Jtdcftul

Situation

I have installed Ubuntu Linux 14.04 on a Lenovo Ideapad Flex 10. The only problem I'm facing now is to configure the bootloader. I'm quite familiar with Ubuntu, but not with grub or bootloaders in general. This system has UEFI, and Windows 8.1 is still installed on the harddisk. Ubuntu is installed on partition sda9, but it does not boot. When I remove the usb stick with the live install, Windows boots.

I followed these two guides:

• 
  How do I install Linux Mint 17 from USB on Flex 10?: Cigydd answers his own question with 11 steps. I succeeded to step 7.


• 
  Ubuntu (or other Linux) on the Asus Transformer Book T100: I started at step 4, and got stuck here.

See the Ubuntu Pastebin for Root-repair

Bounty

I've put a 50 point bounty on this question, but haven't awarded it because the answers didn't help me any further. I will award 50 points again if an answer here helps me get this working.

EFI firmware

• The Flex 10 has a 32-bit efi firmware, which complicates things a bit.


• Following above guides, I've downloaded bootia32.efi and put it on the ubuntu stick in /EFI/BOOT.


• In the same folder I see two other files: BOOTx64.EFI and grubx64.efi.

Problem

I'm stuck in the second guide, step 4, with the following line:

linux (hd2,gpt5)/boot/vmlinuz-3.13-xxxx root=/dev/mmcblk0p5 video=VGA-1:1368x768e reboot=pci,force

The partition is hd2, gpt9 if I'm correct. Strangely enough, it seems I need to leave a space after the comma:

linux (hd2, gpt9)/boot/...

Using the live system, I found the vmlinuz version:

/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-32-generic

/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-32-generic.efi.signed

I don't know what to do with the root=/dev/... setting. Below you see the output for ls -al /dev for the installed partition.

root@ubuntu:/media/disk9# ls -al dev

total 16

drwxr-xr-x  4 root root     4096 Apr 17 01:26 .

drwxr-xr-x 23 root root     4096 Jul 26 11:24 ..

crw-rw----  1 root video 10, 175 Apr 17 01:21 agpgart

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,   4 Apr 17 01:21 audio

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,  20 Apr 17 01:21 audio1

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,  36 Apr 17 01:21 audio2

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,  52 Apr 17 01:21 audio3

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,   7 Apr 17 01:21 audioctl

crw-------  1 root tty    5,   1 Apr 17 01:21 console

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root       11 Jul 26 11:08 core -> /proc/kcore

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,   3 Apr 17 01:21 dsp

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,  19 Apr 17 01:21 dsp1

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,  35 Apr 17 01:21 dsp2

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,  51 Apr 17 01:21 dsp3

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root       13 Jul 26 11:08 fd -> /proc/self/fd

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root   1,   7 Apr 17 01:21 full

crw-rw----  1 root fuse  10, 229 Apr 17 01:22 fuse

crw-r-----  1 root kmem   1,   2 Apr 17 01:21 kmem

brw-rw----  1 root disk   7,   0 Apr 17 01:21 loop0

brw-rw----  1 root disk   7,   1 Apr 17 01:21 loop1

brw-rw----  1 root disk   7,   2 Apr 17 01:21 loop2

brw-rw----  1 root disk   7,   3 Apr 17 01:21 loop3

brw-rw----  1 root disk   7,   4 Apr 17 01:21 loop4

brw-rw----  1 root disk   7,   5 Apr 17 01:21 loop5

brw-rw----  1 root disk   7,   6 Apr 17 01:21 loop6

brw-rw----  1 root disk   7,   7 Apr 17 01:21 loop7

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root     4096 Apr 17 01:26 mapper

crw-r-----  1 root kmem   1,   1 Apr 17 01:21 mem

crw-rw----  1 root audio 35,   0 Apr 17 01:21 midi0

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,   2 Apr 17 01:21 midi00

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,  18 Apr 17 01:21 midi01

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,  34 Apr 17 01:21 midi02

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,  50 Apr 17 01:21 midi03

crw-rw----  1 root audio 35,   1 Apr 17 01:21 midi1

crw-rw----  1 root audio 35,   2 Apr 17 01:21 midi2

crw-rw----  1 root audio 35,   3 Apr 17 01:21 midi3

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,   0 Apr 17 01:21 mixer

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,  16 Apr 17 01:21 mixer1

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,  32 Apr 17 01:21 mixer2

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,  48 Apr 17 01:21 mixer3

crw-rw----  1 root audio 31,   0 Apr 17 01:21 mpu401data

crw-rw----  1 root audio 31,   1 Apr 17 01:21 mpu401stat

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root   1,   3 Apr 17 01:21 null

crw-r-----  1 root kmem   1,   4 Apr 17 01:21 port

crw-rw-rw-  1 root tty    5,   2 Feb 14 02:04 ptmx

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root     4096 Apr 17 01:21 pts

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root        4 Jul 26 11:08 ram -> ram1

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,   0 Apr 17 01:21 ram0

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,   1 Apr 17 01:21 ram1

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,  10 Apr 17 01:21 ram10

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,  11 Apr 17 01:21 ram11

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,  12 Apr 17 01:21 ram12

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,  13 Apr 17 01:21 ram13

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,  14 Apr 17 01:21 ram14

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,  15 Apr 17 01:21 ram15

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,  16 Apr 17 01:21 ram16

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,   2 Apr 17 01:21 ram2

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,   3 Apr 17 01:21 ram3

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,   4 Apr 17 01:21 ram4

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,   5 Apr 17 01:21 ram5

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,   6 Apr 17 01:21 ram6

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,   7 Apr 17 01:21 ram7

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,   8 Apr 17 01:21 ram8

brw-rw----  1 root disk   1,   9 Apr 17 01:21 ram9

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root   1,   8 Apr 17 01:21 random

crw-rw----  1 root audio 35,  64 Apr 17 01:21 rmidi0

crw-rw----  1 root audio 35,  65 Apr 17 01:21 rmidi1

crw-rw----  1 root audio 35,  66 Apr 17 01:21 rmidi2

crw-rw----  1 root audio 35,  67 Apr 17 01:21 rmidi3

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,   1 Apr 17 01:21 sequencer

