#System does not boot into Mint after loading bootable media, ASUS Z690E

347 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

vast sky
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The issue I am currently having is that my system is not booting Mint, and instead goes to BIOS. Nothing I have done allows me to boot into Mint- however, my SSDs are still recognized.

What I was doing was attaching a new SeaGate drive to my pc to have the option for Windows and Linux. The system booted fine upon attaching, I formatted the new disk. Installed the proper ISO, attached it to a thumb drive, booted. From here I realised I did not install the drivers needed on the stick, so I backed out and tried to boot back into Mint to do so. However, I booted into BIOS. Repeat a few times and I removed the drive (assumed it was still defaulting to my stick), but still booted into post.

Ny next attempt was to change the boot order in BIOS (Asus 690E) but while the drives are recognized, the option to change them are greyed out and unusable. From here I reset BIOS to deault to no result.

As of now, I am still stuck in BIOS.

This is a semi-urgent issue, so if anyone could offer any assistsnce, it would be unbelievably appreciated.

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One small extra detail. BIOS only recognizes my USB to boot into UEFI for Windows setup, but does not display the option to boot with my Mint installation

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Another small update. I have run a self test from the BIOS on both drives and both report "pass," so I am under the assumotion the SSDs are at least partially recognized and functional

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Also tried booting via the CSM to no avail so far, however I am still tampering to see what results I get. Just calling the failure now, unless it isn't, in which case I will say so

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Boot override to my 1TB SSD (of which my installation is on) does not yield a result.

I'm done tampering until someone more knowledgeable than I can offer something else to try, because that's all I got lol

rn_image_picker_lib_temp_c3d96c68-af88-4d0b-889d-5045848c192a.jpg
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System does not boot into Mint after loading bootable media, ASUS Z690E

rigid grotto
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u may have a fussy bios that only recognizes GPT-written drives

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disable CSM and fast boot in BIOS

vast sky
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I do not currently have Windows installed, the furthest I got was loading an ISO on a thumb drive and immediately backing out to install drivers. I will try your suggestions in just a moment

rigid grotto
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then check in Windows disk management for your target drive having linux installation on it. check its properties there

vast sky
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Mint is my main OS installed onto, for convenience, Drive 1. I was using a thumb drive to put a copy of Windows onto Drive 3, which resulted in this mess

rigid grotto
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you will need a working computer, and remake your live usb,

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oh so u have working Mint on one drive?

vast sky
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If by working you mean installed to the drive, yes. However, it will not boot as it did prior

rigid grotto
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did u delete any partitions?

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since it last worked...

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such as EFI partition, from any disk that was once present, while it all worked

vast sky
# rigid grotto did u delete any partitions?

Did not so much as touch any partitions in Drive 1. The only thing I touched between installing Drive 3 and making a bootable thumb stick was formatting Drive 3 and then formatting the stick, nothing else

rigid grotto
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drive 3 may have had the efi partition

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did it used to also have Windows on it?

vast sky
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Not to my knowledge, no. It should be a brand new drive, as it was not formatted when I installed it

rigid grotto
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k

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so, check BIOS settings

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should be set to pure UEFI boot mode, and the loader named 'ubuntu' at very top of boot order

vast sky
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Would that be under my CSM? If not, the only boot options I typically receive are Drive 1 and Drive 2, of which Drive 1 has my installation

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For reference

rn_image_picker_lib_temp_bacc8ace-179b-4c8e-a9ed-823bc60d8977.jpg
rigid grotto
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uefi uses loader names, not drive models

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so turn off CSM first

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then save settings,

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then reboot, back to BIOS SETUP

vast sky
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Done

rigid grotto
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ok now check the boot options

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which had Mint, the 1 TB?

vast sky
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My boot options are no longer viewable, it is greyed out

vast sky
rigid grotto
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ok show the pic

vast sky
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It has never done this to me in the past, as you could probably guess

rigid grotto
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is it saying OFF in the CSM thing?

vast sky
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Yes, it is completely disabled

rigid grotto
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go to Main

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and put in simple UI mode

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see if any draggable icons with a U in them

vast sky
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Is this what you're referring to?

rn_image_picker_lib_temp_07201f3e-4033-4d60-9f26-1eaf9ab3230d.jpg
rigid grotto
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yep. RST should be off

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rapid storage.

