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USB UEFI Boot issue


ichase

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Greetings all,

Hope all who may read these words are doing well. :)

I normally try and in most cases anymore figure out how to fix my issues without asking for help but I am at my wits end here. :)

Have a customer's Gateway netbook, model number: LT41P08u

Laptop currently has Windows 8 32 bit installed.

Customer wants Linux Mint 17.2 installed.

Have a bootable USB thumbdrive with Linux Mint 17.2 on it.

Have gone into the UEFI / BIOS of this netbook, set boot order to 1. USB HDD 2. USB FDD

Have disabled "Secure Boot" Have looked EVERYWHERE for SOMETHING that shows the ability to "enable" Legacy Boot but it is NOT there.

Linux Mint website states it is UEFI compatible.

Does not matter what I do, it will NOT recognize the USB thumb drive as a "Bootable" media.

Have even gone as far as trying multiple USB Thumb drives "just in case" I had a bad one. NONE of them will boot. (They both booted fine on my Dell Latitude laptop so I know they are gtg)

Click on F2, and it only shows Windows as the only bootable option.

In windows, hit Shift key while selecting Restart. Select USB boot options, and it only provides EFI USB Boot. (Thinking this is the issue in regards to allowing this laptop to except the thumb drive as EFI)

Computer reboots and then states there is no recognizable bootable USB drive. Takes me to boot manager and once again, only have Windows to select.

I am SURE this issue has been posted before and I am sure a few of the amazing Windows guru's on here have run into the same thing when maybe trying to install Windows 7 on a Windows 8 UEFI computer for a customer (or for yourself) who hated Windows 8 ;)

 

Even though the OS to be installed is Linux, I felt this more to be a Windows directed question as the OS on the thumb drive could have easily been Windows. And as I understand it, Microsoft was a major player if not the actual developer of UEFI to replace standard BIOS.

 

I thank you immensely ahead of time for your help, guidance and education. :)

 

All the best,

 

Ian

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Greetings crp and abarbarian

To first answer crt's question, the bios/uefi version states Insydeh20 v2.03 32 bit.

Then to answer abarbarian's post, I actually looked at both of those links you had posted along with many others prior to me creating this post. Can't see where I am doing anything wrong as when I open up the ISO file on the USB thumbdrive, I see where there is a /pool/main/e/efibootmgr file. From what I gather from the Linux Mint site, this should allow for the laptop to boot the USB drive. Well, obviously it does not.

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In order to boot a UEFI bootable Ubuntu USB drive you need to turn off fast startup.

Move the mouse to the bottom left corner and right click so that the menu appears again.

Choose "power options".

When the power options screen appears click the second menu item on the left hand side called "Choose what the power button does".

At the bottom of the window is "Shutdown Settings". Make sure the "Turn on fast startup" checkbox is unchecked and click "Save Changes".

 

You did do ...................... runs and hides. :whistling:

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Thanks again everyone for the help and guidance. I have not yet gone to the CNET Gateway forum so may head over there. In regards to the BIOS/UEFI settings, even the one link you posted crp states to go into BIOS, go to the Boot tab and disable Secure Boot (which I have already done) then it says:

  • Enable load legacy option ROM
  • Keep boot list option set to UEFI Those options are not available on any tab, Main, Security or Boot. So there lies the quandary. Once the computer is rebooted and F12 is selected, the ONLY option is Windows Boot Manager. Fast boot in Windows 8 was disabled so did not need to disable that. I meant to mention I did take a look at that abarbarian. :) I will head over to the CNET Gateway forum and maybe someone over there has the same netbook and discovered a "magic trick" :) to allow this thing to boot to USB. I also may try getting my hands on an external CD/DVD ROM drive and see if possible the image will boot from there? Hey....Worth a look. :-)

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I went to the hard drive boot order options. Turns out the BIOS had listed my USB stick as a hard drive, instead of external media. Rebooted with it as my first "hard drive" and it went right to the USB stick like I was trying.

 

I have an emachine desktop. emachine, Acer and Gateway are the same company. I always thought my eMachine was unable to boot from a USB stick but one day, I stumbled across a different menu and discovered how to do it. It could be the above. I checked my notes and have nothing where I looked. It is somewhere but so many notes, I'm not sure exactly where I put it. I don't boot from USB on it much.

 

Have the stick in, cold boot and look over the hard drives listed in the BIOS.

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Hiya Liz :) Has been a while, do hope you are doing well. :) If memory serves (as I am still at work) I had 4 boot options in the boot menu in BIOS. USB HDD, USB FDD, Windows Boot Manager and the internal HDD. I have the two USB's as 1 and 2 which is not mattering considering I read about "csm" which I don't see that anywhere either. Just strange. I have booted USBs on UEFI machines before with out this kind of difficulty. I do believe I am going to get an external CD ROM drive and try a bootable DVD. If that does not work, I will just drop back 10 yards and punt. :hysterical: Though, knowing me, I am going to try everything as I do not like to admit defeat. :-D

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I am going to try everything as I do not like to admit defeat.
Me neither! I just checked another place for my notes. Then I fired up my eMachine. I have 4 boot entries and none of them allows me to boot from a USB linux stick. I tried all but the Hard Drive option.

 

Now you have me wondering how I managed to boot from a USB stick! Perhaps it wasn't my desktop but my husband's Dell. :'(

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i had a non UEFI that listed USB devices under regular harddrives in the boot options.

Actually had to change 2 things, one was to change the 1st HD to the USB and then go into the boot order and redo the ordering (even if order same)

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Solved, at least for me! I found my note. :oops: I pasted a label on the side of the tower with the instructions on how to boot from a USB stick! DUH! I never thought to look there.

 

The only option I did not try was HDD. Turns out this is the one that works. I selected that and my USB stick was listed along with the internal hard drive. I used the arrow key to move down to select it and my USB stick booted.

 

I did not need to go into the BIOS and reorder anything.

Edited by zlim
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I'm all for moving this to another forum. Just was not sure what forum this would have been best suited for. But by all means...move it to the forum for which all will be happy. :)

Honestly, I thought I would have solved this one by now but to no avail.

The only other option I have not yet tried because I need to get my hands on one is booting of USB CD ROM drive. That IS an option in the BIOS boot menu. Matter of fact there are 7 options.

1. HDD: HGST HTSXXXXXXX

2. USB FDD

3. USB HDD

4. WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER

5. Network Boot - IPV4

6. Network Boot - IPV6

7. USB CDROM

 

So at this point my next and only option will be to get my hands on an external USB CDROM drive and use a bootable DVD. Only thing I have not tried and it just may be the ticket.

 

I will let everyone know if I can get one and what the results are for future reference for the tool box. ;)

 

Thanks again everyone :)

 

Ian

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securitybreach

I can move it but I really do not know where to move it to. Hardware, Linux, Restaurant?

BIOS is considered hardware, no?

 

Right. Moved to Hardware

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I can move it but I really do not know where to move it to. Hardware, Linux, Restaurant?

BIOS is considered hardware, no?

 

Looks like you answered your own Q there crp :teehee: Meself I would have thought bios were software whilst the bios rom chip was hardware. The usb stick is defo hardware but the problem is with the software being used with it. All on all a thorny problem. Maybe a section of the forums could be made for Mysteries of the Universe type problems. :hysterical:

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