this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2024
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OS Boots on one device but fails to boot on another (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/linux
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Hi, I just did my first Linux install (Kubuntu) onto an external NVME drive. It boots fine on my laptop but gives me a "MBR error, insert floppy" screen when I try to run it on my desktop. On the motherboard settings the drive shows as a bootable option but without a UEFI label. What issues could cause this? From what I've read it seems like a boot loader problem but I have no idea why it would be fine on one device but not another. I tried to update the motherboard firmware but the file the manufacturer provides wasn't working. It's running a 2021 version.

Edit: I figured it out. The issue had nothing to do with my Linux installation. My motherboard had a hidden option to change the UEFI boot order, which is entirely separate from choosing which drive to boot from.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Do you have an option to allow legacy USB boot? My desktop has this off by default so will not boot from a USB drive

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The motherboard will only give me the option to use linux if it's in legacy mode. In UEFI only mode it doesn't show up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Is secure boot turned on? If so you will probably need to turn that off. EFI boot entries get set in the UEFI somehow, so once you get it booted it should see it. But how old is the PC? Could be a limitation if it is old.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

In the bios options it shows that secure boot is already disabled. It's not an old pc. I got it around 2021. Z590 motherboard. I've already run a system image off of a USB drive, which is how I installed the OS originally.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Hmm. I did have one machine that would install from USB but would not boot after. Turned outbit was a hardware glitch deb and deb derived distros could not get past, so I found RPM based worked fine as did NixOS (weirdly)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I figured it out. The issue had nothing to do with my Linux installation. My motherboard had a hidden option to change the UEFI boot order, which is entirely separate from choosing which drive to boot from.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Awesome

[–] pleasejustdie 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I assume you installed Kubuntu to the external drive on your laptop, in which case it likely installed the boot record into the laptop's main drive

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

I ran the installer on the desktop with all other drives disconnected

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Does your desktop support UEFI boot?