[SOLVED] Dual boot with Windows 7 Linux boot problem

[John Thompson]

I have a Dell Latitude that has been running dual-boot Mint KDE 18.3 (and previous versions) and Windows7 for many years. I have just up-graded it to Mint 20.1 Cinnamon. Installation went smoothly as usual from the live USB stick.

However when I re-boot (after removing the USB stick) I get the usual Grub menu. Windows 7 boots OK. Linux Mint (menu item is Ubuntu) fails with
error: invalid magic number.
error: you need to load the kernel first.

Press any key to continue...

That returns it back to the Grub menu.

I have re-booted from the USB stick and run boot-repair. It does find some errors but does not seem to fix anything.
I have tried to repeat the installation. No change.

Help please!

[Larry78723]

Without some technical information, we can’t help you. Please post an inxi -Fxxxzr report. This will give us a concise overview of your hardware and on how Mint sees it.

Here is how to generate the report and post it:

Boot from your installation media (USB/DVD)
Open a terminal window (Ctrl-Alt-t). Make it fullscreen to avoid unneeded linebreaks or chopped lines. Execute the command

Code: Select all

 inxi -Fxxxzr 

exactly as it has been typed here.

Mark the complete text output which the command will display with your mouse.
Press the keyboard shortcut <Shift><Ctrl>C to copy the marked text into the clipboard.
Enclose the results between the code markers by selecting </> from the mini toolbar above the textbox where you type your reply then paste <Ctrl>V them in your reply between the code markers [code]Results [/code].

The results will help us to help you.

[John Thompson]

Thank you.

Code: Select all

mint@mint:~$ inxi -Fxxxzr
System:    Kernel: 5.4.0-58-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.5 wm: muffin 4.8.0 
           dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E6410 v: 0001 serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 9 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Dell model: 04373Y v: A03 serial: <filter> BIOS: Dell v: A07 date: 02/15/2011 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 44.9 Wh condition: 70.0/84.9 Wh (82%) volts: 11.4/11.1 model: Panasonic DELL FU44189 
           type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Discharging 
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5 M 560 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Nehalem rev: 5 L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 21279 
           Speed: 1205 MHz min/max: 1199/2667 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1197 2: 1197 3: 1197 4: 1197 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell Latitude E6410 driver: i915 v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:0046 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1440x900~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (ILK) v: 2.1 Mesa 20.0.8 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio vendor: Dell Latitude E6410 driver: snd_hda_intel 
           v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:3b56 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-58-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Intel 82577LM Gigabit Network vendor: Dell Latitude E6410 driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: 7040 
           bus ID: 00:19.0 chip ID: 8086:10ea 
           IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 7000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 8086:422c 
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 163.89 GiB used: 162.8 MiB (0.1%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Intel model: SSDSA2M160G2GC size: 149.05 GiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 02M3 
           scheme: MBR 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB model: N/A size: 14.84 GiB serial: <filter> rev: 2.00 scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 3.85 GiB used: 122.3 MiB (3.1%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102 
           ID-2: /var/log size: 12.68 GiB used: 40.4 MiB (0.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb3 
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 5.59 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 53.0 C mobo: N/A sodimm: 32.0 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Repos:     Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           1: deb cdrom:[Linux Mint 20.1 _Ulyssa_ - Release amd64 20210103]/ focal contrib main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
           1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyssa main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
           2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
           3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
           6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Info:      Processes: 224 Uptime: 5m Memory: 7.70 GiB used: 1.00 GiB (13.0%) Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: 
           gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38
           

[John Thompson]

I don't know if this is any help but while up and running with the live USB I ran BootRepair and generated the attached text file.

Thanks

Boot-Info_20210623_1528.txt

(11.77 KiB) Downloaded 19 times

[John Thompson]

OK. After much research and trying everything, mounting the installed partition, chrooting into it, running update-grub, solving all sorts of problems - it still would not boot. I came across another write-up and noticed that my partition layout did not look like theirs: My Linux partitions were inside an extended partition (I think that's what it's called anyway) and they were primary not logical (I think).

So, running from the live USB, I opened GParted, removed all the partitions except the Windows one. I also took the opportunity of slightly increasing the size of the Windows partition because it was 90% full.

Then I started the install. This time I got the option "Install Linux Mint alongside Windows 7" - I didn't get that before - and all went smoothly. Now all works. So Solved!

Whew!!!

[Larry78723]

If you have found the solution to your initial post, please open your original post, click on the pencil, and add (Solved) to the Subject.

[pdc_2]

well done John; you lifted the bonnet; got some grease on your hands; fixed the engine; good work; linux is for adults! You can now maybe feel more confident to feel you can tackle more problems, that will come your way! all best wishes