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I purchased a new Acer Aspire A315-56 laptop few days ago with Windows 10 preinstalled in that. Now I wanted to dual boot with Ubuntu 20.04 version.

I created the necessary USB bootable drive using Rufus using UEFI (non CSM) and GPT partition scheme [This is because the new laptop is using UEFI and GPT schemes after checking the Disk management and BIOS configurations]. I disabled Secureboot and Fastboot both before trying Ubuntu and tried installing Ubuntu.

So when I tried installation, it did not show up the 1 TB Hard drive for installation. It only showed up the USB pen drive which was used for the Live session and installation.

Also one thing which I noticed in the BIOS Information tab that SATA mode was "Optane without RAID". Now I don't know whether this is the one creating issues. I checked that I can change it to AHCI using Ctrl+S combination in the Main Tab of BIOS but I have read it in some responses that it can create problems in Windows 10 booting. So I did not go further doing that as laptop is in warranty period.

Hopefully, I don't need any backup data as its a new laptop. Also I have already created a USB Windows bootable disk for Windows 10 Home edition just in case something goes wrong during setting configurations.

Please help me to get the Ubuntu dual boot in this laptop. I have been using Ubuntu in my older Lenovo laptop with BIOS legacy mode enabled and all works fine there absolutely.

I am fan of Ubuntu and other Ubuntu based Linux distros also, hence I need this solution to use it on my new laptop. You can consider that I am desperate to install dual boot in the new laptop.

Thanks in advance. Regards.

Update as on 7-Aug-2020:

I did the following steps till now:

  1. Changed to AHCI mode successfully and booted Windows 10 normally with Secure boot off and Fast boot also off. That was good for me. (2) Again tried Live Ubuntu usb drive and before the Ubuntu Live environment there was an error on black screen something like "Certificate - 65" two lines of that. The screen flashed for a second and vanished and Ubuntu Live environment screen started. (3) I found a link where this error can be prevented by putting "nomodeset" instead of "quiet splash" while booting Ubuntu and then pressed F10. I did that also. Then the error went away in next booting with Live USB Ubuntu stick (4) Still the problem of not detecting the hard disk persists. Now I am exhausted out of options to install dual boot linux in this laptop. Can anybody really help me on this please. THANKS IN ADVANCE ALL OF YOU and especially @oldfred.

UPDATE - 28AUG2020: @oldfred Sir - I am also planning to buy a Dell Vostro 3590 laptop for me. But I also saw this link: <https://www.dell.com/community/Inspiron/Not-able-to-set-SATA-operation-to-AHCI-in-BIOS-Inspiron-7490/td-p/7393794/page/2> There iS a problem in the post regarding AHCI option not there in BIOS of the Dell Inspiron laptop. And there is a big statement made by "U2CAMEB4ME" as below: "I think maybe Ubuntu needs to look into updating their software installation instead of depending on the computer manufacturers to accommodate 1% of their computer sales???". And there is another statement in this link that already HP and Lenovo do not have AHCI SATA option in their BIOS setup. This means that all major manufacturer's do not want Linux to be installed at all because AHCI will never be made available. And the guy "U2CAMEB4ME" is warning Linux community to do something about this, which is to plan for SATA RAID installation in quick time. Otherwise I am worried that Linux will never be available in newer laptops and new kids won't be able to see Linux in their lifetime. I respectfully request oldfred Sir and others who would see this post, if you are influential in Ubuntu Linux team, then please request them to seriously look into these aspects. Thanks in advance again.

