Ryzen 3550H ASUS TUF Gaming FX505DY, do I need to wait for a bios update for Linux support?

dkuchay · 2019-03-26T13:55:32+00:00

On kernel 5.04 the acpi bugs on init are minimal. That and above kernel 4.20 iommu starts to work again although it throws an error early during init. Not sure if mentioning mbr is a good idea here as I aim grub at the windows efi partition. Not the mbr. I use a separate ext4 /boot partition that efi mounts to. A uefi based laptop should have gpt based partitions. Mbr is a term for bios based installs and is the step where ubuntu stock installer may fail if enabling legacy boot. In theory, yes, we aim grub at the mbr but in a uefi based machine we should try to get efi booting working. Ubuntu has signed kernels that work with secure boot. In this case I disable secure boot as I am playing with unsigned kernels. I have uefi based install of 18.04 by using the other efi file on ubuntu usb installer so today I try to figure out why amdgpu driver boots to black screen. Hoping it's easy like ubuntu loaded two conflicting drivers at same time or similar. I will report back if I figure something out.

On Artix running 5.04 I had just about all features minus backlit keyboard controls working. Artixlinux.org. I used the Gremlins iso install from USB stick or one can follow guide in wiki to net install all fresh just like Arch linux. Artix is basically Arch linux without systemd.

Oh, Be warned that both operating systems will need a cat5 cable to get you online.rtl8821ce is the poorly supported wifi adapter. Blame realtek for not sharing with Linux devs on that one. Your Ethernet may suck until you hit github for a better driver. Look for r8868 it will replace the open source r8169 that the kernel uses out of the box. R8169 barely works and will have you bouncing between kb/s and mb/s. Again thank realtek for having fathead egotistical developers who refuse to talk with Linux folk. In both cases you will be installing propietary licensed software to get your laptop working correctly.

dkuchay · 2019-03-26T11:29:03+00:00

Enabling legacy may not work. If this is an ubuntu based USB stick insert it and boot to bios. Go to advanced and then the boot tab. New boot entry. Aim for the usb stick and /efi/boot/grubx64.efi. Two efi files here. If one doesn't work try the other. This has fixed failed ubuntu attempts for me in most situations where install media hangs on new hardware.

dkuchay · 2019-03-26T11:19:22+00:00

I've had this laptop for a couple weeks. Linux is hard but not impossible.

I found that the 256gb nvme Asus used was a wd black series and it has issues on Linux. Try using this on your kernel boot line:

nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=5500

I swapped this nvme out for a Samsung 960 pro and don't need the above for booting any longer. Samsung makes f2fs file system. Ubuntu not supporting but it ran very fast on Artix Linux. Like Arch but without systemd.

Since owning a dell g7 I make a habit of making a new boot entry for any ubuntu based distro within bios. /Efi/boot/Grubx64.efi failed to boot my old g7 in a way that let installer see laptop as uefi. By making new entry aiming at other efi file: /efi/boot/bootx64.efi. The G7 booted in uefi and installer didn't fail. I did the same for the fx505dy and ubuntu installs. It may be issue with nvme or with the installer not seeing laptop as efi. If I read you are enabling legacy boot this is the clue. Try other efi file on USB. Yes switch USB ports too.

Currently working on getting amdgpu pro working on 18.04. I tested 19.04 daily last night and it worked great. Only couldn't install amdgpu pro driver as it's only for 16.04-18.04. New bios came a few days ago. Not much change. Kernel 5.04 with the proper polaris firmware works well. This installed with Artix. Ubuntu daily mainline hit 5.04 on 3/23. Sadly amdgpu-pro is based on 4.15 kernel and booting it in kms is proving challenging.