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then hit F8 for boot options

vast sky
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"Could not find any bootable devices."

rigid grotto
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can you make a diagnostic tool usb on another computer?

vast sky
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I don't have access to another computer

rigid grotto
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tough situation to troubleshoot

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what bootable iso thing u say u had?

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some windows uefi thing?

vast sky
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Windows 11 ISO on a thumb stick

rigid grotto
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keep RST OFF

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do U have an old hard drive u could put in the pc?

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this circumvents the need for nvme/chipset drivers

vast sky
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I could use Drive 3, it is empty. Drives 1 and 2 are the OS and misc files respectively

rigid grotto
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or it may work regardless, to add windows, with rst off

vast sky
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Are you proposing I try to complete the Windows installation to Drive 3?

rigid grotto
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yep. so u got something to work with

vast sky
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It seems impossible so far. I'll start the process and share pictures why

rigid grotto
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u dont have any other bootable usb?

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like the Mint one

vast sky
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The USB I am using for this Windows installation is the same one I used to create Mint ages ago

rigid grotto
vast sky
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I'm unsure what you mean

rigid grotto
vast sky
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RST is currently off

vast sky
# vast sky

This is where I am when booting the thumb drive with the Windows ISO

rigid grotto
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yep. shame

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do u have OTG cable, Android smartphone?

vast sky
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On android right now, yes

rigid grotto
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otg cable?

vast sky
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What is an OTG cable?

rigid grotto
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for usb drive

vast sky
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I do not

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Perhaps I could download the driver to my phone and connect it directly?

rigid grotto
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gonna have to get one, or another pc

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u will need to either etchdroid a new Mint ISO to the usb stick, for diagnostic n repair purposes

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or on a diff computer, use ventoy to prep usb stick in GPT mode and slap Mint iso on it, AND supergrub2 disk

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mint iso has boot repair tool

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supergrub helps scan for n boot os

vast sky
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Okay, I will see about trying to get a hold of a second computer to do this. Would either of these options potentially mess with my Mint installation? It's incredibly important I don't lose files

rigid grotto
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matter of fact, with a ventoy stick, of enough capacity, u could put three iso's ALL on it, PLUS reserved space, for the special win drivers

vast sky
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I have a ~15 gig stick. Would this suffice?

rigid grotto
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yes it would

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#1295816480256163892 message

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get one like in pic. (img file)

vast sky
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Okay, I'll try to get a hold of a second computer and stick the windows and Mint ISOs on it, plus ventoy.

rigid grotto
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well u have to prep it with ventoy first

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as per special attention to step 4b, and all of steps 6 in guide

vast sky
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Out of curiosity, do you have any clue why this happened? It seems outlandish that it went from fine and dandy in one minute, slapped the ISO on, then completely bricked.

vast sky
rigid grotto
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idk why happened.

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maybe turning rst on screwed linux

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oh, not mentioned in the ventoy guide. after step 4b, u must also do Options, partition configuration/options and tick "leave space at end of drive" and leave about 1 GB

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so u can format that space (fat32) and get the special drivers windows needs for intel rst n tuck them there

rigid grotto
vast sky
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Figured as much. Unrelated to any fix, this is deeply annoying- something crazy happens any time I do anything more than allow Linux to exist lol. If this results in me losing everything on my drives, I may just say screw it and go back to Win lol

vast sky
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Here's a far shot. I still have the cable for Drive 3 plugged in to the PC, but not the drive. Any chance unplugging it could hit the magic switch? lol

rigid grotto
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u can use a 2nd usb, or put it all on one, as per sample pic

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and no, the cable shouldnt matter

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u can trying unclipping the new m.2

vast sky
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Or if you mean Drive 1, call me dumb, but I actually have no clue where it is on the board- I've looked.

rigid grotto
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how am i supposed to know ur drive numbers?

vast sky
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I've been explaining which one is what for the last while now

rigid grotto
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just leave the linux m.2 connected, nothing else

vast sky
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I will give that a try very soon, a couple hours. Will update when I do.

rigid grotto
vast sky
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Will read that asap, thanks

vast sky
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Just managed to secure a second computer to do this from, as well as a second USB

rigid grotto
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I'd say first get a bootable ventoy'd usb set up with Mint ISO on it, so u can explore just what the heck happened to your system. use the DISKS app

vast sky
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Reviewing those guides right now. Will have that done in a few minutes

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I am using Ventoy in the new thumb drive now. In regards to putting ISOs in a persistence folder, I assume you were saying earlier that I could put a Mint and Win11 ISO on the drive in order to troubleshoot?

