Dual boot with Windows error - Intel Optane

Darren3466

After years of using Windows, I decided to try out Ubuntu. I decided to start by making a dual boot. I am using an Acer Predator laptop which has the Intel Optane memory to improve performance of the SSD.

So my Windows SSD is the Intel one and I wanted to install Ubuntu on my second SSD (Samsung, shouldn't matter). I took out the Windows SSD and left just the formatted Samsung one because I thought it will solve the issue with the Ubuntu installer complaining about RST (it didn't). Booted into Ubuntu, the install didn't work. I had to solve the RST issue that pops up during Ubuntu install. I changed the SATA mode in BIOS to AHCI (from Optane in raid). That made it work.

After installing the Ubuntu I tried booting to Windows which didn't work. I had to go back to BIOS and change the SATA mode back to Optane in raid. That made Windows boot normally but at the same time broke the Ubuntu boot.

I don't understand how the disk that Windows is installed on affects the Ubuntu disk, as they shouldn't be tied to each other.

When I try to boot into Ubuntu I get stuck on a black screen with this text:

[ 0.089819] x86/cpu: SGX disabled by BIOS
[ 0.699865] Integrity: Problem loading X.509 certificate -65
[ 0.699904] Integrity: Problem loading X.509 certificate -65
Gave up waiting for root file system device. Common problems:

-Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
- Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
- Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)

ALERT! UUID=e0414a0b-d94e-4a2f-ae62-e4e136518939 does not exist. Dropping to a shell!

BusyBox v1.30.1 (Ubuntu 1:1.30.1-6ubuntu2) built-in shell (ash)

Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

(initramfs)

Leostat

It's as that RST thing is how the CPU / chipset treats the storage engine. With rst the CPU takes direct control away from the chipset, but to do this the kernel needs to have a driver to do that . By doing this, it uses less power, and the number of instructions the disk can do massivly increases as it's treated like a PCI device rather than an ahci SATA drive (which has both less requests it can do at once, and a shorter queue depth) 

Windows does have this RST / VMD driver , the Linux kernel does not, I don't think even Intel's distribution comes with the drivers needed to run in that mode 

You can make some tweaks to the Windows registry to make it boot again, if you look for the Ubuntu RST guide it walks you through it 

Darren3466

Leostat said:

It's as that RST thing is how the CPU / chipset treats the storage engine. With rst the CPU takes direct control away from the chipset, but to do this the kernel needs to have a driver to do that . By doing this, it uses less power, and the number of instructions the disk can do massivly increases as it's treated like a PCI device rather than an ahci SATA drive (which has both less requests it can do at once, and a shorter queue depth) 

Windows does have this RST / VMD driver , the Linux kernel does not, I don't think even Intel's distribution comes with the drivers needed to run in that mode 

You can make some tweaks to the Windows registry to make it boot again, if you look for the Ubuntu RST guide it walks you through it 

Thank you for this tip! I am going to try it right now.

In the meantime:
I have tried to fix it the way I don't want it to be fixed (ideally I want to use the Optane memory when on Windows) and this is what I found out. If I disable the Optane memory use in the Intel Optane app and then change the BIOS SATA settings to AHCI, Windows boots up. When I tried to boot to Linux, I got a black screen with this text:

/dev/nvme0n1p5 clean. xxx/xxx files. xxx/xxx blocks

I fixed that with this advice I found online (this may be useful for somebody reading this):

Connect the laptop to the internet with LAN cable, boot to the GRUB menu, choose Advanced Options, choose Recovery mode, choose enable Networking, choose Root access

Repeatedly try

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get update --fix-missin

Darren3466

Leostat said:

It's as that RST thing is how the CPU / chipset treats the storage engine. With rst the CPU takes direct control away from the chipset, but to do this the kernel needs to have a driver to do that . By doing this, it uses less power, and the number of instructions the disk can do massivly increases as it's treated like a PCI device rather than an ahci SATA drive (which has both less requests it can do at once, and a shorter queue depth) 

Windows does have this RST / VMD driver , the Linux kernel does not, I don't think even Intel's distribution comes with the drivers needed to run in that mode 

You can make some tweaks to the Windows registry to make it boot again, if you look for the Ubuntu RST guide it walks you through it 

Thank you so much, I am going to try this out right now and in the meantime, I have some new observations that can either help somebody googling this, or give somebody trying to help me more information that can help.

I tried solving this the way I don't want to solve it - by getting rid of the Optane memory. I turned off the Optane in the Intel app and also changed the BIOS settings to AHCI. After that, the Windows boots up. After that I tried to boot to Linux but I have gotten this error message:

<code>/dev/nvme0n1p5 clean. xxx/xxx files. xxx/xxx blocks<\code>

To solve that I followed these instructions that I found somewhere online as well. It made the dual boot work but the Optane is turned off.

Connect the laptop to internet with LAN cable, boot to the GRUB menu, choose Advanced Options, choose Recovery mode, choose enable Networking, choose Root access

Repeatedly try:

<code>sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

sudo apt-get update --fix-missing<\code>

Darren3466

Thank you Leostat. I sort of fixed it by disabling the Optane in the Intel app and then changing the BIOS settings to AHCI. That alone made it work as the disk was modified by the app while running. That made me lose access to Intel Optane. Is there a solution where I keep using Intel Optane on my Windows SSD and it is ignored by the other SSD with Linux on?

Sorry for the duplication above, the post hasn't seemed to be working so I kept trying to fix it resulting in the mess. If a mod could delete the second of the two duplicate comments above would be great.