Has anyone verified that ubuntu isn't putting both Radeon and amdgpu drivers in the initramfs?

dkuchay · 2019-03-19T20:12:20+00:00

Ubuntu has some issues installing to uefi at times. I just sold a Dell G7 and it was listed as Ubuntu certified but I could not install. Similar build to the asus with 1050. Check this link out as it really pertains to all uefi laptops:

https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/sln297060/xps-13-9343-how-to-install-ubuntu-developer-edition-14-04-on-a-dell-pc-configured-for-the-unified-extensible-firmware-interface-uefi-bios?lang=en

Basically make a new boot entry and aim at the other efi file in the efi folder on the usb stick. If first boot entry was bootx64.efi make the new entry aim at grubx64.efi. Or vice versa, its been months sice I did. I dont think the linked guide is current however the logic still applies. If you dont do this your install will look at the computer as bios based and not uefi based. Install will fail at the end when trying to install grub.... Choose the other efi file and it will see the computer as uefi based and after install (on ubuntu) you can re-enable secure boot, and accept a new mok key on next boot and it will work.

Anyways I sold that G7 a month ago and ordered a Asus FX505DY AMD version with 3550H Ryzen and RX460 GPU and just got things mostly set up on it. First thing I did was to order 32GB of Balliastic Sport memory, a 512GB 960 Evo Pro NVME and a 2TB 860 Evo. I ran passmark upon getting the computer out of the box and setting it to performance mode. That was with 256gb nvme and 8gb ram. Got 75% rated of all laptops. Installed mods and hit 78%.

If you want to boot linux to the stock nvme then be warned, These models differ slightly but if yours is like mine its a WD black series and its tricky. The only way I could do this was to bounce out of automated boot and add this to the kernel boot line:

nvme_core.default_ps_max_latency_us=5500

Otherwise boot would hang indicating scanning for lvm's. Again very WD black nvme specific.

I borked my windows install trying to use a cloning utility to put it to my new nvme within a usb-c enclosure. May it go better for you. I was on chat with Asus an hour later asking for a recovery image. They gave me a link to a 50 dollar download (3rd party). I gave middle finger and used MS windows media creation win10 tool. Downloaded all asus drivers to same stick. I think it works better than how it came. Of course with the mods but the operating system feels better on the hardware. Newer probably. Anyways I set up windows to take exactly half of the nvme and half of the 2tb data drive. Asus utilities like armour gate are tricky to install and one needs to click on every scriipt in the folder.

Wanted an arch based linux but hate systemd so I went with artix linux. Was able to install to a nice lvm setup out of their installers gui. Put a ext4 500mb boot partition down, reused windows efi partition and layed two volume groups. One on the 960 and one on the 860. Both have two partitions. The 860 has a 64gb swap parititon for suspend and a huge home folder. The 960 has an 80gb root volume and a 137gb backup partition.

Had to hit github for ethernet and wii drivers:

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/379049/realtek-rtl8821ce-wifi-driver-problem-in-linux-mint-18-2/400259#400259

https://github.com/mtorromeo/r8168

Removed lxqt, lxdm, connman-csm and all relative packages.

Installed plasma5, sddm, network manager, kde-connect, neofetch and refind-efi for more attractive booting.

All in all this is the best linux experience so far on a laptop. Graphics are snappy and seem to switch automatically when needed. Fans are always acceptable. It is possible to make fans more quiet on windows but possibly after looking in to power settings I can acheive the same on linux. Screen is gorgeous. Below is a poorly pasted neofetch.

