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Linux on Latitude E5410

Hi all,
I have an old Dell Latitude E5410 that I have tried unsuccessfully to install several version of Linux on (Mint, Lite, LXLE, and one other I think). Normally the issue is that they won't boot after installation, with the message, 'no operating system found').
I'm a veteran Windows user but feel it's time to get used to something more current, since my favourite, Windows 7, is beginning to show signs of aging.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
...... john

E5410 doesn't actually identify any of your laptop's hardware. It's a model line, not a model.

I have an E6400, which may not differ a whole lot. On it I have Debian Bookworm and openSUSE Tumbleweed and Leap. I had no trouble installing any that I can remember.

No operating system found is a message sometimes associated with a disk configuration process that failed to set a "boot" flag in the partition table. To fix it it's often possible to boot the installation media and from its boot menu select to boot the installed system. Even if you can only boot into the installation media's rescue mode, you should be able to use its partitioning tools to set a boot flag if that is the actual problem. Here you can see a disk with the flag set on partition number 3:

Code:

# parted -l

Model: ATA TEAM T253X2256G (scsi)

Disk /dev/sda: 256GB

Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B

Partition Table: msdos



Number  Start  End    Size    Type      File system    Flags

 1      1049kB  43.0MB  41.9MB  primary  fat16          type=06

 2      43.0MB  305MB  262MB  primary  fat16          hidden, type=16

 3      305MB  725MB  419MB  primary  ext2            boot, type=83

 4      725MB  256GB  255GB  extended                  type=05

...

#

The same tool "parted" that produced this can be used to set a flag, if you know if and where one is needed.

This may not be your problem, but it's a place to start. If you can't figure it out, you can try

Code:

parted -l > somefile1.txt

to save the command's output to a file which you could paste here for our evaluation.

Code:

inxi -Fz > somefile2.txt

could be used tell us some basic info about your laptop.

If you can get your laptop booted via the installation media it would be helpful to find and run the command bootinfoscript.sh or bootinfoscript to get a boot data collection to upload as an attachment to a reply here, or upload to a pastebin.

That message usually means that you didn't install the bootloader. All these distros boot with GRUB2 and on an old machine like this, you need to install grub to the whole drive (/dev/sda) and not to an EFI system partition such as /dev/sda1. In fact, you shouldn't even have an EFI system partition. It's a long time since I did a fresh install, but the installer should ask you where you want the bootloader to go.

yes, I have an E6540 and works without any problem. Ubuntu is installed on it (22.04 currently).
So would be nice to know exactly what did you try (how did you install and what) and what went wrong (what was the output).

Hi all,
Thank you all for your help. I finally was able to install Puppy on my hard drive, and it boots up alright. I would like to be able to tell you what I did that allowed it to boot, but I'm not at all familiar with most of the questions I was asked during the installation, and guessed, apparently correctly, at the right times.
I wish I could provide 'informed' replies to your questions, but I honestly do not where, or how, to find them.
I would like to learn, so please ask any questions you like. I would only ask that you tell me, specifically, where to find the answers. I am a complete newbie to Linux and honestly have no idea what I'm doing.
...... john

I'm curious if inxi is in puppy. Can you post the previous asked for inxi readout now.

or if that is too hard.

Code:

inxi -zv7

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji (Post 6499705)

I'm curious if inxi is in puppy. Can you post the previous asked for inxi readout now.

or if that is too hard.

Code:

inxi -zv7

Hi,
I'm working on it. I'm not sure if inxi can be installed on Puppy.
I'll let you know.
Thanks,
....john

I'm not sure if I've worked on this particular model but any laptops we renovate and load Linux onto sometimes don't immediately boot because the secure boot settings are wrong. I usually enter the BIOS and change the boot from UEFI to Legacy and disable secure boot. A reboot without a reinstall usually works. Worth a try. :)

Play Bonny!

:hattip:

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji (Post 6499705)

I'm curious if inxi is in puppy. Can you post the previous asked for inxi readout now.

or if that is too hard.

Code:

inxi -zv7

Hi rokynji,
I finally found what (I think) you want. It was quite a trip
attached

That is quite a readout. Thanks for that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji (Post 6499846)

That is quite a readout. Thanks for that.

Does it tell you anything about why I might have been having problems booting other Linux disto installations?
.... john

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soadyheid (Post 6499785)

Yes, I heard someone else say that about bios boot, as opposed to UEFI, which I did when successfully installing Puppy; but I couldn't find anything about secure boot in Latitude's 5410 boot menu. Does anyone know where it is, or what it might be called other than 'secure boot'?
..... john

The E5410 is quite early in the world of UEFI. Not sure if it even supports secure boot either. So the UEFI implementation is probably lacking in standards that many OSes expect nowadays. It would be best to go into the BIOS and switch from "UEFI" to "Legacy" so it boots only through pure BIOS boot. Selecting "Legacy" should also ensure secure boot is disabled if it does exist on that laptop. Then you should be able to install any distro you want.

My Dells are small form factor Desktop Models running SSD drives.

I pretty much did what jooomes and others mentioned.
Dell is usually pretty good at giving you a legacy boot setting.
All You have to do is find it.

shinnen,

Somebody here with a Dell laptop of similar vintage and having booting problems:
https://www.dell.com/community/en/co...ccf8a8de6e48d2

You may be able to extract some useful information from this thread.