16.04 problems - install, inactive/suspend, hard disk

[Liam Proven]

On 16 September 2016 at 22:11, rikona <rikona at sonic.net> wrote:

> Tried it with both of the above - still worked fine. At this point I
> began to think it was somehow related to the UEFI boot since I ALWAYS
> had problems whenever UEFI was involved.. But I never had to work with
> that and knew absolutely nothing about it [didn't even know what the
> initials stood for :-) ].

Oh, come *on*.

http://bfy.tw/7mZj

>> Um. Do you *ever* Google these questions before asking us?
>
> Of course. Since I knew nothing about the proper jargon, the searches
> at this point told me that I could use UEFI in setting up comps, with
> a gazillion pages giving similar info. None of the pages in this
> search gave me a tool to use. Also, as I found in later searches,
> gparted does not show that info with a right click - you need to get
> the info via a menu click. I did not know that at the time either.
>
>> If you are not, it's rather rude to use a support list as a Google
>> proxy for you.
>
> Of course, and I never do that. I apologize for asking a question
> that you thought was too stupid to put on the list.

No, I am not saying it's stupid, I'm saying it's obvious and easy --
and much *much* quicker for you.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+tell+if+a+disk+is+mbr+or+gpt

I started typing "how do i tell if a disk" is and it even
auto-completed the query for me. The jargon thing is not an excuse.

Want specific Ubuntu results? Then add the word "ubuntu" on the end:

"how to tell if a disk is mbr or gpt ubuntu"

>> https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1742682

> Good info - thanks...

Bosh. That is where and how I got the link I sent you.

As I have said repeatedly on the list, I do not own a PC with UEFI. I
don't know. So I Googled it.

In other words, you made me go and Google it for you.

Not cool, dude.

> As it turned out, my thought that it was related to UEFI turned out to
> be true and finally led to a solution to the problem. As always
> happens, as the learning process progresses I can make more and more
> precise searches using the proper jargon to get to the part of the
> problem which seems to be important.
>
> I tried a number of suggested things - boot-repair, etc - none of
> which worked, and some of which made things worse.

In my experience ``boot-repair'' is useless junk. The help sites now
point to a tool that is more work and far less effective than booting
from a live CD/USB, editing the boot command line to point to your
root FS, and running update-grub.

> I found one key problem that seems to be essential in making the
> installation work properly. It seems to be a bug in the Ubuntu
> installer. The cables in my box were set up in a way to assign SDA to
> the hard disk, and SDB to the SSD. Since I wanted to have the system
> and the boot on the SSD, the Ubuntu installer bug made this
> impossible. With UEFI, it does not matter what you say, it apparently
> will install the efi boot files to the ESP on the drive seen as sda.

Yes. It must.

Surely you noticed that the drive letters did not correspond with what
you wanted? That the HD was the 1st drive and the SSD the 2nd?

> If you do not have an ESP on sda it fails.

Yes, it will. UEFI is basically designed for Windows, and honestly, to
me, it looks like a stealthy anti-Linux move.


> And, the kinds of problems
> this generates look a lot like hardware problems and makes the
> situation difficult to diagnose.

I didn't know that.

> I found some other strong suggestions for how to make a successful
> installation. Here's what I finally ended up doing to get a successful
> UEFI install:
>
> 1. Make sure the disk cables are connected so that your boot/system
> disk comes up as SDA. This is apparently essential due to an installer
> bug.

No, it's how UEFI works. Yes your boot disk should be first. It always
should, and has for decades.


> 2. I had dozens of failures with the Ubuntu installer UEFI disk
> preparation step, so I set up and formatted the UEFI discs ahead of
> time [once I learned what was required on the discs for a UFEI boot] -
> at this point I did not trust the "something else" option. This may
> not be necessary, but I did not test it to see whether it works
> properly when the other steps are done.

Shouldn't be necessary but it's probably what I would do myself.

> 3. Boot up the Ubuntu install DVD in UEFI mode. This was strongly
> suggested on multiple sites, but may not be essential. I did not test
> a non-UEFI DVD boot to see if it will do a UEFI install properly.

If you have UEFI you must do a UEFI boot.

You should also disable Secure Boot in your firmware. Ubuntu can now
work around this but it is, IMHO, a kludge and a hack.

> When I did the above, the install went through without any glitches -
> the FIRST time this occurred with the 3Tb installed in the box. It
> also came back from a black screen after a long pause - the FIRST time
> this occurred with the 3Tb installed in the box. Things were looking
> encouraging. I installed quite a lot of software, and a full update,
> which also worked well. It has now been running for a couple of days
> without any problem, so it looks like UEFI really was the problem
> after all.

Great!

> Learned a little bit more about computers, which is always good. :-)
> No UEFI expert, of course, but it seems as though I learned enough to
> make the box operate. A good thing, too - I was just about to junk all
> the hardware and start over again. But, if I made the same SDA/SDB
> mistake again, I probably would've relived the entire experience.

Probably.

I have only heard about UEFI but everything I've heard makes it sound
like a massive pain.

(Incidentally, saying this on the internal mailing list of a major
North American Linux vendor contributed to my dismissal from the
company. :-( )

-- 
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