Système d'exploitation introuvable
Solved
Hello everyone,
I have a not-so-young Dell XLS laptop (14 years old) on which Linux Mint Mate "Xia" was running perfectly.
For some reason, I wanted to try "Winux," which turned out to be poorly ergonomic, and I reinstalled Mint from the Mint Xia live DVD that I had used previously, without any issues.
The installation went smoothly by choosing the complete hard drive wipe option. To finish, I removed the installation media, but when the computer rebooted, I got the message "Operation system not found." And nothing else happens...
I checked the boot menu by placing the hard drive in the first position, whereas it is usually in position 3, after USB and DVD drive.
No results.
However, if I leave the Mint installation Live DVD in the drive and restart, the DVD's welcome screen appears, and Mint loads without any problem if I click on "Boot from local drive."
What steps can we take to be able to boot normally without having to leave the installation DVD in the drive?
Thank you very much for your insights and advice.
19 réponses
Hello,
Linux Mint is full of vice, if I remember correctly, the result of launching a Live USB/DVD is "the installation" of this same live version with a proper installation link on the desktop.
https://sospc.name/installer-linux-mint-partie-1/
Hello,
Try this:
Access the PC boot menu by pressing the F12 key at the beginning of the startup sequence (tap the key during the boot sequence)
When the boot menu is displayed
Select the entry corresponding to your hard drive (or the entry with the word Ubuntu if you are in UEFI) using the arrow keys and press enter.
If Mint starts, reinstall grub as follows:
In the terminal, type the following command
sudo grub-install /dev/sda (your admin password will be requested, type it blindly and press enter)
then
sudo update-grub
Restart the PC to see.
If Mint does not start, it is likely that grub was not installed in the right place. In this case, the simplest and fastest solution is to reinstall it, making sure to place the bootloader (grub) on /dev/sda and not in the root partition /dev/sdaX.
As for the claim that Mint is full of flaws, I disagree; it is one of the most beginner-friendly distros, and it has no more flaws than Ubuntu, from which it is derived and which it uses the installer from.
I have successfully typed the recommended commands, but I still have the same problem on reboot => "Operating system not found."
As for this: "In this case, the simplest and fastest solution is to reinstall while ensuring to place the bootloader (grub) on /dev/sda and not in the root partition /dev/sdaX."
Being completely new to this field, could you explain to me how to do it?
Otherwise, I have the Malekal CD which would allow me to format the hard drive (in NTFS or Fat32?). Would that enable me to install Mint later and boot without any problem?
Thank you for your info.
Did you have access to the boot menu?
Can you take a photo of this boot menu because I would like to know if your PC is booting in UEFI or BIOS mode. Depending on the case, grub is installed differently.
Upload the photo on cjoint.com and put the link here.
There are 2 ways to boot the live DVD:
1- in BIOS mode (you see the name of your DVD drive in the boot menu)
2- in UEFI mode (you see the name of your DVD drive as above but with the mention UEFI in addition)
Obviously, if you do not boot in the correct mode, it won't work, that’s probably what happened.
Formatting the disk in NTFS or FAT32 will do absolutely nothing, Linux uses its own format and formatting is performed automatically during installation.
I assume you chose the "Use entire disk" option when selecting the installation type. Everything is done automatically but you have no control over the installation parameters and if a parameter is incorrect, you can't correct it. It would be better to use the 3rd option "Something else" which allows control over the entire installation. Here is a detailed official guide for installation (in English but it's quite clear with the screenshots)
https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/install.html#installing-linux-mint-on-the-computer
Attached is the photo of the boot menu. I have no other choices.
Otherwise, the BIOS is very brief and I have no mention of UEFI or BIOS mode.
Additionally, I will study the link regarding the installation. I will keep you updated a little later.
Thank you.
This is a BIOS mode startup. Your PC does not boot in UEFI, it is too old.
So you'll need to choose the Hard drive line to boot from the system installed on the disk. If it doesn't start, it's because grub is not installed in the correct place or not installed at all.
