NP530U3C unable to boot after HDD wipe + fresh linux install

Hello,

I'm trying to revive an old NP530 that my brother left me. It came with Win8 preinstalled (in 2013), then was upgraded to Win10. I also managed to install elementaryOS alongside Windows, and while it was totally usable, you had to boot into BIOS to change boot order to select grub partition to launch it. Not the neatest solution, I know, but it worked.

Just now I decided to completely wipe it, get rid of Windows and make a move to Manjaro Linux (Archlinux based). I went with the GUI installer, formatted all the partitions on both 500 gb HDD and 24 gb SSD(cache disk), and tried to put my root directory on the SSD part. Installation went well, however, after reboot, after the Samsung logo the PC simply reboots again (there's a very silent click for the HDD side, like when it powers down). It never enters grub at any point. I think this has something to do with the small SSD messing things up at the boot.

I tried reinstalling using suggested settings, manual partitions, different distro's etc - you name it. Installing on HDD (/dev/sda) didn't help either - same result. I also ran boot-rescue live image, and ran the boot repair. It didn't help either, although it generated a log that could be helpful. You can find it here: http://paste.ubuntu.com/17157368/

I can access BIOS by pressing F2. I can boot from USB without any problems as well.

My BIOS settings:
Secure boot: Disabled
OS Mode Selection: CSM OS
Fast BIOS mode: Off
Secure Boot Configuration: Customized Signatures

GParted shows me that HDD (sda) is MBR, but SSD (sdb) is GPT. Is that ok? Should I change it somehow?

One last interesting thing is inside Boot Device Priority menu - I can still see 2 entries for "Windows Boot Manager" and one for "ubuntu", even though the disk contents and bootloaders must have gotten wiped via the installers... I think ubuntu one was created when I installed elementaryOS some time ago.

Any clues on where to look next?
I would really appreciate you help.

 

Hi AABatteries, welcome to NBR. And sorry it took awhile to respond to your post.

I cannot provide specific advice on installing Linux, I am mostly a Windows guy. But I can give you the following general advice on Samsung laptops, some of which may be helpful:

1) First of all, you cannot boot the small iSSD directly. It is not visible to BIOS as a boot device, it only becomes visible after POST. So placing boot files there will not work. You can place OS files there, but you will have to boot from the main HDD.

2) Generally HDD and iSSD must be the same partition layout (GPT for UEFI mode, MBR for CSM mode). But that's when using the iSSD with ExpressCache software, which you are not doing. Still, of course make sure that the partition layout on your boot disk matches your UEFI/CSM setting (again, UEFI=GPT, CSM=MBR). Since you are running CSM (a wise choice on this laptop) make sure the HDD has MBR partition layout.

3) With the laptop (or its drives) in a confused state, I would start a Windows installation with DISKPART MBR and DISKPART CLEAN, to make sure not only that partitions are deleted, but that the partition table is wiped and re-created. (G)Parted has a similar Initialize command, the details of which escape me.

4) It sounds like your BIOS still remembers boot configurations that are long gone. That could be the issue. Maybe your custom SecureBoot setting is holding them in place. Try resetting BIOS settings to default (F9 in BIOS). After that select CSM Mode and disable SecureBoot (for now) and see if that clears it.

5) If none of that works, I wonder if your NVRAM was corrupted, as is prone to happen on this generation of Samsung laptops. It affects bootability as well as (sometimes) the ability to use F-keys on startup (F2 to enter BIOS, F10 to select Boot device etc). In that case you should try clearing the NVRAM using the BIOS flashing utility as described in this post (an unbricking guide). In order to do so, you need to download a recent BIOS update from Samsung (can be done on any computer) and boot some form of Windows/WinPE on the laptop to extract and run the flashing utility. Relevant links are in that guide.

I hope some of this helps. Please keep us posted on your progress.