Mint not showing in boot menu for dual boot (SOLVED)

[hurricane478]

I am new to Linux Mint so sorry if I am asking something that has been explained before. I had a look at multiple posts but could not find a solution.

What I want to achieve
I have a low-end laptop and I have recently begun testing with Mint to reduce resource overhead. I wanted to dual boot Windows 10 and Mint but with no success so far. I live booted from a USB hard disk to do the installation and the installation went smoothly (I selected "Install alongside Windows 10"). Once installed I restarted my laptop and opened the boot menu. When the boot menu was open I could not find the Mint installation (which I know should be labelled as "Ubuntu"); I could only find my Windows 10 installation, CDROM, and my USB hard disk. I could only get back to Mint by live booting again and the live boot did recognise that Mint was installed.

After that, I removed that installation in Windows partition menu and then on the installation menu selected the "Something else" option and installed it to a partition. Once again the installation went smoothly but it still did not show in the boot menu.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Specifications
Windows 10 Version - 1909 64 Bit
Linux Mint Version - 19.3 Xfce "Tricia" 64 Bit

BIOS Vendor - American Megatrends
BIOS Version - 304
GOP Version - 8.0.1033
EC Version - F0BS0500

Laptop - Asus X540SA
CPU - Intel Pentium N3700 @1.6ghz-2.4ghz
RAM - 4 GB DDR3
Internal Hard Disk - Toshiba MQ01ABD100 (1 TB)
USB Hard Disk - Hitachi HTS543232L9A300 (USB 2, 320 GB)

[AndyMH]

In BIOS is secure boot turned off, is there is a setting in BIOS for fast boot, is it turned off.

I suspect win was installed in UEFI mode (if it shows in the BIOS boot list as windows) and you installed mint in legacy mode. Or vice-versa. Have a look at your BIOS settings, you will have options like UEFI only, legacy only, Both (legacy first), Both (UEFI) first. What does it say?

Boot from the mint install media, open a terminal and inxi -FxD and post the output in your reply between code markers (the </> button above the reply window).

[hurricane478]

Thanks for the quick reply; I will try that now.

[hurricane478]

So I am in the BIOS now, and both secure boot and fast boot are off, but the only mention I can see of UEFI/Legacy is in my USB configuration. There is an option for "Legacy USB Support" and the description mentions: "DISABLE option will keep USB connections available only for EFI applications." I also have CSM enabled because I cannot do a live boot without it on.

Here is the result from the command you mentioned:

Code: Select all

mint@mint:~$ inxi -FxD
System:
  Host: mint Kernel: 5.0.0-32-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 7.4.0 
  Desktop: Xfce 4.14.1 Distro: Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia 
  base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: X540SA v: 1.0 
  serial: <root required> 
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X540SA v: 1.0 serial: <root required> 
  UEFI [Legacy]: American Megatrends v: X540SA.304 date: 01/20/2017 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Pentium N3700 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Airmont rev: 3 L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 12800 
  Speed: 1237 MHz min/max: 480/2400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 564 2: 493 
  3: 559 4: 558 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx 
  Integrated Graphics 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1366x768~60Hz, 1920x1200~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 405 (Braswell) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 19.0.8 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series 
  High Definition Audio 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.0.0-32-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK 
  driver: r8169 v: kernel port: e000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: 9c:5c:8e:55:99:05 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: AzureWave AW-NE186H driver: ath9k v: kernel port: e000 
  bus ID: 03:00.0 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: 80:a5:89:97:a8:0c 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.20 TiB used: 1.94 GiB (0.2%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABD100 size: 931.51 GiB 
  temp: 36 C 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Hitachi model: HTS543232L9A300 
  size: 298.09 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.88 GiB used: 72.0 MiB (3.7%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 6280.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 3400 
Info:
  Processes: 183 Uptime: 5m Memory: 3.75 GiB used: 888.3 MiB (23.1%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 7.4.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.20 
  inxi: 3.0.32 

Thanks for the help so far.

[AndyMH]

First check how win 10 is installed, follow the instructions here, I expect the answer to be UEFI:
https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-t ... indows-10/

Next in BIOS, according to the user manual for your laptop (https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/X ... 540L_B.pdf) this is what your BIOS should look like (note fast boot should be disabled and you have said you need CSM to boot from usb):

Do you have that option 'add new boot option' and if you select it, does it give you ubuntu as an option?

Finally, boot from the mint installation stick and run sudo parted -l (that is lowercase L) and post the output, that will tell us what drives you have and what is on them - your inxi output shows two drives, a 1TB drive as sda and a 320GB drive as sdb, I want to see where mint has installed itself.

[pbear]

... have CSM enabled because I cannot do a live boot without it on.

That's the problem. As Andy suspected, you installed Mint in a different boot mode than Windows. Won't work.

How did you burn the ISO to flash drive? Try Etcher. It's a portable (no need to install) which runs in Windows.
Same ISO, same flash drive. Just trying another tool to burn one to the other.

