Zorin clean install goes awry! Any help would be appreciated!

[CRoPs]

Thanks for the further suggestions. Will have an update soon, in the mean time.

@swarfendor437

The OP has already done all of that if you check earlier posts.

Indeed. Thanks swarfendor and welcome.

@NxtMighty

Step 2.
Boot USB in Legacy Mode.

Again I see no option for this, I posted everything my BIOS is capable of as well as what settings I am on for example (Enable or Disable <--) is to say those are my choices and I have it set at Disable.

@NxtMighty

By the way is BIOS update or downgrade possible for his laptop?

Upgrade is possible but knowing that an improper flash can brick it I am trying to fix the first issue before potentially introducing another.

@NxtMighty

Didn't know that. Thanks mate

To be fair the very first line of the O.P. is the make, model and spec.

[CRoPs]

Update: I've been able to load up the partition, even though the BIOS cannot see it, using SG2D by following these steps...

Then next I click on...

I have added extensions to the browser and updated the Power profile as a test and when I reboot the changes keep.

My next thought was perhaps an update will solve it so I ran all available updates including one for GRUB thinking that might fix/replace/overwrite what is broken. It did not.
but I did get this weird error...

It made me lol as I have never installed MacOS and it is asking me to do the same thing NxtMighty asked (which I see no way to do) to enable BIOS Legacy CSM but in the UEFI firmware?

Then switching back to Zorin 17's (where I want to end up hopefully) live session to try more options I noticed an error flash on the screen for a fraction of a second every time the system would start to boot. Took a few tries to capture it but it shows...

and that is where I am at currently.

I now have proof the drive is still intact and working and I can write to it and access it at will with SG2D but still cannot make it reappear in BIOS.

Saw two brand new error messages and took pics.

Have started researching TestDisk to see if that has some options for me to try (open to suggestions or help as I have never used it before).

[NxtMighty]

@CRoPs

Again I see no option for this, I posted everything my BIOS is capable of as well

You don't have to see in BIOS. Look for it in boot menu. Press F8 when turning on to go to boot menu. The steps are given below that line Step 2.

[swarfendor437]

I don't think that will work.
@CRoPs check this out, continual rewrites could brick the device:

eMMC Hardware Partitioning

[CRoPs]

@swarfendor437

The OP does not have legacy boot option.

I thought you were right about this but I spent some time double checking all of my assumptions. Why would Zorin ask about Legacy mode also if it's not possible? Perhaps the installer has no check for this and assumes it is or what if it's there but it's named something completely nonsensical?

NxtMighty I tried again to follow your instructions but there were several failure points along the way. Each time I tried to think what effect you were going for rather than the specific commands and adapt.
I believe I am part of the way there but hitting a wall again. Here is what I have done and what is still going wrong.

** I burned a fresh copy of Zorin 17 to a brand new flash drive I bought. I made sure it is a different size so no more confusion about which is which. The eMMC is 64GB & the Zorin install is 32GB.**

I tried f8 and all the other f keys whose function I didn't know. None worked. Googled it. It mentioned Esc as a possibility. Tried Esc and it works. That brought me to this option screen.

UEFI: USB or Enter Setup<--
Chose the latter even though I figured it would just take me back to BIOS...

*Spoiler Alert... *
it took me back to the BIOS.
Went back to the Boot Menu. 32GB UEFI Flash Drive shows a menu option to Disable the drive.

But if I disable the drive wouldn't the system just loop into the BIOS? Unless Disable means to disable the UEFI and that maybe Disable is their dumb name for CSM/Legacy????

(UEFI: USB or Disable<--)

Surprise! It did not dump back to BIOS but loaded the Zorin installer.
Is this Legacy Mode? Not sure but I proceeded to the next step.

[CRoPs]

@NxtMighty

1. Open the Terminal and type the commands.

sudo gdisk /dev/mmcblk1
Then r
Then g

This failed.

Went back through all the images I took and realized somewhere along the way with the multiple installs mmcblk1 became mmcblk2 so I modified your command with a 2. This succeeded.

