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I am trying to install ubuntu on an acer aspire a515-48m laptop with amd ryzen 5 processor (it is uefi only in bios, legacy option does not exist). It has only "free dos" (uefi shell) on it with the commands as specified at uefi.org, bios version 1.0, insydeH2O setup utility rev 5.0 is written at the top of the screen in bios.

The problem is that it refuses to boot from the usb. I can only get as far as the grub menu. Question - Is there anything I can do to boot the live ubuntu usb, so I can then install linux?

I know there are a lot of questions about this but many are 3+ years old and did not help. What I tried:

  1. usb stick with 1 fat32 partition, live ubuntu 20.04.6 and 23.10.1 (each tried separately), installed with unetbootin

  2. usb stick with 2 fat32 partitions, live ubuntu 20.04.6 and 23.10.1 (each tried separately), installed with unetbootin; the first partition is EFI; the EFI partition was populated with this command:

     sudo grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --boot-directory=/media/user/EFI/EFI/BOOT/ --efi-directory=/media/user/EFI/ /dev/sda1 --verbose

(if this command does not work, may need to sudo apt install grub-efi first; /dev/sda1 is the usb EFI partition)

  1. options 1 and 2 above, with msdos partition table on the usb stick (the laptop saw it), and with gpt partition table (the laptop did not see the stick in the bios at all); I tried with gpt partition table as well just in case, as I saw the ssd has gpt partitions, using ls in grub;

I have to mention that one or both of options 1 and 2 with msdos partition table work great on all other laptops I tried previously

  1. in the case of options 1 and 2, the grub menu appears, and after selecting ubuntu, it says EFI stub: loaded initrd, then the screen goes blank and then it goes back to the acer splash screen;

  2. at the grub menu, I tried to press c, and then tried to load linux from grub:

     ls
 set root=(hd0,msdos1)
 linux /ubnkern
 initrd /ubninit
 boot

I also tried linux /ubnkern root=/dev/sda1 though it did not make any difference, and I have no way of knowing if the usb on that laptop would be /dev/sda1 or something else

when booting, the screen goes blank, and back to acer splash screen; the ubuntu logo does not even show up

  1. I tried to disable the SSD in the bios (press F2 during boot to get into BIOS), but even so the usb does not boot; even if it had, I would not have been able to install with the SSD disabled; I also tried to press ctrl s in the Main tab in BIOS, and two more menu options appeared that did not help

  2. the above was with secure boot disabled; I tried to enable secure boot and specifically select the efi file BOOTx64.EFI from the usb, no difference

  3. in the EFI directory, I copied the boot efi as all 3 of these names (3 identical files) BOOTx64.EFI shimx64.efi bootmgfw.efi in case it looks for one of the other names

  4. in the grub menu I also tried to press e and add this option nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=5500 and then press ctrl x to boot, which also didn't help; I also tried nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=9000 for good measure

  5. I also tried tried kali 2023.3, parrot 5.3 and gnoppix 23.12 and the grub menu locks up and beeps continuously until I shut it off holding down the power button for all of these

  6. I tried opensuse, gentoo, mint, blackarch and altlinux rescue, they all fail the same, after efi stub starts loading initrd, the screen goes blank and back to acer splash. The exact message printed by ubuntu 23.10 is:

    EFI stub: Loaded initrd from LINUX_EFI_INITRD_MEDIA_GUID device path
EFI stub: Measured initrd data into PCR 9

then blank and back to square one.

  1. I tried to copy ubnkern and ubninit to the fs1:\EFI\BOOT directory (the live ubuntu usb) using the UEFI shell (so-called free dos) and renaming ubnkern to ubnkern.efi, which makes it an executable in UEFI shell, and then type its name to run it, and same thing, screen goes blank and back to acer splash;

  2. Tried debian testing latest build iso and it locks up and beeps until it is shut off using the power button, so it doesn't look like this is fixed. The same happens if booting in uefi shell, and then going to fs1:\EFI\boot and running bootx64.efi

is there any way to get ubuntu/debian to print some debug when loading the kernel or initial ramdisk (initrd) or whatever it is doing after that in the blank screen, before returning to the acer splash, to at least give a hint of why it is not working?

what I did not try:

physically remove the ssd and put it in another laptop and try to install it that way, though I have no way to know whether that would work or not until I try

is that how linux is to be installed on acer laptops? or acer finally figured out how to make laptops unusuable for linux, and they should be avoided?

could it be hardwired to not run linux?

