Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

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rainerf
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Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by rainerf »

I have been reading and trying to install Mint on an ASUS T100TA for over a week now - never getting past trying to boot an install disk.

I have tried to flash Mint 20.1 with either Rufus (1.4 and 3.something) and Etcher.
Either the flash won't allow me to add the bootia32.efi file to the flash card (not enough space even though it is a 8gig card) or if I get the file on it by using Rufus's 'persistent partition space', it will not boot.
I do have boot security turned off in BIOS. (probably using wrong terminology).
With Rufus, I tried MBR, GPT, FAT32 file system, etc etc etc
The distro i am trying to use is Mint 20.1 MATE 64bit

How does one prepare the flash card exactly to be able to add bootia32.efi? Oh, Rufus 3+ does not have a selection for making it a boot drive (it appears to be so by default?).

I am desperate to get Win10 off the Asus
TY anyone in advance for any suggestions
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rainerf
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by rainerf »

BTW, fast boot is also disabled on the ASUS
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hglee
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by hglee »

rainerf wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 9:10 am I am desperate to get Win10 off the Asus
TY anyone in advance for any suggestions


It looks to me that the T100 has quirks which mean an off-the-shelf Linux distro won't install as expected.

Find a success story to follow, such as Ubuntu on Asus T100 (wifi, bluetooth, sound fix, all working) on YouTube, and his helpful links.



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rainerf
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by rainerf »

TY for suggestion!
Have followed dozens - everything boils down to the inability to have the Flash card install disk being booted from Asus.
I am hoping that someone will be able to chyme in having done a USB install disk for this purpose, made to install on a 64bit with 32bit install, such as most Atoms (which i believe the T100 is).
I will listen to the suggested video again (and I have seen it) to see if I missed something.
Moonstone Man
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by Moonstone Man »

rainerf wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 11:15 pm I am hoping that someone will be able to chyme in having done a USB install disk for this purpose,
I can't advise about "made to install on a 64bit with 32bit install" but secure boot is the major culprit for being unable to boot from USB.
rainerf
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by rainerf »

TY Kadaitcha Man,
I have secure boot turned off in BIOS

From all I have been researching I've come to understand that T100 has a 64bit OS, but a 32bit installer.
Hence, when the installation disc is made, a file called bootia.inf has to be placed into /inf/boot/, but, when completing the install disk with Rufus persistent partition space and copying the file into above directory, Asus T100 will not boot from the flash.
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hglee
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by hglee »

rainerf wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:03 am From all I have been researching I've come to understand that T100 has a 64bit OS, but a 32bit installer.


Have you looked at Linuxium isorespin.sh, a shell script that adds a 32-bit bootloader to the ISO file of a 64-bit OS such as Mint?



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rainerf
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by rainerf »

I have tried it once, but am in the process of trying it again now!
Will give update
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by jbMacAZ »

The problem is that over the last few years, many distros started using a read only format for the ISO's. You've discovered that the USB "copy" is also read only. Linuxium is a good option for baytrail Asus T100's.

In the past when I needed a Mint ISO for my T100CHI (same family as T100TA) I've used unetbootin. I've also just used Cinnamon (nemo) to mount the ISO (mount archive) and then copy everything except the "." folder to a FAT32 formatted USB stick. Then add the bootia32.efi. The last time I did this was over a year ago. Some of the details may escape me and some may have changed again. Just make sure that the FAT32 USB is flagged bootable.

For reference there is an old guide at github 5bentz/linux-asus-t100, that may be helpful. Any kernel newer than 4.15 should run well for the T100. Note: There is no integrated camera support (USB cameras should work depending on software.)
rainerf
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by rainerf »

Most appreciated!
When home will give it another try, both of your link suggestions!
rainerf
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by rainerf »

Wow -- TY ALL for pushing me to try the isorespin.sh again!
I was able to create a bootable/ installable Mint 20.1 flash for the Asus t100ta!
Everything truly worked OOTB!

Problem: After installing and rebooting, it still booted into Win10 without giving a choice menu on startup, no matter what I pressed.
So, I re-installed on the second partition (Win10) which now boots into: BIOS.
Oops.

Now I am researching if the drive (internal card) can be simply reformatted with gparted and then use the USB install disk to re-install?
If anyone knows, I would appreciate knowing. Of course, I will do research as well.
Or, if it's preferred I make a new thread, I will do so - though it is a continuation of the ASUS conversion saga.

Again, Thanks all!
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by jbMacAZ »

gparted will format the internal mmcblk, but be careful. Be sure to keep the original ESP partition (usually p1.) Also, be careful that you did not install Mint on the removable SD card. It is not possible to boot from it, because the SD card is not available at boot time. The T100 often shows the SD card as mmcblk0 and the internal storage as mmcblk2. This will confuse the automated installer when it adds the (grub) bootstrap. Safest thing to do is to remove the SD card before installation, if you have one.

Sometimes the boot order has to be set from the BIOS, which is another reason why it could have been booting to windows. Now that windows is gone... Double check that secure boot is off. Searching for T100TA in the forum will yield additional advice. The new problem is installing grub on the T100TA.
rainerf
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by rainerf »

Thank you for that info! I am pretty sure I deleted the EFI partition. So, I will follow your advice and remove the SD card, check BIOS, and if not booting, research how to get EFI back on there!
Thanks again!
rainerf
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by rainerf »

Again, thank you all for your responses and help!
The Asus t100TA is now officially FREE of Win and perfectly running on Linux Mint 20.1, including Wifi etc.

I used gParted to add a small EFI partition and removed the external memory card, and Mint installed flawlessly (using respin.sh).
Respin well worth a donation!
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by RollyShed »

For what it is worth I see I did an installation last year to an ASUS T100TA with no problems.

It would have been a Mint 19.3 .iso installation and the disk replaced with an SSD. Data from the original disk would have been copied a cross to the new disk using a SATA to USB cable on the original Windows disk.

The Mint 19.3 iso would have been burned to the USB on a Mint installation.
rainerf
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by rainerf »

I am sure this installation would have been flawless from the start, but, I could not figure out how to get the bootia32.efi file on the USB stick once the iso was copied over except with Rufus perm extended space but USB still would not boot.
In either case, the ASUS T100 Mint 20 works great.
The only two issues are: screen flip not yet working (will research) and Right mouse click not working to produce Rightclick menus.
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by RollyShed »

rainerf wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 3:59 am Right mouse click not working to produce Right click menus.
Have you checked the mouse?
Can you try the mouse somewhere else?
I can't remember but if a second USB socket, have you tried that? From bits on the web it seems not.
Have you tried right clicks on the touch pad, with the mouse disconnected?

I usually do set ups with no touch pad if a mouse is plugged in.
rainerf
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by rainerf »

Hey RollyShed,
I am using the mouse pad with the Asus T100.
However, I found out a two finger tab on the pad = the same as a right click. I can deal with that!
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by RollyShed »

rainerf wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:44 am Hey RollyShed,
I am using the mouse pad with the Asus T100.
However, I found out a two finger tab on the pad = the same as a right click. I can deal with that!
You can see why I always use a mouse when possible. :shock:

At least it appears one step forward.

The person I did the setup for on their old laptop, his wife always did the computing (newer Windows laptop) and he thought he should learn too. One of the first things he did was make a spreadsheet of where all their music DVDs were in the house. His wife is slowly getting dementia so he will be the one to keep in contact with the kids via email, etc.
rainerf
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Re: Asus T100TA will not boot USB Mint20 install disk

Post by rainerf »

Excellent!
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