Many problems installing MX Linux alonside Windows 10

When you run into problems installing MX Linux XFCE
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explodingbee
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2019 8:44 pm

Many problems installing MX Linux alonside Windows 10

#1 Post by explodingbee »

Hi everyone,

I tried to install MX Linux alongside Windows 10 with a dual boot system. Nothing is working out properly.

Although I chose the option to install the grub file during the installation, when I try to boot after installation I do not get any grub file options. The system just first says that it is looking for boot media or something like that (I previously changed the boot sequence so that it goes to a USB drive and then the hard drive). It takes a long time and then it goes to some mode where I can set and review options with the computer, options like boot sequence, information about the computer specifications, and other things. I can't boot to any operating system from the hard drive. (The MX Linux system said that installation was completed properly and I repeated the installation several times with the same result each time.)

Also I disabled secure boot and reinstalled MX Linux but that did not change anything.

I can boot to MX Linux on a usb drive and I can get online with that.

I am using a brand new gaming laptop. MSI model # GL73 8RD, 16 Gb of RAM, 500 Gb SSD, GTX 1050i graphics card, Windows 10. I think I am using the latest version of MX Linux (18.1, I think) but I can't double check by looking at the files on the USB drive because it won't let me because it says I am giving it the wrong root password but I don't think that is correct. I think I am giving it the same password I entered when I was asked to do so. That is another issue.

Yet another issue is that when I type the screen will suddenly select the whole paragraph without me doing anything to warrant that (as far as I know) and then when I type the next character it deletes the entire selected paragraph (which I did not select). The cursor also inexplicably jumps to another place or paragraph without reason for doing do. Very frustrating. This is what was happening previously when I was recently using a very outdated, barely functioning Windows XP laptop that I purchased in 2003. Now, in MX Linux (operating from a USB drive) I am running into these same issues. These things were not happening on this same MSI computer in Windows 10. I previously assumed they were only associated with the very outdated, barely functioning 2003 laptop.

I am frustrated right now and I would just like to go back to WIndows 10 by itself, at least for now. How do I do that?

UPDATE: In the mode where I can change and review the computer settings and information that I discussed above, I changed the boot type from EUFI to Legacy (or I did something like that) and now the system will boot up from the hard drive. I also get the grub menu. But there is no option to go to Windows 10. I can only boot to MX Linux. Also, the cursor is still jumping around. It is doing so now as I type.

It seems to me that an alternative operating system - or any operating system - should be more user friendly than this.

-Vincent
Last edited by explodingbee on Sat Mar 23, 2019 5:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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JayM
Qualified MX Guide
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Re: Many problems installing MX Linux alonside Windows 10

#2 Post by JayM »

Let's work on your booting issues first. Did you read the wiki page about UEFI installations and dual-booting with Win10?
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/system/uefi/
Lots of good information there.

To add Win10 to grub, open a terminal then type

Code: Select all

su
(enter), then enter the root password you chose during installation. Next, type

Code: Select all

update-grub
(enter) then reboot. You should now see Windows 10 on your boot menu.

The cursor and text-selecting issues sound like something going on with your touchpad, possibly your graphics card driver, but let's address that later once you can dual-boot.
Last edited by JayM on Sat Mar 23, 2019 4:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
Please read the Forum Rules, How To Ask For Help, How to Break Your System and Don't Break Debian. Always include your full Quick System Info (QSI) with each and every new help request.

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JayM
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Re: Many problems installing MX Linux alonside Windows 10

#3 Post by JayM »

JayM wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 3:35 am Let's work on your booting issues first. Did you read the wiki page about UEFI installations and dual-booting with Win10?
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/system/uefi/

To add Win10 to grub, open a terminal then type

Code: Select all

su
(enter), then enter the root password you chose during installation. Next, type

Code: Select all

update-grub
(enter) then reboot. You should now see Windows 10 on your boot menu.

The cursor and text-selecting issues sound like something going on with your touchpad, or possibly your graphics card, but let's address that later once you can dual-boot. We'd need you to run MX Tools/Quick System Info, then right-click-paste into a reply.
Please read the Forum Rules, How To Ask For Help, How to Break Your System and Don't Break Debian. Always include your full Quick System Info (QSI) with each and every new help request.

