I have a Lenovo P70 with a new 1TB SSD HDD. I have the Leap 15.1 ISO on a USB stick and it was built via Unetbootin.
I can boot from the USB and start the installation dialog for Leap 15.1.
Everything runs fine however when I reboot and PF12 for a boot selection nothing happens when I select the SSD HDD. It keeps returning to the boot selection screen.
Is this a problem with Unetbootin? or the build of the ISO?
What should happen when the Leap 15.1 installation dialog is complete?
Is there another product I should use to build the ISO?
Looking for guidance or advice.
I cannot produce any screen snaps because the P70 is in a BIOS only state.
If your SSD is not truly as released from the factory, your SSD memory traps may be in a “marked for erasure” status.
If you manually reset all those traps, it could be tedious… Look for documentation about your SSD for some kind of hardware jumper or switch that can reset your traps… If it exists, it can save yourself a lot of effort.
We usually advise against using “unetbootin”. It probably gave you a USB that can only boot in BIOS/MBR mode and cannot boot in UEFI mode.
I can boot from the USB and start the installation dialog for Leap 15.1.
But did you boot it for UEFI or for legacy MBR booting?
Take a look at THIS BLOG POST
It shows the boot screen for Legacy MBR booting, and it shows the boot screen for UEFI booting, and it attempts to point out the difference.
Everything runs fine however when I reboot and PF12 for a boot selection nothing happens when I select the SSD HDD. It keeps returning to the boot selection screen.
My best guess is that your BIOS is configured for UEFI booting, but you installed for Legacy MBR booting.
Is this a problem with Unetbootin?
Yes.
How is Windows installed (assuming that it is installed)? Is it set for UEFI booting?
Technically,
Even if you boot your installation source (USB stick) in MBR, the installation should still support a UEFI install (Just won’t happen by default, but you can modify the bootloader configuration in the final Installation Summary). I don’t know though how well that would work and haven’t tried that personally.
But, if the entire system was in UEFI mode from the beginning by way of a BIOS/UEFI setting, I don’t think this should be an issue at all…
The openSUSE DVD image(and I expect the NET) supports both a MBR and UEFI system automatically.
Additionally,
I’d have to think about this further but initially I’m not sure how a UEFI system might not be able to boot an OS configured for MBR, IIRC this is a GPT issue, and GPT supports booting MBR although might not be configured to do so by default. But these are boot issues and don’t necessarily have anything to do with an initial install.
It fails when attempting to write an NVRAM entry. And if fails early enough that it is not easily repaired. Just adding an NVRAM entry some other way won’t fix it.
The openSUSE DVD image(and I expect the NET) supports both a MBR and UEFI system automatically.
Yes, they do. But using “unetbootin” to build a boot USB probably breaks that.
I’d have to think about this further but initially I’m not sure how a UEFI system might not be able to boot an OS configured for MBR, IIRC this is a GPT issue, and GPT supports booting MBR although might not be configured to do so by default. But these are boot issues and don’t necessarily have anything to do with an initial install.
It’s a BIOS/firmware issue. The bootloader makes calls to the BIOS/firmware to load the kernel. But the API for that is very different between BIOS/MBR booting and UEFI booting. So the installed bootloader has to use the API supported by whatever BIOS/firmware is actually there.
My BIOS settings are set for BOTH… UEFI and Legacy boot with legacy first. No USB plugged in after completing the installation dialog.
I suppose I could take pictures of the screens.
Would like to do this with SSD because the performance was great with my old one. But if I need to purchase a spinning HDD I will take that option as well.
The openSUSE download pages include pages on recommended ways to burn to optical disk or copy to USB stick, just scroll down the page to "Easy ways to switch to openSUSE LEAP’’
BINGO!!! You have saved the day!!! That was it! Changed the Boot from BOTH to UEFI and ran the installation. The installation when complete asked to reboot on the new SSD and it worked!!! Thanks very much!!! Now I can get some real work done!!! Thanks again!
Do not use Unetbootin. Read openSUSE manual for details how to make a bootable DVD or USB stick.
Which SSD?
OP said nothing about SSD type.
In ordinary systems NVME SSD is only available with a UEFI booting.
It is possible to use NVME SSD with an old systems with an extra efforts.