[TriLUG] Problem with UEFI firmware

[Ken MacKenzie]

To my knowledge Ubuntu has really lead the way with UEFI support with their
installations.

Just saying that might be the easiest route to set those up.

Ken

On Sun, Oct 26, 2014 at 2:01 PM, Tony Anderson <tony_anderson at usa.net>
wrote:

>
> I have purchased three 'NUC' systems to use as a school server supporting
> a network of OLPC laptops.
> In many deployments, there is no access to the internet. The school server
> offers local access to content from the internet (e.g. Internet-in-a-box
> and Khan Academy Lite)
>
> I have a Gigabyte GB-BXBT-2807, Intel NUC DN2820FYKH and Intel NUC
> BOXD54250WYKH1 but have
> not been able to get any of them running with software based on CentOS
> 6.4. The common feature is that the firmware is not BIOS but UEFI. The
> CentOS 6.4 is installed from a usb flash drive created by unetbootin from
> an .iso file controlled by an Anaconda kickstart file. This install works
> flawlessly with a systems like the Zotac ID81 with firmware bios.
>
> The symptoms are different in each case.
>
> The 34010  NUC provides no hdmi output and that is an immediate
> showstopper. This may be a hardware problem with the box.
>
> The 2820 NUC does not boot successfully from the usb key. USB handoff from
> the firmware to the software fails leaving the usb shut down. Naturally,
> this means that access to the flash drive and to the usb keyboard is
> impossible.
>
> The Gigabyte Brix installed the software flawlessly from the usb drive.
> However, boot from the hard drive fails (hangs).
>
> The suspect is the bootloader in the iso. CentOS did not deal with uefi
> before 6.5.
>
> I am leaving for Africa (East!) Nov. 6 and would like to get this problem
> resolved before then. These
> systems use much less power than the Atom-based systems and run directly
> on 12vdc which is very valuable for sites which depend on charging car
> batteries from solar panels.
>
> Tony
>