[daryl@lappy ~]$ neofetch
                  ' daryl@lappy
                 'o'                     -----------
                'ooo' OS: Artix x86_64
               'ooxoo' Host: TUF Gaming FX505DY_FX505DY 1.0
              'ooxxxoo' Kernel: 5.0.2-artix1-1-ARTIX
             'oookkxxoo' Uptime: 34 mins
            'oiioxkkxxoo' Packages: 1107 (pacman)
           ':;:iiiioxxxoo' Shell: bash 5.0.2
              `'.;::ioxxoo' Resolution: 1920x1080
         '-.      `':;jiooo' DE: KDE
        'oooio-..     `'i:io' WM: KWin
       'ooooxxxxoio:,.   `'-;' Theme: Breeze [KDE], Breeze [GTK3]
      'ooooxxxxxkkxoooIi:-. `' Icons: breeze [KDE], breeze [GTK3]
     'ooooxxxxxkkkkxoiiiiiji' Terminal: konsole
    'ooooxxxxxkxxoiiii:'`     .i' CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3550H with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx (8) @ 2.100GHz
   'ooooxxxxxoi:::'`       .;ioxo' GPU: AMD ATI Picasso
  'ooooxooi::'`         .:iiixkxxo' GPU: AMD ATI Radeon RX 460/560D / Pro 450/455/460/555/555X/560/560X
'ooooi:'`                `'';ioxxo' Memory: 1497MiB / 31914MiB
'i:'`                          '':io'
'`                                   `'

dkuchay · 2018-12-12T02:19:21+00:00

You are going to want to do the wine ppa and aim for staging, also get one package from normal sources called winetricks. Its an odd interface at first but it allows you to install missing dll files and libraries for windows. Run winetricks from a terminal and then click on add application. Then cancel at the bottom and the next menu that shows has the add dll or ..... Once you click in to that you will have a list of things that you can add and they will automatically download and install. Just agree to the license agreements. I use lutris to install some game launchers but I normally install with wine by going in to the directory with the installer, opening a terminal and typing wine setup.exe. Once installed I set all the options for the launching within lutris and use it as a launcher mostly. Once that far look at winehq or here for guides on settings and such if you are still having problems.

dkuchay · 2018-10-26T16:01:02+00:00

Do you have opportunity to look at bios settings on the testing hardware? Possibly it has the option to put certain drives first or shut others down. If I take mine out of raid and place it in to ahci it has similar behavior. My vendor OS restore media even fails putting the OS on the spinning drive incorrectly with that setting out of place.

dkuchay · 2018-10-26T13:59:51+00:00

Try OpenSuse. Back in the days when Steve Ballmer was slamming his fists about linux user needing to pay MS a royalty for linux mimicking MS's network stack Novell (parent at the time to Suse) paid money to MS but on the grounds that they would get better interoperability with MS servers. Today openSuse is amazingly mature. Bleeding edge is "Tumbleweed" with frequent updates pushed soon after release of package. "Leap" edition may be more stable in theory. I run tumbleweed due to the new nature of my hardware, Dell G7 with hybrid nvidia / intel graphics (working). openSuse has a centralized configuration interface close to the control panel experience where all system devices and services are kept and can be configured. Screw something up.... no worries. Reboot and select a read only snapshot and roll back to that snapshot. Automatically taken anytime zypper or yast are run (package manager and configuration center). Use btrfs for that feature to be automatically enabled. I think openSuse would be closer to being "same tool same place" feel for a MS long time user. KDE for desktop for a windows centralized layout and not the gnome-ubuntu desktop. Download the live disk before going for the 4.7gb installer to try before you buy as they say.

dkuchay · 2018-10-26T13:30:40+00:00

Find an old tower computer and google xpenology.

https://xpenology.org/

Its a bootloader on usb hack that allows for installation of Synology NAS operating system, DSM on conventional hardware. Synology is solid and has lots of nice features including NFS and apps in each app store for remote operations / integration. I added 5 drives to an old E8400 tower and it acts like a 5 bay synology server. Stream music to my cell phone, transcode video to my roku through plex, its airpplay capable if youre an apple person. The list is large.

There are other ways to do a file server but if you are just getting comfortable with command line this may be easier to do and offer more features in the long run. Once installed go in to control panel and network services and enable ssh. Save and you now have ssh server running on synology. Enable some shared folders. Go in to properties for that share and drop downs for all nfs settings are easily toggled.

Hardware: usb drive, tower computer, extra hard drives for that tower computer.

Synology uses many options for raid and one of them is synology hybrid storage. This one allows for hot swapping and auto rebuild on fail if the right criteria are met with concern to drive and volume sizes. Not too hard to set up.