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Extracting supergrub2 to the thumb drive prepped with Ventoy now as well

vast sky
rigid grotto
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then boot Mint live image, to explore/repair

rigid grotto
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@vast sky any updates on this?

vast sky
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I got caught up in another thing, resuming now

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Copying my ISOs to the drive, will take a minute

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To clarify, I should be putting both Mint and Win11 ISOs in the Ventoy partition at the same time then run the drive off my pc?

rigid grotto
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yes.

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boot Mint ISO first

vast sky
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Okay good, just making sure

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Is this normal?

rn_image_picker_lib_temp_71c739c3-b1fc-42f0-972d-77b458319321.jpg
rigid grotto
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can't see shit

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take landscape photo mode, and close in to window of relevance

vast sky
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Apologies, one moment

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Better?

rigid grotto
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yah say yes

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might be some ntfs vs exfat thing idk

vast sky
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Gotcha, just making sure so I don't brick anything again lol

rigid grotto
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follow all step 6 closely in the ventoy guide I linked above, including the added notes

rigid grotto
vast sky
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Yeah copy that, I've done everything there so far except making a persistence/ISO folder, which I will do as soon as the ISOs have been copied over

rigid grotto
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that's optional

vast sky
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To clarify, do I need to use Ventoy to mount the ISOs to the drive, or can I simply drag them over?

rigid grotto
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drag

vast sky
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Okay cool, it will be done in the next few minutes

rigid grotto
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did u take out all other drives except the linux m.2 one?

vast sky
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I had taken out the 2 TB M.2 before, but I literally just stuck it back in. Should I remove it again?

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Thumb drive also just completed. Will connect it in just a moment

rigid grotto
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u can leave 2nd m2 in for a bit

vast sky
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Okay got it. Booting into mint live in just a moment

rigid grotto
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fire it up

Boot_menu_USB.jpg
vast sky
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I have the option between partition 1 and partition 2. I am assuming partition 1 should be it?

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Attempting to boot on 1 leads to no result

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Partition 2 is Ventoy

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Boot into normal mode for Mint?

rigid grotto
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yep

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then at desktop, run DISKS app, and explore the smaller m.2

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make sure the contents of the efi partition are intact, as well as the core contents of the linux partition

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select each in disks app, click the play icon, and the blue link

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if all seems there, then boot repair

vast sky
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Well I have a pretty bad feeling, because inspecting the 1 TB M.2 I only see this

rn_image_picker_lib_temp_261b1ee3-bacf-4bd3-b6d1-2ae1c77230ca.jpg
rigid grotto
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that's some old crap

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there's no efi partition apparently

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check the ext4

vast sky
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Here's what I see

rn_image_picker_lib_temp_ecc8e31a-e7bb-4d15-844c-cd89725fca25.jpg
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Looks correct to me, I'll run the repair tool in a moment

rigid grotto
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wait

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u need an efi partition

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open gparted first

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@vast sky

vast sky
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On it, one moment

rigid grotto
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select the 1tb drive in it. select the trash 500mb ntfs partition and right click it: unmount, r-click again : delete

vast sky
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Deleted. What next?

rigid grotto
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right click the grey space now formed. do "new"

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primary partition, same size, label ESP

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type: FAT32

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Then show

vast sky
rigid grotto
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yep hit add

vast sky
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Done

rigid grotto
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take note of pending jobs list

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then hit big checkmark in toolbar

vast sky
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Alright, that is done

rigid grotto
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once done right click new fat32 p1

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manage flags

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put boot, and esp flags on it only

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then show full window of gpartd

vast sky
rigid grotto
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good. close file managers, then right click the key icon on p2 in gparted, and 'unmount'

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then choose the 2 tb drive in gparted, and show

vast sky
rigid grotto
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what's on that?

