Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 20 of 20

Thread: rEFIt dual boot stall

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Beans
    10

    Re: rEFIt dual boot stall

    Well, I've tried all of the above. Still the black screen.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Utah, USA
    Beans
    37
    Distro
    Kubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal

    Re: rEFIt dual boot stall

    No, you don't need to manually set up BIOS emulation; it "just works."

    What happens when you actually boot and hold option? You should be seeing the built-in boot selector, and not rEFIt. After your Mac queries the drives, you'll see a CD icon labelled "Windows" and this is what you want (Apple's firmware labels all BIOS OS's Windows).

    Are you able to get that far? A blinking cursor would generally indicate bad media; did you check the md5 hash for the image before burning it?

    It's common to need to tweak kernel parameters to actually boot into Ubuntu on a Mac, but you should be seeing a GRUB menu at the least.

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Beans
    10

    Re: rEFIt dual boot stall

    Yeah, I did all that. My friend and a sort of techy-guy took a look at the disk contents and said it looked alright. But, yeah, just a blinking cursor.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Beans
    920

    Re: rEFIt dual boot stall

    Quote Originally Posted by GraphiXS6 View Post
    Okay, forwent the rEFIt with one of my old disks (haven't tried one you sent me yet) and I got the same black screen with blinking cursor. Do I need some BIOS thing in my drive similar to how there's an efi folder in the drive for rEFIt?
    Homes:

    The scenario you are describing is a tad confusing, the rEFIt app is good if you are trying to run a dual boot system on a Mac. I've got a dual boot OSX and Linux Mint Mate 64 bit system running on a 2010 MBPro, and I've done a fair number of installations because of issues with GRUB . . . rEFIt is there to allow you to select either OSX or Linux, but AFTER the Linux system is installed . . . it seems like you might be trying to select it, prior to installing??? Best to have OSX and rEFIt installed, then after burning the DVD on the "slowest speed possible" . . . install DVD and boot while holding down the "C" key . . . and that should boot the DVD . . . follow instructions. If you get the rEFIt window, then you would want to select the DVD symbol to boot the install DVD . . . there was a suggestion on some thread to use the Ubuntu installer with GParted to partition the portion of the disc you want for Home, Swap, and boot . . . flag as such, then stop the installer, boot rEFIt and use the "synchronize" function of rEFIt to synchronize the partitions, then restart the installer and when you run the installer it will then recognize where to put GRUB, otherwise it might be a problem . . . that issue was a factor in the LM installation, which uses Ubuntu and Debian, don't know if straight Ubun there are issues with getting GRUB set up. Good luck.

    e.e.p.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Beans
    8

    Re: rEFIt dual boot stall

    Here's what I know:

    - Ubuntu 12.10 (not the +mac) 64bit iso can be booted in ISO mode. An USB stick or DVD will appear as "EFI system" or something like that when pressing alt (option) at boot. Then u can just proceed installing ubuntu. That's what I've done.

    - Ubuntu 12.10 32bit or the +mac 64bit version will only boot in BIOS emulation mode. An USB stick will not work. If u burn it to a DVD it should appear as windows when pressing option at boot. Then u can just proceed installing ubuntu.

    No refit was needed for me, but maybe u can try to sync mbr tables and see if that works?

    Good luck!

    BTW. You can try to install in efi mode and convert to BIOS emulation mode afterwards.
    Last edited by milan475; December 11th, 2012 at 12:52 PM. Reason: typo

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Beans
    10

    Re: rEFIt dual boot stall

    Since there seems to be confusion, I un-installed/got rid of rEFIt. Then, I boot up with the disk in while pressing alt. It gets to the screen with all the boot options. I choose the "windows" disk, which is actually my ubuntu disk. It loads on that for a while then goes to a blank black screen with a blinking text input similar to that in a terminal. It stays that way forever. So, I tried going into my Ubuntu virtual box, plugged in a pendrive, then made a bootable usb. Then, I boot back up doing the same as the disk, except with the pendrive in. I select the "windows" flashdrive icon and it loads for that for a second, then goes to the black screen, displays a lot of text fast, then says "[boot error]". And that's where I am.

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Beans
    10

    Re: rEFIt dual boot stall

    I try not to do this, but any thoughts?

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Beans
    3

    Re: rEFIt dual boot stall

    I installed Ubuntu 12.10 (i386 32-bit) on a Mac mini (Mid 2011). I had an issue where the Mac would not boot from the DVD that I had burned using OS X Disk Utility. I did an SMC reset on the Mac. Honestly, I don't know if that "fixed" it but I was able to boot from my optical drive after that.

    I used rEFIt during the installation but I have since removed it. It's only been a couple of days but, so far, the only real nagging problem I've had is getting Ubuntu to "see" my Bluetooth keyboard and pointing device. This was solved by plugging in USB versions of both.

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Beans
    4

    Re: rEFIt dual boot stall

    Have you checked out the wiki for running Ubuntu on MacBooks? It may have some specific instructions, also check out the generic install guide here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ma...elInstallation especially the part about fixing the partition table from rEFIt (I know you said you uninstalled it but in my experience it is the easiest way to get everything working)

    Here is the link to the MacBook wikis https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook

    EDIT: Oops looks like I misread the OP. Have you tried verifying the disk in another computer? And by that I mean actually booting from it, you said your friend looked at it but did it actually boot?
    Last edited by clumsyNInja; December 31st, 2012 at 03:18 AM.

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Beans
    3

    Re: rEFIt dual boot stall

    I agree with clumsyNinja in that the generic install guide is the best place to start in getting Ubuntu on the machine and running. But if you can't get the machine to boot from CD/DVD you're kind of dead in the water. If an SMC reset doesn't work try to boot from an external optical drive. I'm using an Apple SuperDrive (since my Mac mini didn't come with an internal optical drive).

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •