Hey everyone! I'm somewhat new to Linux and I've been trying to make things work on my old ThinkPad E120. I attempted to install Ubuntu MATE, but after restarting, I ended up with a message saying there's no OS available. I then switched to Debian, which worked fine for a couple of months, but doesn't support all the drivers like Ubuntu MATE does. Recently, I tried installing Linux Mint on a separate drive, but again, it says there's no OS available after a restart. When I compare it to Debian, I noticed that Debian actually has a GRUB menu, while both Linux Mint and Ubuntu MATE don't show anything. To add to the confusion, I also can't access the BIOS anymore since the Ubuntu MATE installation. I used Ventoy for the installation because I didn't have another flash drive on hand. Did I mess something up during the installation process, or do I actually need to install GRUB manually? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
Yeah, Ubuntu MATE is an official flavor of Ubuntu. It’s odd that you're experiencing BIOS issues, but there have been reports of some installations messing with the BIOS, especially with older ThinkPads. You could try searching for specific forums discussing BIOS problems with your model and see if there's a fix or workaround.
Sounds like you might need to reinstall GRUB manually. Sometimes, when the installation process doesn't configure the bootloader properly, it can lead to this kind of issue. If you're able to boot into your Debian, you could try running 'sudo update-grub' from there. That might help with the GRUB menu for other distros too. Good luck!
Wow, that sounds frustrating! It’s strange that you can’t access the BIOS after trying to change the drives. I’d recommend backing up your data and then doing a clean install of Linux Mint again. If you can’t access the boot menu, try disconnecting all drives and see if that lets you into the BIOS. Also, for ThinkPads, there’s usually a prompt like 'press F1 to enter setup'—if that doesn’t work when you spam F1, look at your ThinkPad’s manual for guidance.
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