"No Bootable Device"

Machine is a Toshiba Satellite C55-A5281 with Win 8.1. I've been playing around with Linux (Mint 17v2) using an Install/Live DVD and the same thing on a thumb drive. Have successfully booted into Linux several times with both sources.

I decided yesterday to install Linux on the machine, keeping Windows as well. I was VERY careful to be sure the option to format the HDD first was not checked. Something happened during the install (no messages or anything, it just stopped working). After watching it not work for quite a while, I shut off the machine with the power button, the only way I could. Now, when I power it up, I get a black screen and the message "No bootable device - please restart system." Can't get into BIOS or do anything at all.

What could be wrong, and how can I fix it? Since there's no data or anything else important on this machine, I made no recovery media. Nor do I have an OS disk. I'd even settle for just having Linux if it can be done.

 

If you really can't get into BIOS then it's a bin job I'm afraid. Are there no activity lights or beeps at all?

 

I may be able to help with the Linux install if you can boot with the LiveDVD or LiveUSB. But if you cannot boot, nor get into the BIOS to change the boot order, I'm not sure what can be done?

From the information you provided, I'm not sure why the Linux install quit, as I have never experienced that in dozens of installations. But it sounds like Linux was partially installed, including GRUB (grand unified bootloader) to load OS, but when you boot GRUB doesn't "see" a linux OS to boot; although it SHOULD see the Windows OS. This would suggest that GRUB wasn't installed yet, and you're still using the Windows bootloader, but the Windows bootloader is "broken" because of changes written to the boot sector.

On the other hand, your Win 8.1 computer is a UEFI (modern BIOS) device that must have secure-boot enabled by default. You are using the term BIOS, when in fact your Win 8.1 machine MUST be using UEFI, which is an upgraded/modern BIOS software. I know what you meant, but the distinction is important in this particular case, because a UEFI solution will be completely different than a BIOS solution. So let's use UEFI from this point on. If you did not disable secure boot before installing Linux, secure boot "sees" the "unauthorized" changes in your boot record and is refusing to boot, thinking that malicious software has been introduced. (I would argue that Win 8.1 is the maliciious software!) I STRONGLY suspect that your issues are UEFI/secure-boot related, so I would suggest looking there first. You may be closer to having a usable system than completely starting over.

This thread sounds like your issues, somewhat, so I'll let you read through and decide if this sounds like your symptoms. If it does, pay special attention to the link in post #5. Otherwise, I'm sorry if I muddied things up, please disregard:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2250012
(please note that Mint is based on Ubuntu, so Ubuntu info should also apply to Mint, FWIW)

I also found this thread, specific to Mint. Is any of this helpful for you?
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=175287

The inabilty to access UEFI is a head-scratcher for me though. And I'm not sure if your UEFI is looking to boot an OS from HDD, or if it's looking for the installation media? IF you can boot from DVD or usb, we can probably salvage this.

Assuming you can boot from DVD, we can finish off your Linux installation, OR if you can borrow an 8.1 installation disc from someone, we can use the 8.1 disc to "repair" the Windows installation, which should repair the Windows bootloader and restore access to Win 8.1; then you can decide whether to move forward with the dual-boot system again. If you cannot borrow an 8.1 disc, your only option is to move forward with the Linux installation. If the Linux installation recognizes the installed Windows OS, you may still salvage your dual-boot setup! If the Linux installation recognizes the Windows AND the Linux OS, you should choose the option to "overwrite the existing linux OS" and NOT the option to "install alongside the existing linux OS", as this will cause a future problem with determining which linux partition is the "bad" one, removing that partition, fixing the partition table, repairing GRUB entries, etc... You will avoid a dozen future problems by "overwriting or replacing" any linux OSs, rather than "side by side" install.

If you cannot boot from Live media, nor access UEFI to select external boot devices, someone smarter than me will have to jump in and share that knowledge. I don't know much about UEFI, as I've never really dealt with it. I know what it is, why it is, and know that it is treated differently than BIOS. But I've never worked on it, or with it. So I'm not comfortable dispensing UEFI advice. We need help getting past the UEFI access.

 

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, right now I cannot boot from the DVD or the thumb drive. Whatever I try, I get the same message with almost ever key I press (a few don't do anything at all). No lights either, other than power.

I too don't understand why I can't access UEFI (I was calling it BIOS simply from habit). According to the manual, it's the F12 key. Pressing it now doesn't do a thing.

 

Is there not even any indication of the POST (Power On Self Test) running before you get the no bootable device message?

 

Can you disconnect the drive from the machine and boot the machine with NO hard drive? UEFI/BIOS usually resides on a motherboard chip, so it should boot without a HDD. It just won't boot an OS. If you can do that, you should be able to check the UEFI settings (disable secure boot, fast boot, enable Legacy Mode, etc...) and change boot order to accomodate Live media.