Restart the installation, at the installation type choice step select "Something else". You will then arrive at the table with the partition table.
Select the partition that already contains your previous installation (most likely sda1) by double-clicking on it.
Select "/" as the mount point (important otherwise the installation will be stuck), check the format partition box and choose ext4 as the format.
Important: on the last line, check that the device to install the boot-loader (grub) is /dev/sda (definitely no number after sda).
Then complete the installation, remove your DVD and reboot the PC and... cross your fingers.
OK for this tutorial.
I will test it and keep you updated in the coming days.
Otherwise, no stress, I still have 2 working laptops. One with Xubuntu and Manjaro in dual boot. And the other one running Win 11....
But I don't like leaving working equipment abandoned...! ;)
Re-hello,
In the end, I completely got lost in the manipulation and configuration of the partitions.
I finally found the solution: installing Windows 7, which brought a bit of order back to the disk and its partitions...
I installed Mint via a bootable USB stick, and, miracle...! Mint started without any problems but without going through Grub.
I was able to get it back on track using Boot Repair.
And now I have the usual choice on startup between Win 7 and Mint.
Thanks again for your input, even if I don't have the skills to implement all your advice.
I'm marking the topic as "resolved".
Have a good evening.
Hello,
Another question...
In order to switch to a system free of Windows, is it possible to install any Linux distribution, such as Zorin, by choosing the option to erase the entire disk, without the risk of messing up the Grub?
View of the partitions:
And thanks for your advice!
Hello,
As soon as you reinstall a distribution, grub is automatically reinstalled so that you can boot the new system. But normally it goes smoothly. I wonder if the iso image of your installation dvd was corrupted; a dvd isn’t very reliable, it’s better to use usb sticks if the pc can boot from them.
Since you are in bios mode, grub installs in the mbr of the disk. This is a small reserved area of the hard drive located just before the first partition. It doesn’t appear in your diagram.
The Windows 7 you installed, if it’s not useful to you, has become unnecessary and you can delete it without risking your linux. You can either delete the partitions sda1, sda2, and sda3 entirely, making the space unallocated which can then be used to create a larger new partition, or you can reformat sda1 and sda2 to ext4 or fat32 or even ntfs (linux can read and write to Windows formats without issues), which will erase the Windows files and you can use these partitions from linux to store documents, photos, videos, etc. However, it is complicated to enlarge the current linux partition (sda5) because it's a logical partition located within an extended partition (sda4). This is the downside of the automatic installation; the installer program creates its partitions without your intervention.
The tool to manage partitions is called gparted, it is installed on your installation usb stick but not on your system installed on the disk. From the live-usb you will be able to modify all the partitions.
You may have noticed that currently you can access these partitions from your linux through your file browser. These partitions should appear in the left panel of the file browser.
After deleting or formatting the partitions, you must run the command sudo update-grub in a terminal to remove the Windows 7 entry from the grub menu.
Regarding Zorin OS:
This distribution is a variant of Ubuntu 24.04, I’m afraid it might be a bit heavy for your 14-year-old pc. However, you can try it in live-usb or online on this site:
https://distrosea.com/en/
(After selecting the version, you need to scroll down the page to see the button to start the distro)
OK for this tutorial.
As shown below, if I check the option "Erase disk and install Zorin (or other ...), will the disk erasure obviously remove the already installed Mint, but will it also delete the partitions related to Windows?
So, no worries about booting the installed Linux distribution afterwards, whichever it may be?
Note: Although I've been using computers since 1993 (on DOS 4, with a 250 MB disk!), I've only been interested in free software for about a year, and I'm not yet very comfortable managing and manipulating them... This might explain my very basic current issues.
"So, no worries about booting the installed Linux distribution afterwards, whatever it may be?"
A priori no. When you installed Mint after Windows 7, the installer set up a functional grub, so I see no reason why the Zorin installer wouldn't be able to do the same. Moreover, as you may have noticed, it is exactly the same installer.
