Missing boot option on startup

Support & Help Requests
#1

I bought an Acer Aspire earlier this year. It came with Windows 10 (which I hate), so I finally decided to jump in and totally change it to Ubuntu Mate. It should be noted that I have switched a few operating systems from Windows to Linux Cinnamon with no problem.

Anyway, I have attempted to totally remove Windows from my Acer Aspire and replace it with Ubuntu Mate. Windows is gone and, if I look at my hard drive, see that Ubuntu is installed. The problem is, there is absolutely no option that allows me to boot into Ubuntu without using my flash disk. The only version I can use is the test version on the flash disc.

So, even though I see that Ubuntu is on my laptop, there is no bootable option. If I take out the flash disc, I get an error saying there is no bootable option as well. Then I ran the boot repair option more than a several times, to no avail. I have also reinstalled over and over again using different advises I’ve read on these forums, but none of them have worked either.

Lastly, I chose to run a test to see if there was something wrong. I got a message coming back stating that two files are in error. I assume that it’s missing files having to do with the booting.

Sorry that I am not good with technical jargon, but I assume someone who understands this subject well can fill in the blanks.

#2

What specific model of Acer Aspire? I’ve read that bios’s in these things can have difficulties in booting anything linux. What test did you run and, if necessary, can you quote the message you got? No need to answer these questions if the method of installing GRUB described below works for you.

Sometimes giving GRUB2 the correct configuration for your partitions is not enough, and you must actually install it (or reinstall it) to the Master Boot Record.

Here’s how: boot from a live USB. Use the try ubuntu-mate version.

Determine the partition number of your main (root) partition. GParted can help you here. I’m going to assume in this example that it’s /dev/sda2, but make sure you use the correct partition number for your system! (mine was /dev/sda6, for instance) Look to see which drive grub uses to boot from.

Mount your partition:

sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt #make sure that sda whatever is correct!

Bind mount some other necessary stuff:

for i in /sys /proc /run /dev; do sudo mount --bind "$i" "/mnt$i"; done

chroot into your Ubuntu install:

sudo chroot /mnt

At this point, you’re in your install, not the live CD, and running as root. Install grub:

grub-install /dev/sda # make sure that this is the correct (bootable) HD!

Update grub:

update-grub

If everything worked without errors, then you’re all set:

exit

At this point, you should be able to reboot normally. Good luck Russell_Fry.

#3
  1. The specific model is Acer Aspire ES1-432. When I looked online, I didn’t find many Ubuntu users discussing my specific model.
  2. When I ran the check before opening Ubuntu Mate, it read “Check finished: errors found in 2 files!” What those errors are, I have no idea how to find out.
  3. I will begin working on your advised method in a while. I had to work first.

By the way, thanks for the quick response.

#4

When I typed sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt it came back “mount point does not exist.” I added a link to a screen shot in Google Drive.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ni8hTYLlX01TMq70nOI-M9Hi1MwhG3Dx/view?usp=drivesdk

#5

@Russell_Fry /dev/sda3 may not be your root partition. Did you use Gparted to look at your hard drive to help you determine where your root partition is located? It may be that /dev/sda3 is an extended partition and that your root partition is located within that partition so it might be sda5 or 6. Just spitballing here.

Edit: Show us what gparted says about your hard drive if you would.

#7

Screenshot at 2017-12-15 00-52-09.jpg1366×768 245 KB

Here is a screenshot. Probably way more helpful than my typing.

#8

Screenshot at 2017-12-15 00-58-44.png1366×768 262 KB

Another screen shot.

#9

It looks like /dev/sda2 is your root partition Russell. And when you next try a screenshot, select “Grab the current window” as that way, you can make your screenshots more definitive. Thanks for getting back.

Edit: The fat 32 partitions can not be used as linux root partitions. I suspect that they have something to do with your former Windows 10 OS.

#10

Is there any way to change it?

#11

Change what Russell?

#12

Change the partition from fat32. Is there a way to make the partition compatible with Linux?

#13

Lets leave that for another time. Fat32 partitions can be used by linux but can not be used to store root.

Lets see if you can get grub installed and if that (the grub install) results in a working MATE install. Back in a few.

#14

So here is a trimmed screenshot (taken from a post of yours above) of what Gparted reported on your hard drive -

/dev/sda1 is a relatively small (47 MiB) first partition, having a flag that says msftdata - a remnant of your Win 10 OS and maybe something else, I don't know. Followed by an 18.63 GiB unallocated section of hard drive. (At some point, you'll want to format that section so that you can use it. That can happen much later if at all.) Followed by /dev/sda3, looking like another relatively small 38 MiB Win 10 boot partition. And lastly followed by /dev/sda2, a rather large ext4 partition, larger than my present hard drive which contains 4 OS's and a data partition. You have plenty of room.

This is the partition that you installed MATE 17.10 on. If I remember, ext4 is now the default formatting for new installs. I still have some ext3 data partitions hanging on in one machine or another.

So my instructions above would read, in your case, sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt then the bind mount business command, the chroot into your install, the installation of grub, grub-install /dev/sda and the updating of grub. That should all work and I hope that you've already done that and are busy updating your new installation. Good luck Russell.

#15

Screenshot at 2017-12-15 02-02-41.png738×490 82.7 KB

Everything goes well until I get to the grub-install /dev/sda(#) part. How to fix the "connot find EFI directory?"

(By the way, I tried 1-6 just in case I got lucky.)

#16

That’s what I would have done. I’m going to research the EFI business and see what I get. This can be solved!

Edit: Dang! This is going to be a bit of work. We’ve run into (I think) the Acer BIOS limitations. For starters, see this -

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/492267/acer-es1-432-no-uefi-or-legacy-option/p2

I’ll keep on this, but unless someone else chimes in first, I may not get you the best resolution for your problem within the next four hours. Hang tight and I’ll see what I can come up with.

Edit2: See - https://askubuntu.com/questions/862946/unable-to-install-ubuntu-on-acer-aspire-es1-533 and go down to the second answer that begins with:

<3>

"The problem can be solved as follows:

  1. Boot Ubuntu Live DVD/USB in testing mode and open terminal

  2. Run installation process without installing bootloader by:

sudo ubiquity -b "

This might help you out. Good luck Russell.

There is a link to a very nice page on managing EFI boot loaders - http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/index.html

Edit3: Searching our forum, I found this - Ubuntu 16 MATE - UEFI - no bootable medium after install which kind of sounds like your first request for help. The Askubuntu page i linked to in the 2nd edit has links to other pages that explore the EFI business.

It would be nice if someone personally experienced with an Acer EFI install would speak up as I have no personal knowledge/experience of this matter. Sigh…

Edit4: And this afternoon, I discovered a post on the Ubuntu forums. Please see - https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2380145&p=13720748#post13720748

I think that you are going to have to change some settings in your BIOS before you can begin to solve this problem. Again, good luck @Russell_Fry

Edit5: See https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295 (which is the ubuntuforums UEFI Installing page) and in particular, the section that begins with

"All Acer require supervisor password & enable “trust” on Ubuntu/grub efi files.

Acer Trust Settings - details:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2358003
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread…7#post13341757

Acer Spin 5 Ubuntu 17.04 Needs Acer password & trust
https://askubuntu.com/questions/9088.../909238#909238"

I’m done here until I get a modern machine.