Hello - I have been getting a “B2” error (no quotation marks) when trying to boot an 8 year-old PowerSpec B722 computer that was running Manjaro until it failed. However, it will boot from a pen drive, which is what I am doing now. When I tried to install Manjaro from it, I got the following error notice:
Installation failed
The bootloader could not be installed. The installation command
The tech department at MicroCenter had put the machine through its diagnostic tests and all the hardware passed. However, they speculated that the SSD (which contains the OS) might have gotten corrupted.
Would it make sense to just replace the SSD and try again? Anything I should prepare or do in advance of that? Any other suggestions?
Thanks for any help!
It might. It might not. Depending on the computer, it might not. You might replace it to only have something else give up the ghost, a month or week later. It also might still work for many years, there’s no way to know, that I’m aware of.
However, if you keep that in mind, and am prepared for it to happen, the only thing that can happen, is being pleasantly surprised if it lasts long. Personally, I think it’'s a good gamble…
Hope it helps!
P.S.:
If you do decide to go that route, just make sure that, if it’s there, fast boot and RAID is disables in the BIOS/UEFI.
I have seen this if I have not asked Calamares to format the partitions its going to use.
No idea why this should be so but it never fails if I do the above!
Thank you, Mirdarthos, for answering my post. I will look in the BIOS to see if fast boot and disabling RAID are pretty obvious there. Why are these important?
Growler - If I understand Legacy, then no, it is not, since I installed Manjaro on a machine running Linux Mint. Before that, it was running Windows. Not sure what EFI is…
UEFI (sometimes referred to as EFI) is now the standard technology used to boot a computer, although both UEFI and the previous MBR boot (Legacy) system are still possible. However, these two technologies are mutually exclusive.
When multibooting, for example, you can’t use both of these technologies at the same time. Though, this isn’t strictly true, as there is a subset of a UEFI base motherboards called the Compatibility Support Module (CSM), which emulates a traditional BIOS boot; which does arguably allow both.
However, for the sake of simplicity, it’s best to use either one or the other; especially in a multiboot environment where having CSM enabled can be detrimental to an EFI-booting OS successfully launching. To ensure only UEFI booting is used (on a UEFI-capable machine), one must usually change a few settings in the BIOS.
The boot scenario you have should also inform the tools and procedures used during installation and maintenance. The distinction between UEFI and Legacy booting is important, and I suggest you learn as much as you can about the differences between them, before progessing much further.
This machine looks to have been manufactured circa 2013 (an educated guess); it should be UEFI capable, though the implementation may be flaky (as many were of that vintage).
The manufacturer site doesn’t seem to list a service manual or user guide of any kind, which might have been helpful. Nor possible BIOS updates.
Once the EFI booting preferences are properly configured in your BIOS, the Manjaro installer (Calamares) should detect this and install Manjaro in UEFI mode without much further fuss.
What?
Iiieeeh… I might have add:d out of my mind and spent an hour looking for that computer yesterday, I just did not want to admit that here so I only posted the link.
U sure about that? Sometimes it’s better to stay quiet and listen.
ADD can be both my biggest enemy and my biggest super power.
Unless two motherboards has the EXACT same name, this is it.
Release Date 2012-03-29
Edit
I have read the whole manual (again, ADD), and the strange thing is there is no mention of efi, but they also do not go through the “base settings” menu in it witch is where I would assume the setting is, only overclocking, memory timings and stuff.
But it should def have efi.
Does not seem to support fastboot other than they call memory training “fast boot memory training” (should prob be set to auto) so the board should be good for linux after making sure efi is being used.
That’s been known to happen (different revisions), but point taken. The computer manufacturer site, however, doesn’t list much; as I said.
2012 though – that’s even older than I’d guessed – which places an element of doubt on the UEFI implementation; but nothing major to be concerned about, I think.
Yes, it’s linked to on the computer manufacturer site.
Some mainboards of that vintage only supported UEFI by virtue of experimental BIOS upgrades; as was the case with a Z68XP 6th Gen board I once had. The original specifications likewise made no mention of UEFI.
Well, the installer command is for a legacy install
Mint and Win can/could be installed in either legacy or uefi.
If you boot from your live usb, open a terminal and run: inxi -Fazy
and you’ll see the partitioning scheme of your ssd under ‘Drives’; if it says scheme:MBR then check in your bios to make sure it’s set to ‘Legacy’ boot (or ‘CSM’). If it says scheme:GPT your bios must be set to ‘UEFI’ boot.
Thanks to you, @Midarthos and @bedna. I am so impressed at your eagerness to help, and at your tenacity in getting to the bottom of things. I have not had the time to get to work on my computer. I promise to get back to you when I have something to report, hopefully a resounding success.
FYI, I don’t have any experience with negotiating multiple replies. I am going to copy this message to the other correspondents in this string.
Thanks to you, @growler and @robin0800. I am so impressed at your eagerness to help, and at your tenacity in getting to the bottom of things. I have not had the time to get to work on my computer. I promise to get back to you when I have something to report, hopefully a resounding success.
FYI, I don’t have any experience with negotiating multiple replies. I am going to copy this message to the other correspondents in this string.