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Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"
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Author:  btm [ Fri Mar 07, 2014 8:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

I have installed LinHES 8.1.1 from both disk and USB stick on a new-ish Lenovo H520 that originally had Windows 8 or 8.1, UEFI, secure boot, etc.

The installation completes, but when it tries to reboot from HD it displays "No operating system found" and something like "press any key to retry".

I've tried various combinations of the "bios" settings for secure boot, CSM, and boot mode {legacy|UEFI}.

The installation always make a GPT disk, regardless of the disk partition type before the install, or the boot mode of the install media.

Some Lenovo machines are particular about the label of the boot partition: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR ... hinkCentre
but I have trouble following these suggestions. I haven't learned enough about GRUB or UEFI to understand what EFI\Boot or /boot/efi refers to, and I don't seem to have these files or directories. And when I try to use efibootmgr, not much happens:

[root@myth1 ~]# efibootmgr -v
Fatal: Couldn't open either sysfs or procfs directories for accessing EFI variables.
Try 'modprobe efivars' as root.
[root@myth1 ~]# modprobe efivars
[root@myth1 ~]# efibootmgr -v
Fatal: Couldn't open either sysfs or procfs directories for accessing EFI variables.
Try 'modprobe efivars' as root.

Here's a Boot Repair 64-bit report on my system: http://paste.ubuntu.com/7053644/

By booting from the LinHES media, and selecting "Boot existing OS", I'm able to boot into LinHES from the HD, and I'm able to get to the command line and access the myth and root accounts.

I have tried changing the partition names with gdisk on partitions 1 or 4 to "Windows Boot Manager" and "Red Hat Enterprise Linux" as mentioned on the arch wiki link above for a particular Lenovo box (and no luck), but I suspect that the partition name set with disk, and the label set by efibootmgr are two different things.

Any suggestions welcome!

Author:  tscholl [ Fri Mar 07, 2014 10:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

Check out this link.

Author:  btm [ Sat Mar 08, 2014 6:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

Still not there. Thanks to your link, I did check the MBR boot flag, and it wasn't set, so I set it. But the HD still doesn't boot directly. I have to boot the LinHES disc, and from there, "boot existing OS". Here's what fdisk -l looks like after I set the bootable flag:
Code:
[root@myth1 ~]# fdisk -l /dev/sda

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.


Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1  1953525167   976762583+  ee  GPT
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.
[root@myth1 ~]#

Author:  RacerX [ Sat Mar 08, 2014 9:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

Read this post from Arch

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=171932&p=1

It explains the firmware bugs that some vendors are creating when they add more things to bios.

Your going to have to approach the problem a little differently

Author:  btm [ Sun Mar 09, 2014 2:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

RacerX wrote:


Wow, thanks, but a "maze of twisty little passages, all alike." I'll have to read this multiple times to see if I can find what is important. Currently, if I boot the CD in legacy mode, I end up at a menu that includes "boot existing OS," which works. If I boot the cd in UEFI mode, it is different, and it asks me for my Country and Keyboard choices, then ask me if I want to (1) Install or Upgrade, (2) Run MythFrontend, and two more, maybe exit this menu or something.

I've also booted from USB stick, but I'm not sure the mode, or if I can do both modes.

I was hopping that I'd have this box booting and my recordings moved to it by the time Cosmos starts tonight, but that seems like wishful thinking at this point.

Author:  btm [ Sun Mar 09, 2014 4:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

So, it looks like I don't have an ESP, or EFI System Partition, of type EF00. So, I'll need to fire up gparted and make room for that. Or maybe, I need to do a "do over" reinstall and make sure I boot the install media in UEFI mode.

Author:  mattbatt [ Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

have you tried an alternate boot loader like https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Boot_loaders

Author:  btm [ Mon Mar 10, 2014 8:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

mattbatt wrote:
have you tried an alternate boot loader like https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Boot_loaders
Not yet, but I think that is coming up soon.

My quick attempt to re-install with a UEFI-booted CD did not produce any improvement. (I was fairly sure I had done that before, but wanted to be positive.) As far as I know, I do not have a ESP, so I think my next actions are to shrink a partition to make room for an ESP, then make use of it to try out gummiboot or one of the other alternatives.

I can't see how it was supposed to work without an ESP. My partitions are listed in a Boot Repair 64-bit report here: http://paste.ubuntu.com/7053644/

Author:  RacerX [ Mon Mar 10, 2014 9:00 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

Another alternative how about installing R8.0. It does not require GPT. Your drive is small can't it work with fdisk and mbr like in this post

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Linux-Disc ... d-p/674103

And then upgrade to R8.1.1

Author:  brfransen [ Mon Mar 10, 2014 12:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

RacerX wrote:
Another alternative how about installing R8.0. It does not require GPT.

The release R8.0 ISO does create GPT. See http://linhes.org/projects/linhes/repos ... 2551ccc479 The beta test R8.0 ISOs prior to May 2013 would be MBR.

Author:  btm [ Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

Am I correct that there is no ESP (EFI System Partition), and do you think that adding one is the next step for me? The guides I read about efibootmgr, gummiboot, etc. refer to the ESP.

Author:  btm [ Thu Mar 13, 2014 7:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

I'm still working on this.

Full install of LinHES 8.1.1 from USB key
Unselect the option to use the rest of the disk for data. Instead, make a data partition that is a GB or so smaller, so that there is room to make an ESP.
Boot from DVD (because USB key doesn't seem to work here), then "Boot Existing OS"
Alt-X to open a shell
Run gdisk to create a ESP (EF00) partition of 550MB.
Formatted the partition as FAT32
Copied rEFInd files to the system, and ran its ./install.sh script to install.
HD failed to boot "No operating system found".
Burned rEFInd to CD, booted from it.
It finds the linux install, offers to boot from it, but the boot hangs at "Init: Entering run level 3". Disturbing; it looks like once I figure out this boot problem, I'll have another.
I bet a current or future problem is that my video card seems to need CSM mode on for it to work, but having CSM mode on may interfere with UEFI booting.
rEFInd didn't put its files at the "default" location of /boot/efi/bootx64.efi, but at /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/, so I made copies of those files at /boot/efi.
Now, when I boot the rEFInd CD, I have menu entries to boot linux, and to boot the bootx64.efi.
Still, HD failed to boot, "No operating system found."

Author:  mattbatt [ Thu Mar 13, 2014 10:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

Are you sure you don't have some random card reader or drive set as the boot first drive instead of hd that you want?

Author:  btm [ Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

mattbatt wrote:
Are you sure you don't have some random card reader or drive set as the boot first drive instead of hd that you want?
I'll double check, but there is only the one hard drive, the dvd drive, and occasionally a USB stick.

Author:  btm [ Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Lenovo GPT UEFI won't boot, "No operating system"

Well, after almost a couple weeks of trying various things, I'm punting. I think it comes down to a problem in the system's UEFI: when I have CSM on (for my video card), and LinHES always makes a GPT disk, and the combination is just broken on this box.

I installed MythBuntu last night, and have made a few recordings today. Some stability problems when I watch live TV, but the recordings seem to be working OK.

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