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I received a computer from work with Windows (which I don't need) and was told I may format it and use it with Ubuntu 19.10 (hooray!)

It's a Dell Precision 5510 with an Intel i7. It has a 256Gb SSD and 1Tb HDD

I want to install Ubuntu on the SSD so it will load faster.

I tried this a couple of times and it kept installing on the HDD. So I went into the BIOS, disabled the HDD for a bit and installed 19.10 on SSD.

Then I reenabled the HDD, formatted it to ext4 and rebooted.

When I rebooted I got a grub command line (which I really don't know how to use, sorry), and no boot into Ubuntu, so I rebooted and looked in the BIOS - and found that the top boot "option" was ubuntu, while the second was a UEFI which went to my SSD installtion. If I manually choose the UEFI installation, I enter Ubuntu correctly and I see a nice empt 1Tb drive for my data. However, a normal boot goes back to the grub prompt.

In the BIOS, I tried to delete the "ubuntu" boor option, but the next time I reboot, it has been added back in.

Has anyone got a clue how to fix this? Since I've only just installed I'm quite willing to wipe everything, but I really would like to keep the installation on SSD (I hope I'm right in assuming this will boot faster)

Thanks for any help

EDIT: adding a screenshot showing where the EFI is this is where the EFI partition is, is it ok?

Kibi
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  • Which drive is the EFI partition on? – crip659 Jan 01 '20 at 14:34
  • Dell typically needs UEFI update & SSD firmware update. New versions can be updated from Linux. Not sure about yours. UEFI/BIOS updates brand model list for Dell with (uefi >= 0.6.2 & dell >= 0.7.3) https://fwupd.org/lvfs/devicelist If you still have Windows on the SSD, make sure Windows fast start up is off & drive is set to AHCI. Dell Precision 5820 with PCI NVME SSD UEFI update & SSD firmware update https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2402254 & https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2420905 Issues common across many similar models. – oldfred Jan 01 '20 at 15:24
  • @crip659 The EFI partition is on the SSD - uploading the info from sudo fdisk -l – Kibi Jan 01 '20 at 16:01
  • @oldfred I have reformatted the disks and did the more aggressive install of Ubuntu, so I think the Windows is gone (I think the option still exists in the BIOS but it is unselected). While I still had Windows there I turned off fast start up and changed the drive from RAID ro AHCI in the BIOS – Kibi Jan 01 '20 at 16:06
  • @oldfred please excuse my ignorance, How do I check my UEFI updates? I went into the BIOS and it says BIOS version is 1.12.0 but I couldn't see where the UEFI version was. The Information did say: ePSA: Build4304.07 UEFI ROM – Kibi Jan 01 '20 at 16:31
  • Many vendors still call UEFI as BIOS. Its UEFI and has been since 2012 when Microsoft required all vendors to install Windows 8 in UEFI/gpt mode. You compare your UEFI/BIOS with latest available for your model from Dell on Dells update site.Remove UEFI boot entries that are not valid anymore: https://askubuntu.com/questions/63610/how-do-i-remove-ubuntu-in-the-bios-boot-menu-uefi – oldfred Jan 01 '20 at 17:04
  • Well, in the end I just enabled Legacy settings in the BIOS and installed without UEFI - all worked well. It's a pity I didn't get to understand UEFI better but I had to get a machine up and working - should I just delete the question? – Kibi Jan 02 '20 at 15:37
  • Make sure to check boot order in BIOS – Crabtree Jan 04 '20 at 21:50

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