[GTALUG] Toshiba Satellite L500 rejects Linux

[Don Tai]

I still keep a stack of 32 bit Linux install CDs (many flavours) just for
this purpose. Most of my past Linux installs have been underpowered and old
PCs.

On Mon, 22 May 2023 at 09:12, Giles Orr <gilesorr at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Don.
>
> Probably a good suggestion, but I don't think it will work for me: the
> Toshiba in question does have an optical drive, but even if I can find
> a CD burner, I'm not sure I have media I can burn to anymore (I have a
> stack of blank CDs ... but they're 15+ years old).
>
> On Mon, 22 May 2023 at 08:38, Don Tai <dontai.canada at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > When I find an old computer that won't boot USB I go back to a 32 bit CD
> install, then upgrade. Some old PCs simply won't reliably boot with USB.
> >
> > On Mon, 22 May 2023 at 08:34, Giles Orr via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> I've recently acquired (through a friend who stopped using it) a
> >> Toshiba Satellite L500 - Core i3 (3rd gen?), 4G RAM.  I'm determined
> >> to get Linux onto it (preferably Debian).  I thought I had succeeded:
> >> I booted from a Debian USB stick, installed to the HD.  All appeared
> >> to go well, but the system won't boot.  It returns to the Boot Menu
> >> and says "HDXXXX has failed."  What the search engines are telling me
> >> is that with this generation of Toshibas, the problem is generally
> >> Secure Boot / CSM etc.  Which makes sense, but ... there is absolutely
> >> zero mention in the BIOS/UEFI ("Phoenix SecureCore Tiano Setup") of
> >> "Secure Boot," "CSM," "Legacy," or "UEFI."  Acccording to notes I
> >> found online, "SecureCore Tiano" has "full support" for legacy
> >> booting.
> >>
> >> Another issue with this machine is my mixed success booting from USB
> >> sticks: I have an old-ish USB stick I built myself that has GRUB and a
> >> large menu of ISOs: works great on most systems, won't boot on this
> >> thing - probably because it's an old-style BIOS-boot only(?).
> >>
> >> One of my ideas was to upgrade the BIOS: it appears there's a newer
> >> version available, but it's NOT available from Toshiba, which is the
> >> only place I'd want to download it from.  The rest look like dubious
> >> secondary download sites (if you know one you consider reliable, let
> >> me know).
> >>
> >> What I read online said that Fedora's installer puts an EFI partition
> >> on the HD as part of the install, while Debian doesn't.  And that
> >> may(?) be why I can't boot from my Debian install?  So ... I
> >> downloaded the Fedora installer, put it on a USB stick ... and no joy:
> >> the Toshiba doesn't recognize the Fedora USB stick as a bootable item.
> >> Would this be because I burned it on a "Legacy" system?  Is there a
> >> fix for that?  Except ... I'm about 99% sure the Debian Installer USB
> >> stick was created on the same machine.
> >>
> >> Worst case, I can stick the HD from the Toshiba into another machine,
> >> install Fedora on it, repartition to make room for Debian, put the HD
> >> back into the Toshiba ... but that's getting damn complicated and
> >> annoying.
> >>
> >> As always - any suggestions welcomed.
>
> --
> Giles
> https://www.gilesorr.com/
> gilesorr at gmail.com
>
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