SAT
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  • Acer issues common across multiple models. See: Acer Swift 5 (2019) ctrl-s in UEFI required to be able to change to AHCI mode. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1217061/installation-on-acer-swift-5-freezes-no-partitions-shown Acer Aspire 5 Model A515-54-5649 Intel Core i5-10210U Install Tutorial https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2437702 Acer Aspire E15 will not dual boot, many details Trust settings in step 35 http://askubuntu.com/questions/627416/acer-aspire-e15-will-not-dual-boot Back ups always recommended. Another post, user selected LVM and totally erased Windows. – oldfred Aug 03 '20 at 18:12
  • @oldfred. Thanks for the reply. But after choosing AHCI and safe booting option, will Windows boot normal or I will loose it. I m worried on that issue first. Please let me know. Thanks in advance. – SAT Aug 04 '20 at 19:02
  • You have to install AHCI drivers into Windows first. If you already changed, you can change back temporarily. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1233623/workaround-to-install-ubuntu-20-04-with-intel-rst-systems – oldfred Aug 04 '20 at 19:47
  • @oldfred - Sir Thanks for your reply. However, how do I install AHCI drivers into Windows first. Will it be automatically installed once I do the following steps: 1) – SAT Aug 07 '20 at 06:34
  • @oldred - 1) Windows SAFE mode by msconfig command (2) Switch to AHCI while in SAFE mode (3)Let Windows 10 install required drivers in SAFE mode (I am not sure about Wifi connectivity in safe mode)(4) Switch to Normal boot mode and start Windows 10 (5) Shrink the required partition for installation of Ubuntu (6) Make bootable usb drive for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (7) Insert the disk and boot from there (8) Hopefully the Internal hard drive is then detected and install Ubuntu there. Please let me know if my understanding is correct as per above steps. Thanks in advance. – SAT Aug 07 '20 at 06:45
  • Yes, but more details here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1263276/list-files-and-folders-of-the-root-partion/1263327#1263327 – oldfred Aug 07 '20 at 14:30
  • @oldfred Sir - You can see my updated query above. I switched to AHCI mode successfully and could boot Windows 10 normally. Issue is still regarding hard disk not detected by the installer usb drive. I checked gparted, lsblk, fdisk commands also. Now without hard disk detection the OS is not getting installed. Secure and fast boot both are kept off. Really exhausted on this. And I am seeing many posts on this kind of topic which are UNSOLVED. And many are with latest laptops with UEFI only BIOS types wherein LEGACY is not available at all. LINUX PEOPLE SHOULD BE SERIOUS ON SUCH ISSUES I THINK. – SAT Aug 07 '20 at 17:23
  • @oldfred Sir- Still I am unable to proceed further as the hard disk is not detected. One more thing which I observed in BIOS (InsydeH20 BIOS v 1.12) setting is that "Trusted Platform Module (TPM) " was Enabled. I Disabled it. But when I try to Clear it, a long message is shown in BIOS with a Warning that you will loose all the encryption related keys and data. Would you please help on this whether TPM is the reason behind hard disk detection issue. Thanks in advance . – SAT Aug 13 '20 at 09:50
  • Do not change TPM settings, that is not related to drive not seen. have you updated UEFI to latest available and updated SSD firmware to latest? Update to UEFI may reset some settings, so double check that they still are what you want. I have 7 settings in my desktop that I have to redo every UEFI update, some required, some optional. See also: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2429323 – oldfred Aug 13 '20 at 15:19
  • @oldfred - Nothing is changing. I am exhausted on this matter. Hence I have installed four different popular distros on different USB pen drives with UEFI GPT scheme. All working fine. I only hope that someday someone will come up with a proper solution of this matter. But Linux people really need some brainstorming within their team to solve such mystery and it's not one off case but there are many cases with same problem and with different manufacturers. Thanks in advance. – SAT Aug 24 '20 at 11:35
  • I have multiple versions of Ubuntu as full installs on flash drives. With some settings changes they work reasonable well, but are very slow with writes. I then converted an old M.2 SSD to a USB3/M.2 adapter and found that to be almost as fast as an internal SSD drive. And faster than internal HDD. I use to think part of USB flash drive slowness was USB3 port, but most is device, not port. – oldfred Aug 24 '20 at 14:23
  • @oldfred Sir. Yes I would also like to do full installation on an external SSD for good speed. Is that possible with the current settings on the laptop with UEFI GPT and Secure mode disabled, Fast boot disabled and with SATA on AHCI. For USB pendrives I did not change any of the above settings and installations are working fine till date. So is there anything I should do different for external SSD full installation. Please reply. Thanks in advance. – SAT Aug 26 '20 at 08:30
