UEFI problem, GRUB2 problem, blank screen problem, :(
 

Hi, So im quite new to linux and im not surprised as iv tried before to check it out and failed then (old computers problem) but i decided to have another go on a new comp recently.

UEFI mobo
Nvidia geforce 770 as output.

I need a duel boot of win7 & mint. Win7 is installed.

UEFI has caused me so many problems its just beyond me ! (i had never heard of it before i brought this comp)

booting Mint from a cd/dvd works fine.

booting from a USB fails with a blank or locked up screen at the first mint logo. (many tests with dif methods of creating live USB)

Installing mint with grub over the top of win boot loader fails , i get no options to choose between win & linux it boots straight to linux and then fails (same error as above)

I have a small SSD with win7 , there is not a lot of space on it so i want to install mint 17.1KDE on a different HDD.

After a month or so of reading testing reading testing etc i ended up getting mint installed on partitions i created on secondary HDD but i had to keep the windows boot loader in place and use easyBCD.

However now i get the choice of win7 or linux and windows still actually works (breakthrough ^^) BUT linux just crashes at boot (at the first logo) and then the monitor looses all signal?


I am soo frustrated. Mint will run of a CD but i can not get it to work in any other way , please help :(

Thx.

This may help you, installation guides, http://www.linuxmint.com/documentation.php

Thx but as i say iv already spent over a month reading and searching everything i can find over and over looking for help (including the main installation guide, was the first thing i read) but if iv missed something in their that you think might be of help that i have overlooked please feel free to point it out.


Cheers.

Most likely you need to get nvidia or nouveau driver working, try booting into recovery under Advanced Options at grub splash.

so how do i get to these options since im booting from the win boot loader (as i cant get grub to work because of the UEFI). But why would it work find from DVD ?

thx.

p.s. i tried all the nomodeset stuff on a live usb but none of them worked but i cant say iv looked at the actual nvidia drivers

Did you boot the system while in uefi mode? Try debian it boots in uefi mode.
Don't forget to disable Secure Boot

i dunno :-/ , UEFI is still just mubo-jumbo to me even though iv been reading about it for a couple of days.

I did think maybe i can just turn of this uefi crud and then install linux fine but then i read all this http://www.freeyourselffrommicrosoft...with-windows-8 and it says do not try to boot grub if you have turned off uefi (or secure boot, not sure) so iv just left the bios as it is for now (i know its not a bios any more but meh).

Its all way over my head now. i just wanted to check out mint on my main comp and see if it would be able to replace windows (*spits*) i didnt really want to take a degree in computer science first :P I have installed many duel/triple boot builds on other peoples comps but iv never had such difficulties before.

So i assume it is in uefi mode, the live usb boot does give the grub option to either boot in UEFI or not iv tried both but both options fail one with the same blank/black screen at first mint logo. The other option crashes with some grub console text and a cursor which i dont remember what it said exactly atm.

Well all I can say is get into bios to see if Secure boot is disabled & try out debian

Dont want debain :P

am i supposed to turn off secure boot ? im sure the link i gave above says to make sure you install whatever distro you want before you turn off uefi or secure-boot (whichever it was talking about) and thats only if you want to turn it/them off?

EDIT:-

You can only install with secure boot enabled when th os has a licence bought from ms, not sure lm has the licence but I think ubuntu does.

well i suppose i could try another distro but even if it works i still want LM as thats what iv been using for a few months now (on my lappy) and i am just a linux noob really.

To me though it sounds like it is the display drivers (or similar) as was said earlier because the HDD sounds like its doing something after the screen goes out so i believe iv got past the uefi problems by booting from the win boot loader and that points to the grub on the secondary drive so all i need to do is get at the linux boot options / grub settings (or whatever it called) but how do i do that ?

(although still dont understand why it displays fine when booted from a disk?)

Maybe grub installed in bios legacy mode, try disabling efi & boot that way.

well i quite lost in the bios nowadays, looks nothing like what im used to and i dare not change anything as UEFI is mentioned in a good few places , heres the manual for that part of the bios , maybe you'd know better than me. I do have several image of my C drive so im not to worried but messing in the bios with stuff iv no clue about is not the best course of action :-/

http://i.imgur.com/0ElwoBh.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/HWleTcs.jpg

So how do i turn off EFI/UEFI?

thx.

EDIT:- but i think i shall just DL ubuntu first and try a live USB of that.

I see an entry obviously that's not your system, but,
under "Boot Mode Selection", I would select "UEFI Only",
For "VGA Support" select "Auto"
For "Boot Option Priorities" I would set to "UEFI"
Keep track of the changes so you can easily revert back

no its not my setup , i tried to take a photo of the screen but i dont have a camera thats up to the job without "bleaching out" so thats just the manual of my bios.

your suggestions look like turning the uefi on ? thought you said try disabling efi & boot that way.

soon as iv downloaded this ubuntu image (really slow WAN tonight, lucky i get fibre next week :D ) i shall take a look.

cheers.