Hi,

I recently got a new Mac Desktop at work (with OS X and Windows dual boot installed using Bootcamp).

Being a Linux lover, I installed Linux on that - Linux Mint 12. When I start the machine, it goes into Grub which boots the Linux just fine. But OS X and Windows don't boot. For Windows it gives some error and for OS X it just shows a blank screen. I am worried that I might get into trouble for crashing an Apple machine at work. Could any one help me get back the OS X on? I will really appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance,
Ankush.

Some more information, I get "error: invalid EFI file path"

I tried searching information about it and some one had suggested running bootinfoscript to debug booting problems. I am attaching the output of it. My system has 4 hard disks and I tried to install Linux on the fourth one, where I believe there was nothing from Apple.

Any help please?

Attached Files

results.txt (21.9 KB, 11 views)

Hi,

I recently got a new Mac Desktop at work (with OS X and Windows dual boot installed using Bootcamp). After I installed Linux on it, I can't boot OS X or Windows.

Being a Linux lover, I installed Linux on that - Linux Mint 12. When I start the machine, it goes into Grub which boots the Linux just fine. But OS X and Windows don't boot. For Windows it gives "error: invalid EFI file path" and for OS X it just shows a blank screen. I am worried that I might get into trouble for crashing an Apple machine at work.

After some search online, someone suggested to run bootinfoscript to debug booting problems. Attached is the output of that. My system has 4 hard disks and I tried to install Linux on the fourth one, where I believe there was nothing from Apple.

Could any one help me get back the OS X on? I will really appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance,
Ankush.

Attached Files

results.txt (21.9 KB, 12 views)

No replies so far. I am getting desperate for help. Anyone please?

Reinstall OS/X without Bootcamp, from scratch.

Then, buy a copy of VMWare and install Linux (and anything else) in a virtual machine.

Thanks for your reply. But, is doing a reinstall of the whole system the only option? Is there a way to change the boot loader to rEFIt (the way it was before)?

I was thinking uninstalling grub may take the system to rEFIt upon booting (since on some other post regarding installing Linux on Mac, it asked to skip the bootloader installation, but Linux Mint didn't have that option). However I am not sure, so don't want to take the risk of making all the OSes unbootable. Any ideas about that?

I know noting about Apple but don't you get a recovery disc of some kind with a Mac? When this happens to a Windows install I'd say use the Windows disc to repair the boot sector -- can't you do similar with the OSX disc on a Mac?
Edit, I googled it for you and got this oldish link:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.ph...91111185717745

The bootinfoscript output shows windows in the mbr of sdb and nothing in the mbr of any of the other drives. I've never used a Mac so don't know what one would expect to see. sdd only appears to have on FAT partition and several Linux partitions so that would be where you would want to install the Mint Grub2 bootloader to the mbr and then set it to first boot priority. It being a Mac, have no idea how this will work?
Check the link below for installing Grub2 on Mint:

http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/245

If i am reading your initial post correctly, installing software on your employers computer without their knowledge is never a good idea. Use a Live CD or flash drive.

This is a duplicate thread and I gave a possible solution on here:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...mac-os-942594/

Joined your two closely related threads ... please don't double post, it's in
violation of the LQ rules.

Sorry about the duplicate post.

@273: I will find out if we have a recovery disk with MAC OS.

@yancek: Grub is installed alright and is working. Problem, I believe, is that it is over riding the option from MAC's version of BIOS (EFI).

@Tinkster: I will really appreciate if you can aid me. The main problem right now is that I can't find a way to select a boot option. For example, if I have a recovery CD or something, I can't boot from there, because there is no BIOS and the system directly goes into GRUB (I tried pressing command and option keys, nothing happens). Before I installed Linux, I could choose the bootable device in a menu of rEFIt. If I could boot from a CD/USB somehow, I could experiment with different things like uninstalling GRUB or using a recovery disk. Any ideas?

I have never used MAC but since non MAC users are posting here I guess I can post too.
Here it is. I noticed you said GRUB is installed and allows you to boot in Linux so why cant you edit the entries in GRUB and add one entry for MAC OS?

In some cases this is solved by re installing GRUB but I think some people have been able to edit the GRUB file and manually add the entries they need.
If we are lucky one of these people will read this thread and advice. Or you can read the GRUB documentation on the site of your Linux distro

Hopefully you dont have to re install the whole OS again. And Please dis regard this post if doesnt make any sense. As I said I have never used MAC

Here is a little how to with Ubuntu and Mac
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ma...elInstallation

Good luck to you

@TroN-0074 The grub already has entries for MAC and Windows. They just don't work. If I select MAC, it just shows a blank screen (I waited for good 10-15 minutes). If I select Windows, it gives an error saying "error: invalid EFI file path". I might try to modify the entries for Windows and MAC, but how?

Yohoooooooooooooo! FIXED! THANKS EVERYONE!

Not sure how but this helped http://port22tech.com/mac/efi-open-firmware/

If you are interested in what I did to fix it, keep reading. Newer MACs have EFI instead of BIOS (older ones used to have Open Firmware, the difference explained on the webpage above).

1) Unplugged power cable from the computer.
2) Waited 10 seconds.
3) Plugged in the power cord while simultaneously pressing and holding the power button on the back of the computer (as mentioned on the above webpage this resets something called System Management Controller (SMC), don't know what that it).
4) Let go of the power button. Then powered on the computer.
5) My first reaction was I did something wrong, there was some red light coming out of it (which wasn't there before) and it was making sound like a jet engine.
6) Again it went into Grub. I booted Linux from there and then shut it down again quickly because computer was making so much noise, everyone in the room looked annoyed from me.
7) When I restarted it, it went into rEFIt. From there I can now choose either MAC, Windows or Linux. All three work. If I choose Linux it goes into Grub and then I select Linux again from Grub.

MY DAY IS OVER!

Glad you got it sorted out! Thanks for posting the solution too, it's good to know.