jmarina
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  • System is new enough, only use 22.04 or 23.10. With UEFI only use gpt partitioning particularly on SSD. It may boot live installer on flash drive with MBR, but better to use gpt. Make sure you have created live installer in UEFI mode. Some tools to create live installer may make it BIOS only or UEFI only. Most make it either. My Dell installed with UEFI Secure boot on and SSD still in RAID mode. Many have to change RAID to AHCI. Have you updated UEFI and SSD firmware to latest available? New systems may still have update. https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-desktop#1-overview – oldfred Dec 03 '23 at 16:38
  • @oldfred the laptop is new; it has free dos installed on the ssd, and can boot in its free dos; I checked the acer support, and they have an update for the BIOS, which they say is to support windows 11, and it comes in the form of an exe to be run on windows (is that what you mean by UEFI firmware?); I will look to see if I find a way to switch RAID to AHCI; I wonder if that will help it boot linux from the live usb, or if it is a separate (the next) problem – jmarina Dec 04 '23 at 13:06
  • You may need your FreeDos to install the .exe. Backup FreeDos before erasing it. Better to make bootable FreeDos flash drive. Or if tiny, keep as separate small partition on drive. Acer only have two models on https://fwupd.org/lvfs/devices/ for updates from Linux. So you have to update using Windows or FreeDos. Some systems will directly import an update file on a FAT32 formatted partition as UEFI only reads FAT32. If SSD, you also may need SSD firmware update. http://wiki.freedos.org/wiki/index.php/How_to_Create_a_USB_Boot_Disk_Using_FreeDOS May be BIOS/MBR where system should be UEFI/gpt. – oldfred Dec 04 '23 at 15:11
  • the so-called free dos is uefi shell, and I am trying to figure out how to get ubnkern and ubninit to print some debug while loading the kernel and initial ramdisk (initrd) to have an idea of why it is not working, other than blank screen and back to acer splash – jmarina Dec 10 '23 at 08:01
  • Acer seems to have a few unique requirements. Many require Control-S in UEFI settings to change additional settings. Most seem to install but then you have to set "trust" on an "unknown" UEFI boot entry that is the Ubuntu entry. Acer Aspire 5 Model A515-54-5649 Intel Core i5-10210U Install Tutorial https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2437702 Acer Aspire A515-54G Newer Acer - CTRL S on the main Tab in BIOS to get the option to change SATA to AHCI https://askubuntu.com/questions/1211911/cannot-install-ubuntu-on-acer-aspire-a515-54g-laptop-hard-drive-not-detected – oldfred Dec 10 '23 at 14:56
  • pressing control-s in the main tab in bios brings a menu entry for the touchpad, and one for a "bar"; however, on the first tab of the bios, the sata mode is set to AHCI and there is no option to change it anywhere, so that does not appear to be the issue; booting into uefi shell which is on the ssd, or booting to the grub menu on the live usb, it is possible to list the files on the usb and also on the ssd; it is only when trying to actually boot linux from the usb that it accesses the usb for about 10 seconds with a blank screen, then it fails and goes back to acer splash – jmarina Dec 16 '23 at 17:17
  • Not familiar with these: ubnkern and ubninit or are you abbreviating the kernel boot lines? What video card/chip? – oldfred Dec 16 '23 at 21:30
  • ubnkern and ubninit are actual files in the root of the live ubuntu usb; apparently ubnkern can be renamed to ubnkern.efi and then it becomes an executable that can be run in the uefi shell just like an exe at a dos command prompt; probably because of the efi stub added to the ubuntu kernel so it can be run from uefi shell without grub; specifically, ubnkern is identical to casper/vmlinuz and ubninit is identical to casper/initrd – jmarina Dec 17 '23 at 03:08
  • I have not seen those files in Ubuntu. What exactly version are you running? – oldfred Dec 17 '23 at 03:33
  • 20.04.6 live usb created with unetbootin on linux with persistent area set to 0 (default) as otherwise that can make it not work; boots on other laptops, not on the acer aspire 515; ubnkern and ubninit are files on the live usb – jmarina Dec 17 '23 at 10:43
  • If system is so new that it does not have Legacy/BIOS/CSM boot mode, you probably need 22.04.3 or 23.10. New systems need newer kernel & drivers to work. – oldfred Dec 17 '23 at 14:58
  • it looks like it has to be booted in windows using a live usb, in order to update the bios, as the bios update is an exe, v1.52 apparently, and if that doesn't brick it, maybe then it will boot in linux – jmarina Dec 18 '23 at 21:03

1 Answers1

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this answer is not for you if the live linux usb boots, and you can run ubuntu in memory, but you cannot install because it does not see the ssd or something like that - then you just press F2 during boot to go into the bios, go to the main tab, press control-s to reveal the hidden secret options, and set the sata mode to ahci.

this answer is for anyone who could not install linux on their a515-48m or similar model, because the live linux usb gets as far as the grub menu, and then returns to the acer splash screen and refuses to boot any linux distro at all.

