[Oneiric Precise] 64-bit installer incorrectly detects EFI instead of MBR for Grub, boot fails, Lenovo B570

[DaveC]

There is a wiki article to describe and help fix this issue here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/forum/hardware/LenovoB570

As per the forums, this is a 64-bit laptop, and the 64-bit Live CD "Try Ubunut" mode works perfectly on it, but when installed to disk the Grub boot loader doesn't work.

I selected the option to resize the Windows partition and install Linux, and it did everything perfectly, but would not boot Linux afterwards. The system came up into the Windows 7 black "start in safe mode" option screen. If the Active Partition flag for the Windows boot partition (/dev/sda1) is turned off, then the system will not boot from hard drive at all, and falls through to the next boot option in the BIOS, which by default is PXE.

Also as per the forums, the 32-bit Oneiric installer works fine ... I bought the laptop for my 74-year old father for Xmas and he is unlikely to care about using all 4GB of RAM, or running 64-bit VMWare setups, so I just did the workaround of using the 32-bit installer to reformat the Linux / partition (/dev/sda6) and install 32-bit Ubuntu.

I have included a copy of the partition table, boot block and /boot/grub as laid down by the 64-bit installer.

[DaveC (dcrooke)]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11559306

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

To change the source package that this bug is filed about visit https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/908109/+editstatus and add the package name in the text box next to the word Package.

[This is an automated message. I apologize if it reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[DaveC (dcrooke)]

AFAICT this it NOT a Grub bug, but I couldn't find the package for the Ubuntu Installer specifically

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Brian Ealdwine (eode)]

During the installation process, Ubuntu installs the EFI bootloader instead of the regular PC bootloader.

This results in a system that is broken in one of the following ways, depending on the configuration of your system:
* Boots to windows as if Ubuntu wasn't there (even though it completed installation)
* Fails to boot after completed installation

Workaround:
This should successfully complete the installation process, through a series of manual commands.

* Boot from CD/USB live image
* Connect to the network
* Click on the ubuntu partition you previously installed to, so that it is open in nautilus.
* right-click on this partition in nautilus (it's in the list on the left), and click 'properties'
* copy the name of the mount, and replace "<name of mount>" below with that text.
   It will probably be something like "563451BD58A19D16"
* execute a terminal, and type the following commands. If any give you an error, stop, and send me a message (don't post here for further support):

cd "/media/<name of mount>"

sudo mount -o bind /proc proc
sudo mount -o bind /sys sys
sudo mount -o bind /dev dev
chroot ./

apt-get update
apt-get install -y grub-pc

exit
sudo umount proc
sudo umount sys
sudo umount dev
sudo sync
sudo shutdown -r now

..at this point, the system should reboot, and give you the choice between Ubuntu and Windows (or just Ubuntu, depending on your install).

[Brian Ealdwine (eode)]

**UPDATE FOR INSTRUCTIONS IN POST #6:
There were some mistakes in the list I posted above, but unfortunately, I cannot edit my post.

For instructions on fixing the problem, see:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/forum/hardware/LenovoB570

[YannUbuntu (yannubuntu)]

Hello Brian, thanks for your tutorial.

Is the "sudo sync" command really necessary ? what is it for?

[Brian Ealdwine (eode)]

Please send inquiries re: the wiki page to me directly, or ask in the forums and update the wiki.