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root        8 Jul 26 11:08 shm -> /run/shm

crw-rw----  1 root audio 35, 128 Apr 17 01:21 smpte0

crw-rw----  1 root audio 35, 129 Apr 17 01:21 smpte1

crw-rw----  1 root audio 35, 130 Apr 17 01:21 smpte2

crw-rw----  1 root audio 35, 131 Apr 17 01:21 smpte3

crw-rw----  1 root audio 14,   6 Apr 17 01:21 sndstat

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root        4 Jul 26 11:08 stderr -> fd/2

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root        4 Jul 26 11:08 stdin -> fd/0

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root        4 Jul 26 11:08 stdout -> fd/1

crw-rw-rw-  1 root tty    5,   0 Apr 17 01:21 tty

crw-------  1 root tty    4,   0 Apr 17 01:21 tty0

crw-------  1 root tty    4,   1 Apr 17 01:21 tty1

crw-------  1 root tty    4,   2 Apr 17 01:21 tty2

crw-------  1 root tty    4,   3 Apr 17 01:21 tty3

crw-------  1 root tty    4,   4 Apr 17 01:21 tty4

crw-------  1 root tty    4,   5 Apr 17 01:21 tty5

crw-------  1 root tty    4,   6 Apr 17 01:21 tty6

crw-------  1 root tty    4,   7 Apr 17 01:21 tty7

crw-------  1 root tty    4,   8 Apr 17 01:21 tty8

crw-------  1 root tty    4,   9 Apr 17 01:21 tty9

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root   1,   9 Apr 17 01:21 urandom

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root   1,   5 Apr 17 01:21 zero

This would result in the following command for grub:

linux (hd2, gpt9)/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-32-generic root=/dev/????? video=VGA-1:1366x768e reboot=pci,force

Output for cat /proc/partitions as requested by user309427

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /proc/partitions

major minor  #blocks  name



   7        0     944156 loop0

   8        0  312571224 sda

   8        1    1024000 sda1

   8        2     266240 sda2

   8        3     131072 sda3

   8        4  148405248 sda4

   8        5     460800 sda5

   8        6   26214400 sda6

   8        7   13188096 sda7

   8        8    3999744 sda8

   8        9   24414208 sda9

   8       10   94466048 sda10

   8       16    1957888 sdb

   8       17    1956864 sdb1

Output for mount as requested by user309427

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ mount

/cow on / type overlayfs (rw)

proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)

sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)

udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)

devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)

tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,size=10%,mode=0755)

/dev/sdb1 on /cdrom type vfat (ro,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)

/dev/loop0 on /rofs type squashfs (ro,noatime)

none on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (rw)

none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)

none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)

none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)

tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)

none on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=5242880)

none on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)

none on /run/user type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=104857600,mode=0755)

none on /sys/fs/pstore type pstore (rw)

systemd on /sys/fs/cgroup/systemd type cgroup (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,none,name=systemd)

gvfsd-fuse on /run/user/999/gvfs type fuse.gvfsd-fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=ubuntu)

Output for blkid as requested by Bain

• Ubuntu is installed on sda9, and sda10 is the home partition.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo su

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# blkid

/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs" 

/dev/sda1: LABEL="WINRE_DRV" UUID="CE4A98414A98286B" TYPE="ntfs" 

/dev/sda2: LABEL="SYSTEM_DRV" UUID="329B-10F9" TYPE="vfat" 

/dev/sda4: UUID="C28CCB398CCB26AF" TYPE="ntfs" 

/dev/sda5: UUID="70601C2E601BFA14" TYPE="ntfs" 

/dev/sda6: LABEL="LENOVO" UUID="48B255E5B255D7D0" TYPE="ntfs" 

/dev/sda7: LABEL="PBR_DRV" UUID="6A72A04272A014BB" TYPE="ntfs" 

/dev/sda9: UUID="673b6434-a5f0-49f0-8a01-af6894958777" TYPE="ext4" 

/dev/sda10: UUID="dd7b47a9-33bf-4b73-a880-6e7e488e9c79" TYPE="ext4" 

/dev/sdc1: LABEL="UBUNTU 14_0" UUID="1C9C-CB71" TYPE="vfat"

Questions

• What setting should I use for the root setting?

The screen resolution of my system is 1366x768, not 1368x768.

• What is the setting for the video?


• Besides all this, is this the way to get grub working properly?


• Maybe I misunderstand, but I read I should copy bootia32.efi to the disk. To what folder? I don't see an EFI folder in the root of the installed system.

Ugh, first order of business problably would be finding the root device. I've never seen the naming you seem to be having. Can you give the output of

cat /proc/partitions

and

mount

That will probably help getting the root partition's name.

Since EFI boot comes with its own bag of troubles, would you accept a solution wherein you install the grub bootloader on your linux partition (so not MBR or anything) and chainboot from the Windows Loader into grub via Windows Loader Menu? If so, what you'd need to do is install grub into the current linux root partition, copy the first 512 bytes out via dd into a file and copy that file over to Windows' system drive. From there it's a few commands for the bcd (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721886%28v=ws.10%29.aspx ) to add the grub bootloader now in a file to the Windows startup list, although I've never done it on an EFI system.