Desktop can not find MBR.
by rblampain from LinuxQuestions.org on (#6D0WG)
I bought a used HP Elitedesk 800 GI SFF which had been upgraded by its previous owner.
The original Windows 8 had been replaced by Windows 10 or 11 and an SSD drive had been added loose, apparently not having a specific hardware cage for it but having the necessary spare cables.
I presumed the SSD was holding Windows OS which I do not need and I replaced the drive with a 275GB SSD holding Debian 9 I had from a home-made dead desktop I built about 6-7 years ago from new parts.
I have Debian 12 (Bookworm) ISO on DVD and I netinstalled that on the SSD without any problem and selecting almost exclusively default options.
But the machine can not find the MBR on re-boot (the first true boot of the new system) and asks to insert the medium holding it.
I tried the "netinstall" twice, first installing the MBR on the SSD and the second, installing it on the old mechanical 500GB HDD but booting in either case give the same result.
Trying to install Deb 12 as a dual-boot on the machine as it came did not work as Windows and BIOS seemed determined to prevent it.
There may be similarities with a problem I had and reported in an other thread with a brand new DELL 3460 Precision which could not be solved except that I could not boot from CD or USB with the DELL when the (10 yrs old) HP allows to boot from the CD/DVD drive with a bit of arm-twisting (I did not try booting from USB).
Alternatively, and if feasible, I am prepared to replace the MOBO of the HP (can not do that with proprietary DELL) if, as it seems, Windows has been able to prevent the installation of other (than Windows) OSes for some time.
Is anyone able to give a hint?
Thank you for your help.
The original Windows 8 had been replaced by Windows 10 or 11 and an SSD drive had been added loose, apparently not having a specific hardware cage for it but having the necessary spare cables.
I presumed the SSD was holding Windows OS which I do not need and I replaced the drive with a 275GB SSD holding Debian 9 I had from a home-made dead desktop I built about 6-7 years ago from new parts.
I have Debian 12 (Bookworm) ISO on DVD and I netinstalled that on the SSD without any problem and selecting almost exclusively default options.
But the machine can not find the MBR on re-boot (the first true boot of the new system) and asks to insert the medium holding it.
I tried the "netinstall" twice, first installing the MBR on the SSD and the second, installing it on the old mechanical 500GB HDD but booting in either case give the same result.
Trying to install Deb 12 as a dual-boot on the machine as it came did not work as Windows and BIOS seemed determined to prevent it.
There may be similarities with a problem I had and reported in an other thread with a brand new DELL 3460 Precision which could not be solved except that I could not boot from CD or USB with the DELL when the (10 yrs old) HP allows to boot from the CD/DVD drive with a bit of arm-twisting (I did not try booting from USB).
Alternatively, and if feasible, I am prepared to replace the MOBO of the HP (can not do that with proprietary DELL) if, as it seems, Windows has been able to prevent the installation of other (than Windows) OSes for some time.
Is anyone able to give a hint?
Thank you for your help.