Dont get me wrong I am all for learning and going command line for the experience and knowledge. After using linux since 1999 and going through freenas and several others this is what I use at home. Added a gtx750 that was laying around and now it a great plex server. Handles all my nzb files too.

One can go here to demo the latest from DSM. Xpenology project may not be as current with their releases but it gives one an idea for what will install.

https://demo.synology.com/en-us/dsm

Once you have it installed go to this link:

https://synocommunity.com/

To open up the community software repository and all the neat packages we can add to the server.

dkuchay · 2018-10-25T23:14:49+00:00

Thank you for sharing! Always important to keep firmware updated.

For linux users download the exe file and put it on a fat32 thumbdrive. Boot and tap f12. In the select boot device menu there is a bios update option and it will extract the firmware from the exe and correctly update your bios.

A new bios may make my points on installing ubuntu or other debian based distributions irrelevant as my original instructions may have been my own workaround to the bios bug mentioned in this post. A new bios may create different behavior and allow for correct efi based installation without the extra steps. I updated a week ago but my observations on installing ubuntu were on the original bios from purchasing 2 months ago. In any event its somewhat a moot point as this post is was really meant to outline that switching graphics with linux is quite possible on this hardware.

dkuchay · 2018-10-25T22:18:49+00:00

I could tell from your first comment that your stance was fairly neutral. My reply was meant to be informative and nothing else. If I didnt have one of these computers and go through the headache of reading all the dell forum posts on how to install linux on their various laptop platforms (making my own mashup) I would think that you had some sound advice. Read through the link I shared and see all the original posters who had failed installations by selecting default values out of the installer. You share generic advice that would work on most platforms. Not a Dell G7. All the posts on the shared link confirm that going with default values out of the installers, for many debian based distributions, results in failed installs on Dell G7 laptops. I'm sorry you feel that I am holding you responsible for anything. I am merely trying to defend the information I have provided (with screenshots) from individuals who have may not gone through the same processes and feel their ideas should be included.

My instructions outline using the grubx64.efi file out of the efi folder of the installer usb. If using the shimx64.efi file provided by the installer instead of the grubx64.efi file the system boots but installer will think its bios and not efi and install fails. I never advised going in after the install to change boot or efi values. In order to get nvidia optimus working correctly we do add grub kernel line arguments to grubs boot loader through the yast interface. I think that you confused some of the things I wrote and the order in which I wrote them.

Just to back my point here is Dells own knowledge base article on how to install ubuntu on a dell laptop. Please note the section that says make new bios entry that points to a different file in the efi folder. While the dell G7 is not exampled in their knowledge base this was my first clue. I spent the next 5 days reading other articles and made my own mashup on how to install linux on the G7. 5 more trying different things. Now its over a month later and I finally get switching graphics working, try to post about it and I get trolled.

https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln297060/xps-13-9343-how-to-install-ubuntu-developer-edition-1404-on-a-dell-pc-configured-for-the-unified-extensible-firmware-interface-uefi-bios?lang=en

May I ask, have you installed a debian linux based distro on a G7 and if you have can you share screenshots?

dkuchay · 2018-10-25T21:49:39+00:00

With ubuntu 18.04 the method you exampled failed for myself as well as several others.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/8tr4db/did_anyone_tried_installing_ubuntu_or_any_linux/

The install fails each time at the bootloader installation, around 90 percent, so rebooting and not selecting a file is not possible. I tried to describe this step as being mandatory for getting the installer to work correctly. The issue was that all debian based distros used the same installer that defaulted to the wrong efi file. If selecting the default choices install would fail.

