yellowfinch
New member
Even before I ordered this PC, I had read about the problem of a Ubuntu update bricking the device. So the first thing I did when I got into Ubuntu was to disable updates. And then, just a couple of days later, while I was still working on general configuration, I got a popup: « The update requires that you restart this computer. » (Or something to that effect.) There were two buttons: “Restart later” and “Restart now”. I tried to click on “Restart later” but it didn’t react and, a few seconds later it started to reboot and eventually reached the Ubuntu login screen. I logged in and... it came back to the login screen after about 10 seconds. The classic bootloop.
I happened to have five USB devices (flash drives and HDDs) with various versions of the Linux Mint installation “Live CD” and one with a “frugal” Puppy Linux bootable setup. I tried all of them. The first four are not detected by the BIOS. The “Boot Option Priorities” entries remain [USB Key] or [USB Hard Disk]. On other computers (I have a few laptops and one desktop), all these USB devices are detected properly and the machines boot as expected.
I also downloaded the latest Z83-4U iso and replaced one of my Linux Mint HDDs with it, using mkusb. The Z83-4U doesn’t see it either. And I re-did one of the LM 19.3 (equivalent to Ubuntu 18.04) using balena Etcher. Still not detected. Tried again with mintstick. Not detected either.
The only one that is detected is the one with Linux Mint 18.3 (equivalent to Ubuntu 16.04), which I had put on a Kingston 32GB flash drive using mkusb and with the “persistence” option. It shows up in the BIOS as [USB Key:UEFI: Kings...] [sic] and it boots and runs perfectly fine. I don’t know why the persistence option would make a difference to the detectability of the storage device, but I tried anyway to re-do the LM 19.3 again, this time using mkusb with persistence. It didn’t make any difference with regard to the Z83-4U detecting it.
So...
At this point, I can’t re-install Ubuntu, nor install Linux Mint 19.3, nor update the BIOS itself. All I could do is install Linux Mint 18.3 and keep that for the life of the computer. Not ideal. (That version has less than one year of support left.)
If anyone has a suggestion, it will be most welcome.
I happened to have five USB devices (flash drives and HDDs) with various versions of the Linux Mint installation “Live CD” and one with a “frugal” Puppy Linux bootable setup. I tried all of them. The first four are not detected by the BIOS. The “Boot Option Priorities” entries remain [USB Key] or [USB Hard Disk]. On other computers (I have a few laptops and one desktop), all these USB devices are detected properly and the machines boot as expected.
I also downloaded the latest Z83-4U iso and replaced one of my Linux Mint HDDs with it, using mkusb. The Z83-4U doesn’t see it either. And I re-did one of the LM 19.3 (equivalent to Ubuntu 18.04) using balena Etcher. Still not detected. Tried again with mintstick. Not detected either.
The only one that is detected is the one with Linux Mint 18.3 (equivalent to Ubuntu 16.04), which I had put on a Kingston 32GB flash drive using mkusb and with the “persistence” option. It shows up in the BIOS as [USB Key:UEFI: Kings...] [sic] and it boots and runs perfectly fine. I don’t know why the persistence option would make a difference to the detectability of the storage device, but I tried anyway to re-do the LM 19.3 again, this time using mkusb with persistence. It didn’t make any difference with regard to the Z83-4U detecting it.
So...
At this point, I can’t re-install Ubuntu, nor install Linux Mint 19.3, nor update the BIOS itself. All I could do is install Linux Mint 18.3 and keep that for the life of the computer. Not ideal. (That version has less than one year of support left.)
If anyone has a suggestion, it will be most welcome.