TOSHIBA Satellite P50-A/UEFI W8 dualboot: Cannot install 12.3 (nor 13.1 beta)

English Install/Boot/Login
1

My Toshiba freezes completely when trying to install OpenSUSE 12.3 (and 13.1 beta) in a dual-boot fashion with Windows 8/UEFI/Secure Boot. The key is UEFI, as selecting Secure Boot or not does not make for any change in behaviour. Even the CapsLock and NumLock indicators freeze. The only buttons that works, are the CD/DVD-drive’s Eject-button, and the Power button.

This is very similar to this thread: http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/install-boot-login/487652-want-install-opensuse-12-3-new-windows-8-pc-hangs-loading-initial-ramdisk-dvd-boot.html, which doesn’t seems to have been resolved. However, I can provide some details that may help in getting deeper into this.

The computer where I experience this is a Toshiba Satellite P50-A-11J PSPMGE, Intel Core i7-4700MQ (Quad core), 8GB RAM, 750GB SATA 5400RPM disk, and is a computer I would call a high-level medium performer, if you get my drift. The model is designed for the Nordic countries, and I have been unsuccessful locating it elsewhere on the web. However, this one is pretty similar Toshiba Satellite P50-AST2NX2 Laptop, although it has more RAM and disk, as well as more preinstalled software.

It comes with W8 preinstalled, which means UEFI/Secure Boot.

BIOS version 1.10, EC version 1.10. (I haven’t been successful in finding anything saying what “EC” is in this context, neither at the Toshiba site, nor elsewhere, but it appears to be BIOS related, since it is listed in the BIOS Main screen. One suggestion I’ve seen was “Energy Comsumption”, due to a Toshiba BIOS upgrade that was battery related, and that seemingly only affected the EC-version. But that was speculation).

Versions 1.10 are the newest available to date, as Toshiba has not published any updates being BIOS related.

Naturally, I want to install OpenSUSE on it, and I plan to do OpenSUSE both as VMs inside VMWare Workstation from within W8, as well as having one “on-the-iron” installation in parallel to W8.

While finalizing the improved “Dual-Boot UEFI/Secure Boot W8/Linux installation” guide, I followed my own guide (http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/how-faq-forums/unreviewed-how-faq/487837-how-dual-boot-preinstalled-windows-8-linux-uefi-etc.html) as well as to test my new guide (not yet published) while making notes about what parts did and what parts didn’t work the way I wanted them to.

Expecting my Toshiba to be less straight-forward than my Asus (based on the excellent thread by oldcpu, nrickert, arvidjaar and others here (http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/install-boot-login/485517-opensuse-windows8-dual-boot-installation-questions-secure-boot-uefi-gpt.html), I plan to describe both computers as examples of deciding what to do in my new dual-boot how-to. Based on oldcpu’s experience, I expected some problems, but I felt confident that I would manage to cope. If not, I’ll just go for virtualization under W8.

Anyway, I was surprised as to not even be able to get to the installation menu proper. I do reach the initial menu, and I am able to select the “Installation” item. I can also, if I wish, press “E” to enter startup options (see below). When I do select “Installation”, everything locks up completely just after displaying “Loading initial ramdisk” (Open SUSE 12.3). Using the current 64-bit Open SUSE 13.1 beta (iso downloaded Thursday eavening CET) it doesn’t even come as far as displaying “Loading initial ramdisk” - it locks up while loading the kernel.

I have tried loading the kernels using all possible combinations of “nomodeset” and “plymouth_enable=0” (I even tried “plymouth.enable=0”, as I found that in a thread, but that was for a n earlier version of Open SUSE). No change in behaviour. So far, this is consistent with what is mention in the thread I point to at the top of this posting.

There are two error messages, but I suspect these do not affect the problem at hand. Nonetheless, I might be wrong in that assumption, so here they are:

In UEFI mode (with and without SecureBoot enabled have been tested), the following messages are seen:

OpenSUSE 12.3 KDE-live DVD and OpenSUSE 12.3 KDE Resque CD displays:

Welcome to GUB!



error: terminal "gfxterm" isn't found

The last line is the errormessage, and is displayed very briefly. I had to boot several times in order to collect all of it.