Personally, I've done hundreds of installations and whenever I had rare issues, it was on machines with UEFI and legacy BIOS. With machines that only have BIOS, it's much easier and unless there's a hardware problem (faulty disk or USB stick), it works every time. The program simply writes a small routine in the MBR of the disk, a routine that the machine's BIOS launches at power-up.
Thank you for your information.
I will therefore install Zorin with disk wiping.
I will keep you updated.
Result after this procedure....
Back to square one: "system operation not found"!
So, reinstalling Windows Seven, then installing Mint alongside it, minimizing the Windows partition as much as possible.
And everything works perfectly.... except for the disappearance of grub at startup. So the boot goes directly to Mint, which is perfect!
Thanks again for your advice that helped me progress a bit in the Linux system that I am discovering.
Have a good day.
Hello,
Something is escaping me here...
When you install Windows 7, its bootloader is installed in the MBR of the disk.
When you subsequently install Linux Mint, its bootloader (GRUB) is installed in the same MBR of the disk, replacing the one from Windows... so I don't understand why it doesn't install directly when you install Linux alone on the entire disk. It's illogical: it accepts dual boot but not the replacement of the OS.
Unless your PC has a locked BIOS designed to prevent the replacement of Windows with another OS...
Can you give me the exact brand and model of this PC so that I can do some research?
As for the GRUB menu that has disappeared: it's normal if there's only Mint on the disk or on the more recent versions of GRUB that no longer detect other OS during startup for so-called security reasons (someone needs to explain to me how this setting, which can be easily reactivated, improves security).
The os-prober routine is generally disabled in the /etc/default/grub file.
You need to uncomment the line GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false or add it if it doesn't exist, then run a sudo update-grub afterward.
It's a Dell XPS L502X
But I believe I found the cause: a BIOS that is indeed "locked"... due to my own fault, having checked the "enable" box for Computrace, thinking that it would be possible to disable this function again.
However, apparently it is impossible to disable it unless perhaps by flashing the BIOS. Which seems pointless given the age of the laptop.
As for Grub, it reappeared after I launched a Boot repair from Mint.
Apparently, you are not the only one who has had this problem:
https://www.openfab.fr/2024/08/11/installer-linux-sur-un-dell-xps-l502x-de-2011/
The person who wrote the post succeeded with Debian 12.6
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1484354/dell-xps-l502x-cannot-boot-ubuntu-after-successful-installation
However, there is no information to understand the reason behind the issue. Computrace is a PC tracking tool.
Hardware too old? Curious that it works with a W7 in dual boot and with a Debian 12.6.
Since I managed to install Mint in dual boot with the old Win Seven, of which I minimized the partition to forget it completely and now only use Mint, I'll leave it as it is.
Even with its venerable age, the Dell runs quickly thanks to an upgraded RAM.
I also have a Samsung laptop about the same age on which I had absolutely no problems installing Xubuntu and Manjaro in dual boot and getting rid of the old Win Seven that came with it.
There you go....
In short, everything is going well for exploring the world of free software.
Once again, thank you!
PS: it's surprising that you're not a registered member!
NB : "Apparently, you're not the only one who had this problem: https://www.openfab.fr/2024/08/11/installer-linux-sur-un-dell-xps-l502x-de-2011/"
I did exactly the same thing.... And everything went back to normal by removing Windows Seven.
I tested a dual boot with Mint and Debian => OK.
Hello,
Your problem is known. It has become complicated to install the latest versions of Ubuntu and its derivatives directly in Legacy mode. With a boot-info report, I could have explained to you why you are not able to boot, as several cases are possible.
By installing W7, you unknowingly force the creation of a partition table in mbr format, and your Mint installed second will simply adapt to it.
To install Mint directly on an old BIOS, I found the following trick that works every time:
- I create a partition table in dos format with gparted.
- I launch the installation with the command ubiquity -b (which does not install grub).
- I partition via "something else" to create my / partition in ext4 and a possible swap.
- I install while ignoring the request to create an efi partition.
- At the end, instead of restarting, I launch boot-repair which is on the Mint live CD and I do the automatic repair (it installs grub-pc)
Upon reboot, Mint starts with grub visible.