Installing Linux on S7

I've been trying to install OpenSuse (or any Linux distro, for that matter) alongside Windows on an S7 191. The problem is that I can't even boot the flash drive with the installation. When I try to (changing the boot order or pressing F12), the Acer logo just flickers until I remove the drive - then Windows boots. It works on Legacy mode, but I have to install it under EFI if Dual-boot is to work.

I started a thread on OpenSuse's forums (https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/494137-Booting-installation-USB-on-UEFI-and-RAID0) to look for help, but the problem lies quite clearly in Acer's engineering of the device.

Is that any way to do that, or is a "Linux-free" Ultrabook another one of the strange "design features" of the S7 series?

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helaughsatfear

Try Rufus.

That's the only USB writer I had partial success with.

But even then, the live versions of Fedora 20 and Mint 16 gave me issues.

luizedu

Thanks for the reply.

At first I thought that the possibility to specify UEFI and GPT on Rufus would make things work, but I got the same flickering behaviour with OpenSuse 13.1 and Ubuntu 13.10 on both FAT and FAT32. I can't even access the BIOS when the USB disk plugged.

Searching online, it seems most people have no trouble booting flash drives on UEFI in S7's. I really have no idea what could be causing this, and Acer provides no help whatsoever.

helaughsatfear

Just installed openSUSE 13.1 on s7-392. Dual boot with Windows 8.

I used openSuse's ImageWriter (I think they insist that we use their USB writer) to create the USB, and it was recognized in UEFI with security boot disabled. (It was arbitrary).

I made a post about this.

http://community.acer.com/t5/Ultra-Thin/Successful-dual-boot-with-openSUSE-13-1-in-UEFI-USB-install/m-p/196531#U196531

I experienced 2 display related bugs. One with a black screen at bootup, which i remedied by increasing the brightness of the screen. The other issue has to do with changing the resolution.

Other than that.. is a beautiful setup.

luizedu

I tried using Imagewriter before but it didn't work for me, but I'll give it a try once again. Still, the people on OpenSuse's forums said the programs I used were okay, and it's unlikely the problem would be caused by how I created the LiveUSB, as (afaik) OpenSuse is the only one to recommend a specific software to do so, and I can't boot any distro nor any LiveUSB created by any means. The only flash drive I managed to boot is windows recovery disk.

I already checked my EFI config a thousand times, but the options are quite limited and there's nothing that could cause or solve this issue anyway (apart possibly from Secure Boot). The Bios is already up to date.

Other than this problem (and having lost one cooler and not having got a replacement due to Acer Brazil's prohibitive guidelines) the notebook is fine, but regardless, I really can't think of any other option, than that it is some sort of unit defect that's causing this.

luizedu

I managed to boot the flash drive in UEFI by turning on Secure Boot and giving all .efi files in the LiveUSB permission to run. Then I removed the drive and opened the boot menu (with the drive in place, the same flickering behavior would happen), where I could choose between grub2 (how I named one of the .efi files) and Windows. I plugged the USB and opened grub2.

Despite being able to boot, I couldn't install the OS. Trying to fix it, I used other softwares to create the LiveUSB and repeated the same method. Now, however, there are 5 files selected as trusted files in EFI and I can't add any more entries and neither can I deete previous entries. Reseting the CMOS would probably fix it. Is it hard to access the battery after opening the case?

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