On Mon, 16 Dec 2024 09:39:22 -0800 David Christensen <dpchr...@holgerdanske.com> wrote:
> On 12/16/24 00:45, Roger Price wrote: > > I have a Dell T5820 workstation. I had already installed Debian 12 > > in a spare partition on a Transcend SSD dating from 2017 using a > > USB memory stick. I left in place the existing Windows SSD that > > came with the workstation. All went well - a very smooth install. > > A few weeks later the Transcent SSD failed. Kernel panic. So I > > bought another SSD, Kingston, and redid the installation from the > > same USB stick. > > > > I probably made two mistakes. 1) I removed the Windows SSD since I > > never use Windows. 2) I specified "Force UEFI = No", the default. > > But I did create a small FAT32 partition to be mounted on /boot/efi > > if one day I needed it. > > > > I went through the installation process, and at the end, removed > > the USB installation stick and rebooted. The T5820 went into a > > long BIOS test and then announced: "BIOS 2.38.0 Build 440.16 UEFI > > ROM no bootable partition found." > > > Please use Debian Stable or Debian Old Stable ISO. > > > Disconnect all drives except the drive onto which you want to install > Debian. Boot into Setup. Reset settings to factory defaults. Save. > Exit. Power down during POST. Insert d-i USB stick. Boot d-i (hot > keys and/or Setup adjustments may be required). Start rescue shell. > Zero or secure erase the SSD. Power down. Boot d-i. Install > Debian. Keep it KISS and OOTB. If d-i asks to put a bootloader onto > the SSD, then provide the necessary information. After install, > restart and power down during POST. Remove USB stick. Boot into > Setup. Verify and/or create boot entry for Debian. Save. Exit. > System should boot Debian. If not, trouble-shoot Setup boot settings. > > > Document every message and prompt displayed, and every command, > choice, or setting you enter. Use a camera or phone if you do not > want to type. > > > If you get stuck, reply with ISO name and relevant details. > I would add that many modern computers are almost hardwired for Windows. I have a netbook that used to dual-boot with Windows 10. The built-in drive was 32GB, and eventually Windows would no longer upgrade, as there wasn't enough space on the C: drive. It wouldn't do a factory reset or use the media creator to get an new image, because there wasn't enough room on the C: drive, even though there was at least 20GB spare on the D: drive. So I gave up, and just installed bookworm clean. No bootable OS found. I'll cut it short: it wouldn't boot because a /boot/efi/EFI directory did not contain a Microsoft directory containing bootmgfw.efi. Previously, it had been happy to boot from the Linux EFI file, but obviously only because this wretched Windows setup was there. Just to be on the safe side, I copied shim64.efi and renamed it bootmgfw.efi, all in a directory named Microsoft. No problem now. Certainly if the computer firmware is expecting UEFI boot software, the /boot/efi partition must be occupied i.e. the installer must have recognised its environment and started in UEFI mode (the splash screen will say so). It may be possible to force the firmware to legacy mode, but my netbook doesn't have this option. -- Joe
