Can't boot notebook from SSD

[Little Girl]

Hey there,

MR ZenWiz wrote:

Before you try this first stuff, go down to the last, but not least
section below, because I think it will solve your issue, whereas
this first part may or may not be a waste of time.

> On Sat, May 20, 2017 at 1:13 PM, Little Girl wrote:
> > We ran into an issue where a new SSD drive wasn't recognized and
> > solved it by using Kubuntu's partition manager to partition the
> > drive. We had already used Ubuntu's partition manager and the
> > GParted Live CD. Neither threw an error, but Ubuntu wouldn't
> > recognize the drive. For reasons unknown, the Kubuntu partitioner
> > was able to do what the others weren't. It behaved no differently
> > from the others, but unlike them, it somehow made it so that
> > Ubuntu recognized the drive and was able to be installed. It
> > might be worth a try.

> I am unfamiliar with Kubuntu, so please post steps I can follow to
> use this (including what flags it set on the partition and how I
> would then install a different Ubuntu (Xubuntu) on that same drive).

I don't have all the steps for you. It's been quite some time since
we did it and we don't use Kubuntu any more. The basics are that you
would download a copy of the Kubuntu live DVD, boot with it, open the
KDE Partition Manager (which should be in your System menu), and find
the SSD drive. Since you don't want to actually change the settings,
I would note the current settings, change something (like the
partition type or size), save, and then change it back again and
save. That way you're using the KDE Partition Manager to do the same
job the other partition manager did.

Someone in here pointed out that it's probably the same partition
manager as the one in Ubuntu. I took a quick look and it seems that
it is, but it uses the Kubuntu libraries. Maybe that has some sort of
effect on whether it succeeds or not. No idea. All I know is that it
worked for us and it wouldn't take you very long to try it.

> I have posted this question on AskUbuntu:
> Xubuntu 16.04.2 absolutely refuses to boot from my notebook SSD
> https://askubuntu.com/q/917214/485236?sem=2
 
> I feel like I wasted $88 at this point.

Probably not, but you could try booting the drive in another computer
just to see if it works.

You might also need to use CONFIG_EFI_PARTITION in your kernel
configuration.

Last, but not least, go to this page and check out the instructions,
paying special attention to step 13, which seems to address your
issue:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/6328/how-do-i-install-ubuntu

Beneath the instructions on that step is a link to this bug, which
sounds like it may be what you're experiencing:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1366546

Hopefully some of this will be useful.

-- 
Little Girl

There is no spoon.