vast sky
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The 2 TB drive is merely an extra storage drive with nothing important on it

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Games, misc files, etc

rigid grotto
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u gonna wipe it?

vast sky
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I'd rather not, no

rigid grotto
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click view at top

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device info

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show

vast sky
rigid grotto
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gpt also. ok

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if you want to put windows on that, you must resize that big volume now

vast sky
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These two drives ideally remain untouched- I have a third hard drive that is not currently installed that I plan to add Windows to

rigid grotto
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ohh

vast sky
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It is currently an empty drive, I believe it is already formatted but I can double check

rigid grotto
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it'll be slow as shit to boot windows off hdd

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My advice is is move all the data off 2 TB Storage drive, all onto hdd

vast sky
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What if I partition a section of the 2 TB M.2 for Windows, then utilize the currently unplugged 1 TB HDD as its storage?

rigid grotto
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n make the 2 tb nvme drive wiped, with new GPT table, n ready for windows to install upon

rigid grotto
vast sky
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Ah, my bad. I'll do that then

rigid grotto
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just right click, resize, n drag only the RIGHT EDGE of the sizer box

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do NOT shift box

vast sky
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Dragging the right side seems to do nothing

rigid grotto
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leftwards

vast sky
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Yep, does nothing from what I can tell

rigid grotto
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show it

vast sky
rigid grotto
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check it first for errors

vast sky
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How do I do that?

rigid grotto
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wait.

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it's got key icon.

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u must unmount it

vast sky
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Done, it works now

rigid grotto
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then resize

vast sky
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How much space do you reckon I should give it?

rigid grotto
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make sure pending job does NOT say 'move' give all 500 gigs or w/e for windows

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min. 150 gigs

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150 x1024

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for binary megs

vast sky
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Actually I'll dump 250 for this. 1024x250?

rigid grotto
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yep

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then hit resize, and apply all ops after reading over job list

vast sky
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Done

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Done

rigid grotto
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i mean ideally, this 2 tb drive should be empty for windows to install on, so it can make an independent ESP at the start sectors

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but gambling heree

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ok next,

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closee gparted if done

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open DISKS again

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label ur stuff.

vast sky
rigid grotto
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u can move those games all to the hdd

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temporarily

vast sky
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It's too much for the HDD, ~1.5 TB

rigid grotto
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then wipe

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so put some onto the main linux one

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make a folder

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but u can do that tomorrow

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for now, label ur stuff

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then boot repair tool

vast sky
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Label my stuff?

rigid grotto
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yeah open disks app

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choose the 1 tb nvme

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then choose the ext4 partition

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click gear: edit fs

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put MINT

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same for the 2 tb but put Lin_Storage

vast sky
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Done

rigid grotto
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ok run boot repair n hope for the best

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run recommended repair

vast sky
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I am assuming RAID is a no?

rigid grotto
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correct

vast sky
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Okay, here goes then

rigid grotto
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RST should be off from last time

vast sky
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It seems it finished. I'm still at the live desktop

rigid grotto
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ya the ubuntu thing is crap cuz it needs a sign-in with ubuntu account

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read the summary yourself

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and see what it did

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then try a reboot , removing the USB stick when prompted to

vast sky
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Read the report, truth be told I don't understand too much but it seems relatively fine. Going to reboot now

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Holy crap, I'm back into my OS. Thank you lol

rigid grotto
vast sky
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So what do you think caused this whole shitfest, if you have any idea? It makes absolutely no sense to me that my entire system wet the bed because I simply tried to throw a thumb drive with Win11 at it

rigid grotto
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so when u got time to fiddle, move all data u wanna keep OFF of the 2 TB,... blank it using gparted (going to Device menu, and making a new GUID Partition Table (GPT) and leave it unallocated fully. then run up the Windows ISO n see if it recognizes anything at all. if it does, then shut down, remove the MINT 1 TB drive fully, and attempt to install Win onto the 2 TB

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and if it complains of drivers, well u saw that link i put for RST stuff etc for ASUS

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u can slap them onto a 2nd FAT32 usb stick

rigid grotto
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hence installing IN ISOLATION is the best option

vast sky
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I had no clue that could even touch my bootloader, damn crazy.