OpenSUSE 13.1 64-bit beta displays:

Could not open "\EFI\BOOT\fallBack.efi": 14

then blank screen, then “Welcome to GRUB!” is displayed briefly until the initial menu is displayed. The “Could not open …” message is displayed in a Times Roman style font, and is shown for such a short time I had to record it using a camera in order to read it all. However, the camera at hand was disturbed by the shiny screen of the computer, so it never became entirely sharp. I hope I have interpreted it correctly.

The OpenSUSE 12.3 64-bit installation DVD did not display any error messages.

I’ve seen postings about UEFI/SecureBoot implementations where the key-file was misplaced into the UEFI db(?), but since enabling/disabling SecureBoot doesn’t change any behaviour, could such a problem still affect my situation? How do I determine whether I have the same problem?

**Things changed when I disabled UEFI/Secure Boot and activated CSM. **
Without any extra parametres, both 12.3 and 13.1 beta will boot and they both seems to behave normally, e.g. 13.1’s Resque Mode. However, I cannot use this mode for OpenSUSE “dual-boot-with-Windows8” installation, so I haven’t attempted any installation. Also, I am not fluent enough with Linux to put 13.1’s Resque Mode to good use.

So, I tried a few other solutions while in CSM mode. The following live-CDs worked flawlessly wiithout needing any particular startup-parametres to do all tasks I put them to (these were all the live-CDs I tested, too):

  • Clonezilla i686-PAE v2.1.2-43

  • PartEd Magic 2013-08-01 (tha last version that was available for free)

  • GParted liveCD v0.16.1.1 (The touch-pad wasn’t handled properly, though. That made it difficult to use.)

  • Open SUSE 12.3 64-bit Resque CD

  • Open SUSE 12.3 64-bit live DVD

I got the best results using Open SUSE 12.3 64-bit live DVD, as that was very similar to a properly installed system. With that I collected the startup-log (/var/log/messages). Please see here: .

Does anyone have an idea of how to proceed from here?

2

Hmmm. It does not seems that I am allowed to post attachments, and the messages file is too big to paste directly into the message. please advise which part of the file you want (if you know beforehand which part to upload/paste), and I’ll be happy to supply that part. The file itself is approx. 160KiB and is the boot process only + a few seconds following, just enough to mount a USB disk, where I dumped the messages-file itslef.

dayfinger

3

On Sat 21 Sep 2013 08:06:04 PM CDT, dayfinger wrote:

Hmmm. It does not seems that I am allowed to post attachments, and the
messages file is too big to paste directly into the message. please
advise which part of the file you want (if you know beforehand which
part to upload/paste), and I’ll be happy to supply that part. The file
itself is approx. 160KiB and is the boot process only + a few seconds
following, just enough to mount a USB disk, where I dumped the
messages-file itslef.

dayfinger

Hi
SUSE paste, set to never expire in the dropdown;
http://paste.opensuse.org/

So, just a couple of comments, only use the DVD for UEFI installs and
if having issues, browse to the bootx64.efi file on the DVD and boot
that directly.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) GNOME 3.8.4 Kernel 3.7.10-1.16-desktop
If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface,
please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks!

4

Thank you!

The OpenSUSE 12.3 Install DVD boot-log “/var/log/messages” can be picked up here: SUSE Paste. While copying that file, I also copied the full /var/log/ directory complete with subdirectories and their contents, so anything in there may be uploaded upon request…

I did. The (12.3) DVD that was used for this attempt, was the same one I used when installing 12.3 to my Asus portable and writing my dual-boot how-to.

That sounds interesting. I’ll give it a try and get back.

Thank you!

dayfinger

5

No luck. I am unable to browse to the bootx64.efi file.

There are no selection from the BIOS to access the EFI shell. I have made a support request to Toshiba in case there are a hidden key combination. I’ve tried a few key combinations that I know have been in use in BIOSes from years back + a few more I thought maybe could be reasonable in this case, but no success.

Is there a browse-button or similar that I am unaware of available from the first menu being displayed by the installation DVDs?

I also did try a few more kernel options prior to selecting “Install” for both 12.3 and 13.1 beta, after browsing the 'net in general as well as other threads in this forum that more or less are touching the same subject. No change. The behaviour continues to be as in my opening post of this thread. The options I tried were (not all possible combinations this time, but a few variations were tested): apm=off noresume nohz=off x11failsafe noefi noapic.acpi=off edd=off highres=off

Thank you.

dayfinger

6

Hi
It should be found if press the Fn key required to get to the boot menu? Check you BIOS to ensure this key is enabled, some systems disable the boot selection function key eg F12.

