[Solved] Boot Device Not Found after Mx Linux 18 Dual Boot Install

[luishector]

Greetings,

I have an old HP Elitebook 8460 that has successfully dual booted Windows and Linux for many years. Decided to give MXLinux a try, and replaced my existing linux installation. The system does not use UEFI (Bios boot only).

I installed from USB drive, and reformatted my 50 GB / partition reserved for the OS. I told the installer to retain (or reuse?) my /home partition as my home folder.

Here's what Gparted currently shows:

/dev/sda1 NTFS System Reserved 100 MB
/dev/sda2 NTFS 140 GB
/dev/sda3 extended
/dev/sda6 ext4 rootMX18.2 50 GB boot
/dev/sda7 ext4 270 GB
unallocated 4 MB
/dev/sda5 linux-swap 8GB
unallocated 1 MB

I now get "boot device not found. Please install an operating system on your hard drive" error every time I try to boot the PC.

I think I might have picked (or the installer picked and I didn't fix) something other than MBR for the grub install the first time around. My machine has an option for UEFI, though it's always been disabled (it' s not recommended -- according to my BIOS, it's provided for development purposes only).

Not knowing what to do, I re-ran the installer, and this time paid more attention to the part where it installs Grub. I selected

"Install GRUB for Linux and Windows".
Install on MBR
System Boot disk: sda 465 GB Hitachi

However, my laptop still thinks that there is no OS installed. I can browse my partitions (windows and linux) from the live disk, so the hard drive doesn't appear to have died coincidentally during the install.

I've also tried using the MX Boot repair tool, but I haven't been able to fix this issue.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Luis

[luishector]

Update:
I can boot from the live USB disk, and I can select "boot from hard drive". At that point,I get the grub boot screen, where I can select MX LInux or Windows to boot from.

So, I'm actually right now using my shiny new MX Linux machine.

I tried running:
sudo update-grub
which completed without error. However, when I rebooted it was the same problem: no operating system on the hard drive found.

Here is what Gparted shows for my partitions:

Gparted Screenshot.png

I assume that the issue is related to how this is configured so that my laptop can't find what it's looking for?

Luis

[JayM]

Perhaps the fact that MX is installed inside of an extended partition is the problem? I suggest you boot the MX Live USB, run gparted, delete sda5, sda6, sda7 then sda3, apply those changes, then create primary partitions for root, home and swap and install to those. I'm pretty sure that logical partitions inside of extended ones aren't bootable.

[BitJam]

It sounds like you need to change the BIOS boot settings. IIRC the "Boot from Hard Drive" entry in the legacy live bootloader boots from the MBR. Since that is working, you just need to tell BIOS to boot from it as well. I looked up the manual for a machine like yours and it said getting to the BIOS was a two-step procedure. I think it was <Esc> and then <F2>. There may also be a boot menu available. It is often opened with the <F12> key but it varies by manufacturer (and sometimes by model).

It is possible that even if BIOS was previously booting from the MBR, it needs to be told again once the contents of the MBR changes. This may seem like a pain but it would be a good defence against an MBR rootkit.

[JayM]

Or possibly F10: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03453264 http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02950079

[luishector]

Thanks guys,

Thanks for those links. F10 it is to get into BIOS. I've poked around the few settings I found, but I don't see anything that mentions MBR boot options. The only boot-related thing I see is the UEFI Mode (which I get warnings if I try to turn on, and it sounds like I don't want anyway).

eSATA boot is enabled, and I've disabled (AFAIK) all other security boot options (anti theft and "drivelock"). However, it still doesn't see any OS during boot.

I'm tempted to try the UEFI boot options (despite the warnings) -- but then I'd have to reconfig grub, right?
The other option is to reconfig the partitions as mentioned. I'll try that as a last resort, since restoring my files into /home is a major headache. I was hoping to "hotswap" (sort of speak) my home folder and leave the 100 gigs in place :P

Thanks for your help.

Luis

[JayM]

You may have to set a BIOS admin password to gain complete access to all F10 settings.

Try looking under SATA Device Mode. The default is AHCI, but perhaps MBR is one of the choices. Changing this may render Windows unable to boot though, but you can try it just to see if MX will then boot.

Another place to look is Legacy Boot Order. If you have more than one hard drive this is where you should select the one with MX installed on it.

[luishector]

Thanks Jay,

I setup a BIOS admin password. However, I will look for SATA Device Mode next time I reboot. I'm currently watching all of my files get backed up to an external hard drive :) I only have one HDD on this machine ...