Assuming you can access/change UEFI settings, then try booting Live media again, still with no HDD. If you can do that, shut down and reconnect HDD. We're trying to "trick" the UEFI into thinking a new HDD was installed, boot Live media, and proceed with Live media installation.

We need help solving the UEFI issue!

 

Is any of this helpful with your Toshiba?

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1654999/change-uefi-csm-toshiba-satellite-windows.html

 

Or maybe this?

http://forums.toshiba.com/t5/Genera...C55-A5310-Bios-Settings-Key-Combo/td-p/518767

It seems like shutting down "properly" is a big deal with Toshiba, or maybe Win8. Since you can't boot to shut down properly, you may have to remove your battery (laptop) or power source (desktop) in order to reboot and gain access to UEFI. Or remove your harddrive?

 

Good suggestion! I would just add to hold down the laptop's power button for 30 seconds once the battery has been removed. This discharges any static that may have accumulated and has often been known, much to the owner's amazement, to revive a moribund computer or touchpad.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I was finally able to boot from the DVD and install Linux. Some weird thing about this computer's function keys: the "function" of the key doesn't work unless you also hold down the "FN" key. Otherwise, it changes the screen brightness, turns wifi on and off, adjusts the volume, or whatever the key is for. Haven't yet tried restarting to see if I still have Windows.

 

Sounds like a Lenovo. I'm using one and should have thought of that possibility. Anyway, well done

 

Thanks. It seems I have an entirely Linux machine now. That was where I was sort've headed anyway, just didn't plan on jumping straight into it. Talk about culture shock! Nothing works the way I've been used to for the last 30 years. It took almost no time at all to set up Firefox (mouse gestures, etc.) and Thunderbird, but that's because the distro came with both of them and did most of the work for me. I've still not entirely figured out lots of other things.

 

Well I am a Linux guy. Have been for over 5 years now. I've replaced all my machines with Linux and have installed Windows within a Virtual Machine (VM) for those RARE instances where you MUST use Windows or you don't get it done. I might be the last Linux guy on this forum. For that reason, I don't frequent here much anymore....you just caught me on a curious day and we happened to intersect.

Welcome to the club! FWIW, you may not have planned it this way, but I think the best way to get acclimated to Linux is to remove your crutch. Which you did, so you're doing better than you even realize?! ;-)

It really isn't any harder than learning a new Windows OS, it's just "different". I liken it to how the USA drives on the right hand side of the road, while the rest of the world drives on the left. While neither is "better" than the other, it's "strange" to do it the other way! I've been using Linux long enough now that I consider Windows to be weird and difficult!

If you have additional linux questions, or linux software questions, or need recommendations, just let me know. Happy to share whatever knowledge I have, just as others shared it with me!

 

Great, thank you. I'm slowly getting the hang of Linux already. Hardest thing to overcome has been the strange names given to a lot of things. Was puzzled how to set up my printer for a while until I figured out that the distro came with support for almost every HP printer ever made - all I had to do was turn mine on and Linux recognized it and did all the work for me.

I do have one issue that's not directly related to Linux being different - sometimes when I'm typing away like now, the cursor will simply disappear or jump back to somewhere in the middle of what I've previously typed. There was actually a similar issue in Windows but I can't recall what the fix was.

 

Yes, naming conventions of Linux programs are strange birds, often bearing no indication whatsoever of their functionality. Eventually, it will come to you with experience and repetition though.

The cursor issue you describe...are you using a laptop with a touchpad? The solution is to disable the touchpad while typing. Check this out, and follow the links for a solution that works for you:

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=139890

 

Well, now, another issue. Today, for the first time, I shut down by selecting "Hibernate." Now the computer won't start properly.

When I press the power button, the Mint logo appears in the center of a black screen. About 15 seconds later, the phrase "keys:" (witout quotes) appears in the top left corner. After a few seconds, several dozen command lines scroll by so fast I can't make them out, followed by a totally blank black screen. So there I sit; the cursor is visible and I can move it with the mouse, but nothing else works. What can I do?

 

Hmmm, I've never heard of nor seen what you describe ("keys:" and terminal output scrolling), but in general terms it sounds like your hibernate is trying to resume, but experiencing errors.

My first suspicion would be the swap partition. Did you create a swap partition at the time of installation? Is the swap partition at least equal to the RAM on your system? If you have 4GB of RAM, you need a 4GB swap for hibernate/suspend to work properly.

If you allowed the Mint installation to use its default settings, you should have a swap partition, although it may not be the correct size? If you installed Mint with the configuration of "something else", then you created only the partitions you specified, of which you need root for the OS (/), home for your data (/home), both formatted as EXT4, and a swap partition at least as big as your RAM and formatted as "linux swap". Do you remember what you did?

If you set it up correctly, there is still the issue of different manufacturers implementing hibernate/suspend in different ways. While troubleshooting Linux Mint issues, we'll also need to consider Toshiba issues. Googling "Mint 17 toshiba won't resume after hibernate" provides a list of potential solutions, some of which sound like you, some of which don't.