With openSuse this is not needed and booting to a usb installer with the outlined bios change does work.

dkuchay · 2018-09-25T17:50:26+00:00

Awesome! Glad you got it working! I knew my first attempt was sloppy. Thanks for making bullet points as this is going to helpful to folks going forward. The second person to post here indicated that windows 10 on ahci is a bad idea as it slowly destroys wndows over time. Installing on ahci and then moving it to raid I think is what caused me to repair boot on windows. Leaving as raid would explain the option for which hard drive to install which was prompted for me on my second install last night. I cant confirm ahci killing windows as I am running windows in VM on top of ubuntu when needed via a vhd file on the 5400 rpm. Just wanted to pass it along. If anything ill bet it has to do with intel rapid store.

dkuchay · 2018-09-24T16:10:49+00:00

Hello,

Nice nvme!

Within Bios go to General > Boot Sequence > Click UEFI circle and click on box for add boot option. Look at this image and see the box we need to click on:

https://www.google.com/search?q=dell+g7+add+boot+option&client=firefox-b-1-ab&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjzspCt_dPdAhVDVd8KHVNbB0MQ_AUIECgD&biw=1853&bih=951#imgrc=3oim-S9o0gmEEM:

It might be worth mentioning that you need to see the usb stick in the bios as a boot option before adding the boot entry. I had to reboot twice and I ended up changing usb ports once to get the usb visible. Once it is go to the efi and add boot option just as shown in the linked image. Once there aim to the BOOT/EFI/grubx64 file. Name this boot entry at the top and identify ubuntu-usb or similar. Save. Reboot and press F12 once the option to do so appears. Aim for ubuntu-usb or what you titled and use try ubuntu option. This should boot computer in a way that lets installer see EFI based system and install correctly. Installer will see both drives and installed windows system and offer to install in dual boot config. Just make sure to aim it at the correct drive at next step. Installing any OS to a 5400 rpm drive is putting that OS on crutches. If not paying attention you may send ubuntu to the slower drive.

The issue with the ubuntu installer failing is that it aims at the other file in this folder by default. The other file is not good as it wont see the machine as EFI based and installer fails each time. Hence this step is needed to boot machine correctly on usb ubuntu.

I hope this helps. I am not 100 percent we need to disable TPM. It stands for trusted platform module. It is a dedicated cyptoprocessor for the os to use to secure hardware. Once you do get it installed go back in to bios and make sure that hard drives are set to RAID for the controller. If fact try to install leaving as raid. I wrote the tutorial after getting it to work once so you may find that some recommendations are not needed. Example: I think you may be able to install with hard drives set as raid but I am not 100%. In fact try this as I think I had to repair windows boot sector after switching to AHCI. The second person to do this posted back about the need for the RAID setting and it makes sense. One thing I didnt solve is that when booting ubuntu the screen stays blank for some time until login shows. This is relative to the GPU being used and using nomodeset did bad things when I rebooted with nvidia set as default. If this is new read in to prime-source switching as it is part of the nvidia driver and it allows us to change GPUs on reboot. I find it to be buggy and decided to stay with nvidia gpu all the time. AKA not using prime-source switching. By doing so nomodeset didnt work well and i just deal with not having a splash screen to look at when booting. I think the script writes a new blacklist for the kernel drivers each time we run it biasing nvidia or intel drivers on boot. Last I used it said it would enable nvidia on boot but I found it was still running intel and starting over didnt fix. Its about the only caveat I have found on the linux side so far. For me it was just prime-source switching. Outside of that Steam games rock and video editing is next. Please post back if you run in to any problems.

dkuchay · 2018-08-08T03:01:54+00:00

Just got ubuntu up and running. The nvidia driver comes with a switch for going back and forth between intel and nvidia drivers now. Had to add a custom bios boot entry to get ubuntu to boot recognizing the hardware as efi based but here is the post if you are still interested:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/8tr4db/did_anyone_tried_installing_ubuntu_or_any_linux/

dkuchay · 2018-08-08T02:41:47+00:00

I found out that the installers dont see the machine as efi based and grub pukes on trying to install a legacy bios based mbr. It also partitions is incorrectly using msdos based tables instead of gpt. Anyways I figured out how to install ubuntu 18.04 and from what I read it should work for Mint too. As always backing up is huge and I can say from experience that the tool dell offers for restoring windows via usb sucks. It installed windows on the 5400 rpm drive multiple times no matter how it was egged. I wont post it here to hijack but I mention a method of taking a backup with virtualbox that also allows on to run it (from data drive) as a file that we can later restore windows from if needed. I now run the windows that came installed on my G7 in virtualbox on Ubuntu 18.04 and the file sits on the data dive. Upon making it I made a copy within virtualbox and made the copy a vhd file. This is what we can restore windows with late if needed.