@NxtMighty

3. After that reboot again.
4. Upon Reboot, Press F8, select USB (Sandisk) and not USB (Sandisk) UEFI.
5. Click on Try Zorin.
6. Open Disks app.
7. Now select your main drive and then you should see Master Boot Record in the first 5-6 lines of information.

Nope it is still GUID Partition Table.

Rebooted and tried the whole process again and this time "Surprise Twist!" mmcblk2 failed but changing it back to 1 worked???
What is this Ping Pong?

Retried the steps above and rebooted and checked Disks.
Nope still GPT... and the device is still showing as blk2???

Possible failure points.

1. Disable is not Legacy/CSM mode?
   2.The changes are not taking effect?
   If I try to shut down the Terminal before rebooting I get a message that there is a process running in the terminal and that closing the terminal will kill it?
   
   

Do the command changes need to be saved perhaps? I hit ? to see the list of commands and here is what it shows...

That is where I am at the moment.

Also of interest I noticed two more options in the Zorin boot Menu and though I didn't type any commands I opened each to see what they say.

[swarfendor437]

Did you read that article?

Zorin clean install goes awry! Any help would be appreciated!

I don't think that will work. @CRoPs check this out, continual rewrites could brick the device:

[CRoPs]

Yes.
What I got from it was there are good ways and bad ways to structure eMMC and if done poorly it can brick the device as cells are rotated in and out for wear-leveling.
Not sure what scheme was used for mine or if that has occurred here or not.

The timing of the events makes me think it's more likely that I did something wrong out of ignorance upon install. Also the fact that the LMDE partition that was installed is still there are accessible gives me some hope of recovery. If you have any steps for me to try I am game but I did not see anything suggested in that article.

[Ultrabenosaurus]

@CRoPs

The timing of the events makes me think it's more likely that I did something wrong out of ignorance upon install. Also the fact that the LMDE partition that was installed is still there are accessible gives me some hope of recovery. If you have any steps for me to try I am game but I did not see anything suggested in that article.

I can't remember the exact details and it was weeks ago now, but while I was experimenting and reinstalling Zorin Lite and LMDE 32bit I ended up being unable to boot either or see a grub menu of any sort, just an error that no bootable device was found - even though SG2D could boot both LMDE and Zorin just fine.

It may be witchcraft a coincidence, but this worked for me:

1. reinstall Windows 10 using the whole drive
2. reboot to test that it worked, which it did
3. boot the LMDE 32bit installer from USB (Ventoy) and install using the whole drive (except explicitly keeping the EFI / ESP partition)
4. reboot, use SG2D to get into LMDE and fix grub and then reorder boot sequence in BIOS (see linked post below for details)
5. reboot, got the LMDE grub menu which worked properly
6. reboot from Ventoy USB again, this time selecting the Zorin ISO
7. be a coward and shrink the LMDE partition, only install Zorin in the free space rather than replace LMDE and use the whole drive
8. reboot, got the Zorin grub menu which worked properly

No GRUB, No WiFi Device in `lshw` on Dell Venue 11 Pro

So here's my final post in this whirlwind adventure, laying out the last step of my journey to something is - at least for me - an acceptable trade-off and technically working. I leave this for my own future reference in case it breaks in the future, for @swarfendor437, and for anyone else with one of these cursed devices with mixed bit-depth from the dawn of Windows 8.1 looking to extend its godforsaken lifespan. Starting where I left off in my previous comment, LMDE 32bit installed fine usi…

I figured that the device and its hardware were designed to work with Windows, and Windows was (at least 10 years ago) fully compatible with that type of device, so it'd probably be able to fix the MBR / partitioning / bootloader / whatever the problem was, and I was thankfully proven right.

I have no idea what the actual problem was or how to fix it using linux, though

[CRoPs]

I am not in any way married to using only Linux to fix the system, if necessary I will hold my nose and reinstall Win8 since that is what came with it but, as with Linux, how does one install Windows when there is no place to install it?

[Ultrabenosaurus]

@CRoPs

how does one install Windows when there is no place to install it?

