[philotux]

Everything seemed to be going fine with the installation to the HDD until the last stage, when I got an error message saying that it wasn't possible to install the bootloader at the specified location (/dev/sda1). The pop-up box gave me the options of (a) choosing a different location to install the bootloader

Since this is a legacy/bios install you would need to install the bootloader onto the drive that is /dev/sda and not onto a partition.

Repeat the installation an choose /dev/sda as the location for the installation of the bootloader.

[joga]

Everything seemed to be going fine with the installation to the HDD until the last stage, when I got an error message saying that it wasn't possible to install the bootloader at the specified location (/dev/sda1). The pop-up box gave me the options of (a) choosing a different location to install the bootloader

Since this is a legacy/bios install you would need to install the bootloader onto the drive that is /dev/sda and not onto a partition.

Repeat the installation an choose /dev/sda as the location for the installation of the bootloader.

OK, I can give that a try. Way would you do that though? I thought the bootloader would surely go onto the partition that's being booted from (or not, in this case). Thanks for your advice - appreciated.

joga

[philotux]

You have created an MBR partition table.

A master boot record is a kind of boot sector stored on a hard disk drive and contains the necessary computer code (bootloader) to start the boot process.

The MBR is created when disk is partitioned, but it's not located within a partition.

The master boot record is located on the first sector of a disk and not on a partition and therefore it is the location of the bootloader when you install in legacy mode.

[joga]

You have created an MBR partition table.

A master boot record is a kind of boot sector stored on a hard disk drive and contains the necessary computer code (bootloader) to start the boot process.

The MBR is created when disk is partitioned, but it's not located within a partition.

The master boot record is located on the first sector of a disk and not on a partition and therefore it is the location of the bootloader when you install in legacy mode.

That's interesting - thanks. So should I have left some free space before the start (left-hand side of the GParted graphic) of the first partition?

[philotux]

So should I have left some free space before the start (left-hand side of the GParted graphic) of the first partition?

No, it's already there right before your first partition /dev/sda1. Have a look at the picture below:

mbr.png

[joga]

So should I have left some free space before the start (left-hand side of the GParted graphic) of the first partition?

No, it's already there right before your first partition /dev/sda1. Have a look at the picture below:
mbr.png

Hi,

Just back from work and have seen your post. Thanks for the explanation - very interesting. I'll give the reinstall a try this evening and will report back.

Regards,

joga

[joga]

So should I have left some free space before the start (left-hand side of the GParted graphic) of the first partition?

No, it's already there right before your first partition /dev/sda1. Have a look at the picture below:
mbr.png

Well, I've tried it again and still nothing doing. This time, rather than try to sort the partitions myself and potentially fol something up, I opted for the easiest course and clicked the box to allow Linux to wipe the disk and install as it saw fit. Again, all seemed to go well until the very end when there was a pop-up box with the message "Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda. Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda' failed. This is a fatal error." After that, everything locked up and I had to basically pull the plug out. As before, Linux still runs as a live installation.

During the process, I got a couple of messages that may be relevant?

First, there was a message saying that the installation process had started in UEFI mode and this might potentially cause a problem if I insisted on doing so. I opted not to do this. Possibly this is something to do with the process that I had to follow (see original post) to make the USB drive bootable.

Second, I got a message (on several occasions) warning me that the USB drive was mounted and did I want the system to try to unmount the drive, as this might cause problems? I said 'yes', as the message was quite insistent, and I assumed the relevant OS files had been copied into memory already. I have no idea if this was the right thing to do or not.

It's all a bit of a mess. I suspect making the USB drive bootable is at the source of the problem, but as the CD drive isn't working, there was no other way to load the operating system.

If anyone has any suggestions as to where to go now (other than PC World for a new machine) I'd be grateful.

Regards to all.

joga

[philotux]

First, there was a message saying that the installation process had started in UEFI mode and this might potentially cause a problem if I insisted on doing so.

If none of the forum members reading this have any objections to the following course of action (please folks, have a look here and correct if needed), I would suggest you the following:
Create a new partition table, this time GPTand perform the installation in UEFI mode since your live media starts in UEFI mode. I am not really sure if the installer sees the disk if it is not formatted, if it doesn't, create a new partition and format it. Then run the installer again and take the easy way out by letting it take over the install process as you did before.

[philotux]

First, there was a message saying that the installation process had started in UEFI mode and this might potentially cause a problem if I insisted on doing so.

