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Being impatient and willing to wait until Dell comes up with their new version with ubuntu preloaded, I am trying to install 14.04.1 on my brand new XPS 13 (9343).

I did few dry runs with a USB install key, found out how to work around the few kinks they still have (i.e., I got the network, and the mousepad working fine) and decided to go for the full installation.

Given that I do not care for Windows 8, I opted to nuke it out, and install only linux. No need for me to keep a dual boot at all. Thia apparently was a careless move, as after I completed a seemingly successfull installation, at the next reboot I get:

No bootable device found.
Press F1 key to reboot.
Press F2 key for setup utility
Press F5 key to run onboard diagnostic.

My guts tell me that I inadvertently removed the Windows loader and did not get grub installed so at boot time it does not find any partition where to boot from.

If I re-use the USB key I can see the drive, and its data, but I cannot run it from the HD.

How do I get from here to have grub (or any valid boot loader) to work on these UEFI hard disks?

Guido d'Amico
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5 Answers5

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You nuked a bit too much and deleted your UEFI partition as well: UEFI firmware does not reside in the BIOS any more, but on-disk!

Use the Dell Recovery DVD to restore your system to a workable state, then follow this: Installing Ubuntu Alongside a Pre-Installed Windows with UEFI then shrink Windows to the minimum+20% allowed size and delete it after you haven't booted to Windows for a month or so! ;-)

Oh, and have a look here as well on how to make system back-ups...

Community
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Fabby
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I wound up having similar trouble. Follow these steps: http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/SLN297060/en

After first reboot I had a boot profile suddenly :)

Why it works, I'm not sure. It does seem that before install you turn on UEFI and secure boot etc.. The linux install does configures itself depending upon how it was booted, whether it should load via BIOS (legacy) or UEFI. But, the hardward is apparently only looking for one type, so it needs to be installed to match.

I did also upgrade the firmware to A07. I don't think that was any different, but in case I'll mention it. (To upgrade to A07, download it from: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=28M21, throw the .exe onto a USB stick, and hit F12 on boot during the Dell log, then update/flash firmware)

LaFayette
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You can just create an EFI partition via parted or similiar partition tools and stick your EFI boot files for Linux in there.

You aren't bound to the tiny 128MB default EFI partition Dell ships with their devices, I for one have a 512MB one created from which I boot my Arch Linux just fine.

So fret not, nuking the EFI partition isn't the end of all things.

Coldbird
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I have the Dell iso image for 14.04. Using this will get your device back to factory which includes the Dell Recovery.

Hope this helps.

NotMy1RealName
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0

I had the same problem with my Dell XPS 13 9343. In the end I went into the setup utility (by pressing F2) and under "General -> Boot Sequence" clicked "Add Boot Option", found grub and added it.

Initially it still wouldn't boot because apparently the loader didn't have the correct certificates for SecureBoot, but I turned that off (under "SecureBoot" option) and it seemed to work.

This may for some reason be bad advice, in which case please let me know, but it worked for me.

user453926
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