Turn off CSM. Or at least manually select UEFI boot mode for the flash drive. You can confirm you are in UEFI mode by running that inxi command again. See the second section, entitled Machine? Notice UEFI {Legacy}. You want it to say just UEFI. To confirm, run ls /sys/firmware. Will be just three words or four. You want four, one which needs to be efi.

I'll defer to Andy to guide you through reinstall, as too many cooks spoils the broth.

[AndyMH]

I'll defer to Andy to guide you through reinstall, as too many cooks spoils the broth.

Thanks , was hoping someone else would help out here as well, and I'd forgotten the ls /sys/firmware. Not used it (do everything in linux), but if etcher results in a usb that boots in UEFI that is probably the solution with a reinstall.

[hurricane478]

I am trying it now; it may be until tomorrow when I have results.

[hurricane478]

I have had a look at Windows and I can confirm it is installed in UEFI.
In the BIOS, I do have add a new boot option but as you have said I need to install Mint in UEFI. I used Etcher as pbear suggested, and I turned Legacy USB Support off and CSM off but this was the result when I tried to open a live boot:

Code: Select all

Failed to open \EFI\BOOT\mmx64.efi - Not found
Failed to load image \EFI\BOOT\mmx64.efi: Not found
Failed to start Mokmanager: Not found
Something has gone seriously wrong: import_mok_state() : Not found 

This is the problem I faced when not using CSM or Legacy boot.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

[pbear]

You're going to have to turn off secure boot. Normally not necessary. Mint uses Ubuntu's boot loader, which has been validated by Microsoft. Sometimes the normal procedures don't work (firmware flaw). No way to know until you try whether you will be able to re-enable secure boot after installation. If not and you're unwilling to leave secure boot disabled indefinitely,* will be easy to uninstall Mint. Burn that bridge when you get to it.

* FWIW, enabling CSM in effect disabled secure boot, so what I'm recommending is no worse.

[hurricane478]

Unfortunately secure boot is already turned off and I still run into the same problem.

[AndyMH]

You could try burning the mint iso to DVD, that worked for me when my desktop refused to boot anything off usb when set in UEFI mode. It did boot from DVD. I'd burnt the iso with xfburn.

[pbear]

Not familiar with American Megatrends UEFI, so can't give more detailed instructions. Pretty sure you're doing something wrong, though, as opposed to it being a problem with the UEFI and/or the Mint ISO.

[hurricane478]

I will try to flash the ISO again and maybe try a DVD after. I will have a further study of the BIOS but thanks for the help.

[pbear]

Have a similar problem in another thread. Tell me, do you recall at any point during one of your installations where you entered a password? Would have been on the screen where you tick the box to install third party software. If so, that might be the cause of the problem. There's a bug.

[hurricane478]

Do you mean setting the password for the login or another password? If you mean the former then yes, but I don't remember putting a different password.

[hurricane478]

Nevermind, I fixed it! I used a different drive and it now boots in UEFI and selected the file path manually. Thanks for the help, I couldn't have done this without your help!

Code: Select all

mint@mint:~$ inxi -FxD
System:
  Host: mint Kernel: 5.0.0-32-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 7.4.0 
  Desktop: Xfce 4.14.1 Distro: Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia 
  base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: X540SA v: 1.0 
  serial: <root required> 
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X540SA v: 1.0 serial: <root required> 
  UEFI: American Megatrends v: X540SA.304 date: 01/20/2017 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Pentium N3700 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Airmont rev: 3 L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 12800 
  Speed: 949 MHz min/max: 480/2400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 2038 2: 2133 
  3: 1520 4: 1510 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx 
  Integrated Graphics 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1366x768~60Hz, 1920x1200~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 405 (Braswell) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 19.0.8 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series 
  High Definition Audio 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.0.0-32-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK 
  driver: r8169 v: kernel port: e000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: 9c:5c:8e:55:99:05 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: AzureWave AW-NE186H driver: ath9k v: kernel port: e000 
  bus ID: 03:00.0 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: 80:a5:89:97:a8:0c 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 935.26 GiB used: 67.1 MiB (0.0%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABD100 size: 931.51 GiB 
  temp: 29 C 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB model: General USB Flash Disk size: 3.74 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 1.88 GiB used: 67.1 MiB (3.5%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 6280.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 3400 
Info:
  Processes: 176 Uptime: 11m Memory: 3.76 GiB used: 772.8 MiB (20.1%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 7.4.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.20 
  inxi: 3.0.32 

Thanks again for the help!

[pbear]

Congratulations. FYI, the command is inxi -Fxz. The "z" is a filter, so you generally want to include it. D is already implied by F. What you sometimes want to add are one or more of the lower-case flags. For example, -po add detailed partition information. See man page.

Anyhoo, glad it worked out. Happy Minting.

[hurricane478]

Thanks for the tip on inxi, I never had time to look at these commands properly this is my school laptop but I will certainly have a better look.
Once again, thank you.

[hurricane478]

For those who had my same problem when booting in UEFI have a look at "Add new boot option". My laptop booted the bootx64.efi rather than the grubx64.efi. Make sure it boots from the grub EFI because otherwise you will experience errors.