I have been putting this off for way too long. But last month, I finally gathered enough courage to take the plunge: I installed Linux Mint 21.2 on my trusty (and slightly ancient) refurbished Lenovo M70e desktop.
Rebooting after the installation felt like waiting for the results of a high-stakes exam. Would it work? Would my computer explode into a cloud of smoke? Thankfully, none of the above happened. Everything went smoothly - no hiccups, no drama. I stuck to the default settings suggested by the installer for a dual-boot setup, and Linux Mint played nice with my existing Windows 7 installation.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. With Linux Mint 22.1 released earlier this year, I thought, "Why not? Let's upgrade!" Spoiler alert: things didn't go as smoothly as they did with version 21.2.
Oh No
After the upgrade, I expected to see the familiar Grub menu greeting me like an old friend. Instead, I was met with a cold, heart-stopping message: "No bootable partition found." I panicked. Had I just wiped out everything on my SSD?
I grabbed my trusty USB flash drive, booted into Linux Mint again, and ran the "boot repair" tool. It took what felt like an eternity, but eventually, Windows 7 booted up just fine. Relief washed over me - my Windows partition was safe! But wait ... where is Linux Mint?
Determined not to give up, I turned to the Linux Mint forums and stumbled upon this life saving thread. Following the instructions, I typed these commands into the terminal after booting from my USB drive:
- sudo mount /dev/sda8 /mnt
- sudo grub-install /dev/sda --boot-directory=/mnt/boot
(Note: /dev/sda8 is my root partition, in case you wondering)
And just like that, magic happened. After a quick shutdown and reboot, the Grub menu appeared, and my Linux Mint partition was back in action. Phew. Crisis averted.
A Few Notes for Fellow Adventurers:
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EFI Partition Mystery: Linux Mint 21.2 created a 500 MB EFI partition, which I'm pretty sure my 14-year-old Lenovo m70e doesn't even support (it's BIOS, not UEFI).
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Wi-Fi Win: On the bright side, Linux Mint 22.1 now supports my Prolink USB Wi-Fi adapter out of the box. No more wrestling with drivers - hallelujah!
This whole experience was a rollercoaster of emotions, but it reminded me why I love tinkering with tech. Sure, there were moments of panic, but the satisfaction of fixing things and learning along the way. Totally worth it.
If you're thinking of diving into Linux or upgrading your system, my advice is simple: back up your data, keep a USB drive handy, and don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. Oh, and maybe keep a stress ball (Note: an Amazon.com affiliate link) nearby - just in case.
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