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.
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.
The specific model is Acer Aspire ES1-432. When I looked online, I didn’t find many Ubuntu users discussing my specific model.
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.
I will begin working on your advised method in a while. I had to work first.
@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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