7

I don’t have a solution. I have some observations and a BIOS suggestion.

That is with CSM BIOS selection which as you note is not acceptable for a dual boot with Windows8. ie note this boot:


2013-09-21T13:51:46.706779+00:00 linux kernel:     0.000000] Linux version 3.7.10-1.1-desktop (geeko@buildhost) (gcc version 4.7.2 20130108 [gcc-4_7-branch revision 195012] (SUSE Linux) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Feb 28 15:06:29 UTC 2013 (82d3f21)
2013-09-21T13:51:46.706784+00:00 linux kernel:     0.000000] Command line: initrd=initrd ramdisk_size=512000 ramdisk_blocksize=4096 splash=silent quiet preloadlog=/dev/null

ie no custom boot codes on your part.

My assumption is that you did not edit out any entries for the failed ‘secure boot’ efforts that you tried.

In that file I could only see the one GNU/Linux boot in that file with lots of ‘ACPI Errors’ and ‘ACPI Exceptions’. On my Toshiba Z930 Ultrabook (in a secure boot with openSUSE-12.3 and regular 3.7.x kernel) I obtain ACPI warnings but no Errors. I do obtain a couple ACPI Exceptions on the Sleep state. I do note I have a very large selection of Power Management options in the BIOS for my Toshiba, and I’ll post that her later today, in case there is a BIOS setting that can be tuned to help. Check out this Ubuntu thread: [SOLVED] haswell laptop - can’t boot livecd]([SOLVED] haswell laptop - can't boot livecd) (apologies if you stated you checked that and I missed it, I’m struggling with the flu/head cold).

Before I do so thou, I note that some GNU/Linux users to succeed with the Toshiba P50 had to go to BiOS and " turn NIC (Integrated Network Interface Controller) off " and only then booted off of USB. It may be a while before I can copy my BIOS (as noted I am struggling with a flu/head-cold).

Reference the " Could not open “\EFI\BOOT\fallBack.efi”: 14 " message, I see the same with my Toshiba Z930 Ultrabook with openSUSE-13.1-beta1 when I boot it from liveDVD (which works) … but it does not affect the boot (in secure mode). I’m not convinced that is relevant. In fact I obtain 3 lines (when booting in secure mode) :


Could not open "\EFI\BOOT\fallback.efi" :14
Binary is verified by the vendor certificate
Welcome to GRUB !

wrt capturing such codes that flash by via video, I’ve done this so many times its second nature. I use my wife’s small digital Panasonic DMC-TZ30 camera to capture the video at the time the messages flashes by. One can use a camera stand if one can’t hold the camera steady enough, but I have not found that necessary. I then connect the camera to my desktop and copy the 0000.MTS video file (or what ever it is called) from camera to computer. I find avidemux does not like my wife’s Panasonic’s ‘MTS’ video format. So I use handbrake to convert it to a more palatable format (for avidemux), which takes about 20 seconds to convert on my 3.5-year old Core-i7-920. I then open the converted file with avidemux, and play to the area where the message flashes by. I pause the video (the message has typically disappeared by the time I pause) and then I backstep frame by frame with avidemux. Its quick and no drama, possibly because I have done such so often. I hope the technique that you developed in the end was equally quick and not painful.

8

Checking the BIOS of my Toshiba Ultrabook Z930 I have no such "NIC (Integrated Network Interface Controller) " setting. Here are camera pix of some of my Toshiba’s BIOS settings (your options are likely different) :

Image-1
http://thumbnails107.imagebam.com/27772/416d5b277719279.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/416d5b277719279)
[click on above image for larger view]

Image-2
http://thumbnails102.imagebam.com/27772/6a36b6277719280.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/6a36b6277719280)
[click on above image for larger view]

Image-3
http://thumbnails104.imagebam.com/27772/5f53bf277719281.jpg](ImageBam)
[click on above image for larger view]

Image-4
http://thumbnails101.imagebam.com/27772/806c70277719282.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/806c70277719282)
[click on above image for larger view]
.