Maybe this is just the universe telling me that I need to back up all of those family photographs :) After I back up everything, reconfiguring my partition won't be a biggie, which will be the next thing I attempt after poking around the SATA device modes.

However I think I'm done for tonight. I have a couple of hours left to finish copying my home folder. :)

Thanks for your help! I'll circle around and post how things turned out in the end.

Luis

[fehlix]

Here's what Gparted currently shows:

/dev/sda1 NTFS System Reserved 100 MB
/dev/sda2 NTFS 140 GB
/dev/sda3 extended
/dev/sda6 ext4 rootMX18.2 50 GB boot
/dev/sda7 ext4 270 GB
unallocated 4 MB
/dev/sda5 linux-swap 8GB
unallocated 1 MB

I now get "boot device not found. Please install an operating system on your hard drive" error every time I try to boot the PC.

Might be an boot flag issue.
Please show output of:

Code: Select all

lsblk -f

and

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sudo parted -l

and also "Quick System Info" ("inxi -Fxrz")
when booted from Live USB.
Remember: Please put all text-output to post between "code-tags" : [code]like this ones[/code]

[luishector]

Thanks for the reply! here is the output:

lsblk -l

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luis@mx-laptop:~$ lsblk -l
NAME MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda    8:0    0 465.8G  0 disk 
sda1   8:1    0   100M  0 part 
sda2   8:2    0 139.8G  0 part 
sda3   8:3    0     1K  0 part 
sda5   8:5    0     8G  0 part [SWAP]
sda6   8:6    0  46.6G  0 part /
sda7   8:7    0 271.4G  0 part /home
sdb    8:16   1   1.8G  0 disk 
sdb1   8:17   1   1.8G  0 part /media/luis/ANTIXLIVE
sr0   11:0    1  1024M  0 rom 

sudo parted -l:

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luis@mx-laptop:~$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA Hitachi HTS72755 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size    Type      File system     Flags
 1      1049kB  106MB  105MB   primary   ntfs
 2      106MB   150GB  150GB   primary   ntfs
 3      150GB   500GB  350GB   extended
 6      150GB   200GB  50.0GB  logical   ext4            boot
 7      200GB   492GB  291GB   logical   ext4
 5      492GB   500GB  8535MB  logical   linux-swap(v1)


Model: Verbatim STORE N GO (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1955MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  1955MB  1953MB  primary  fat32        boot, lba

inxi -Fxrz:

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luis@mx-laptop:~$ inxi -Fxrz
System:    Host: mx-laptop Kernel: 4.19.0-1-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 6.3.0 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 Distro: MX-18.2_x64 Continuum Apr 7  2019 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP EliteBook 8460w v: A0001D02 
           serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 161C v: KBC Version 97.4E serial: <filter> 
           BIOS: Hewlett-Packard v: 68SCF Ver. F.60 date: 03/12/2015 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 47.4 Wh condition: 48.0/48.0 Wh (100%) 
           model: Hewlett-Packard Primary status: Unknown 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-2670QM bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
           arch: Sandy Bridge rev: 7 L2 cache: 6144 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 35121 
           Speed: 798 MHz min/max: 800/3100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 798 3: 798 4: 798 
           5: 798 6: 798 7: 798 8: 798 
Graphics:  Device-1: AMD Seymour [Radeon HD 6400M/7400M Series] 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard FirePro M3900 driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.2 driver: ati,radeon unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa 
           resolution: 1600x900~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD CAICOS (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.19.0-1-amd64 LLVM 7.0.0) 
           v: 3.3 Mesa 18.2.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-1-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: e1000e 
           v: 3.2.6-k port: 5020 bus ID: 00:19.0 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 4000 
           bus ID: 25:00.0 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 467.58 GiB used: 158.76 GiB (34.0%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Hitachi model: HTS727550A9E364 size: 465.76 GiB 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Verbatim model: STORE N GO size: 1.82 GiB 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 45.58 GiB used: 5.38 GiB (11.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda6 
           ID-2: /home size: 266.12 GiB used: 152.04 GiB (57.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda7 
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 7.95 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: radeon temp: 39 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/antix.list 
           1: deb http://la.mxrepo.com/antix/stretch stretch main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://la.mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ stretch main non-free
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:      Processes: 233 Uptime: 12m Memory: 7.74 GiB used: 1.22 GiB (15.8%) Init: SysVinit 
           runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 6.3.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.12 inxi: 3.0.33 

Thanks again!

Luis