I’ve now tried installing openSUSE 12.1 twice and both times when it hits 93% and says “Installing Boot Manager”, the screen suddenly goes black except for a square around the cursor. It then sits like that (although the cursor does show the thinking circle dots moving). It never comes out of that state and if I move the cursor, it only reveals the window beneath where the cursor moves, not the whole screen. It just cannot get past this step.
Any idea what’s wrong and how to fix this?
Is you BIOS running EFI/uEFI ?
It must have EFI since in the BIOS it says “EFI Device Priority”
Why 2 threads about the same problem? Disable EFI or install Fedora16. That’s it.
I thought they were separate issues (one is Parted Magic, the other install issues sorry)
I don’t see any way to disable EFI. I looked through all the different sections in the BIOS and nothing had an option to change EFI.
The only possible thing is it lists the CD/DVD twice, once as “EFI: ATAPI CD/DVD ROM” and “CD&DVD: ATAPI CD/DVD…” I suppose I could try the second option?
please_try_again, let me just be sure I’m understanding you correctly:
You’re saying that it is impossible to install OpenSUSE by itself (don’t want windows on there) on an EFI system?
You must know better than me since you just tried … and failed. If somebody succeeded, we will be glad to read how he did it. Please understand, that I don’t have this kind of hardware. I’ll have to set up one next week. I’m going to install Linux on it and I’m afraid it won’t be openSUSE.
What’s the model of your mainboard?
Assuming I have the right thing here, I believe it’s “AMD A75 Fusion”
I see. I didn’t even know AMD had APU (Accelerated Processing Unit). Do you have a separate graphics card?
I don’t know if these two thread are mergeable (probably not) … but they describe the same problem.
@6tr6tr,
Let us stop posting in this thread if you don’t mind.
I installed openSUSE-12.1 on my wife’s Lenovo X220 laptop which according to Internet searches has a UEFI BIOS. I’ve read of user’s succeeding in installing 11.4 on the same model laptop.
Now I don’t know exactly where to check (on her laptop) to confirm her BIOS is a UEFI. But I did check her BIOS version, and compare it to the versions listed on the Lenovo site, and they clearly note on the Lenovo site that the BIOS is UEFI.
I did nothing special to install, other than to ensure that I did NOT have the generic boot code written to the MBR. I posted here about my install : openSUSE-12.1 on Lenovo X220 laptop - Blogs - openSUSE Forums … there is another thread on our forum about a user having difficulty with a UEFI BIOS in conjunction with an obscure type of hard drive (see post#3 here: http://forums.opensuse.org/forums/english/other-forums/community-fun/general-chit-chat/470291-os-12-1-inspiron-e1505.html ) .
Edit - I just read the last bit about stopping the thread … ooops … my apologies for posting further.
Just one last post on this before I stop (as my curiousity was perked … ) … This arch Linux wiki is interesting: Unified Extensible Firmware Interface - ArchWiki and I find these quotes of interest:
Note: Unless specified as EFI 1.x , EFI and UEFI terms are used interchangeably to denote UEFI 2.x firmware. Also unless stated explicitely, these instructions are general and not Mac specific. Some of them may not work or may be different in Macs. Apple’s EFI implementation is neither a EFI 1.x version nor UEFI 2.x version but mixes up both. This kind of firmware does not fall under any one UEFI Specification version and therefore it is not a standard UEFI firmware.
and also:
Note 1: For Linux to access UEFI Runtime Services, the UEFI Firmware processor architecture and the Linux kernel processor architecture must match. This is independent of the bootloader used.
Note 2: If the UEFI Firmware arch and Linux Kernel arch are different, then the “noefi” kernel parameter must be used to avoid the kernel panic and boot successfully. The “noefi” option instructs the kernel not to access the UEFI Runtime Services.
Note 3: If you experience issues booting your UEFI system, such as rebooting or a black screen you may need to use Linux 3.0 or greater. Known systems this effects, all Dell laptops, all Apple after 2010, and some Lenovo, as well as some ASUS (E-350?). See 13 in references. This limitation does not exist in Linux Kernel 3.x versions.
… and there are more details in that interesting wiki.
Intersting. But I didn’t even get to booting issues. The install for openSUSE was failing at installing the boot loader. So I think you’re right in saying you need to make openSUSE not load from MBR. Any idea why Ubuntu and Fedora can handle this but not openSUSE?
Possibly they use grub2 rather than the basic grub ? In truth, I don’t know why.
From the same Wiki page:
UEFI does not launch any boot code in the MBR whether it exists or not. Instead it uses a special partition in the partition table called “EFI SYSTEM PARTITION” in which files required to be launched by the firmware is stored. Each vendor can store its files under <EFI SYSTEM PARTITION>/EFI/<VENDOR NAME>/ folder and can use the firmware or its shell (UEFI shell) to launch the boot program. An EFI System Partition is usually formatted as FAT32.
From this page: Hybrid MBRs:
GRUB Legacy and GRUB 2—These workhorse boot loaders, which are very popular on Linux, work well with both MBR and GPT disks (although you need a patched GRUB 0.97 or GRUB2 for GPT support).
And according to this:
I get the impression that openSUSE’s Legacy Grub has been patched. Actually it has been patched several times over the years. I’m able to identify openSUSE’s from other distros’ Legacy Grub (in findgrub) from the Grub signature’s offset, meaning if it’s farther/closer, the boot code is longer/shorter. So it has been patched… but to do what? I don’t know.
Interesting … from which I at first speculated to myself that if one ‘blows’ away the content of a PC’s pre-installed OS (including the EFI system partition) to install GNU/Linux on a PC with EFI/UEFI and GPT that one could have a problem. But if one sets up a dual boot (which keeps the exisiting partitions) there may not be a problem. … Unless of course GNU/Linux GRUB and or partition manager is setup to create the special partition in the partition table (called “EFI SYSTEM PARTITION” ) in which files required to be launched by the firmware is stored.
I’m not sure I’m happy, thou, with my speculation, as I am left asking myself, what happens if one adds a new hard drive (to replace an old drive) on a PC with an EFI/UEFI BIOS ?
Ergo I think my speculation not accurate.