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I am trying to install Ubuntu in an Acer Aspire Switch10e windows tablet. It has an Intel Atom Z3735F CPU.

It is a 64bit processor but it only supports UEFI 32 bits, that makes it so none of the isos I have tried work directly to boot. The workaround for this was using the isorespin script on a Xubuntu-18.04-64bit image using the command:

isorespin.sh -i xubuntu.iso -u --atom

This gets me to the live version and allows me to install. But it doesnt seem to install a 32bit grub since the tablet wont detect a bootable media afterwards.

I have managed to launch the installation by using the following lines in the liveUSB grub console:

linux /casper/vmlinuz root=/dev/mmcblk1p2
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
boot

And here is where I am at. I don't know how to install a 32bit bootloader from here that lets me launch without having to use the liveUSB. The guide I was following mentioned the use of the package grub-efi-ia32. But running this

sudo apt-get install grub-efi-ia32
sudo grub-install /dev/mmcblk1

and rebooting doesn't seem to work.

Artur Meinild
  • 31,035
metichi
  • 927

2 Answers2

1

Today I encountered the same problem on my Acer S1003 2in1 tablet (it's a typical problem with these tablet/netbook machines with 64bit processor but UEFI only 32bit bootloader) and managed to solve it. Your process set me in the right direction and I thank you for that! You made a mistake by installing only one of the necessary packages.

The procedure that worked for me:

  1. I booted the live OS from the USB and installed the system

  2. I booted the live OS from the USB again (I couldn't start the installed OS from grub, the one on the USB always started)

  3. I installed (as root) the necessary packages for the 32bit bootloader:

    apt update
apt install grub-efi-ia32 grub-efi-ia32-bin

  4. I installed (as root) the 32bit bootloader:

    grub-install --recheck --root-directory=[root dir] --efi-directory=[efi dir]

Key:

  • [root dir] - path to the root OS directory (necessary to mount before)
  • [efi dir] - path to the EFI directory (necessary to mount before)
sverx
  • 3
vytun
  • 11
0

I managed to get it to boot without the live USB, but not automatically.

The installation left me with a EFI partition, wich contained the folders EFI/ubuntu and EFI/BOOT

I deleted the files bootia32.efi and BOOTx64.EFI from EFI/BOOT and replaced with the identically named files from the live USB. I also copied the file grubx64.efi from the USB's EFI/BOOT.

I also copied the whole boot/ directory into the tablet's EFI partition and the files vmlinuz and initrd.lz from the usb.

After doing this, the same menu as if I had the live USB connected appeared and I could manually type the commands above to launch.

I edited the grub.cfg file so it only had one menu entry that executed the orders above and now it launches.

But I have no real clue why and if someone wants to explain me what the heck did I just do I would appreciate it.

Artur Meinild
  • 31,035