  • Issue is that Ubuntu's Ubiquity installer only installs to first ESP, usually the one Windows is using on internal drive. See this for several work arounds, or reinstall grub with Boot-Repair after grub error on install. Posted work around to manually unmount & mount correct ESP during install #23 & #26 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1396379 & https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair – oldfred Aug 26 '20 at 13:00
  • @oldfred - But then why the full installation can happen on external USB pen drives and there is an issue in SSD external drive as indicated by you. I had chosen bootloader installation as USB pen drive (say sdb) in my case. And I didn't face any GRUB problem because of that. While booting I first enter BIOS and select the USB drive as first choice or move it to top and the machine boots into Ubuntu. And when I am done, I shutdown and remove USB drive and then start normally to boot W10. So why the same can't be done with SSD external full installation. Please guide. Thanks in advance. – SAT Aug 26 '20 at 17:19
  • As long as you only want to use the external drive on your one system you are ok. But the grub initial boot files are on the internal drive and external drive cannot be booted on any other system. UEFI only boots external drives directly from /EFI/boot/bootx64.efi which Ubiquity only creates on internal drive. – oldfred Aug 26 '20 at 17:33
  • @oldfred - Understood that. I had created these full installations using UEFI GPT scheme. And I am using them successfully on the new Acer laptop as well as my old Lenovo V510 laptop also. So how this was possible in my case. Is it mysterious. I didn't do anything special here. Please guide. This is becoming interesting. Thanks in advance. – SAT Aug 26 '20 at 17:41
  • If a BIOS install, then you can install grub to MBR of external drive. The selections of drive to install grub into work in Ubiquity, but only with old BIOS. But all systems since Microsoft released Windows 8 in 2012 are UEFI, but you can install in CSM/BIOS/Legacy mode. – oldfred Aug 26 '20 at 19:01
  • @oldfred - I purchased another laptop Dell Vostro 15 3590 today with W10 preinstalled. I did everything which I did for the Acer Aspire laptop above. And in case of Dell, the hard disk is detected. Also the USB pen drives which have full installs of various Linux distributions also work well. So Dell has no issues. But Acer is still a mystery. What do you think technically on this matter? Thanks in advance. – SAT Sep 07 '20 at 17:48
  • Both Dell & Acer seem to need certain UEFI settings & UEFI and SSD firmware updates to work. And very newest system normally needs newest distribution and maybe even newer kernels & drivers than standard with a distribution. Have seen most install to both Acer and Dell, but a few that have had issues. Do not know then if user and settings made, system as not all hardware is identical even with same model, or Ubuntu version/kernel are the real issue. – oldfred Sep 07 '20 at 22:12
  • @oldfred - I installed Dual boot with Ubuntu on this new Dell Vostro laptop today. It went successful and no issues. Now can I do Triple boot also with some other Linux distro by shrinking C partition in Windows again and using same steps. Please reply. Thanks in advance. Regards. – SAT Sep 09 '20 at 09:47
  • Yes. But last installed version will be grub in charge of booting. You can change it back, if desired with edit of /efi/ubuntu/grub.cfg or grub reinstall. I only have Ubuntu but have multiple installs on SSD, I do a new install before I retire old. But since I had space, I still have Focal Ubuntu & Kubuntu and Bionic. Kubuntu is now my main working install. I also put multiple test installs on HDD, so I do not mess up my main working install or to see what next version of Ubuntu looks like. But keep LTS version as main working install. – oldfred Sep 09 '20 at 14:35
  • @oldfred - Thanks. I completed Triple booting using Deepin OS. And yes Grub of Deepin is incharge. Thats OK for me. Enjoying Linux left and right now. Thanks again. – SAT Sep 09 '20 at 17:07
  • @oldfred - Sir. Can i install some more distros as multi-boot or is there a limit to install in a single laptop. Would you advise on that please. Thanks in advance. – SAT Sep 11 '20 at 14:45
  • I use 25 or 30GB for / including /home and have all data in /data partition with links into every install, so I have same data in all of them. Most of my installs are Ubuntu or flavors of Ubuntu, so not sure about others. If you just want to test using a live installer is a good way to temporarily try a new system. I have 9 installs on two drives, some now obsolete, and most for testing something. Still have some unallocated space, but now overwriting obsolete installs in most cases. And usually a full install on larger flash drives. – oldfred Sep 11 '20 at 16:32
  • @oldfred - Sir, i have added another question regarding Kubuntu installation as third Linux distro in my new laptop here - https://askubuntu.com/questions/1275602/whether-unallocated-space-created-after-shrinking-windows-10-partition-can-be-us Need your response on the same. Please help. Thanks in advance. – SAT Sep 17 '20 at 08:13