The fact that you installed Linux on your Win8 UEFI computer mostly by yourself suggests you either somewhat lucky, or more tech savvy than the average user. How computer savvy are you? Is this your first Linux experience, or your first experience with Linux and a UEFI-enabled device? The reason I am asking is that your problem certainly appears solvable, and this could be a chance to roll up your sleeves and gain some more experience.

On the other hand, if you just want to get your machine running again with the least possible hassle, re-installing Linux would likely be the quickest solution, provided you haven't made a whole bunch of tweaks/customizations already. Since you have already wiped out Win8, negating the issues associated with dual-booting, a reinstallation that completely overwrites the entire disk would be a simple matter. If you choose to go that route, here's a good guide on the tweaks you should be doing at installation, to minimize any post-installation issues:

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=163126

Your machine, your call...

 

Well, I do have quite a bit of experience with computers, starting with DOS through every flavor of Windows but ME and Vista (actually started on mainframes before that). But almost none with Linux in a UEFI environment or anywhere else. I installed it using an Install/Live DVD I bought online, after running it off the DVD for a while. There was an option to let the installer do any needed partitioning, and that's what I selected.

Since I had several times completely shut down the computer and restarted it (without using Hibernate), it's an obvious conclusion that hibernation is somehow involved in my current woes. I'll check out any potential solutions online first, then consider a complete reinstallation. Will keep you posted - thanks again for your help.

 

Thanks for all the information and suggestions. Since I had Mint installed for only a day and had made few customizations yet, I opted to simply reinstall it. I'll now certainly use Plodr's hack to get rid of Hibernation altogether.

 

Good find plodr! Seems we're all in agreement this is SWAP related, and likely an issue with size of SWAP.

While Husker has been successful installing Mint on his machine, it was a 2nd attempt and Win8 appears to have disappeared from his system, despite hopes of dual-booting. Consequently, we're not exactly sure if Win8 MAY still be there, but the GRUB bootloader hasn't been configured correctly to pick up the NTFS partion; and we don't know if he has 2 SWAP partitions (one for each attempt of installation), 1 SWAP partition, or even none; although I suspect 1 or 2. And whether he has 1 or 2, we don't know if they're the correct size. Depending on what he actually has, he MIGHT be better off re-installing fresh.

Before any decisions are made, can we take a look at partitions with gPartEd, which should already be installed on Mint by default? If you can "cold boot" into Mint, locate gPartEd, select your primary device in the top right corner (likely sda). Then locate "screenshot" on Mint and take a screenshot of the gPartEd window and post it in this thread. We could also use a terminal command "sudo fdisk -l", but if you have multiple linux partitions (say, from 2 installation attempts), it could get quite confusing and we won't know if there's data on the partition, or just a partition. The gPartEd GUI provides both information.

If you cannot "cold boot" into Mint, you can use the LiveDVD to boot into the Live environment and follow the same procedure above, making sure to select the computers HDD, NOT the LiveDVD; you will be able to tell them apart by disk size. Again, take screenshot and post here so we can verify your partitions.

Here's a quick link to using gPartEd, as described above:
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/gparted.html
Don't make ANY changes until we verify your partition structure. IF we make changes, they MUST be done from a LiveDVD session. Once we know what your partitions look like, we'll be able to suggest a "path of least resistance", whether to repair the existing installation or overwrite the existing with a fresh install.

If we (you!) decide to repair the existing, plodr's solution below definitely appears to be viable. My ONLY comment, based on terminal commands and programs suggested, is that the solution is for a Mint XFCE desktop. If you're using Cinammon, Mate, or LMDE desktops, you don't need gksu or leafpad. We can use sudo and gedit, which are already on your system. Just an FYI. Everything else looks good though. We'll cross that bridge when/if we get there.

Again, your call...

 

Oops, looks like we cross-posted. If you're gonna do a clean reinstallation, here's a link for recommendations installing on a UEFI system:

http://www.bytelinux.com/linux-mint-17-1-rebecca-installation-procedure/

I don't see anything in this tutorial that needs to be tweaked for your situation. Looks like you can follow this verbatim. Noting Step Four (referenced as item #6), just erase HDD and choose the LVM option, and proceed with whatever the installer recommends. This will ensure a CLEAN partition structure, with no strange/extra/incorrectly IDed partitions.

Then you can move to plodrs tutorial to disable hibernate feature.

Look at all the valuable linux knowledge you're acquiring!!! ;-)

 

Quite so. Many thanks to you and the others who have posted in this thread. And if nothing else, once I manage to master the ins and outs of Linux and all its weird file and program names, I can put on my resume (if I actually needed to work) that I speak a foreign language.

 

bwahaha! you may want to start that job search, as you now owe me a new keyboard and fresh coffee!! :-D

 

Bah. Keyboards are cheap. But wasting good coffee, now that's a crime.