9

No. I am quite confident that I haven’t overlooked such an entry. There is nothing in the BIOS screen (accessible by pressing F2, or by selecting “Setup” from the boot-menu) nor at the Boot meny, which is accessible by pressing F12. I have also tried quite a few “hidden” key-combinations while in the Boot menu as well as in the BIOS screens I thought being the most likely + two of the screens I considered most unlikely.
I do see on the 'net that such a choice is available in quite a few BIOS-es, and I really did look for one in mine: In the screen/menus proper, the official documentation, the Internet in general, Toshiba’s official support sites, knowledgebases and user forums. No success.

I take it, since you are formulating your answer as you do, that there is no hidden selection to be made from the first menu that enables me to enter the EFI shell (similar to the ‘e’ that allows changing startup-parametres).
I have been investigating EFI shell development a little in order to see if such tools could serve as a way to get to the EFI shell without such a choice being present from the BIOS. So far, the only thing I can say in this regard, is that I haven’t yet seen that it is impossible. The way I see it, is that in theory it should be possible, but things may be implemented in a way to make such practice difficult or impossible (TPM, SecureBoot, X509 certificates …). Unless I find another solution to my problem, I’ll contune investigating this. I’ll post back what I find, but expect that to take at least a few days…

As to my support request to Toshiba: No response whatsoever this far. Not even a confirmation that they have received it. I will resend it later tonight, just before I finish off …

dayfinger

10

On Mon 23 Sep 2013 05:46:02 PM CDT, dayfinger wrote:

malcolmlewis;2586948 Wrote:
> Hi
> It should be found if press the Fn key required to get to the boot
> menu? Check you BIOS to ensure this key is enabled, some systems
> disable the boot selection function key eg F12.

No. I am quite confident that I haven’t overlooked such an entry. There
is nothing in the BIOS screen (accessible by pressing F2, or by
selecting “Setup” from the boot-menu) nor at the Boot meny, which is
accessible by pressing F12. I have also tried quite a few “hidden”
key-combinations while in the Boot menu as well as in the BIOS screens I
thought being the most likely + two of the screens I considered most
unlikely.
I do see on the 'net that such a choice is available in quite a few
BIOS-es, and I really did look for one in mine: In the screen/menus
proper, the official documentation, the Internet in general, Toshiba’s
official support sites, knowledgebases and user forums. No success.

I take it, since you are formulating your answer as you do, that there
is no hidden selection to be made from the first menu that enables me to
enter the EFI shell (similar to the ‘e’ that allows changing
startup-parametres).
I have been investigating EFI shell development a little in order to see
if such tools could serve as a way to get to the EFI shell without such
a choice being present from the BIOS. So far, the only thing I can say
in this regard, is that I haven’t yet seen that it is impossible. The
way I see it, is that in theory it should be possible, but things may be
implemented in a way to make such practice difficult or impossible (TPM,
SecureBoot, X509 certificates …). Unless I find another solution to my
problem, I’ll contune investigating this. I’ll post back what I find,
but expect that to take at least a few days…

As to my support request to Toshiba: No response whatsoever this far.
Not even a confirmation that they have received it. I will resend it
later tonight, just before I finish off …

dayfinger

Hi
A full efi shell binary is available here (it’s the one I use);
https://svn.code.sf.net/p/edk2/code/trunk/edk2/EdkShellBinPkg/FullShell/

However, I think your issue is probably deep in the hardware itself,
since you can boot from the DVD in uefi mode, yes?

Does it boot in rescue mode from the DVD?

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64) GNOME 3.8.4 Kernel 3.7.10-1.16-desktop
If you find this post helpful and are logged into the web interface,
please show your appreciation and click on the star below… Thanks!

11

Thank you! I’ll look into it after checking out oldcpu’s suggestions above. I’ve just finished reading it, and I am sorting out my options before delving into it. Particularly his suggestion to disable the Ethernet NIC looks promising. Anyway, I have earlier experienced that takeing on new tech from the programming side is very enlightening indeed, so I will return to this link at a later time no matter the result of oldcpu’s suggestions.

I fear you are right.

Yes. But it freeze if I select “Install” in the first menu, and

no, it is the same when selecting rescue mode. No difference.