If none of the forum members reading this have any objections to the following course of action (folks, please have a look here and correct if needed), I would suggest you the following:
Using Gparted, create a new partition table, this timeGPTand perform the installation in UEFI mode since your live media starts in UEFI mode. I am not really sure if the installer sees the disk if it is not formatted, if it doesn't, create a new partition and format it. Then run the installer again and take the easy way out by letting it take over the install process as you did before.

[joga]

First, there was a message saying that the installation process had started in UEFI mode and this might potentially cause a problem if I insisted on doing so.

If none of the forum members reading this have any objections to the following course of action (please folks, have a look here and correct if needed), I would suggest you the following:
Using Gparted, create a new partition table, this timeGPTand perform the installation in UEFI mode since your live media starts in UEFI mode. I am not really sure if the installer sees the disk if it is not formatted, if it doesn't, create a new partition and format it. Then run the installer again and take the easy way out by letting it take over the install process as you did before.

Hi,

I gave that a try, but same as before. It seems to get near the end of the install and then fails because it can't install the bootloader. I've had enough for one day - will look at it again later.

Thanks again for your help though - much appreciated.

Have a good evening.

joga

[philotux]

I gave that a try, but same as before. It seems to get near the end of the install and then fails because it can't install the bootloader. I've had enough for one day - will look at it again later.

Sorry to hear that!

greetings,
philotux

[philotux]

One more thing you could try, if you wanted to, (now when you have a GPT partition table), is to create a separate EFI-system partition at the beginning of the disk and point the installer to it as the location of the boot-loader. If there is a Secure Boot setting in BIOS (I am ignorant of the existence of such in Mac machines), disable it before you start up your computer from the Live USB.

1) Use gparted to create a 512 Mib partition at the beginning of the disk. Format it as FAT32. Right click on it > manage flags > boot, esp
(opinions on the size of this partition varies greatly, but this is how much I normally allocate to the efi-partition)

2) Next, you could opt for dedicating the rest of the disk to one partition for root or making two partitions one for root and one for home (ext4-formatted partition(s)). You won't be needing any separate swap partition, since LM 19.x, by default, creates a swapfile under /.

3) Start the installer and choose the "something else" option. Mark the 512 Mib, FAT32-formatted partition, click on change and choose/efi/boot as mount-point. Choose the mount point for your root partition at / and for your home partition (if you have created one) at /home doing the same as above.

4) Choose the EFI-system partition/dev/sda1as the location for the boot-loader.

5) Proceed with the installation.

Hope this helps!

[joga]

One more thing you could try, if you wanted to, (now when you have a GPT partition table), is to create a separate EFI-system partition at the beginning of the disk and point the installer to it as the location of the boot-loader. If there is a Secure Boot setting in BIOS (I am ignorant of the existence of such in Mac machines), disable it before you start up your computer from the Live USB.

1) Use gparted to create a 512 Mib partition at the beginning of the disk. Format it as FAT32. Right click on it > manage flags > boot, esp
(opinions on the size of this partition varies greatly, but this is how much I normally allocate to the efi-partition)

2) Next, you could opt for dedicating the rest of the disk to one partition for root or making two partitions one for root and one for home (ext4-formatted partition(s)). You won't be needing any separate swap partition, since LM 19.x, by default, creates a swapfile under /.

3) Start the installer and choose the "something else" option. Mark the 512 Mib, FAT32-formatted partition, click on change and choose/efi/boot as mount-point. Choose the mount point for your root partition at / and for your home partition (if you have created one) at /home doing the same as above.

4) Choose the EFI-system partition/dev/sda1as the location for the boot-loader.

5) Proceed with the installation.

Hope this helps!

Hi,

Thanks for your reply - sorry I'm later getting back to you, as I didn't have a chance to log in last night.

Your suggestion sounds interesting and I'll give that a try. I'm curious to know why Secure Boot in BIOS should be inactivated? I'm not entirely sure how to get into the BIOS on this machine, but I'm sure there's a way.

Interesting to know that Mint 19.x doesn't need Swap. I'd no idea.

Will let you know how things go.

Regards,

joga

[philotux]

I am totally ignorant of the existence of such a feature on Mac machines as there is for Windows from 8 onwards. Please have a read here:
https://www.howtogeek.com/175641/how-to ... cure-boot/

This is what I found on Secure Boot on Mac, but maybe it is not applicable to your machines since the OS is already gone:
https://www.howtogeek.com/175641/how-to ... cure-boot/

This one explains how to get into BIOS on a Mac:
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how- ... -from-bios

I can't verify the method since I have never owned a Mac.

Here is another one on installing Linux on a Mac. They talk about Ubuntu, but it is applicable to LM as well:
https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/h ... c-3637265/

I think the important point, in your case, is #11 further down the page.

