FIXED: mSATA SSD disappeared after bios update to UPA1AM18 HOT

Mialaret

After updating the bios to UPA1AM18 HOT, my Samsung Evo 250 msata SSD with Windows 10 is not found by the UP2 anymore.

I remember that a few months ago, I had to first configure mini PCIe as mSATA in Bios in order to be able to make it work.

Try as I may, I don't find this option anymore, nor a similar one in the new Bios.

Which option(s) do I have to change to configure mini PCIe as mSATA ? Or to get my SSD to appear in the boot options of the bios.

David Rolfe

Hi Cedric,
Sorry to hear about that!
If you haven't already done do, you could try following the advice given to me recently by 'dcleri' when I was enquiring about installing Windows onto an mSATA device:-

"Once you have installed both systems I suggest you to select the eMMC as first boot device (or second after USB) and, once booted ubilinux: mount your Windows partition (simply open the Windows disk with the file manager) then from a terminal window you should run the following command: $ sudo update-grub and then reboot. Windows boot option should now be available from the Linux Grub menu."

Hope this helps!

Cedric2

Thanks,
But no, it isn't helping.

The mSATA SSD is not seen by the BIOS anymore, so it isn't seen by Linux either.

If someone from Up can answer, is there a 1 to 1 new BIOS option that does the same as the 'Configure miniPCIe as mSATA' ? If so, where ?
If not, must one configure more than 1 option ? Which ones ?

To expand on the information I gave:

I have Ubuntu on EMMC
I have Windows 10 on a Samsung 250 Evo mSATA SSD
I use the Grub bootloader to switch between Ubuntu and Windows 10

Now, the UP2 still boots to the GRUB bootloader, which still has options for Windows and Ubuntu.
However:
- Windows does not boot, the bootloader complains about Error: no such device
- Even worse, Ubuntu does not boot anymore either, probably because not finding 1 disk renames/rereference the EMMC: ALERT /dev/mmcblk1p2 does not exist

NB:
I had to create a second account, because for whatever reason, loging with my true account Cedric fails with something like: You did not pass the spam test

eduncan911

Just a guess, but perhaps the BIOS upgrade changed the disk mappings (/dev/mmcblk0p2 instead of /dev/mmcblk1p2) or something like that.

If Grub is seen, that would indicate to me that the disks are still there - just loading in a different order. I've had this happen with BIOS upgrades of old Asus motherboards like 15 years ago. (hence, one of the reasons they say don't upgrade the BIOS unless you need it)

Maybe try creating a bootable GParted disk and taking a look at what the disk and partitions are assigned.

Then, try to mount writable your grub boot partition and check what partitions it is trying to boot from. Then tweak the grub configuration.


Ps, this is why i like Gummiboot (aka Systemd-Boot now). It's configuration is pretty simple compared to Grub2s. but that's just me.

WereCatf

eduncan911 wrote:

If Grub is seen, that would indicate to me that the disks are still there - just loading in a different order. I've had this happen with BIOS upgrades of old Asus motherboards like 15 years ago. (hence, one of the reasons they say don't upgrade the BIOS unless you need it)

No, it doesn't indicate anything of the sort. It just indicates that Grub was installed on the EMMC and that's why the BIOS sees it, not that the mSATA-drive exists.

eduncan911

WereCatf wrote:

eduncan911 wrote:

If Grub is seen, that would indicate to me that the disks are still there - just loading in a different order. I've had this happen with BIOS upgrades of old Asus motherboards like 15 years ago. (hence, one of the reasons they say don't upgrade the BIOS unless you need it)

No, it doesn't indicate anything of the sort. It just indicates that Grub was installed on the EMMC and that's why the BIOS sees it, not that the mSATA-drive exists.

Cedric2 stated that even Ubilinux doesn't boot any longer - which I assume is installed on the same drive as the boot partition for Grub. Even if the mSATA drive couldn't be found, you'd still be able to boot the Ubilinux partition - if it assigned the same disk and partition that is within the grub config.

If Grub can be seen on a boot partition (most likely from picking a different EFI boot location detected by the BIOS cause of its partition type ID), but grub cannot boot Ubilinux, that indicates to me that the drive assignments has changed. As a guess, that is.


I would boot from a usb stick and inspect what drives the OS does see and compare it to the grub configuration.

Mialaret

Thanks for your contributions.

Sorry guys for the wasted time, I found the famous option and I am now writing this post from the UP2 on my Win10 installation.

Somehow, in the BIOS, I saw a menu list but not the horizontal menu.

Cheers,
Cedric

Cedric2

NB1
Somehow, as mentioned above, the BIOS upgrade caused a change in the numbering of the drives for Ubuntu.
I fixed the problem by correcting the name in the GRUB configuration, and Ubuntu booted again.

NB2
I upgraded Windows to the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. So far so good.

David Rolfe

I am pleased to hear that you are 'up and running' again now, Cedric.

Out of interest, have you upgraded your BIOS to Ver. 2.1 yet?

Mialaret

Indeed, I updated the BIOS to 2.1.