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Ubuntu not showing drives on Acer Extensa Ex-215-52 model?

thor_hammerthor_hammer Member Posts: 9

Tinkerer
in TravelMate and Extensa
I have been trying to install Ubuntu on Acer Extensa Ex-215-52 laptop 2021 model 10gen cpu. I wanted to install ubuntu as my main operating system, the ubuntu boots up for installation but it does not show ssd drive. It is running win 11 on UEFI. This laptop does not have a legacy mode option in the bios menu. I have tried multiple ways by changing bios settings, and updating the bios but no luck. Tried with multiple flavors of Linux still no luck. Any one from the acer community faced this issue and were able to install Linux on these new acer extensa laptops?

Best Answer

  • thor_hammerthor_hammer Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    Answer ✓

    My friend gave me a Samsung NVMe drive to test it. To my surprise, the NVMe drive showed and now able to install the Ubuntu. I tried on SSD SATA drive with Samsung brand but it did not show.


    This means that this Laptop will only support OEM Brand NVMe on HDD0 and does not support installation on SSD SATA drive.

FAQ & Answers

  • JackEJackE ACE Posts: 41,577 Trailblazer
    edited August 2022
    That's probably because the boot drive mode is either in IntelRST or IntelOptane  or IntelVMD mode which the Ubuntu installer often can't see. The mode must be changed by way of a SafeBoot method if you want to try to save your Windows system. Please post a phone photo of your BIOS Information and Main tabs so we can see what you have for a drive mode setup..
    Jack E/NJ
  • egydiocoelhoegydiocoelho ACE Posts: 92,588 Trailblazer
    You need to press ctrl+s in the bios main tab. An option called sata mode or vmd controller should appear.

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  • thor_hammerthor_hammer Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    edited August 2022

    Yes, I have the BIOS is in ACHI mode. But still, Ubuntu is not able to detect the SSD Drive. I have disabled the NVME drive also. My laptop has only 256 SSD 2"5 drive. I have tried with multiple SSD and HDDs, but no drives are detected. On windows 11 installation, the drive is shown. The secure boot is disabled.

  • JackEJackE ACE Posts: 41,577 Trailblazer

    Does the drive show up in the BIOS Information tab as HDD0 or HDD1? Ubuntu sometimes has problems with seeing sdb as an installation disk. Can you run GPartEd from the bootable USB ubuntuy stick to see if it can see sda or sdb?

    Jack E/NJ
  • egydiocoelhoegydiocoelho ACE Posts: 92,588 Trailblazer
    edited August 2022

    Can you send a picture of the bios info tab?

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
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    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
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  • thor_hammerthor_hammer Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1140431#Comment_1140431

    Yes, BIOS information shows the HDD0 and HDD1 where HHD0 (nvme) is disabled and HHD1 (SSD) is enabled. But ubuntu us not able to detect drive. I have done vice-versa but issue is still persist. FYI the BIOS installed is latest.

  • thor_hammerthor_hammer Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    edited August 2022
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1140433#Comment_1140433
    IMG_20220818_144933.jpg
    IMG_20220818_144950.jpg
    IMG_20220818_144954.jpg
    IMG_20220818_145002.jpg
    IMG_20220818_145008.jpg
    Course completion error 2.jpg


    As you can see that the laptop is running on the latest bios, SATA MODE: ACHI, Secure Boot Disabled. I have spent days/nights trying is disable and enable BIOS settings such as VTX, VT, FAST BOOT, AND OTHER SETTINGS. not able to detect drive while installing ubuntu or any other linux OS

    https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/8413?b=1

    [Edited the content to hide sensitive information.]

  • JackEJackE ACE Posts: 41,577 Trailblazer

    Is the WesternDigital GPT partitioned and initialized? Have you checked it from Windows diskmgmt.msc and diskpart when you boot Windows from the m.2?

