Installation with text mode for using parameters

ludibubi · 2026-01-11 15:02

I want to install q4os on Acer Switch one 10. The integrated installer from Livemode is not able to install grub. I heard that This hardware is a little bit tricky to install and there are parameters for the textmode installer to fix the problem.

I'm a beginner in Linux. Can someone pls tell me, how I can install with text mode?
I know Ctrl+Alt+F2 to enter Terminal. But what is the command for installing?

Regards Ludger

theasmitkid · 2026-01-11 21:03

I had kinda similar issue, My laptop has MBR disk partitions, but BIOS is UEFI.

As a result, everytime I'm trying to boot from a usb, it boots as UEFI as default, as a result it fails to install i386 grub on the machine..

If this is the case, you have a couple options..

option 1 wrote:

If you are installing only Q4OS, then choose "guided- use entire disk" during partitioning
This would wipe your harddrive and format the disk to GPT, this should install grub properly.

option 2 wrote:

Other option, which i do, is to press the boot device select key, and choose your USB device. For me, it shows something like
internal drive
usb drive <--- choose this
UEFI usb drive
continue with installation as usual, and it should work out.

option 3 wrote:

Last option (that doesn't require reinstallation) would be to boot into the live iso (like previous option)
Open terminal, find the drive you have installed Q4OS onto. (You can use this command to list all disks: lsblk)
Let the ext4 partition (where you have installed Q4OS) be /dev/sda2. Do:
mkdir /mnt
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
cd /mnt
ls -l
For the last command, you should see output like /usr /bin /lib /boot /home.. (if you don't, then unmount /mnt, and try mounting other ext4 partitions)
now, run
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda
It should install grub on your drive. Now unmount
umount /mnt

ludibubi · 2026-01-13 00:34

Thks for reply and the suggestions. I don't have problems to boot from stick. So I cleaned my emmc with gparted and installed Q4OS from Stick-Livemode. As before the mistake appeared, that grub was not installed.
So mounted my ext4 partition and tried to install grub. After entering the command (here I had to change sda to my emmc partition which is mmcblk0p2) konsole reported "i386-pc should be installed for your platform"
After a while appeared:
"grub-install: Warning: filesystem >>ext2<< does not support embedding"
"grub-install: Warning: Embedding not possible. GRUB can only be installed using blocklists in this configuration. Blocklists are unreliable and their use is therefore not recommended."

Why filesystem ext2? Gparted shows these partitions on my emmc:
/dev/mmcblk0P1 EFI fat32
/dev/mmcblk0p2 root ext 4
/dev/mmcblk0p3 swap linus-swap

Any idea?

regards Ludger

theasmitkid · 2026-01-13 06:08

you must've installed grub to a partition instead of the disk, via

grub-install /dev/mmcblk0p1

Try installing with

grub-install /dev/mmcblk0 --root-directory=/mnt

ludibubi · 2026-01-30 12:44

Hi. Sorry for late reply but I had a little bit of trouble....

I followed your instructions. But when I try the grub-istallcommand I get this response:

I tried to use the command from liveroot as well as from /mnt. Both it says that the GPT-partition does not contain a BIOS bootpartition.
When I use lsblk I get this output:

When I mount mmcblk1p1 (this must be the 300MB partition for boot) this partition is empty.

I wonder why there are two partitons mmcblk1boot0 and mmcblk1boot1 with 4MB. These partitons can't be mounted.

Regards Ludger

Q4OS Forum

#1 2026-01-11 15:02

Installation with text mode for using parameters

#2 2026-01-11 21:03

Re: Installation with text mode for using parameters

#3 2026-01-13 00:34

Re: Installation with text mode for using parameters

#4 2026-01-13 06:08

Re: Installation with text mode for using parameters

#5 2026-01-30 12:44

Re: Installation with text mode for using parameters

Board footer