Ubuntu is installed on drive but can't seem to boot it

[fantab]

Your frustration is understandable.

Ok we have one more option to try before you can take the laptop back to the authorized service center.
Since you have nothing to lose, lets delete the partition table on that HDD and create a new one.
Make sure you boot your ubuntu usb/dvd in UEFI mode only: see

Using Gparted select 'Device' from the menu.
From the dropdown menu select 'create new partition table'. Next choose 'gpt' and apply. This will create a new partition table and you will be left with clean disk.
Create new partitions as follows:
# 5mb unformatted partition.
# 512mb FAT32 partition (you will have to place a 'boot' flag next to it by right clicking on the partition and selecting 'manage flags'. When installing boot loader during install you have to select this partition.)
# All the spaceGB Ext4 '/'
# 2Gb linux-SWAP partition
Apply changes and quit gparted.

Install Ubuntu. During Installation, from the 'Installation Type' dialog choose "Something Else' option. This will let you guide the install to created partitions yourself.
Select the third partition, /dev/sda3 Exit4 and set it up as follows:
Use as = ext4
mountpoint = /
format = yes

Then select your bootloader location from the same dialog:
choose the FAT32 partition or /dev/sda2.... identify it correctly.

[Kris_Nakamura]

I'd really hope doing that would have worked but it didn't... Few questions though

1: Whats the 5mb of unformatted partition for? It says "file System: unknown" on gparted after I applied the changes and stayed that way even after the installation of Ubuntu.
2: For your instruction on selecting Use as: Ext4 for editing the partition, the only option available that was similar was "Ext4 journaling file system" is that the same thing?
3: When I did all of what you said (I switched the order of creating linux-swap partition and creating the ext4 partition) and pressed "apply changes", some drives automatically had (created?) things in them already (eg: the ext4 partition said 1GiB used)

Also like I mentioned since I switched the creation of the linux-swap partition and ext4, I also changed the installation to /dev/sda4. I'll try do everything again with creating the ext4 partition first.

Thanks,
-Kris

[fantab]

1. We'll try an use the 5mb partition later to boot in bios/legacy/csm mode. Everything else about is normal.
2. Yes they are same.
3. That shouldn't worry you. It doesn't matter.

Lets see how it goes.

[Kris_Nakamura]

Nope, formatted everything again, went through your instructions, installed and rebooted but still not working (tried it with secure boot both on and off).

-Kris

[fantab]

Okay...
Using gparted remove the 'boot' flag from FAT32 Partition and put a 'bios_grub' flag on the 5Mb partitition we made upfront.
Get into your UEFI menu and disable UEFI boot and enable 'Legacy/CSM' boot.
Run boot-repair and post back the bootinfo file url.

Good luck...

We are trying to boot from a GPT disk in 'legacy' mode.
Make sure ubuntu boots in legacy mode with the purplish screen rather than the black bg grub menu.
The Boot-repair will identify the system as 'legacy' and re-install grub to the MBR.

[Kris_Nakamura]

after running boot repair, it told me to paste this as one of the commands "sudo chroot "/mnt/boot-sav/sda3" apt-get install -y -force-yes grub-pc linux" and when I ran the commands, I got a message saying E: Unable to locate package linux. If I just try to press forward on the menu it gives me an error saying GRUB is still absent. Please try again. Since I cant move forward from there, it wont even give me a report.

-Kris

[fantab]

Re-run Boot-repair, and if it doesn't work again then Re-install Ubuntu. Only this time you have to choose /dev/sda as the boot-loader location.
Format the '/' ext4 partition.

[Kris_Nakamura]

I
GOT
IT
RUNNING
But I'm not sure behind the logic of what I did. So I ran boot-repair again, this time it asked me where I'd like to install Grub, I selected /sda, let boot-repair do its job and then restarted. Didn't work
I ran boot-repair again, I selected /sda AND /sda2 (I think it was sda2), let boot-repair do its job and then restarted. STILL didn't work.
I ran boot-repair again, I went to advanced options and chose the option for "Separate /boot/efi partition" and chose the only available option which was sda2. Restarted, finally worked.

I'm not sure if what I did was "proper" but it seems to be up and running now.

Thanks so much for your help over the days Fantab I really really appreciate it!
-Kris

[Kris_Nakamura]

Wellll I seem to get "sorry, Ubuntu 14.04 has experienced an internal error" pretty frequently. I can run everything I need to without much problem though. Must have installed something wrong somewhere heh..
-Kris

[fantab]

Glad you got it working again.
Keep your Ubuntu up-to-date and those 'internal errors' should go away.
You can also report the errors at launchpad.