Slap a Win8 ISO on your good-luck USB, boot up, cross your fingers, and pray that the Windows installer can see the drive? If it can, you're golden; if not, I am sorry, I have no clue.

The fact that SG2D can see it (to read the grub files and installed OSes) and you can use SG2D to boot LMDE which runs, means that it's clearly there and interfacing with your motherboard / BIOS and working. So there is hope.

[CRoPs]

Okay then. Off to digup my old Win8.1 and if that fails Windows "spyware posing as an OS" 10.

[CRoPs]

Success!

My storage is fully visible and I am happily back on Zorin 15.3 Lite 32bit where everything is working as it should. I will do a write up (soon-ish™) of what worked/what didn't and what I learned in case it is of help to anyone with a similar device.

My thanks to everyone here who pitched in to help me on my way! Muchas Gracias!

[zabadabadoo]

I am glad you are back up and running, although it's an older 32bit ZorinOS.
I am sure there are several posts here on the forum suggesting 32bit Linux OS that are still supported, if you are looking for something a bit newer.

[CRoPs]

Thanks Zabadabadoo!
Alas that was how I got into trouble in the first place is knowing Zorin 15.3 was out of date and thinking well if 15.3Lite works why wouldn't 17Lite? I do hope that all the info/crash reports/bugs I submitted give the devs a lead on what to fix to get later editions of Zorin working on these "cursed devices." Many are still great little devices and shouldn't end up in a landfill if they can still be of use.

For now I have something that works AND a reliable process to fix what can go wrong during an install so I am free to branch out (until Zorin is fixed) a bit. I have MiniOS, Antix, MX, Alpine, Bodhi, Lubuntu and Puppy on Ventoy right now awaiting free time to give it a go and I am open to more options. Is there a list handy somewhere?

[CRoPs]

TL;DR

1. These so called "cursed devices" are a mashup of 32bit and 64bit and this makes them problematic with certain Linux distros.

2. Zorin 17 fails to install every time but does no harm (same with the Lite version). I could still use the old Zorin 15 already installed (which works great but is being sunset) or go on to try other distros at this point.

3. Linux Mint Debian Edition 32bit bricked the system.
   Once I could reliably get back to a working system repeatedly I went through the process several times to make sure at what point it all went to hell. Linux Mint tells you it installed successfully, and the install is there if you use SG2D on a flash drive to load it, but the system is unusable without help from an external app.

4. The fix is Win10 but specifically the Enterprise LTSC version. This one.
   Windows 10 Enterprise | Microsoft Evaluation Center

Not windows 8 or 8.1 or even regular Windows10 would work but specifically 10 LTSC has the necessary code in it to fix the boot process. Do a clean install and everything works again and I was able to go back to Zorin 15 until I can find a more modern distro that works.
Thank you to all who helped and offered advice!

More info:

What worked:

1. Windows10 LTSC (Long Term Servicing Channel). It is very slow to make any changes so older systems consistently work with it. It only receives the necessary security updates and that's it. Even if you don't think you will use it you should probably grab a copy if you have one of these "cursed" devices.

2. SG2D (Super Grub 2 Disk) gives you temporary access to a otherwise unbootable system. A useful free tool.

What didn't:

1. Any of the Linux terminal commands I tried. There may be some way to solve it in the terminal but I couldn't make it happen with any instructions I found on any sites that came up in any searches I tried.

2. Any of the repair boot and Auto-fix utilities (though I'm still glad to have learned about them).

3. Windoze 8.1. Even though this is the version that came installed originally on the tablet. Reinstalling it was a bust as it couldn't see the drive and could not repair the boot process.

What I learned:

1. Don't give up hope! Especially if a program like SG2D can "see it" and boot it. The physical hardware "drive" is not dead it's just temporarily unavailable.

2. Always have a recent backup of your data before you try to update to a new/newer version of an OS. This enables you to try stuff you might be afraid to because you don't want to lose data (also just a good practice all around).

3. Do your research. Pretty self explanatory but I wouldn't have gotten into this mess if I had read more reviews of people with similar devices having problems moving up to 64bit distros even though the Intel chip says it is 64bit.