Problem Installing to X86_64 NON-EFI System

1st Official Post

    OK, I got a small problem (or big depending on the answers) with installing LibreElec to a NON-EFI (read BIOS) system.
    Basically it does not boot at all from the USB stick (obviously since BIOS can't boot when all that there is on the stick the EFI Bootloader).

    IMG files supplied (at the download page) are all for EFI systems, afaik...

    Even though someone on another thread mentioned that the supplied IMG files should work on UEFI and NON-UEFI systems, can someone tell me how to get it installed without me having to grab a copy of Ubuntu and Co., doing so would defeat the purpose of installing LibreElec (and for that matter OpenElec) in the first place?

    All I want is a simple install and that it works Out-of-the-Box...

    • Official Post

    It sounds like you're not successfully booting from the usb stick. So if it was successfully created, I would play with the bios settings until you see LE installer, or at least a syslinux failure.
    And we do indeed support both old and new, so it should just work.

    If you are unsure about the usb stick, you could try with any linux distro bootable usb stick just to confirm bios is configured properly to boot from usb.

    Thnx for the reply, correct, it is not booting from said USB stick (4 all different sizes from 1, 4, 8 and 16GB) with Libre/Open-Elec images.

    USB Stick does boot on another system, both with UEFI and BIOS options. So I guess that the mainboard (Intel G965) just does not recognize the stick as bootable, and thus cannot boot from it.

    PS: The machine boots from USB, as confirmed with Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Parted Magic, aswell as with Windoze 7/10....

    CvH - thnx also for replying. And yes, tried it with two different versions (1.4.8 and 2.9p (portable)), also tried Win32DiskImager (under Win10 and another time under Win7 (just in case Win10 was the problem), aswell as with DD from a Linux Shell... ;(

    PS: See the Ubuntu Bug #458482 (an old bug from 2009) describes the problem that I am facing... Bug #458482 “usb drives imaged with usb-creator fail to boot on ...” : Bugs : usb-creator package : Ubuntu

    PSS: Problem solved... For those with the same issue here is the fix:

    1. Boot into Linux (Live or installed)
    2. open a terminal (CLI, shell, bash, etc. whatever you fancy and call it)...
    3. enter the following:

    Code
    sudo dd if=/dev/sdX1 of=/media/sda1/usb-stick.img bs=4M
sudo dd of=/dev/sdX if=/media/sda1/usb-stick.img bs=4M
sudo rm /media/sda1/usb-stick.img


    source: Live-USB › Wiki › ubuntuusers.de
    change the sdX part to reflect the mount point of your USB stick. OF in the first line, pls. change the path to a place/dev/dir with enough storage space to hold the USB stick...
    (the above was done using Parted Magic, booted to x64 in RAM, with an empty drive as SDA1)
    (what this does, is copy the USB Stick as image to the HDD (or whereever one copies it), then rewrites this image onto the USB stick. Some BIOS's have issues with USB sticks formated as HDDs, and this changes the format more or less to that of a floppy)
    (I hope this explanation is clear enough for anyone to understand )
    4. reboot and enjoy a functioning install stick...

    Edited once, last by BigBadBen (June 26, 2016 at 10:02 PM).

    I have the same problem on one of the intel nuc 2080 i think

    only way i fixed it was to goto default then install it, sees it fine

    and then reset to what i think the settings were, PITA bt works

    Quote from BigBadBen


    Code
    sudo dd if=/dev/sdX1 of=/media/sda1/usb-stick.img bs=4M
sudo dd of=/dev/sdX if=/media/sda1/usb-stick.img bs=4M
sudo rm /media/sda1/usb-stick.img


    what this does, is copy the USB Stick as image to the HDD, then rewrites this image onto the USB stick.


    No, it copies first partititon of USB stick to HDD and then copies it back as whole disk. Meaning you lost MBR, partitions table, second partition.

    Quote from vpeter


    No, it copies first partititon of USB stick to HDD and then copies it back as whole disk. Meaning you lost MBR, partitions table, second partition.


    I stand corrected... it actually gets rid of all partitioning, but does not mean losing MBR, else it would not boot at all...

    Quote


    I think if you would delete EFI folder on a USB stick then stick doesn't have any EFI boot capability.


    correct... but that wasn't the problem I was facing... I mentioned earlier something about Floppy/HDD emulation, this actually was incorrect. I was facing a multipartition problem, that the BIOS of said mainboard could not handle.

    Quote from Klojum


    Perhaps set your BIOS to boot in Legacy mode first, if possible.

    BIOS =/= EFI, even if mainboard manufacturers call it so... UEFI can emulate BIOS calls, thus booting into "Legacy" mode, but if one's mainboard does not have an EFI (or UEFI) firmware in the first place, then there is no such setting as "Legacy" Boot...


    But enough of the chit-chat, things work as they should and I am a happy camper... now to get out the grill and some burgers and douse all with some beer...

    Edited once, last by BigBadBen (June 27, 2016 at 8:43 PM).

    I think there is no MBR anymore. But it boots because syslinux is actually installed on first partittion. Just guessing but I'm still glad you solve the issue.

    I have this trouble (install usb key not bootable from non-EFI system) months ago.

    I know that someone else would encounter the same.

    I even tried latest Alpha 4 on my BIOS (non-EFI) home laptop without avail.
    same for 3 different old (non-EFI) laptops at my job with same result.
    That makes 3 differents non-EFI laptops that won't boot install USB key even when selecting the key from the boot selection.

    Same USB key working fine on my latest intel NUC system at home and a Lenovo laptop at my job.

    There is something wrong with the structure of this booting image.
    All Linux image i use (Mint, Ubuntu, Manjaro, Arch, name it...) are booting fine on these EFI and non-EFI systems...

    Why isn't this has been catched / corrected since ?

    piotrasd:
    This is not relevant since we are discussing problem booting from the usb install key on NON-UEFI systems (ie. Toshiba Satellite A660).

    And i confirm that the key is fine since it is booting on UEFI system (Intel NUC).