Executive summary - a live linux usb does NOT boot on aspire 515-48m because the bios version is 1.00 and support for booting linux was added in version 1.21 - so you need to update the bios, then you can boot and install linux from a live usb. That is all; see below for details.

I figured it out, in the year 2023 AD, acer made it simple, easy and straightforward to install linux on the aspire a515-48m with ryzen5 cpu in 1 step which I describe here in the hope it may be useful to anyone else encountering this issue -

  1. the a515-48m laptop has uefi shell installed, referred to as "free dos" - the link is to the official pdf explaining the dos-like commands available to you in this shell

  2. the bios is version 1.00 which does NOT allow booting from a live linux usb, unless it is a windows iso - this is what I suspected in the question, and that is why the question was voted down, but it turned out to be the exact cause; I tried over 10 different linux distro iso images (including debian, ubuntu, altlinux, blackarch, opensuse, kali, parrot, gnoppix and others), and made a live usb using unetbootin, on 4 different usb sticks, and they cannot go past grub, as described in the question; removing quiet splash in the grub menu command to make it print debug does not help, as it fails before starting to print any debug;

  3. according to this acer post the bios does support booting live linux iso images starting with bios version 1.21, but the a515-48m has bios version 1.00 installed for convenience

  4. going to this acer link and typing a515-48m (or your model if it is different) you get a list of items you can download to upgrade it, such as drivers - scroll down to see the bios upgrade and download it; the bios upgrade is a zip file, containing an .exe file, with bios version 1.52 (at this time) which of course does NOT run in the uefi shell present on the laptop; it does run in windows

  5. next you go to download the windows 10 iso which is only 5.7 gigs or so; the reason you need this, is to upgrade the bios, so that you can boot a live linux usb, so that you can then use that to install linux;

NOTE - steps 5-13 show how to update the bios using the .exe provided by acer and a live windows iso/usb without installing windows; this worked; you can try to use a free dos live usb instead, but I haven't tried that so I don't know if the .exe provided by acer will run on free dos; if you try that, you can leave a comment if it worked or not;

  1. get unetbootin which enables you to make a live usb from an iso on linux, or rufus to do the same on windows, and put the downloaded windows iso on a usb; also make sure to unzip the bios upgrade downloaded above and put the .exe file it contains on the usb as well;

  2. boot the acer a515-48m (or your model) with the live windows iso - you may have to press F2 during boot/post to go to the bios and select the usb as the first boot option by pressing F6 to move it up; going to the main tab and pressing control-s to reveal secret options does not help on the a515-48m, as it is already in ahci mode, the ssd works fine, and the options that appear are about a "bar"(whatever that is) and the touchpad, not related;

  3. surprise - the windows live iso boots fine on the acer a515-48m!(why would anyone ever need to boot anything other than windows?) no issues as with any of the linux iso images; on the first screen, use tab to select next, and press enter;

  4. on the second screen use tab to select repair your computer and press enter - do NOT select install windows!

  5. select troubleshoot and press enter

  6. select command prompt and press enter

  7. the live usb should be d:\, you can verify by typing dir d:\ and you should see the bios upgrade exe you copied there; if it is not d:, try dir a:\ dir b:\ dir c:\ dir e:\ dir f:\ to find it

  8. type d:\bios_152.exe (or whatever it is called on your usb) to run it - fortunately you can run the bios upgrade from the windows live command prompt without installing windows - the computer must be plugged in to an AC power source, because if the battery runs out during the bios upgrade, the computer will be bricked, as with a broken bios it can not start anything; so this step is critical - double check that you are running the bios upgrade for your specific model if it is not the a515-48m

  9. after the bios upgrade is complete, you can now turn off the computer by holding the power button down for about 10 seconds

  10. use unetbootin, rufus or your favorite tool to put your favorite linux iso on a usb to make it live, and now when booting the a515-48m surprise! it boots linux, and thus you can now install linux on it!

  11. if you should find that the mouse appears frozen when the linux desktop appears, note that there is a Fn key in the lower left of the keyboard, and one of the functions keys at the top, such as F7 or F10 has the function to freeze/unfreeze the mouse pointer; so if the mouse pointer is frozen, hold down the Fn key and press F10 or F7 once whichever it is or it may be a different function key, and then try to move the mouse

jmarina
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