3 Answers3

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Its not really a solution more of a workaround, put the laptop to sleep and wake it back up and the SATA drive will appear.

If your kernel has the debugging enabled for power management, add test_suspend=mem and suspend.pm_test_delay=2 to the boot time options. Unfortunately, most kernels are released without them compiled in.

The main thing is after getting the OS installed, you have to wait for the kernel to start booting shut the lid or use the keyboard shortcut to put it to sleep wait a second wake it up and let the computer finish booting, or compile a custom kernel and enable the power management debugging and suspend test options in the config.

zx485
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Jeremiah Holt
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Install Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) on new Acer Aspire 3 A317-53 laptop computers

Read and experienced various frustrating problems of installing Ubuntu on PCs without AHCI setting (especially new PCs with SSD hard drives) myself before. I recently installed Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) on new Acer Aspire3 A317-53 laptop computers along side Windows 11 and surprisingly no issue at all throughout the installation process. Now I have dual boot for two such PCs successfully. Maybe 22.04 LTS is a solution by itself now. Hope this helps.

  1. The BIOS of Acer Aspire3 A317-53 laptop computer no longer allows you to have AHCI setting, no matter what you do (Booting Windows in safe mode, BIOS password, Ctrl+S, ets.)
  2. I did the following changes in the BIOS before configuring Windows 11 after I bought the PCs.
  3. Start up the PC and immediately press Fn+F2 to get into BIOS (not just F2, default is in special function mode).
  4. Go to Security menu and set supervisor password.
  5. Go to Main menu and press Ctrl+S to enable hidden setting (only adding VDM controller and touchpad options, nothing else). Enable F12 for boot menu option. Disable Fast Boot option. Change the Function key mode (so that I don’t need to press Fn key to use F2 or F12).
  6. Go to Boot menu. Disable Security Boot option. UEFI mode is already in default.
  7. Save the new setting and exit BIOS. Let the PC boot into Windows 11.
  8. Configure Windows 11 (this is where I tried the Window Safe Mode and change BIOS again only to find out no way to get to AHCI option).
  9. Use Windows Disk Manager to shrink the C-drive and open up 150GB unallocated space for Ubuntu installation. Reboot the PC to make sure Windows 11 runs normal. Shut down the PC.
  10. Download Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and make a boot up USB drive of it.
  11. Boot the PC and immediately press F12 key to go to boot menu. Select boot from the USB.
  12. Install Ubuntu 22.04, wifi automatically detected, hard drive and all partitions found.
  13. I select “Something else” in the installation type option. In the partition table I choose the free 150GB space previously opened up by Windows and create a new ext4 partition to give this space all to root(/) mount point. Accept all other installation settings.
  14. Installation completed successfully. Reboot and the dual-boot grub menu appears. Everything works well as expected!
Daniel
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I have same issue, with a doctor in computering we tried all, the only way was to change to another HDD.....

That laptop with that 1tb HDD and Linux do not work......

And if you change to another HDD, please set your BIOS properly, in secure boot something you must inform your BIOS to start from your debian(in my case)..... I think like shim64 or shrim64 something I forgot please forgive me about that, it's in EFI folder... I think grub64 option also there, total 4 options maybe....

Stéphane
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    "I think like shim64 or shrim64 something I forgot please forgive me about that" -- This answer is not very helpful. It lacks knowledge and authority. If you aren't sure, look it up. If you aren't knowledgeable enough to answer this question, consider looking for a question that you are able to answer. Please proofread before submitting. – Nmath Sep 18 '20 at 02:24
  • @Nmath Despite the confusion about shim64, this answer is basically relevant to the question that was asked. – karel Sep 18 '20 at 06:01