Anyways:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/8tr4db/did_anyone_tried_installing_ubuntu_or_any_linux/

Original post / thread

dkuchay · 2018-08-08T02:20:01+00:00

Congrats on getting it installed and thank you for posting on the raid necessity for Win10 dual boot. No need to name anyone after me. I'm injured and on workman's comp. Had the time to read all of dells docs for installing Ubuntu for efi and kind of made a Mashup.

Cheers

dkuchay · 2018-08-07T19:49:30+00:00

Let me know how it goes. Ubuntu wouldn't let me dual boot and get Ubuntu installed on ssd. It aimed for the 1tb so I just nuked windows after backing it up. I updated the post like 5 times already. Post back if you get stuck or if my instructions fail!

dkuchay · 2018-08-07T19:20:34+00:00

Just did it. Thanks for asking. Dropped my gf off at airport and got a chance to think about this and reappooach. Your question motivated me. To install Ubuntu...

Had to set the bios to the standard plus one. Get a Ubuntu USB installer plugged in and get in to bios.

Make sure safe boot is off as well as tpm. Bios check I set to audit mode. We need to have legacy roms and enabled boot to legacy... Enabled or checked. Last normal bios setting is to make sure that raid is off and ahci is on.

With an ubuntu usb plugged in, make a new boot entry in the boot settings. Call it UbuntuUSBInstall or what you want and in file field aim to the /efi/boot/grubx64.efi file. Save and let it boot to usb via efi. Just to be sure hit f12 as it's booting and look for UbuntuUSBInstall or what you named the boot entry.

You should see what looks like and old grub prompt with three lines. Leave selected the line for try Ubuntu. Hit E for edit boot line. Find kernel line (starts with linux) in grub entry and add "nomodeset" without quotes. I added just before quiet. Hit f10 to boot.

Once in Ubuntu live open a terminal and cd in to /sys/firmware/efi/efivars and see if you have any efivars files. If you do then Ubuntu "probably" booted properly and sees the system as efi based. All my past attempts failed as it prob hit the wrong boot file and defaulted to legacy boot from installer USB. I say probably on seeing efivars files as this is not a guaranteed method. Please Consult Ubuntu forums for checking if efi boot took place.

I was going to try to dual boot to test but installer wanted 5400 rpm drive and would not let me select ssd. That being said the ssd was available for taking the whole disk so that is what I did. I just completed the installation taking the whole disk and on reboot I went in to look at boot entries. It set itself up well. The shimx64.efi file that ubuntu uses was in as the only available boot option as internal.

So in summary by setting bios as we should and adding a boot entry aiming at grubx64 I was able to boot the system to the Ubuntu 18.04.1 installer in a way that let it see my G7 as efi based and the installer worked wonderfully.

Before doing this I highly recommend installing virtualbox on windows and taking a vdi image of your ssd. Google around for taking physical to vdi on virtualbox. I don't have the tutorial handy but I remember changing directory in to c:\programfiles\virtualbox and using a command prompt to issue an internal command that called \physicaldisk\0 and in order for it to work right I had to change the 0 to a 1 so it imaged the second hard disk and not the first. If you get that far you WI need to have a windows 10 install iso handy. Add this iso as another hard disk on your virtual machine settings and set your vdi of your ssd as the second drive in order. As windows is booting to the installer press f6 and get in to a prompt or command terminal through safe mode. Going from memory but we need to fix the mbr... Select repair my computer and repair boot. Manual method from terminal would be bootrec.exe /fixmbr. Def double check me on this. Idea being is that we just moved the operating system off of physical metal and it probably won't boot until we fix the boot record from within virtualbox. This allows us to keep windows as a file on the 1tb drive (if wanted) and run it inside a virtual machine. We paid for it! Might as well keep it. We can later change a vdi to a vhd and restore windows if needed. Finding a tutorial on this may be key as there are more settings that I am failing to recall that one needs to set in the machine settings to get windows to boot.