[joga]

Thanks for those links. Will have a go at the installation you mentioned tomorrow in the light of the new information here and will post back what happens.

Regards,

joga

###

I am totally ignorant of the existence of such a feature on Mac machines as there is for Windows from 8 onwards. Please have a read here:
https://www.howtogeek.com/175641/how-to ... cure-boot/

This is what I found on Secure Boot on Mac, but maybe it is not applicable to your machines since the OS is already gone:
https://www.howtogeek.com/175641/how-to ... cure-boot/

This one explains how to get into BIOS on a Mac:
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how- ... -from-bios

I can't verify the method since I have never owned a Mac.

Here is another one on installing Linux on a Mac. They talk about Ubuntu, but it is applicable to LM as well:
https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/h ... c-3637265/

I think the important point, in your case, is #11 further down the page.

[philotux]

Sound good!
Wish you good luck!

[Tomgin5]

I have Installed LM on several older MacBooks (circa 2006) although they were 64 bit. On these I installed the HDD in a different generic machine to make the initial install. I told the name of the machine was an Apple MacBook (with the model#). I did the initial install off a flash drive, then swapped it back to the Mac. I keyed "Alt/Option " key, after the Beep, and selected the "Window". The rest of the install was done on line and everything worked! Except the camera on the laptop.
As far as the XFCE 19.1 32 bit. I have several working fine in OLD Dell 910's with 1GB Ram and 16GB SSD's.

Code: Select all

tomk9@tomk9-Inspiron-910:~$ inxi -Fxzd
System:
  Host: tomk9-Inspiron-910 Kernel: 4.15.0-43-generic i686 bits: 32 
  compiler: gcc v: 7.3.0 Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa 
  base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
Machine:
  Type: Portable System: Dell product: Inspiron 910 v: A00 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: CN0J14 v: A00 serial: <filter> BIOS: Dell v: A00 
  date: 08/05/2008 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 35.2 Wh condition: 35.5/35.5 Wh (100%) model: DELL 
  status: Charging 
CPU:
  Topology: Single Core model: Intel Atom N270 bits: 32 type: MT 
  arch: Bonnell rev: 2 L2 cache: 512 KiB 
  flags: nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 bogomips: 6383 
  Speed: 1214 MHz min/max: 800/1600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1060 2: 1054 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile 945GSE Express Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell 
  driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: intel 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1024x600~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 945GME x86/MMX/SSE2 v: 1.4 Mesa 18.0.5 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Dell 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.15.0-43-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom Limited BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY driver: wl v: kernel 
  port: 18a0 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Dell RTL810xE driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 2000 
  bus ID: 04:00.0 
  IF: enp4s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 14.22 GiB used: 6.32 GiB (44.5%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Super Talent model: STT FEM16GFDL size: 14.22 GiB 
  Message: No Optical or Floppy data was found. 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 12.95 GiB used: 6.32 GiB (48.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0 
  ID-2: swap-1 size: 1016.0 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-1 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 52.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 162 Uptime: 27m Memory: 1.96 GiB used: 536.5 MiB (26.8%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 7.3.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.19 
  inxi: 3.0.27 
tomk9@tomk9-Inspiron-910:~$ 

As for yours. You may have a bad boot sector on the HDD. You might try doing the initial install on a different HDD in a different 32 bit computer and swapping it out.

[joga]

Hi,

I've given this a try now, but no luck, I'm afraid. A couple of points:

1). I've been unable to find how to get into the BIOS - nothing I try works, so if there is a Secure Boot setting, I've been unable to disable it. Not sure what difference that would make though?

2). I partitioned as you advised using GParted. Then I started the installation, chose 'Something Else' from the partitioning menu. When I selected the 512 MB partition and clicked on 'change', the 'Use As' drop down menu would only let me choose 'EFI System Partition' as a name and would not allow me to choose a mount point at all. That option never appeared. I was able to mount the other partitions as '/' and '/home' respectively.

3). I was, however, able to choose sda1, which was the EFI System Partition, as the location for the boot loader, as there was a separate window for that.

Anyway, as I said, same result. The error message read "The 'grub-efi' package failed to install into /target/. Without the GRUB boot loader, the installed system will not boot.

I noted that during the installation, the system said that it was installing 'grub2' and not 'grub'. Possible significance? Beats me.

Last of all, I see from other Forum entries that other people have encountered a similar error message (viewtopic.php?f=46&t=286191). Following the links from this entry suggests that not connecting to the internet during installation and not choosing to download third-party software might help. I tried that, but it made no difference. There are suggestions that this problem is a bug in the operating system, but I have no way of knowing that.

