Linux installation on Asrock Z77 Extreme4 device
Linux installation on Asrock Z77 Extreme4 device
Looking for someone who's familiar with this board. Basically here's a rundown of what I've done: Latest BIOS installed. I installed debian 12 (Without a GUI) onto my SSD (Plugged into as asmedia SATA port, yes I know this is an issue but I'll get to that in a minute), With default BIOS settings. Chose not to install GRUB initially because I planned to use the stock bootloader and also I don't plan to dual-boot. Install finished without error, rent to boot and would only get a blinking cursor. Also after POST, lights on the mobo would all go out but system would still be seemingly running. ---- After attempting to troubleshoot in BIOS, I gave up, reset to defaults and proceeded to reinstall Debian. This time, during the install, it detected my existing debian installation and told me that it was currently formatted in bios compatibility mode and asked if I wanted to "Force UEFI installation", I selected yes to that, and I also chose to install GRUB. After a bit, installation finished and I saw GRUB flast for a second before it fully booted into my Debian install... YAY!!! I spent the next 4 or 5 hours setting it up, installing CasaOS and Crafty. Setting up a minecraft server that me and my friends were successfully playing on and everything was running GREAT... until I decided to do a reboot. I rebooted debian and.... got the dreaded blinking cursor again... Basically going through the bios settings one by one, rebooting 1,000 times, nothing worked. No grub bootloader, just a blinking cursor. I read that linux does not like asmedia ports, so I plugged the SSD into one of the two intel controlled SATA ports instead of the asmedia port it was plugged into, and now, instead of just a blinking cursor, the bios straight up tells me that I have no boot media. HELP PLEASE This evening when I'm home I'm more than willing to do a video call if you can help me
recent bios updates and diff versions are available. a z77e4 worked briefly before failing, now a z77e6 is in hand, both seem to be incomplete and unreliable for decent OC, bad bclk, and ram performance. voltage ranges appear problematic, so expect possible issues with these boards.
there might be a way to fix this without knowing much about it. grub is important since loading gnu/linux directly from efi isn't smooth. a possible method is to use a live usb with debian, access the ssd, and locate your grub configuration. then restart the usb into grub to manually install the OS, and after booting, you can try repairing grub.
Bios is completely refreshed, and replacing the board isn<|pad|>. I’m sticking with this one since it’s the top choice I found. All the newer stuff is outdated, and I can’t spare money for alternatives. Once you find your grub config file, you’ll know how to start the system manually.
Thanks for the replies, so because I'm such a novice at linux, I asked chatGPT for assistance, and here's the response I got. This looks promising and I'll give it a shot when I get home from work and let you guys know how it goes. Spoiler Summary of What Likely Happened: Initial install (on ASMedia port) : Debian installed successfully and booted because the ASMedia controller was recognized during install and GRUB was written targeting that path. However, GRUB was likely installed to the wrong device path or using improper UEFI settings. On reboot , the system BIOS couldn't find the bootloader because ASMedia is flaky for boot — especially after POST. After switching to Intel SATA port : The SSD is now on the correct and preferred controller. But since the BIOS/UEFI was looking for the bootloader on the old device path (which no longer matches), it reports “Insert boot device” — meaning GRUB isn’t being found at all. Fix It: Reinstall or Repair GRUB from Live USB Step-by-Step: Boot into a Debian live USB and open a terminal. 1. Identify the SSD and partitions: lsblk Look for something like: sql sda 465 G ├─sda1 512 M EFI System ├─sda2 100 G Linux filesystem 2. Mount your system: Assuming: /dev/sda2 is your root partition /dev/sda1 is your EFI partition sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys 3. Chroot into your system: sudo chroot /mnt 4. Reinstall GRUB: For UEFI: grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=debian update-grub For Legacy BIOS: grub-install /dev/sda update-grub 5. Exit and Reboot: exit sudo reboot BIOS Boot Tips Double-check BIOS again: UEFI only if Debian was installed in UEFI mode (disable CSM) CSM + Legacy enabled if Debian was installed in Legacy mode Check under "Boot Priority" — you should see something like: UEFI: debian or UEFI: <SSD Name> Optional: Clean Reinstall (if GRUB still fails) If GRUB was corrupted during the install on ASMedia, a clean reinstall (with the SSD already plugged into the Intel SATA3_0 port) will usually fix the problem cleanly. Just be sure to: Wipe old partitions Let Debian auto-create a new EFI system partition (if using UEFI) Make sure boot mode (UEFI or Legacy) is consistent Let me know which boot mode you’re using (UEFI or Legacy) or if you’d like help checking that.
I used ChatGPT to resolve my challenges. Here’s the approach you can follow if you encounter similar difficulties.
1) Verify your BIOS is at version 2.90. Upgrade if using version 3.00, as it may cause instability.
2) If you’re on Debian and can’t boot due to a missing valid UEFI record, start from a live system to fix or adjust your boot configuration.
3) Mount your storage devices: (Change "sda" to your drive identifier. Use "lsblk" for identification) sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi
4) Set up system directories: sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
5) Enter chroot into your Debian installation: sudo chroot /mnt
6) Execute the necessary commands to transfer your grub file to the Windows boot path:
- Create directories: mkdir -p /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT
- Copy the EFI file: cp /mnt/boot/efi/EFI/debian/grubx64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI
- Copy the boot manager: mkdir -p /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot
- Place the boot file: cp /mnt/boot/efi/EFI/debian/grubx64.efi /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
Note: Some motherboards, especially those from AsRock, may not support certain operating systems. In such cases, you might need to modify the grub image to mimic a Windows bootloader for compatibility.