cannot even boot (or install) any linux on aspire 5 A515-48M

linuxuser2
linuxuser2 Member Posts: 2 New User

Hello, I have a new acer aspire 5 A515-48M, it has no OS, only UEFI shell.

I want to install linux. I tried debian (latest nightly), ubuntu (20.04.6 and 23.10), kali, parrot, opensuse, blackarch, altlinux, freebsd and a few more, and all of them get as far as the grub menu, but cannot boot from the USB, and therefore cannot install.

In the UEFI shell, I can cd to the SSD partitions, as well as the USB, and I can ls the files on both. I have the supervisor password set in BIOS, it is UEFI mode only, I tried with secure boot both on and off, I tried to press control-s in the main tab but only two non-related options appear, touchpad and something else. With secure boot on, I selected the efi file in BIOS but it still does not boot and goes back to acer splash. I tried to rename the kernel to ubnkern.efi and same thing, screen goes blank when I try to run it from UEFI shell, and back to acer splash. There is no debug printed on the screen to give a hint as to why it does not work.

There is no problem with the SSD or the USB. The problem is that it will not boot any linux from the USB. I tried to boot from grub command line, but it is the same as from grub menu - at most it prints EFI stub: initrd then the screen goes blank and back to acer splash; debian locks up and beeps continuously when trying to boot until it is shut off using the power button. I never had so much trouble trying to install linux on any laptop, and I installed on several acers in the past. This should be simple and straightforward.

Please let me know what I have to do to install linux(any distro that works) on aspire 5 A515-48M - I searched and everything I found does not help on this laptop

Answers

  • linuxuser2
    linuxuser2 Member Posts: 2 New User
    edited December 2023

    that link gives instructions on things to do after linux is installed; the problem I have is more serious - linux does not boot from the live usb; as I said, it gets as far as the grub menu; I tried to boot from the grub menu, from the grub command line, and from the uefi shell; sometimes it prints the EFI stub: initrd loaded message, usually it prints nothing, then the screen goes blank and back to acer splash; I tried at least 10 distros; the live usb was made with unetbootin, and it works fine on other laptops; I tried 2 different usbs; I tried msdos and gpt partition table, but if formatted with gpt, the usb stick is not recognized; good to know that linux runs on aspire 5 laptops; I don't understand why they make it so difficult and linux unfriendly; I will look at trying another stick, and maybe another software to make it, though unetbootin worked on all the other laptops I tried

  • mobixon
    mobixon Member Posts: 1 New User

    I had the same issue, and I solve it by updating bios(from 1.0 to 1.52). There no easy way to update bios in uefi so I installed temporary windows 10, than under windows I updated bios, after that boot usb with ubuntu(22.04) start working(do not try to install Ubuntu 23 or later, there no video drivers atm for this laptop). On ubuntu installation process I fully erased disk with windows so you can use some free windows distribution, just for bios update. Unfortunately I still have problems with video driver( all good untill you not open video in full screen mode).