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Head_on_a_Stick
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Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 3:37 pm

Re: Many problems installing MX Linux alonside Windows 10

#4 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

explodingbee wrote: Fri Mar 22, 2019 10:00 pm I changed the boot type from EUFI to Legacy (or I did something like that) and now the system will boot up from the hard drive. I also get the grub menu. But there is no option to go to Windows 10. I can only boot to MX Linux.
Sounds like MX has been installed in non-UEFI mode.

Check by running this command from a terminal:

Code: Select all

[ -d /sys/firmare/efi ] && echo UEFI || echo non-UEFI
If it returns non-UEFI then you can either attempt to re-install in UEFI mode (others may be able to advise further on this) or convert your system to UEFI booting (post back if you want instructions for this).
mod note: Signature removed, please read the forum rules

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Adrian
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Re: Many problems installing MX Linux alonside Windows 10

#5 Post by Adrian »

About the minor but annoying problem with the mouse moving erratically, you probably need to change the touchpad sensitivity, you probably touch it when you type it.

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fehlix
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Re: Many problems installing MX Linux alonside Windows 10

#6 Post by fehlix »

explodingbee wrote: Fri Mar 22, 2019 10:00 pm I am frustrated right now and I would just like to go back to WIndows 10 by itself, at least for now. How do I do that?
We do not know what you have done, but if you not have wiped out the harddisk,
you shall be able to boot into Windows by enabling UEFI with the Systen BIOS/UEFI setup.
When booted into WIndows you could remove the Linux partitions from with the Window Disk-management.
explodingbee wrote: Fri Mar 22, 2019 10:00 pm I changed the boot type from EUFI to Legacy
Windows can only boot in either UEFI or Legacy(BIOS) mode, depending within what mode
it was installed. Which means if you now booting in legacy mode into Linux,
you will not be able to boot into Windows, because recent Windows10 come per default
in UEFI-mode installed.
explodingbee wrote: Fri Mar 22, 2019 10:00 pm It seems to me that an alternative operating system - or any operating system - should be more user friendly than this.
Sure. The forum is also good for providing help before making system changes.
:puppy:
Gigabyte Z77M-D3H, Intel Xeon E3-1240 V2 (Quad core), 32GB RAM,
GeForce GTX 770, Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB, Seagate Barracuda 4TB

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Stevo
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Re: Many problems installing MX Linux alonside Windows 10

#7 Post by Stevo »

Don't despair. Many of the MX packages are being built on a similar MSI GP63 with UEFI dual boot, though I haven't booted Win10 for a few months now. Bumblebee GPU switching, most of the hotkeys, control of the RGB keyboard with some extra apps, undervolting the CPU with iuvolt, suspend, and hibernation all work great.

Code: Select all

$ inxi -Fxxz
System:    Host: mx Kernel: 5.0.0-3.1-liquorix-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 6.3.0 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 tk: Gtk 2.24.31 wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM 
           Distro: MX-18.1_x64 Continuum Feb 9  2019 base: Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Micro-Star product: GP63 Leopard 8RD v: REV:1.0 serial: <filter> Chassis: 
           type: 10 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Micro-Star model: MS-16P6 v: REV:1.0 serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends 
           v: E16P6IMS.107 date: 09/05/2018 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 38.6 Wh condition: 39.1/53.4 Wh (73%) volts: 11.9/10.9 model: MSI Corp. MS-16P6 
           serial: N/A status: Unknown 
           Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse M525 serial: <filter> charge: Full 
           status: Discharging 
CPU:       Topology: 6-Core model: Intel Core i7-8750H bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Kaby Lake rev: A 
           L2 cache: 9216 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 52992 
           Speed: 1760 MHz min/max: 800/4100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1760 2: 1413 3: 1235 4: 3007 5: 1543 
           6: 1984 7: 1721 8: 1601 9: 1824 10: 1531 11: 1689 12: 1783 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:3e9b 
           Device-2: NVIDIA driver: N/A bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1c8c 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.2 driver: intel compositor: compton resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel UHD Graphics 630 (Coffeelake 3x8 GT2) v: 4.5 Mesa 18.3.2 
           compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 
           chip ID: 8086:a348 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.0.0-3.1-liquorix-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Intel driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 5000 bus ID: 00:14.3 chip ID: 8086:a370 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2400 Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: alx 
           v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 1969:e0a1 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 1.14 TiB used: 647.02 GiB (55.3%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Micron model: 1100 MTFDDAV256TBN size: 238.47 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s 
           serial: <filter> 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: HGST (Hitachi) model: HTS721010A9E630 size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s 
           serial: <filter> 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 111.56 GiB used: 35.61 GiB (31.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 
           ID-2: /home size: 832.35 GiB used: 611.36 GiB (73.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb1 
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 16.40 GiB used: 55.0 MiB (0.3%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb3 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:      Processes: 396 Uptime: 1d 11h 52m Memory: 15.51 GiB used: 2.61 GiB (16.8%) Init: SysVinit v: 2.88 
           runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 6.3.0 alt: 6 Shell: bash v: 4.4.12 running in: konsole 
           inxi: 3.0.29 
So I'm sure it's just something with the UEFI install that's getting missed. I split the 250 MB boot SSD in half, so MX and Windows each get half of it, and my home is on the spinning drive.

