[SOLVED] Why won’t BIU boot a Linux system more than once?

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dnlathrop
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:21 pm

[SOLVED] Why won’t BIU boot a Linux system more than once?

Post by dnlathrop »

I have used both BIBM and BIU successfully for years but on one machine I can’t get BIU to work correctly. On this system like on another system, BIU and all OS are installed on an SSD and data files are stored on an HDD. Both drives are GPT.

The problem is that I can install an OS and start it from BIU once — only once. All subsequent attempts to start it hang with a blank screen.

I did the following several times, which demonstrates the problem.

I erased everything on the SSD and used the BIU installer (maintenance) to create an EFI partition of 250 MB. I then installed BIU taking all defaults: that is, I simply pressed Enter for all dialogs. I restarted the machine to reach the BIU boot screen. I restarted the machine again and booted the Linux installer.

I did this several times, each time choosing ‘other’ so that I could create root and swap partitions and specify the location of the boot files. More detail on this choice is given below.

After installing the OS, I tried restarting the machine and successfully restarting the OS first before reactivating BIU. I also tried reactivating BIU before restarting the OS. In both cases, I could start the OS from the BIU boot screen once. Thereafter, attempts to start the OS would hang with a blank screen.

In the past I’ve always chosen the root partition for the location of the boot files with no problem. I tried that first and had the problem described above.

I watched a TBU video that showed choosing the install device rather than a partition. I tried that. Same problem. I tried again choosing the efi partition. Same problem.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions of what may be wrong or what I may try? Could there be a BIOS setting that is causing this? I follow this procedure on another similar machine and do not have this problem.
Last edited by dnlathrop on Tue Feb 22, 2022 8:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: Why won’t BIU boot a Linux system more than once?

Post by TeraByte Support »

check the file being booted and the grub configuration before and then after to see if linux is changing something. Also keep an eye on the gpt order to see if Linux is changing that.
dnlathrop
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:21 pm

Re: Why won’t BIU boot a Linux system more than once?

Post by dnlathrop »

Thanks for the reply.

I deleted all partitions and installed as described in my first post. I chose the root partition for the boot files.

Wow! Very strange things are going on. First things first — there are no changes to the name of the boot file, the grub configuration and the gpt order. (I saved the grub config file at each step to a USB stick and used diff to compare the files. All are identical.)

What does change is the /boot/efi folder. Sometimes it is a symbolic link to the EFI partition (or is the EFI partition like a mounted volume?) and at other times it is just a conventional (and empty) folder. It appears the symbolic link is broken (or volume not mounted) at certain times and when broken Linux won’t boot.

I looked at that folder several times during the process. Here is what I saw:
1. after OS install but before first OS boot — it is conventional folder
2. after first boot — link is good
3. after BIU reactivation — link is broken
4. started OS from USB stick, used it to examine folder — link is broken
5. rebooted and started OS via BIU — link is good
6. rebooted and attempted OS start via BIU — system hung
7. same as step 4
8. same as step 5
9. same as step 6

I will appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Why won’t BIU boot a Linux system more than once?

Post by Brian K »

Would you like to try this test? Uninstall BIU. Delete all partitions.
Install BIU, pressing Enter for all questions. Check the partitions. You should have a MSR and a 400 MiB ESP.
In BIU, create a 20 GB Linux Native partition on that drive.
Boot your Linux media
Make the 20 GB partition ext4, / , format
Install the grub booting files to the ESP. Not to root.

This has always worked for me.
Which Linux are you using? The above works with Ubuntu, Mint, OpenSUSE, Debian, Centos, Fedora.
dnlathrop
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:21 pm

Re: Why won’t BIU boot a Linux system more than once?

Post by dnlathrop »

Brian,

Thanks for the reply. I followed your procedure. The only differences from what I tried before are letting the BIU installer create the efi partition, the size of the root partition and not creating a swap partition. I would not have expected any of those differences to be significant but something is.

After completing the OS install, I restarted the machine and booted into Linux, which is Mint 20.3. I restarted the machine and reactivated BIU. After restarting, the OS booted. BIU did not appear.

I tried reactivating BIU again. Same result. The machine boots directly into the OS. Incidentally, I never see a grub menu.

In view of what has happened so far, and also the TBU video, your install experience and my install experience, I’m beginning to believe the choice of location for grub boot files can be the device, the efi partition or the /boot partition, which in my case is also the root partition.

In any case, I’m stumped as to how to get BIU working correctly.

Dave
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Why won’t BIU boot a Linux system more than once?

Post by Brian K »

Dave, get into your BIOS firmware and look at the Boot Option Priorities. You will probably see one or more entries called Ubuntu. Delete every entry in Priorities except for the BootIt entry. That happens to me at times.

On the first occasion you might have to use the one-time boot choice in the BIOS. BootIt in one-time boot.
dnlathrop
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:21 pm

Re: Why won’t BIU boot a Linux system more than once?

Post by dnlathrop »

Brian,

Before I saw your latest reply I tried something more drastic. Ultimately I reached a solution.

I installed Linux in a variety of ways but I could not reactivate BIU. I overcame this problem by wiping the disk and changing its type from GPT to EMBR and back to GPT in an effort to ensure there was no residual data on the drive. I installed BIU and Linux again but had the same problem — I could start Linux from BIU only once.

I checked the BIOS boot options (my BIOS settings have nothing like what you described). Both UEFI and legacy booting were selected. I’ve used this setting in the past so that the machine could boot a legacy drive if a UEFI drive is not available. I unchecked legacy booting, reinstalled BIU into the same EFI partition and did nothing to the Linux installation.

Success. I can now start Linux from BIU repeatedly. Giving up the legacy boot fallback is a small price to pay for getting things working.

Thanks for your suggestion to check BIOS boot settings.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: [SOLVED] Why won’t BIU boot a Linux system more than once?

Post by Brian K »

Dave, that's great. In my BIOS there is a CSM setting (Compatiblity Support Module). I have this disabled and only UEFI options are present in the BIOS. Legacy is gone.
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