Dell XPS 15 i9 UEFI mode install.=--Nvme0n1 sdd drive not visible
 

hello.
I purchased a dell xps 15 9570 i9 Which is a rather expensive paper weight att.
I'm a long time slackware user,but not an expert.Usually it just works an so i don't have to delve in too deep.

I did get the laptop up and running with slackware using the legacy boot mode.I started to install some apps and use it for the purpose i had intended.(digital image processing).

But it was bugging me having to use a USB to start it.The bios settings explicitly state that you can only use Legacy mode for external boot media.You cant boot an internal hard drive in legacy mode,its quite clear on this point.So i decided to re=install it in UEFI mode.

To cut a long story short when I boot initrd.img using grub and the huge.s kernel ,the keyboard entry is all screwed up. I have tried parsing the kernel pararameter kbd=us or kbd=uk to no avail.

So i thought i'd use elilo,which did cure the above problem.Things were looking better .The /sys/firmware/efi folder is there.

However, lsblk shows only /dev/sda.Which is my usb boot medium.
The Nvme0n1 sdd disk is not there so i cant continue with the install and go into setup etc.
There is no nvme0n1 device in /dev
btw:
nvme0n1 already has a gpt partion table with an UEFI partion (ef00)

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thank you.

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...sd-4175614742/

just found this..

Is this the way to go still?
Thanks

Hello,

Yes. Follow the instructions here beginning from 2).

Best,

Dell XPS 15 i9 UEFI mode install.=--Nvme0n1 sdd drive not visible
 

I've got the same laptop, but the i7... it's an awesome thing.

Install rEFInd. It fixes everything.

it is a tad capable yes.. just doesnt play so nice with slackware out the box :)
Thanks for the suggestion,at this stae i think ill try Didiers option 1st as I have less questions in regards to that and i just want this running asap now so i can just use the thing.

So im just writing it to the Usb.. no creating a GPT partion on the USB first with a EFI boot partition.. 1st?

In EFI mode there is an attempt legacy boot mode option also... but with this it wasn't installing in EFI mode when i was using the standard install media.

No. Just writing it will auto-magically create the ESP.

auto-magic is good.

Thank you.
Will look forward to trying it at home.

:(

No magic im afraid.
after initrd starts I get to the

<OPTION TO LOAD SUPPORT FOR NON US KEYBOARD> part.

But if i press 1 for example then " ^[[18~ " get echoed to the screen

Basically no characters get properly echoed to the screen as pressed..

:(

PC too new?

Have you tried using a USB keyboard? On both a 5510 and 5520 Dell, the build on keyboard does not work correctly, but a USB keyboard works fine. After install, the builtin works fine.

Ok.thank you.ill try this.

It's no more difficult than any other EFI based machine, and less difficult than some because it doesn't hide any settings.

All you need to do is point the UEFI of the machine to the eLILO.efi file to boot the machine. Provided that you have configured eLILO properly, it'll boot.

If you want to dual boot Windows as well, then rEFInd is the best option: http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/.

Steer clear of GRUB.

Are you installing -current or 14.2?

All up and running using Didiers install media and a USB keyboard to get me through initrd.
Im back to using the inbult keyboard.


Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer this thread much appreciated.

This was never going to be a dual boot machine.I wanted this to be purely Linux,however i do have a machine that i wish to dual boot so i will read more into rEFInd

To add some more info into the mix. Yesterday i used the 14.2 install media to install onto a Dell 5520 with an NVMe drive, via uefi without any special install setup. I have not had issues with the default 14.2 installer aside from requiring a USB keyboard during initial install. I also used full disk encryption with LUKS and LVM, then installed elilo, mounted the partition, created the vmlinuz.gz, copied it over and was booting. Only adding this since IMO you don't have to use a modified installer, though it sounds like the modified version is easier. I am currently in a state where the 4.4 kernel is not fully supporting all of my hardware, so I am going to try using the slackware-current kernel on my 14.2 install as the only mod. (I am going to script it so slackpkg pulls the kernel from -current, and blacklist the kernel updates from -14.2 so only the kernel / headers / source is different. I believe this should work. One side note, from the latest 4.4 kernel, i had to add nvme to the modules for the vmlinuz build. the default only needed my filesystem, I also added usb-hid devices so i could key in with an external keyboard, but not required.
I'm glad you got it all working!
-
Edit: for dual booting, you can use the efi boot structure of the laptop. on most Dell's its f12 to choose your boot device. and you can leave both windows and slackware in the efi folder, default to slackware, then hit f12 to choose windows when you want to. I have found using efi is easier as well, because you can modify your boot requirements and defaults from the bios. You can also keep working boot files on a usb drive, and copy them to the efi folder from almost anywhere / any os when trying different options.

I did a standard kernel upgrade to 4.19.43 as my sound card wasn't being detected by the kernel.All my hardware now works fine.Card reader,video card,sound and network are all working it seems.

At last i can think about using the machine for its intended purpose.

This experience has highlighted a few gaps in my knowledge with using Linux/slackware so i will be looking to have a tinker with some older machines i have lying about and peek under the hood more.

Once again ,thanks all