EFI partition created in mint MATE on non-UEFI BIOS

[potato26]

So I just installed Linux mint MATE(install alongside windows(7)) on my old laptop. Its an MBR without UEFI BIOS. When I headed over to the disks program after the installation I was shocked to see a /boot/efi partition created, partition type was(W95 FAT32). Is this normal or have I messed up? Till now its just working fine I even ran the update manager and it was happy after a reboot. Will this create problems long term? Should I reinstall or let it be?

I used Etcher to create a bootable USB.

The system did have an option UEFI Boot support, however it was kept disabled both during the installation of windows 7 and mint MATE.

Samsung RV411 (windows 7 64 bit)
intel Pentium dual core
2GB RAM
MBR Parition
480GB SSD

Output for some commands which might be useful:

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[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo "Installed in UEFI mode" || echo "Installed in Legacy mode" 
-----------
installed in Legacy mode

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cat /etc/fstab
-----------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.

#

# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a

# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices

# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).

#

# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation

UUID=a4b92403-da07-45b9-a227-e2647a5bb4ab / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1

# /boot/efi was on /dev/sda3 during installation

UUID=BDA1-AF68 /boot/efi vfat umask=0077 0 1

/swapfile none swap sw 0 0

[JerryF]

Please post the results of this command using a Terminal:

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inxi -Fxxz

and

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blkid

Please use code tags around the pasted results. Code tags are generated by pressing the </> button found about where you type a post.

[AndyMH]

It's a bug.
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=326270&p=1855497&h ... l#p1855497

[potato26]

It's a bug.
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=326270&p=1855497&h ... l#p1855497

So should I reinstall now selecting something else? The post shows that the EFI partition is empty though.

[potato26]

Please post the results of this command using a Terminal:

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inxi -Fxxz

and

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blkid

Please use code tags around the pasted results. Code tags are generated by pressing the </> button found about where you type a post.

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inxi -Fxxz
---------
System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-94-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: MATE 1.24.0 wm: marco dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma 
  base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: SAMSUNG product: RV411/RV511/E3511/S3511 v: N/A 
  serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 9 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: SAMSUNG model: RV411/RV511/E3511/S3511 serial: <filter> 
  BIOS: Phoenix v: 02PA.M003.20110107.XW date: 01/07/2011 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 15.9 Wh condition: 17.3/47.5 Wh (36%) volts: 11.7/10.8 
  model: SAMSUNG Electronics serial: N/A status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Pentium P6200 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Nehalem rev: 5 L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 bogomips: 8511 
  Speed: 931 MHz min/max: 933/2133 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 931 2: 931 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Samsung Co 
  driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:0046 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting 
  unloaded: fbdev,vesa compositor: marco resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (ILK) v: 2.1 Mesa 21.0.3 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio 
  vendor: Samsung Co driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  chip ID: 8086:3b56 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-94-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network 
  Adapter 
  vendor: Askey driver: wl v: kernel port: 1840 bus ID: 02:00.0 
  chip ID: 14e4:4727 
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Samsung Co driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 04:00.0 
  chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  IF: enp4s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 447.13 GiB used: 19.04 GiB (4.3%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Gigabyte model: GP-GSTFS31480GNTD size: 447.13 GiB 
  speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 228.17 GiB used: 19.04 GiB (8.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0 C mobo: 40.0 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 185 Uptime: N/A Memory: 1.80 GiB used: 544.4 MiB (29.5%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: mate-terminal inxi: 3.0.38

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blkid
---------
/dev/sda1: LABEL="System Reserved" UUID="28D44439D4440B8E" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="16808670-01"
/dev/sda2: UUID="EA4C47C74C478CEF" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="16808670-02"
/dev/sda3: UUID="BDA1-AF68" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="16808670-03"
/dev/sda5: UUID="a4b92403-da07-45b9-a227-e2647a5bb4ab" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="16808670-05"

[AndyMH]

So should I reinstall now selecting something else? The post shows that the EFI partition is empty though.

No, it works. If you want, having checked that the EFI partition is empty you can delete it and modify fstab to remove the entry, or just leave it as it is. Now you know about it, next time you install mint you can avoid it. Mint uses the same installer, ubiquity, as Ubuntu and Ubuntu is moving to a new installer. We might see it in Mint 21, or if not then Mint 22. That will probably come with its own issues.

[potato26]

So should I reinstall now selecting something else? The post shows that the EFI partition is empty though.

No, it works. If you want, having checked that the EFI partition is empty you can delete it and modify fstab to remove the entry, or just leave it as it is. Now you know about it, next time you install mint you can avoid it. Mint uses the same installer, ubiquity, as Ubuntu and Ubuntu is moving to a new installer. We might see it in Mint 21, or if not then Mint 22. That will probably come with its own issues.

Right now it is showing the new 20.3 (Una) upgrade in the update manager. Should I consider upgrading now with this mess? Or just stick with 20.2 for as long as possible before eventually switching machines or, having backed up for a fresh install again? I have created a snapshot using timeshift though.

[AndyMH]

It works, just checked one of my other T430 (I have four) and that has a similar setup to yours with an extended partition. I would go ahead and upgrade to LM20.3. Make sure you take a timeshift snapshot before you start, if you use chromium you might have this problem:
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=365607
I will be timeshifting back to LM20.2.

[Terryphi]

If this bug, which slows legacy boot, persists in Mint 21 I think the Mint team should include in Release Notes details of how to clean up the superfluous EFI partition and amend /etc/fstab.

[AndyMH]

It only slows boot because I deleted the EFI partition and then subsequently found out that there was an entry for it in fstab. Once that was deleted, boot times were normal.