I'm trying to set up Ubuntu Server on my old Acer Aspire 3 that has a 512GB SSD, but the installer doesn't recognize the SSD at all. The only drive that shows up during installation is the USB where I flashed the installer using Ventoy. When I tried using Balena Etcher, it doesn't show any disk options. I disabled fast boot and secure boot, and I also turned off Intel VTX and VTP features in the BIOS. I even attempted to disable RAID, but it seems like my laptop doesn't support RAID at all. It seems like the installer can detect USB drives, but not the integrated SSD. Any suggestions on how to fix this?
1 Answer
This is a common issue with Acer laptops because they often come configured to use Intel RST (fake RAID) instead of AHCI, which Linux can have trouble with. You should be able to change the SATA setting to AHCI in the BIOS, but sometimes that option is hidden. You might need a key combo to reveal it. If you're dual-booting with Windows, you may also have to convert or reinstall Windows to switch from RST to AHCI.
Thanks for the info! I just looked it up and see how Windows installation settings can cause this. I’m currently reinstalling Windows to fix the issue.