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I was running an old version of Debian on my HP 9470m laptop ca 2012. Today I tried to switch to Ubuntu by doing a clean install (erase the disk, default options) from a USB stick with the latest Desktop LTS (ubuntu-24.04.1-desktop-amd64). I followed the installation directions exactly. To make the USB stick I used belanaEtcher which asks no questions or options.

The installer ran and seemed to work okay, and looking at the results ("Continue to try Ubuntu?") with fdisk and file and gparted seem okay. There is a grub2 and a root partition (I can see the files in /target).

When I try to boot, the machine says there is no OS.

This machine says it is UEFI but does not appear to offer a BIOS menu that I can find. (There are test and show configuration screens, but nothing about boot order or many options.)

I am dead in the water with no clue what to do. What could be wrong?

user1972793
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2 Answers2

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Looking up this rig: -

https://support.hp.com/gb-en/product/product-specs/hp-elitebook-folio-9470m-notebook-pc/5271995

I agree it seems to be GPT/UEFI compatible. Even if the disk was reconfigured to use an MBR/BIOS the install software should take this into account. If it was installed as GPT/UEFI it would have a GPT disk and a UEFI partition so you should check for that first.

I took a look at the BIOS manual (see link above) and it does seem to support GPT/UEFI and seems to have a legacy option.

  1. Boot the system, and press f10 to enter the BIOS setup.
  2. Select Boot options from the System Configuration menu.
  3. Select an item from the boot order, and then use the + or – keys to move the item up or down in the priority list

You can prioritize the following devices:

  1. Hard drive (primary, secondary)
  2. Diskette drive
  3. Optical drive
  4. USB storage devices (hard drive, diskette drive, optical drive)
  5. Network

Looking at the document it refers to legacy boot order which suggests there is a way to switch between GPT/UEFI and legacy (MBR/BIOS). It is quite possible this has been set to legacy in the past and is the reason it is not booting.

The Linux manual (also from link above) also has the following method to dynamically select a boot device on startup: -

Dynamically choosing a boot device using the f9 prompt

To dynamically choose a boot device for the current startup sequence, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Select Boot Device menu by turning on or restarting the computer, and then pressing esc
  2. while the “Press the ESC key for Startup Menu” message is displayed at the bottom of the screen.Press f9.
  3. Use a pointing device or the arrow keys to select a boot device, and then press enter. Your changes go into effect immediately.

If this all still fails it is also possible make the new Ubuntu 24.04 bootin legacy mode by adding the MBR/BIOS bootloader along side the UEFI one. (Better to say to overwrite the UEFI one although I have found you can run them both and switch between them from the BIOS but you have to keep both up-to-date to do so.)

Boot from you install media and follow the following method.

How can I reinstall GRUB to the EFI partition?

But with one small change when re-installing grub as follows: -

grub-install --target i386-pc /dev/sdX

david
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This problem happens with HP laptops such as the HP EliteBook Folio 9470m, and it's all about the BIOS settings.

Usually, your first problem is getting the "No OS Found" disk error. This is because the machine is trying to boot in Legacy Mode, which uses a Master Boot Record (MBR). Even if it worked that way before, that's not what you want. Modern Linux installers create a GPT partition table and expect UEFI mode.

If you change the setting to UEFI to get past that, you may find yourself in an infinite loop of failing to boot (perhaps with with no visible error message). If you interrupt that and get into a BIOS boot option menu (F9), you can select "Ubuntu" and it will boot. But that's a lot of bother -- you would like the laptop to boot automatically!

Here's what to do to fix both problems.

Get into the BIOS Setup. (This may require a few keystrokes including ESC, but eventually you will press F10.) Use the right-arrow key to navigate the top menu strip and get into "System Configuration". Then use the down-arrow key for "Boot Options" and press ENTER. Now you're ready to fix all the settings.

  • Startup Menu Delay: 5 seconds (was 0). (If someday you're having more issues, this will give you a few seconds where you can hit ESC to get into the BIOS).

You want these checkboxes:

  • Fast Boot: OFF
  • Your various boot devices: ON
  • Secure Boot: OFF

This is the most important setting:

  • Boot Mode: UEFI Native (without CSM)

Next edit "UEFI Boot Order". Put "Customized Boot" at the very top. Put other devices after that. Next use "Define Customized Boot Option". Add one: EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi

Save your changes.

That's all there is to it. Next time you boot, you'll get GRUB, so it will be a fully hands-off procedure from power-on to the Ubuntu login screen.

Here is a good tutorial I found:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unHLKYf6Krg

user1972793
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