can't install Ubuntu 24.04

[Bob Coleman]

I don't really know anything about any flavor of Linux and what I'm about to say is probably irrelevant, but regarding the comment that installing Ubuntu disabled BIBM so you could not run any other OS's, did you try to boot the BIBM installation media and reactivate BIBM.

Probably not that simple, but I've known circumstances I don't remember where BIBM got disabled and reactivating it fixed things.

[Brian K]

Paul,

You don't have a Data partition so use these edits to my previous instruction...



Open Boot Edit. Click Add
Identity Ubuntu
HD1
Boot, select the Ubuntu partition
You should now see the Ubuntu partition in slot 0) on HD 1
In MBR Details on the right, in HD O, leave all slots empty
Press F10, press F10 again. This OKs and closes all windows

[Brian K]

The Boot Item should look like this.

[Brian K]

Probably not that simple, but I've known circumstances I don't remember where BIBM got disabled and reactivating it fixed things.

Bob, that is correct.

[Brian K]

Paul,

You mentioned the HD 1 SSD has 2 partitions. Are these empty?

[Logman]

Yes, they are.
They used to have 1 partition for Mint of 100GB and the other was for Ubuntu same size, but I wiped them and they are empty now.
I will tackle this tomorrow as I just got back from a day in Edmonton and now it's snowing, so hopefully I will make better progress tomorrow.
@Bob, what happened was Ubuntu Grub overwrote the BIBM partition and it also altered my BIOS with a setting of Ubuntu for the boot partition so I had to alter the BIOS setting before I could re-install BIBM.

[Brian K]

Paul, I suggest you delete both partitions on HD 1. Then create a 100 GB Linux Native partition called Ubuntu24.
Having only one partition on HD 1 will make selecting the partition for the Ubuntu install less confusing.
You can create other partitions later.

[Logman]

Okay, will do that !

I will use my 16" Macbook Pro M2 Max to read all these instructions while doing the install.
Thanks again for the help Brian, I do appreciate it !
Have been reading your posts since BIBM first came out yrs ago and am impressed with your willingness to help others here, kudos to you .

[Logman]

Well after trying for 3 hrs I am stumped.
Can't install Ubuntu 24.
Followed all your directions but still won't work.
When I get to the manual partitioning screen, shows sda 1, click change to choose ext4 file system, / for mount point
Then I have to choose the boot drive, shows HDI which is the 250GB drive I am trying to install Ubuntu on, also shows my main boot drive HDO which is where BIBM and the other OS's are, so I choose HDI. ( seems to me that I did choose HD0 once and that was when I lost BIBM and had to restore from a backup)
On the next screen it then shows : sda1 ext4 mount point / size 105GB with a check mark next to format, but it also shows sda2 fat32 /boot /efi 1.13GB with a checkmark next to format, so both items show a checkmark and I can't get it to just show sda1 with a checkmark.
Haven't a clue why it is doing this.
Tried leaving it as is and then it proceeds to install Ubuntu 24, when it's done it reboots, no BIBM menu, just a Ubuntu 24 screen which does boot into Ubuntu but no BIBM screen.
Enter BIOS and remove the new Ubuntu boot item for HD1 and choose the regular BIBM BIOS entry and reboot and everything is back to normal.
So this is where I am at now.

[Brian K]

On the next screen it then shows : sda1 ext4 mount point / size 105GB with a check mark next to format, but it also shows sda2 fat32 /boot /efi 1.13GB with a checkmark next to format, so both items show a checkmark and I can't get it to just show sda1 with a checkmark.

sda is your main drive. The one with Windows and 2 Linux.

I assumed your new SSD would be /dev/sdb but it might not be. Since there is only one partition on that drive, the partition should be /dev/sdb1.

Can you boot into BIBM. Go to HD1. Is it an EMBR disk? If not, what is the Disk Type?

Delete and recreate the 100 GB Linux Native partition on HD1. Leave your Ubuntu Boot Item alone. It should be OK. Try to boot the Ubuntu item. It will fail to boot so press ctrl-alt-del and boot the Ubuntu UFD. Only go as far as the partitioning screen. Can you take a photo that shows all the partitions and post it so we can decide what is going on. If you post the screenshot here you will have to resize the photo smaller. (kb limit)

You might need to take 2 photos if you have to scroll the partition list as the NVME SSDs will have numerous partitions.