[Bug 1960141] Re: Ubiquity Bug: forces Uefi options. I need MBR not GPT.

Wed Feb 9 14:43:23 UTC 2022

I went through a fresh install.  Here are the details:

Using a new image of Ubuntu 21.10.
Download ISO.  Verify using checksum.  Use "USB Image writer" on virgin 32GB Stick. gdisk shows stick has 3 partitions: Basic, EFI, and Basic.  MBR is protective, GPT is present.
Format 120GB SSD to Fat32.  Box BIOS is set to "NO EFI".  Installation proceeded using all defaults. Reboot.
Boot message "Boot Failure".  Go to F10 screen and select hard drive:  Normal Startup.  
Replace disk with a Ubuntu 20.04.2 hard drive:  System boots normally without any failure message.

Data 1:
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.8

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sda: 234441648 sectors, 111.8 GiB
Model: ADATA SU655     
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 2AA7FA81-FDCB-4C2D-BF94-267833FC182A
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 234441614
Partitions will be aligned on 2-sector boundaries
Total free space is 16 sectors (8.0 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1              34            1987   977.0 KiB   EF02  
   2            1988         1052769   513.1 MiB   EF00  EFI System Partition
   3         1052770       234441598   111.3 GiB   8300  

DATA 2
{
  "Version": "21.10",
  "BIOS": {
    "Vendor": "Intel Corp.",
    "Version": "TYG4110H.86A.0036.2009.1126.2047"
  },
  "CPU": {
    "OpMode": "32-bit, 64-bit",
    "CPUs": "4",
    "Threads": "1",
    "Cores": "4",
    "Sockets": "1",
    "Vendor": "GenuineIntel",
    "Family": "6",
    "Model": "23",
    "Stepping": "10",
    "Name": "Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU    Q9400  @ 2.66GHz",
    "Virtualization": "VT-x"
  },
  "Arch": "amd64",
  "HwCap": "-",
  "GPU": [
    {
      "Vendor": "8086",
      "Model": "2e32"
    }
  ],
  "RAM": 8.1,
  "Disks": [
    120
  ],
  "Partitions": [
    114.3,
    0.5
  ],
  "Screens": [
    {
      "Size": "530mmx290mm",
      "Resolution": "1920x1080",
      "Frequency": "59.96"
    },
    {
      "Size": "410mmx230mm",
      "Resolution": "1366x768",
      "Frequency": "59.62"
    }
  ],
  "Autologin": true,
  "LivePatch": false,
  "Session": {
    "DE": "ubuntu:GNOME",
    "Name": "ubuntu",
    "Type": "wayland"
  },
  "Language": "en_US",
  "Timezone": "America/New_York",
  "Install": {
    "Media": "Ubuntu 21.10 \"Impish Indri\" - Release amd64 (20211012)",
    "Type": "GTK",
    "OEM": false,
    "PartitionMethod": "use_device",
    "DownloadUpdates": true,
    "Language": "en",
    "Minimal": false,
    "RestrictedAddons": false,
    "Stages": {
      "0": "language",
      "1": "language",
      "566": "console_setup",
      "590": "prepare",
      "607": "partman",
      "631": "start_install",
      "749": "timezone",
      "770": "usersetup",
      "1053": "user_done",
      "1574": "done"
    }
  }
}

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1960141

Title:
  Ubiquity Bug: forces Uefi options. I need MBR not GPT.

Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  Unless I use F10 and Select, I get “no bootable disk” message from my BIOS. I’ve installed separate disks with other Op systems … no problems. (Ubuntu 20.04, Mint 20.1, Zorin 16, Fedora 35, etc). It seems UB install forces Uefi options. Not good. I need Bios mode or legacy mode. I have disabled Uefi in my bios.
  The UB makes my disk install type GPF. 

  Unless I use F10 and select an option, I get a no bootable disk
  message from my BIOS. If I press F10, when the screen says, "Please
  select boot device", I can select the hard drive and the Ubuntu boot
  screen proceeds normally.

  Only 21.10, Budgie 21.10, and unsupported 22.04 show this problem.
  I’ve installed separate disks with other operating systems without any
  problems. Ubuntu 20.04, Mint 20.1, Zorin 16, and Fedora 35, all work
  fine. I have disabled UEFI in my BIOS and I have also tried the
  "Something Else" option during installation. I've followed the Ubuntu
  Handbook for installation.

  My hard drive has only 2 partitions: "sda1 core.img and sda2 ext4 /".
  How can I boot Ubuntu without having to use F10 and select the
  appropriate drive?

  Using gdisk, I found that the disk was still in GPT mode in spite of my changes. I then started over and using gparted created the following MBR disk table:
  Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
     1            2048           34815   16.0 MiB    0700  Microsoft basic data
     2           34816        62543871   29.8 GiB    8300  Linux filesystem
     3        62543872        96098303   16.0 GiB    8200  Linux swap
     4        96098304       625141759   252.3 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem

  I then did a fresh install of Budgie 21.10 and chose “something else”. I had to bypass 5 error messages trying to convince me that EFI was missing. (I knew that!) The install went normally and the computer boots and works perfectly. Note: there is an option in gdisk to convert GPT to MBR but I couldn’t make it work.
  I also left the problem on the AskUbuntu site but have not gotten any replies.

  I next tried it on Ubuntu 21.10. Works fine. This MSDOS table can be
  much simpler: A 16MB boot partition and the rest an EXT4 root
  partition.

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