I like using touchpad-indicator and set it to ignore the touchpad for a couple seconds after keypresses, though I use a wireless mouse the vast majority of the time and also have it set to turn off the pad if a mouse is plugged in.

explodingbee
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2019 8:44 pm

Re: Many problems installing MX Linux alonside Windows 10

#8 Post by explodingbee »

Ok. Thanks everyone for your responses.

In response to JayM, I opened a terminal, typed su and then update-grub. The computer typed a bunch of stuff. I rebooted and there was no difference. I got a grub menu but the only option was MX Linux and the system booted to that.

In response to Head_on_a_Stick, I typed the line you provided in a terminal and a message came back which said "non-UEFI." I then tried to change the boot options so that the system was back in UEFI mode but I could not get back to the boot utility. I looked online and it said to press the F1 or F2 keys while rebooting, which I did, but the system ignored me and went to the MX Linux boot menu as before. I don't know how to get to the bios (I think that is what it is called) to change the system back to UEFI.

In response to Adrian, I am not aware of touching the touchpad but I cannot rule that out. When I type carefully, making sure I am not touching anything, it does seem that the problem does not happen so you may be right. I just adjusted the touchpad sensitivity from "4" to "20." I will see if that helps.

In response to Fehlix: You said I should get back to the bios and change the system back to UEFI. As I wrote above, I can't seem to get back there. I don't know how to do that at this point. Pressing F1, F2 or F12 during startup doesn't seem to do it.

In response to Stevo, I went to the touchpad utility and it had an option which said I could disable the touchpad while typing. I clicked on that. We will see if that helps.

So the bottom line is that right now I can boot into MX Linux but can't get to windows 10 and I can't get to the bios utility either. Any ideas on this?

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Adrian
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Re: Many problems installing MX Linux alonside Windows 10

#9 Post by Adrian »

In response to Fehlix: You said I should get back to the bios and change the system back to UEFI. As I wrote above, I can't seem to get back there. I don't know how to do that at this point. Pressing F1, F2 or F12 during startup doesn't seem to do it.
I think MSI has different key bindings... I looked online and found this info
Boot menu: F11
Bios setup: Del
It might be different for your model...

explodingbee
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2019 8:44 pm

Re: Many problems installing MX Linux alonside Windows 10

#10 Post by explodingbee »

Hi Adrian: You are right. I rebooted while pressing F11 and Del and the system went to the bios utility. I then changed the boot mode to UEFI instead of Legacy. But now I am back to the original problem. When I boot up I get a message saying ">>checking media presence......" That stays there for about 3-4 minutes and then it goes right to the bios utility (without going to the grub menu or MX Linux or WIndows 10). So I cannot boot to the hard drive with MX Linux or Windows 10. (I can still boot from a USB drive with MX Linux on it and I can get online that way.)

So I am still stuck.

I went back to the bios utility and I disabled Fast Boot and Secure Boot (consistent with what I remember reading in the article recommended by JayM) but those changes made no difference.

Regarding the problem with the cursor jumping around that still seems to be happening.

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