No boot option

[rawmotion]

Hi I just installed LM on a Dell laptop beside Win 10.

When I turn the computer on, it goes straight to Windows.

I followed the guide, went back into live version, opened a terminal and typed sudo efibootmgr.

It says EFI variables are not supported.

What can I do now to load LM without losing windows?

[HAWR]

Hello rawmotion,

it's hard to help without any system informations. Please post the outputs of the following commands:

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inxi -Fxxxrz

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sudo parted --list

[rawmotion]

Hello rawmotion,

it's hard to help without any system informations. Please post the outputs of the following commands:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxxxrz

Code: Select all

sudo parted --list

Code: Select all

mint@mint:~$ inxi -Fxxxrz
System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-91-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.2.7 wm: muffin 5.2.0 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Portable System: Dell product: XPS L421X v: A18 serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 8 v: A18 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: 08HDPJ v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI [Legacy]: Dell 
  v: A18 date: 05/14/2018 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 47.1 Wh condition: 47.1/69.0 Wh (68%) volts: 16.5/14.8 
  model: Simplo PABAS0241231 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Full 
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Anywhere MX serial: <filter> 
  charge: 55% rechargeable: yes status: Discharging 
  Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech Wireless Keyboard K360 
  serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes 
  status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i7-3517U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Ivy Bridge rev: 9 L2 cache: 4096 KiB 
  flags: avx lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 19154 
  Speed: 798 MHz min/max: 800/3000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 798 
  3: 798 4: 798 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics vendor: Dell driver: i915 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:0166 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GF117M [GeForce 610M/710M/810M/820M / GT 
  620M/625M/630M/720M] 
  vendor: Dell driver: nouveau v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1140 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: modesetting 
  unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1600x900~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2) 
  v: 4.2 Mesa 21.0.3 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Dell 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:1e20 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-91-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Dell driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 07:00.0 
  chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  IF: enp7s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel 
  port: 2000 bus ID: 08:00.0 chip ID: 8086:088e 
  IF: wlp8s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 491.39 GiB used: 60.4 MiB (0.0%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Crucial model: CT480BX200SSD1 size: 447.13 GiB 
  speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: .6 temp: 30 C scheme: MBR 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Samsung model: SSD PM830 mSATA 32GB size: 29.82 GiB 
  speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 2D1Q scheme: MBR 
  ID-3: /dev/sdc type: USB vendor: Philips model: USB Flash Drive 
  size: 14.44 GiB serial: <filter> rev: PMAP scheme: MBR 
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci 
  v: 3.0 port: 4060 bus ID: 00:1f.2 chip ID: 8086.282a rev: 04 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 3.83 GiB used: 18.6 MiB (0.5%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102 
  ID-2: /var/log size: 12.09 GiB used: 41.8 MiB (0.3%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/sdc3 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 58.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 600 
Repos:
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  1: deb cdrom:[Linux Mint 20.3 _Una_ - Release amd64 20220104]/ focal contrib main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com una 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: 218 Uptime: 1m Memory: 7.66 GiB used: 723.9 MiB (9.2%) 
  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 
mint@mint:~$ sudo parted --list
Model: ATA CT480BX200SSD1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 480GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size   Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  479GB  479GB  primary  ntfs         boot
 2      479GB   480GB  820MB  primary  ntfs         msftres


Model: ATA SAMSUNG SSD PM83 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 32.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  525MB   524MB   primary   ntfs         boot
 2      525MB   1063MB  538MB   primary   fat32
 3      1064MB  32.0GB  31.0GB  extended
 5      1064MB  32.0GB  31.0GB  logical   ext4


Warning: The driver descriptor says the physical block size is 2048 bytes, but
Linux says it is 512 bytes.
Ignore/Cancel? i                                                          
Model: Philips USB Flash Drive (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 62.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 2048B/512B
Partition Table: mac
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start  End     Size    File system  Name   Flags
 1      2048B  6143B   4096B                Apple
 2      328kB  4424kB  4096kB               EFI

[HAWR]

Hello rawmotion,

you have two disks, one with Windows and the second with Linux. Have you changed the boot order in Bios, so that the Linux disk is the first? I think, the bootloader grub is installed on the Linux disk, but you can find out with the following long command:

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sudo fdisk -l 2>/dev/null | egrep "Disk /|/dev/" | sed "s#^/dev/#Part /dev/#" | awk '{print $2}' | sed 's/://' | xargs -n1 -IX sudo sh -c "dd if=X  bs=1 count=512 2>/dev/null | grep GRUB > /dev/null && echo Grub gefunden: X || echo Kein Grub: X"
bash

[rawmotion]

I let LM manage the install process. It looks like it installed LM on my small 32GB SSD.

I would rather have it on the same large drive where Windows is.

Is there a way to uninstall and start over?

Edit:
I have 2 disks
- 500gb with windows on it
- 32gb with linux on it

In BIOS, if I select the small one to boot first, it loads windows. If I select the big one, it loads Linux. — opposite of what I would expect.

This means it installed Linux on the small drive, but the bootloader on the large drive with Windows?

How do I fix this mess now?

[HAWR]

Edit: You changed your post. In the first version you wrote, grub is installed on the LInux disk and you want it on the Windows disk. Apparently it is on the Windows disk, so let it in the first position of the boot order. Don't you see the grub menu? If you unsure with grub, show the output of the command above from your installed Linux Mint, where grub is installed


You can start your Linux with the boot menu. On Dell laptops you have to press F12, when the logo is displayed. Then choose your SSD with Linux. When you are in Linux, open a terminal. Install grub on the Windows disk as follows:

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sudo grub-install /dev/sdx

x is in your case a

When you reboot, you should get the grub menu with booting to Linux as the first option and a choice for Windows. It is possible, that a Windows update overwrite it, so that you would have to do the procedure again.

[AndyMH]

I would rather have it on the same large drive where Windows is.

Are you really sure?

You are booting legacy - there is only room for one bootloader on each drive. If you install grub to sda it will overwrite the windows bootloader currently there. You will still get a grub menu giving you the choice of mint or win and will be able to boot win, but with grub.

You are better off putting sdb at the top of your BIOS boot list.

[rawmotion]

Anyway. I finally got it working.

The next thing I did was go to the driver updater. It installed a new recommended GPU driver. Now, every time I load LM, I just get a black screen.

Glad I didn't get rid of Windows yet.

[HAWR]

Hello rawmotion,

I have also a laptop with Intel & Nvidia graphics (a little bit older than yours) and had at the beginning the same problem. But thanks to this forum, I found a solution that works. Before I installed the nvidia-driver, I had to install nvidia-prime (not the applet, which do not really work on my laptop) in the terminal and after that, I installed the driver in the driver manager. Maybe this could work for you, too.

Uninstall the nvidia driver and reboot after that:

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sudo apt-get purge nvidia*

After reboot:

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sudo apt-get install nvidia-prime

Driver installation in the driver manager and reboot.