Other than that, I've already spent longer on this problem than I really have time for. It's as interesting as it is frustrating, but I can't really give it any more time - I need stuff to work now. I might try another distro, just in case it really is a bug, but I think that's an outside chance.

Anyway, thanks again for all your help. It's been much appreciated.

Best wishes,

joga

One more thing you could try, if you wanted to, (now when you have a GPT partition table), is to create a separate EFI-system partition at the beginning of the disk and point the installer to it as the location of the boot-loader. If there is a Secure Boot setting in BIOS (I am ignorant of the existence of such in Mac machines), disable it before you start up your computer from the Live USB.

1) Use gparted to create a 512 Mib partition at the beginning of the disk. Format it as FAT32. Right click on it > manage flags > boot, esp
(opinions on the size of this partition varies greatly, but this is how much I normally allocate to the efi-partition)

2) Next, you could opt for dedicating the rest of the disk to one partition for root or making two partitions one for root and one for home (ext4-formatted partition(s)). You won't be needing any separate swap partition, since LM 19.x, by default, creates a swapfile under /.

3) Start the installer and choose the "something else" option. Mark the 512 Mib, FAT32-formatted partition, click on change and choose/efi/boot as mount-point. Choose the mount point for your root partition at / and for your home partition (if you have created one) at /home doing the same as above.

4) Choose the EFI-system partition/dev/sda1as the location for the boot-loader.

5) Proceed with the installation.

Hope this helps!

Hi,

Thanks for your reply - sorry I'm later getting back to you, as I didn't have a chance to log in last night.

Your suggestion sounds interesting and I'll give that a try. I'm curious to know why Secure Boot in BIOS should be inactivated? I'm not entirely sure how to get into the BIOS on this machine, but I'm sure there's a way.

Interesting to know that Mint 19.x doesn't need Swap. I'd no idea.

Will let you know how things go.

Regards,

joga

[joga]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, but I don't really want to go down the route of swapping disks between machines as you seem to have done. It's one thing when it's a desktop PC, but I wouldn't have a clue how to access the HDD of a MacBook.

Regards,

joga


###

quote=Tomgin5 post_id=1581986 time=1547843377 user_id=188742]
I have Installed LM on several older MacBooks (circa 2006) although they were 64 bit. On these I installed the HDD in a different generic machine to make the initial install. I told the name of the machine was an Apple MacBook (with the model#). I did the initial install off a flash drive, then swapped it back to the Mac. I keyed "Alt/Option " key, after the Beep, and selected the "Window". The rest of the install was done on line and everything worked! Except the camera on the laptop.
As far as the XFCE 19.1 32 bit. I have several working fine in OLD Dell 910's with 1GB Ram and 16GB SSD's.

Code: Select all

tomk9@tomk9-Inspiron-910:~$ inxi -Fxzd
System:
  Host: tomk9-Inspiron-910 Kernel: 4.15.0-43-generic i686 bits: 32 
  compiler: gcc v: 7.3.0 Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa 
  base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
Machine:
  Type: Portable System: Dell product: Inspiron 910 v: A00 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: CN0J14 v: A00 serial: <filter> BIOS: Dell v: A00 
  date: 08/05/2008 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 35.2 Wh condition: 35.5/35.5 Wh (100%) model: DELL 
  status: Charging 
CPU:
  Topology: Single Core model: Intel Atom N270 bits: 32 type: MT 
  arch: Bonnell rev: 2 L2 cache: 512 KiB 
  flags: nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 bogomips: 6383 
  Speed: 1214 MHz min/max: 800/1600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1060 2: 1054 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile 945GSE Express Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell 
  driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: intel 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1024x600~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 945GME x86/MMX/SSE2 v: 1.4 Mesa 18.0.5 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Dell 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.15.0-43-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom Limited BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY driver: wl v: kernel 
  port: 18a0 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Dell RTL810xE driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 2000 
  bus ID: 04:00.0 
  IF: enp4s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 14.22 GiB used: 6.32 GiB (44.5%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Super Talent model: STT FEM16GFDL size: 14.22 GiB 
  Message: No Optical or Floppy data was found. 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 12.95 GiB used: 6.32 GiB (48.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0 
  ID-2: swap-1 size: 1016.0 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-1 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 52.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 162 Uptime: 27m Memory: 1.96 GiB used: 536.5 MiB (26.8%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 7.3.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.19 
  inxi: 3.0.27 
tomk9@tomk9-Inspiron-910:~$ 

As for yours. You may have a bad boot sector on the HDD. You might try doing the initial install on a different HDD in a different 32 bit computer and swapping it out.
[/quote]