[SOLVED] No bootable device for Acer Aspire 5720z coming from Vista

[cata24]

Hi all,

I have too much time on my hands and decided to revive a laptop which was never really used(to my surprise, battery still strong)
Heads up: first time on Linux and hardly tech-savvy
I've downloaded latest Linux Mint, created a boot-able USB using Rufus Portable 2.18 to which I updated syslinux 6.04(.bss and.sys) - downloaded those specific filed and pasted them in corresponding folders(I tried Ventoy, UNebootin, Etcher, UUI, YUMI etc - none worked on Vista married with latest LM iso or I could not make them work)

All went well with installation(erasing old OS) until reboot after which I got no bootable device error
- made sure laptop's hdd is the first option on Boot in Bios
- deleted dev/sda2 in GParted (which to my understanding is EUFI specific, merged unallocated space to dev/sda3
- marked dev/sda3 as legacy-boot (initially had no flags followed by me trying "boot"+"esp" - which again I understood is not Bios specific) and made sure dev/sda1 is flagged as bios_grub
- checked if LM was installed on hdd and not on flash
- updated grub etc (did varioous checks and actions in Terminal)
- reinstalled LM couple of times only to go through the same issues
- I read numerous posts about "Secure boot" (my Bios does not have this option) and how to update BIOS to latest version(mine is 1.45 - latest by most of the forums talks), I fiddled with all various BIOS options, restored etc

This is a short summary of 3 days of work in which I did things never thought I will. Laptop still boots only from flash in live mode
Please let me know if there is something I can do. Thank you

[stevengarland]

In Bios disable secure, legacy, and fast. Maybe power manager too.


Please post your system info

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxxxrzc0 --usb

copy/paste into your next post


See "how to get help" if needed

[cata24]

Hello,
Please see below

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 6.8.0-38-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.0
    clocksource: hpet
  Desktop: MATE v: 1.26.2 wm: marco v: 1.26.2 with: mate-panel
    tools: mate-screensaver vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.30.0
    Distro: Linux Mint 22 Wilma base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble
Machine:
  Type: Other-vm? System: Acer product: Aspire 5720Z v: V1.45
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Acer model: Nettiling v: V1.45 serial: <superuser required>
    uuid: <superuser required> BIOS: Acer v: 1.45 date: 11/10/2008
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 33.1 Wh (77.2%) condition: 42.9/44.4 Wh (96.7%)
    volts: 10.9 min: 11.1 model: SANYO GC86508SAT0 type: Li-ion serial: N/A
    status: discharging
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Pentium Dual T2370 bits: 64 type: MCP
    smt: <unsupported> arch: Core2 Merom rev: D cache: L1: 128 KiB L2: 1024 KiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 799 high: 800 min/max: 800/1733 cores: 1: 798 2: 800
    bogomips: 6915
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics
    vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-4 ports:
    active: LVDS-1 empty: SVIDEO-1,VGA-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:2a02
    class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Chicony Acer Crystal Eye webcam driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 2-4:2 chip-ID: 04f2:b026
    class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6
    compositor: marco v: 1.26.2 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1280x800 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 338x211mm (13.31x8.31")
    s-diag: 398mm (15.69")
  Monitor-1: LVDS-1 model: Chi Mei Opto 0x1552 res: 1280x800 hz: 60 dpi: 98
    size: 331x207mm (13.03x8.15") diag: 390mm (15.4") modes: 1280x800
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel crocus platforms: device: 0 drv: crocus
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: crocus surfaceless: drv: crocus x11:
    drv: crocus inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.5 compat-v: 2.1 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.0.9-0ubuntu0.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel 965GM (CL)
    device-ID: 8086:2a02
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801H HD Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:284b
    class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.8.0-38-generic status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express
    vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: tg3 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 port: N/A bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:1693 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: AMBIT Microsystem AR5BXB63 802.11bg NIC driver: ath5k v: kernel
    pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 06:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:001c
    class-ID: 0200
  IF: wlp6s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Broadcom BCM2045 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 7-2:2 chip-ID: 0a5c:2101 class-ID: fe01
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.0
    lmp-v: 3 sub-v: 41d3 hci-v: 3 rev: 212c class-ID: 7c010c
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 178.35 GiB used: 2.78 GiB (1.6%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Hitachi model: HTS541616J9SA00 size: 149.05 GiB
    speed: 1.5 Gb/s tech: N/A serial: <filter> fw-rev: C70P scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Generic model: Flash Disk size: 29.3 GiB type: USB
    rev: 2.0 spd: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 speed: 1.5 Gb/s tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 8.07 scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 979.2 MiB used: 145.6 MiB (14.9%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
    lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0001 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: full speed or root hub ports: 6 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 2-4:2 info: Chicony Acer Crystal Eye webcam type: video
    driver: uvcvideo interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 98mA
    chip-ID: 04f2:b026 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Device-2: 2-5:3 info: Alcor Micro Flash Drive type: mass storage
    driver: usb-storage interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
    power: 200mA chip-ID: 058f:6387 class-ID: 0806 serial: <filter>
  Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: full speed or root hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-4: 4-0:1 info: full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
    lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0001 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-5: 5-0:1 info: full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
    lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0001 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-6: 6-0:1 info: full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
    lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0001 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-7: 7-0:1 info: full speed or root hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
    lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0001 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 7-2:2 info: Broadcom BCM2045 Bluetooth type: bluetooth
    driver: btusb interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1
    chip-ID: 0a5c:2101 class-ID: fe01
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 1971
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
    1: deb cdrom:[Linux Mint 22 _Wilma_ - Release amd64 20240721]/ noble contrib main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com wilma main upstream import backport
    2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-security main restricted universe multiverse
Info:
  Memory: total: 2 GiB available: 1.91 GiB used: 1.34 GiB (69.8%)
  Processes: 208 Power: uptime: 9m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5)
    default: graphical
  Compilers: gcc: 13.2.0 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.21 running-in: mate-terminal
    inxi: 3.3.34

[MiZoG]

Not a very good idea to delete partitions that installer created. Yeah, Ubiquity (Ubuntu's installed used by Mint) creates a seemingly unnecessary GPT-styled partition layout even when old machines do not support UEFI mode. However grub installs some files to MBR boot sector which however are chained to grub files in the UEFI partition

So you either go for "Something Else" that is manual partitioning during installation or leave the defaults as they are.

The default method, despite its oddities, usually works on old machines.
Yet I have encountered instances where Mint would not boot with this layout not matter what I tried.
Your case could be the same.

AndyMH has uploaded a guide How to install Linux Mint 21 in legacy mode on their foxclone site which I believe is valid for Mint 22 too. Perhaps, you will need to manually create a swapfile afterwards but get on with installation for now.

My diagnosis: after what you have done in Gparted, you simply need to try reinstall Mint and most likely follow the above mentioned guide.

[cata24]

Yep, might not be a smart move, something I picked up from some forum discussion. It came after numerous tries to make it boot.

Will try tomorrow your advice. Thanks

[cata24]

I tried and it worked. Easiest thing I've done in the last few days.
Had some issues with wifi connection but hopefully I fixed it.

Thank you very much, if only I came here earlyer.

[stevengarland]

Please mark this as [solved] by inserting [solved] into the title line of your first post. Use " edit

I am sure that you know that your system is stretched. Mint requires 2 GB of Ram and 4GB is more dependable.