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I just bought a new laptop "Asus Zenbook UX32L". I had Windows8 preinstalled. But I needed Ubuntu. So I tried to install Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. I totally cleared my HDD and I just clicked Install Ubuntu. After some time I got an error Installer crashed. I didnt understand whats happening so I tried to install Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. This installation crashed too. I had pretty same error, but here, in Ubuntu 12, I was able to see where the installation crashed. It has crashed when it was trying to install grub2. Its new laptop so it had UEFI. Seems like this grub is not appropriate for UEFI. (Although, when installation crashed, it destroyed my Win8, and before Installation Ubuntu didnt see her.)

I have searched a bit and looks like I need to change grub or UEFI, but I didnt get how. And I dont want to break whole computer while changing UEFI.

How can I solve it? As I understand I need at least to upgrade grub to grub-efi on my liveUSB, but dont know how.

PepeHands
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  • make a efi capable ubuntu usb by using rufus "rufus.akeo.ie" and make sure you use "GPT partiton scheme for uefi computers" for the computer type when creating the usb – Prasad RD Dec 02 '14 at 10:25
  • @Dima agree with comment above...use rufus from a windows machine and also go ahead and get 14.04 lts...make sure that you have your bios configured properly for uefi and make sure your HD is formatted for GPT partitioning...you will also need to know the specific keyboard shortcut for your bios to select ubuntu during uefi boot.... – user175999 Dec 02 '14 at 10:56
  • @user175999 I dont have windows anymore. I accedently deleted it. (after crash it somehow cleared all my HDD) I, as I know, its MBR instead of GPT. – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 11:28
  • I guess we're assuming you used something like unetbootin that didn't preserve the EFI information on the disk. You've got a couple options here, but you'll need a) another computer, b) another flash drive and either enough space on the original drive to store another Ubuntu ISO or enough RAM to hold it, or c) a DVD and a DVD writer. Got any of those handy? Heck, it might be possible with one flash drive and enough RAM to store the ISO, but I make no guarantees if you want to go that way. – Chuck R Dec 02 '14 at 11:32
  • @Githlar , yeah, I used exactly unetbootin. Yes, I have another computer and I have 2 and 16 GB flash drives. I have no CD/DVD, so cant use it. I have 8GB RAM on damaged computer – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 11:49
  • @Githlar sorry it took to long time to reply. Im at university now) – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 11:51
  • One answer coming up. – Chuck R Dec 02 '14 at 11:53
  • Oh, one more thing...the process will involve wiping the second flash drive, so back up everything first. – Chuck R Dec 02 '14 at 12:04
  • @Githlar actually, I have nothing to back up. I destroyed mi Win8 somehow and Ubuntu couldnt install. So this computer is totally empty. – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:06
  • @Githlar now Im using it with LiveCD (usb) – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:07
  • Stop using UNetBootin and stop using dd on UEFI-bootable machines. http://askubuntu.com/q/395879/40581 – LiveWireBT Dec 02 '14 at 15:19

1 Answers1

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Using unetbootin to create a boot disk for a UEFI (I tend to use the term EFI, though it's technically incorrect) system is a common mistake. unetbootin, last I checked is not EFI-aware and only makes BIOS-type boot disks. This is where the problem originates. Since unetbootin creates BIOS-type boots disks, you had to enabled BIOS mode in your EFI in order to boot it, forcing Ubuntu to install in BIOS mode, rather than EFI mode.

So, how do you fix this?

Given your information from the comments, we're going to use your second flash drive as it should be easiest.

  1. Back up your second USB to your other computer. This process will destroy everything on the second drive.
  2. Boot up the Ubuntu drive you've already created, and tell it "Try Ubuntu", we'll be working from the LiveUSB.
  3. Re-download the Ubuntu ISO from releases.ubuntu.com (it will be saved in RAM). Alternatively, if you've got Linux and the ISO on your other PC, you can do this process form there as well.
  4. Once the download is completed, open a terminal.
  5. cd ~/Downloads
  6. Type mount

  7. Now, plug in the second drive and once it shows up as plugged in, run mount again. We're trying to find the device name of the newly-plugged device. You will see a new entry in the second output that didn't exist in the first. It will start with something like this:

    /dev/sdX# on /media/ubuntu/[...]

    where X is a letter, # is a number and [...] may be the label of the drive or a random set of characters and dashes. It'll look something like /dev/sdc1, /dev/sdd1, /dev/sde1, etc. This is your second flash drive, hopefully. Take note of the /dev/sdX# part, we'll need it later in step 11.