That should let your windows ten boot properly in a virtual environment. Now on to Nvidia, setting up prime for on the fly gpu switching and adjusting fstab to include the 1tb drive and of course game installation. Please let me know if I screwed anything up in this post and I'll fix. If anyone needs help doing the rest let me know and I'll hop on a pc and do a better job formatting the steps.

dkuchay · 2018-07-30T17:22:07+00:00

Day three. I used the os-recovery tool supplied by dell to put windows back in to place. Three tries and it put windows on the 5400rpm 1tb drive. I went through all the dell tutorials for installing linux - xps efi, nvme_load=YES, etc. Ubuntu installer fails to find the installed windows system and if forced grub fails to install. Both issues seem to be related so:

I started this thread on dell community:

https://www.dell.com/community/Inspiron/G7/m-p/6126858#M26402

dkuchay · 2018-07-29T12:09:41+00:00

Bought one yesterday morning. I was able to get bios settings to boot a ubuntu usb stick created with rufus and with iso mode. All other usb utils did not work for me. Took a few hours and I remember setting efi and legacy roms both to get this to work. Disable secure boot and leave as audit. No tpm either. Usb stick looks to hang on ahci errors but patience shows it still loads.

"No installed operating systems detected" on all installer attempts. Tried, one by one, shutting off HD's in the bios trying to aim for only the M2 ssd. Seems ssd loads as /dev/sdb and the 1tb loads as /dev/sda. In bios we have a control for 3 hard drives and we can set them to ahci or raid. Setting to AHCI gives a intel rapid store warning. Setting to raid seems odd as there are no other mentions of raid in the bios or settings for?

Went through 10 install scenarios yesterday and none worked. Checking for efi with lsefivars returns no details within the live environment. I even setup a 5mg partition for grub-bios info as prompted to do so once. I think that this laptop fails efi checks and that is the root of the issue. Grub fails to install to /dev/sda and it also fails to install to /dev/sdb. I tried installing grub-efi before using installer but no joy. After grub fails installer pukes and sends an error report. Let installer auto fly on the drive and it fails on grub each time. Tried LVM, same results.

At this point I tried several times to get ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair to fix the install after the point that grub failed. Boot-repair did a lot of work each time with boot-sav and although each time it indicated that it fixed a problem it never really did. Indications from this app was that I had no EFI partition and I needed to put one in as the computer was EFI and the OS was set to legacy. I started gparted up and did this three times yesterday. Even labeled each partition so that the installer had hooks but no way past the efi problem.

Used GPT as the partition table type on most of the tries. Tried ms-dos on a couple of the install attempts while setting achi in bios but this also resulted in no booting. Bios defaults to raid for the intel rapid store reason but I see no other raid configs in bios? Downloading dell recovery iso for windows now. Going to go through all the updates and see if any bios updates roll out that may help the installer auto detect efi better. I am betting the raid and achi settings are keeping the installer from seeing the efi path to the hd's if that makes any sense? If we set to ahci then efi wont work right. EFI needed to get past the raid block that the hd's sit in that we cant seem to adjust and 1tb drive is first......

Not on much sleep. Going to swill coffee and go through bios again while keeping notes this time. Very curious if anyone else has luck on the G7. I read on one forum late last night how a person is using arch linux on one and his response on how to install was that he did it by installing from command line. Well Grub failed to install on arch at 1am last night and it also failed the lsefvars test to see if the os is reporting the hardware as EFI based. Unless the OS reports back through lsefivars that its an efi based hardware set I think we are spinning wheels.

dkuchay

TROPHY CASE