Thank you for your suggestions and interest.

dayfinger

12

Once you sort the boot problem (possibly via a BIOS change such as I suggested you consider) I note that you may also have a wireless problem. According to the link you gave of a similar P50-A I note that Toshiba Satellite has an Intel® Wireless-N 7260, 2x2 BGN+WiDi. My understanding is one needs at least the 3.11 kernel with the right firmware for the 7260 to work. I have a thread on this here: https://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/wireless/489839-any-opensuse-12-3-intel-7260-wireless-experience.html

I passed my USB stick (with openSUSE-13.1-beta-1 liveDVD on it) to a colleague at work who owns a Sony Ultrabook with the Intel-7260, and they were going to check to see if 13.1-beta-1 works with that Intel wireless hardware on that Sony. That colleague and I know from past testing that 12.3 with the 3.7 kernel does not work with that Intel-7260 wireless.

13

Thank you for follwong this up!

When in CSM mode using the 12.3 live CD (using no particular startup parametres on my part), I have no problem activating the Wireless. Granted, it does not start by itself, but if I use Yast2 to select ifup instead of NetworkManager, I have no difficulty in communicating on the internet.

According to msinfo32 (executed under W8), I have Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230. So I guess the “11J-PSPMGE” means more differences than first meets the eye. I apologize for not seeing that. I am now preparing to carrying out your other suggestions. After executing those, I’ll make a proper list of my hardware - no matter what the results turn out to be.

Again, thank you!

dayfinger

14

That is good news. I have the Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 in my Toshiba Z930 Ultrabook, and it works well with both openSUSE-12.3 and also with openSUSE-13.1-beta-1.

15

OK. Disabling the built-in LAN adapter did it lol! - well, halfway, at least :O…

My LAN adapter is a Qualcomm Atheros AR8171/8175 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet. That rings a bell, and maybe what is outlined here can of help https://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/how-faq-forums/unreviewed-how-faq/485001-get-your-wired-ethernet-working-attansic-ethernet-controller-1969-1091-a.html as Attansic appears to have been purchased by Qualcomm. I will try and see what can be done.

The 12.3 installation DVD booted just fine, made a HW assessment and is currently in the partitioning part (meaning I have not completed the installation proper yet, but everything looks fine, now). With that I interrupted the 12.3 installation.

Then I made an attempt with the 13.1 beta. Only disabling the LAN adapter, didn’t change anything in that regard. That makes sense too, I guess, since 12.3 froze when loading the RAM-disk, and 13.1 beta froze when loading the kernel.

I will restart with the 12.3 installation now, and report back when done. Then I will give 13.1 another try applying the rest of oldcpu’s suggestions.

Thank you, oldcpu and malcolmlewis, your input have been very helpful!

… and get well soon, oldcpu!

dayfinger

16

When you try 13.1 again, start by disabling secure-boot. The reason for this is that 13.1 Beta has buggy UEFI support. With secure-boot enabled, it freezes while loading the kernel (see bug 841426).

17

That’s a particularly nasty bug ( # 841426 )](Access Denied) for those of us with UEFI systems. I’m wondering if it should be considered one of the most annoying bugs: openSUSE:Most annoying bugs 13.1 dev - openSUSE ?

I note from what you contributed to the bug report:

Booting 12.3 from the 13.1 boot menu fails if secure-boot is enabled. It just hangs. Booting Windows 8 from the 13.1 boot menu also fails if secure-boot is enabled (it also hangs).

With secure-boot disabled, I was able to boot 12.3 from the 13.1 boot menu. I did not attempt to boot Windows that way, but I’m guessing that probably works too.

What makes it particularly nasty is with secure boot enabled then Windows8 also no longer boots.

I assume then if one installs with secure boot disabled, one is then no longer able to go back to using secure boot with that install ?

18

One is. Just reconfigure bootloader while enabling check box for secure boot.

19

Ahh … that’s a simple work around. I assume that work around would work, only after the bug is fixed ?

20

The difference is whether one uses “shim.efi” or “grubx64.efi” (assuming I have remembered the name – I’m not at home and not on a UEFI box at present).

If you install for secure boot, but disable secure-boot in the BIOS, then it will still boot.

At present, I am cheating. I am using secure-boot grub2-efi installed for 12.3 (on a different partition). I have an entry in “grub.cfg” to load 13.1 with a configfile command for grub. And, in the 13.1 “grub.cfg” I have changed “linuxefi” to “linux” and “initrdefi” to “initrd” so that it does not do the full secure-boot checking for 13.1. That gets it booted, even with secure-boot still set in the BIOS. That I can cheat demonstrates the uselessness of secure-boot.