[ SOLVED ] Problem with installing LL-only (single boot) to Samsung 850 EVO SSD

[Wirezfree]

@m654321

Glad it's sorted... The mysteries of computers. 

[m654321]

Don't use a separate boot partition. Grub should be at the beginning of the first partition on the disk. The message is just a prompt for windows rescue media because your computer can't find the disk. It's been my experience that if you try to use a separate boot partition on some computers, even with legacy mode enabled, the BIOS will not find the disk. This is because the UEFI loader is still the default whether or not you enable legacy mode; legacy is just an added feature; thus the system looks for Windows disks first; thus the prompt, because Windows defaults to the media channel when disks are unavailable. There are tricks to get around this, not too difficult, but since you have already succeeded I won't go through them.
TC 

Thanks Trinidad - I've never used a separate /boot partition - was just querying it, though had half-assumed it wasn't necessary.  Many thanks too for your explanation as to why my UEFI laptop doesn't recognise a GPT formatted SSD that has only LL installed on it, i.e. without a Windows OS installed alongside it.  This makes perfect sense.

Cheers
Mike

[trinidad]

Don't use a separate boot partition. Grub should be at the beginning of the first partition on the disk. The message is just a prompt for windows rescue media because your computer can't find the disk. It's been my experience that if you try to use a separate boot partition on some computers, even with legacy mode enabled, the BIOS will not find the disk. This is because the UEFI loader is still the default whether or not you enable legacy mode; legacy is just an added feature; thus the system looks for Windows disks first; thus the prompt, because Windows defaults to the media channel when disks are unavailable. There are tricks to get around this, not too difficult, but since you have already succeeded I won't go through them.

TC 

[m654321]

If you are only going to boot LL, I would suggest just regular MSDOS partition option, not sure if GPT really gives you anything.?

The only time I have seen that message was on 1 install when for whatever reason the BIOS boot disk order got messed up.

If you are not even seeing the SSD in the BIOS, check the SATA/Power cables.
Also check for a possible BIOS update on the MOBO/PC website.

Your suggestion to use an MSDOS partition table worked - thanks Dave.  I've no Bios-grub partition option now, as I've removed the GPT format so I've simply installed LL with '/' and '/home' partitions.  I've never used a separate /boot partition,  but am assuming this is not necessary, even if, at a later date, I was to add another linux distro to the SSD. 

It's interesting that I'm unable to install LL on its own on a GPT formatted Samsung 850 EVO SSD.  It might be because the laptop concerned is a UEFI one [see laptop type in (1), in sig below).

Interesting, because elsewhere i.e. setup (3) in sig, I installed LL (single boot) without difficulty on a GPT formatted Corsair BX100 SSD, but the laptop involved was not a UEFI one.  So maybe whether the laptop is a modern UEFI type or an older one (without UEFI) is what determines whether a Linux distro can be installed alone (single boot) and reboot successfully on a GPT formatted disk.

The power cables are fine as another Samsung 850 EVO (with a win8.1/LL dual-boot on GPT) shows the 'P0:.....' entry in the boot list in PC settings.

Mike

[Wirezfree]

If you are only going to boot LL, I would suggest just regular MSDOS partition option, not sure if GPT really gives you anything.?

The only time I have seen that message was on 1 install when for whatever reason the BIOS boot disk order got messed up.

If you are not even seeing the SSD in the BIOS, check the SATA/Power cables.
Also check for a possible BIOS update on the MOBO/PC website.

[m654321]

I am feeling more confident now in moving away from a Win/LL dual-boot to an LL only PC.  However, I wont ditch Windows OS totally, but will keep it in a virtual machine for some of those things that are still a bit difficult to do in Linux generally.

With the above in mind, I thought I would replace the Win8.1/LL2.8 dual-boot, already installed on one of my 250GB Samsung 850 EVO solid state drives, with LL3.0 only.

Before, installation I made sure the PC was in Legacy/CSM mode and once I was in the LL3.0 live environment (using a DVD) I opened gparted to wipe the drive clean and ensure I had a GPT formatted SSD.

Once that was done I executed LL3.0 installation, allocating 15MB for Bios-grub, 30GB for /, and 50GB for /home.  All went very smoothly, as expected, until I rebooted.  On rebooting, the PC did not boot into LL but instead I got a black screen with the following message in white letters:

Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

Following this message, I went into PC Settings and noticed that the line "PO: Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB" does not appear in the boot list. Furthermore, there appears to be no option to add this to the boot list.  I don't know what to do next.. I'd be grateful for any help/advice.

Just for the record, I'm using laptop (1) - see signature below.
Many thanks for any help - I'm beginning to pull my hair out with this seemingly intractable problem...

Cheers
Mike