  8. To verify that it is, in fact your second drive, enter the command ls /media/ubuntu/[...] (The /media/ubuntu/[...] part is what shows up from the second mount command in step 6-7). If it's not the right drive, unplug the second USB again and repeat steps 6-7 again until you're sure you have the right drive and device name (i.e., /dev/sda1).
  9. If the output of the ls command shows the file structure of your second USB drive (the one you're not booting off and the one that you don't mind wiping) then we're ready to go!
  10. At this point, we're going to write this ISO directly to the second USB drive. This next command WILL destroy all data on your drive, so make sure you have backed up the drive and that you have selected the correct device (the /dev/sdX# part).
  11. sudo dd if=ubuntu-14.04-desktop-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=1M (Note: drop the # off the /dev/sdX# above and just use the /dev/sdX part -- replacing the 'X' with the actual letter of course. /dev/sdc1 becomes /dev/sdc, /dev/sdd1 becomes /dev/sdd, etc.). After this you will have a fully bootable Ubuntu USB drive (both EFI and BIOS).
  12. Now, reboot the computer and change the EFI settings back to EFI mode (i.e., not BIOS/Legacy/CSM mode).
  13. Plug in the newly formatted USB drive and boot off it. That should be all there is to it, Ubuntu should boot and install in UEFI/EFI mode.
Chuck R
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  • Once I tried to use dd on my second computer, but the new one even didnt see this usb (I mean, it did, but could not start booting from it, but it was in the list of BIOS bootable devices But my second comp saw it, and I could start installing Ubuntu – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:21
  • May be its because I havent done number 11. but I dont inderstand it. Can u explain it more clearly? – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:22
  • And does it matter which Ubuntu I use? Will 14.04 suit? – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:23
  • The dd'ing of the ISO is a fairly new thing. It used to not work like this and required tools such as unetbootin. However, that's no longer the case. And when you did it before it may have been that that particular ISO you were using didn't have EFI capability. – Chuck R Dec 02 '14 at 12:24
  • The Ubuntu version doesn't matter. – Chuck R Dec 02 '14 at 12:25
  • Maybe I didn't fully understand your first question above. Did you have the new computer in EFI or BIOS boot mode at the time. Or did you try both? – Chuck R Dec 02 '14 at 12:28
  • I mean I dd'ed Ubuntu 12.04 on my usb yesterday (I have Ubuntu and Win on my second comp, so I tried with dd and unetbootin). Flash with unetbootin it saw, but error with grub accured. When I tried dd, my second comp could install Ubuntu from it, but this one could not. May be it's because of BIOS settings, but I didnt get what I need to do in step 11. – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:28
  • As I know I have UEFI. But when I go to it at the start of comp I looks exactly like BIOS. – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:30
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Chuck R Dec 02 '14 at 12:31
  • And I have efi type of one of my partitions on computer. – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:31
  • it says Welcome to The Stack Exchange Network chat! You'll need 20 reputation to talk here. – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:36
  • Haha. Wow. Alright, I'll copy what I put in in chat then ;) – Chuck R Dec 02 '14 at 12:38
  • Seems like everything is ok now. I just needed to create an accaunt) – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:40
  • I'm pretty sure 12.04 didn't have SecureBoot support. 14.04 does, so you shouldn't have a problem booting it like the 12.04 most likely. 2. As for step 11, use the /dev/sdX# that you find in step 7. /dev/sdX# is a representation of the actual device name. It might be something like /dev/sda1, /dev/sdc1, /dev/sde2, etc. For step 11, since we're trying to write the whole disk and not the partition drop the partition number off it. So, /dev/sda1 becomes /dev/sda, /dev/sde2 becomes /dev/sde, etc. for step 11.
    • – Chuck R Dec 02 '14 at 12:40
  • Ok, Ill try Ubuntu 14.04 and dd. Hope it's gonna help. As you already know, I now at university and I cant to deal with it now, so I can try it only at evening. – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:43
  • Will it help or not, thanks a lot for your time and very clear comments. I'll tell if it helped) Thanks a lot, sir) – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:44
  • Ans sorry that I cant vote up you now. I need at least 15 reputation for it. But Ill accept your answer at the evening) – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 12:46
  • Hi again! I did steps 1-13. Now I have USB with Ubuntu14-04. But when I power on my PC it goes to Aptio Setup Utility(BIOS). Not to Flash. And it doesnt see my flash (when I had it with Ubuntu installed using unetbootin it saw it and I could work in liveCD mode) – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 18:40
  • yeh, I started installation. In BIOS I had to change Fast Boot: [Disabled], Secure boot: [Disabled], Launch CSM: [Enabled] – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 18:52
  • Yeah, after that everything installed!! Thanks a lot!!! (if you think my last comment will be helpful for somebody, please, add it to your list) – PepeHands Dec 02 '14 at 19:02