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I'm going to get started on moving crap around to get Windows set up. As a general question, because I'm a moron lol, I've left a vast amount of space free on my 1 TB M.2 since I vaguely recall old SSDs slowing down if they were too full. Something something, cached storage, etc etc.. Is this the case? I'd really love to keep my 2 TB M.2 as is simply because it's nice to have my games and such run on and the original purpose of the HDD was to simply have a Windows install for compatability sake- e.g. some programs do not work under any circumstance on Linux, thus having a shitty little Win install would be my solution

rigid grotto
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remember to remove all unnecessary drives when attempting to install Windows (any version) (Isolation mode to preserve Linux ESP)

vast sky
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Okay, got ya. If I have any other questions in regards to that, would it be fine to use this thread or should I create a new one?

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And like genuinely thanks again, you're a lifesaver lol

rigid grotto
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and u could do WIndows on HDD but it will take minutes to boot. not fun.

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vs seconds on nvme

vast sky
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I could just get another SSD, but I have the very inconvenient problem of not having a place for a drive bay in my case

rigid grotto
rigid grotto
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on CLEAN surfaces

vast sky
vast sky
rigid grotto
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Sata SSD are extremely light, and have no moving parts. seen ppl do velcro

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if normal mode wont boot on ventoy , then try wimboot mode in the ventoy screens

vast sky
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I'm sure I could make it work, I just have a particularly annoying case is all. Cross that bridge when I get there

vast sky
rigid grotto
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supergrub was there incase needed to boot without a bootloader in case repair failed

vast sky
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Win11 is not recognized

rigid grotto
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huh?

vast sky
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It does recognize the prior Linux Mint live, but not the Windows 11 install

rigid grotto
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u mean ventoy wont boot Win11 in any mode?

vast sky
rigid grotto
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or do u mean the installer cant find drives?

vast sky
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Here's where I'm at

rigid grotto
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forget that

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that's just grub off ur main ESP / main drive

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windows isnt installed so...

vast sky
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Well lucky me I didn't get the right screen, I removed the wrong drive anyways

rigid grotto
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always note drive and partition sizes with close observance.

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and model numbers

vast sky
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Okay, you know what, I've got a third M.2 slot and I do not feel like fucking around for another three hours to get this settled. I'm going to best buy tomorrow for another M.2, and that will be the solution to this weird throwaround mess of moving partitions

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If I have any trouble tomorrow, I'll say so if that is alright

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For now I'm going to throw my PC back together and remove the 250 gb partition on the 2 TB

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Apologies for making you run around my cluelessness for that part, as you can tell I'm not very savvy with this sort of thing lol

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I assume I could remove that partition via my main install of Mint?

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Same process, just removing?

rigid grotto
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ok

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you could use the DISKS app to resize back as it was

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or install gparted

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or do it live

vast sky
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Okay cool, will do that then. Again, thank you lots!

rigid grotto
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cheers

vast sky
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Seems I'm caught up again. Isolated my PC's drives this time because screw whatever happened before, prepped a USB with Ventoy and Win11 ISO/internet drivers, try to boot into normal mode, and get a failed to boot screen

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Scratch that, wimboot fixed it.

rigid grotto
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k cool

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you bought a third m.2 drive?

vast sky
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I am, however, still stuck on this screen

20250407_134410.jpg
vast sky
rigid grotto
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so click Browse, then go to the location where you extracted the driver for motherboard chipset and/or wifi card

vast sky
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I've done that, however nothing shows up

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I installed drivers for the MB's wifi card, but nothing for a MB chipset as I wasn't aware that could be something I needed

rigid grotto
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did u get the right ones directly from you pc manufacturer's website? per ur model

vast sky
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Yep, I got it from Asus direct for the 690E

rigid grotto
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yeah u'll have to play around i guess.

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review that video/asus website link i sent way up

vast sky
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Will do

rigid grotto
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idk if it accepts exe's as drivers or u need to "run" those exe's first on a win computer, or in the winstaller itself to "get" the drivers out

vast sky
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Found the issue. The way Ventoy works seems to make the system believe it is missing an installation disc. Using another PC to create a win media tool worked just fine.

rigid grotto