    Jack E/NJ
  • egydiocoelhoegydiocoelho ACE Posts: 92,588 Trailblazer

    Enable HDD 0:

    image.png


    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          

               
      egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • thor_hammerthor_hammer Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    edited August 2022
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1140857#Comment_1140857

    Yes, I have tried enabling and disabling it. Swapping NVMe drive and SSD Drive, nothing seems to work. I also went to the store, they were also unable to install Ubuntu. According to the store owner, this laptop variant only comes with windows 10 preinstalled. I am deciding to sell this laptop as there is no support from Acer as well. I have read an article on Reddit that this laptop only runs windows OS.

    I don't see any help from the community and from Acer as well.


    FYI

    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/617348/acer-extensa-ex215-21-62dp-disk-not-recognized-by-linux

    this thread has also raised the same issue.

  • egydiocoelhoegydiocoelho ACE Posts: 92,588 Trailblazer

    This model comes with a 256gb ssd too: https://www.acer.com/datasheets/2020/4876/215-52/NX.EG8SG.00C.html

    But it's not showing up here:

    1.jpg


    You need to enable this port:

    2.jpg


    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          

               
      egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • JackEJackE ACE Posts: 41,577 Trailblazer

    Is the WesternDigital GPT partitioned and initialized? Have you checked it from Windows diskmgmt.msc and diskpart when you boot Windows from the m.2?

    Jack E/NJ
  • thor_hammerthor_hammer Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    edited August 2022
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1141399#Comment_1141399

    Yes, it did came with NVMe Drive (HDD0) but I removed it because Ubuntu did not detect it. I took the screenshot of the BIOS while I was trying to install Ubuntu on HDD SATA PORT (HDD1) hoping it would detect the drive. But still, Ubuntu was unable to detect HDD too. I had tried NVMe and HDD both, NVMe alone, HDD alone multiple attempts but sadly Ubuntu has not detected the drive.


    There is no youtube video for this model on how to solve it. Even the laptop shop technician is not able to install with multiple attempts and the same thing happened to the rest of the models of the shop which I bought this laptop

    Refer to this video:-

    https://youtu.be/7cYPwgEWhCo

  • JackEJackE ACE Posts: 41,577 Trailblazer

    Is the WesternDigital GPT partitioned and initialized? Have you checked it from Windows diskmgmt.msc and diskpart when you boot Windows from the m.2?

    Jack E/NJ
  • egydiocoelhoegydiocoelho ACE Posts: 92,588 Trailblazer
    edited August 2022

    Check these two links: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1272685/hard-disk-not-showing-up-in-ubuntu-16-18-20-linux-mint-versions-while-installin and https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/614025/dual-boot-hard-disk-partitions-not-showing-up-on-ubuntu-installation

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          

               
      egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • thor_hammerthor_hammer Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1141608#Comment_1141608

    The links says enable the SATA mode to ACHI. No luck yet.

  • egydiocoelhoegydiocoelho ACE Posts: 92,588 Trailblazer

    Try this procedure:

    a) leave sata mode set to ahci in bios.

    b) then go to windows and create a new partition and leave it with unallocated space:

    Captura de Tela (223).png

    c) restart windows and check now, if the linux installation recognizes the partition with unallocated space!

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          

               
      egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • JackEJackE ACE Posts: 41,577 Trailblazer

    Is the WesternDigital GPT partitioned and initialized? Have you checked it from Windows diskmgmt.msc and diskpart when you boot Windows from the m.2?

    Jack E/NJ
  • thor_hammerthor_hammer Member Posts: 9

    Tinkerer
    Answer ✓

    My friend gave me a Samsung NVMe drive to test it. To my surprise, the NVMe drive showed and now able to install the Ubuntu. I tried on SSD SATA drive with Samsung brand but it did not show.


    This means that this Laptop will only support OEM Brand NVMe on HDD0 and does not support installation on SSD SATA drive.

  • JackEJackE ACE Posts: 41,577 Trailblazer

    Congratulatios. Thanks for reporting back. SSDs can be finicky.

    Jack E/NJ
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