Installation on Dell machines with RST, any issues? [Solved]

[Gub]

Hi folks,

Very specific question as spent time trying to install Mint 20.2 on Dell Precision Tower 3620 fitted with M.2 512GB PCIe NVMe.

Mint/Ubuntu require RST to be disabled in system BIOS at which point the machine becomes unstable failing to recognise the drive, is it possible to install MX without any BIOS mods?

Thanks

[Huckleberry Finn]

Ahci is recommended.

[Gub]

Yup, selected this but after switching off over night (new CMOS batt installed) it fails to boot. Only option is to remove NVMe drive and sometimes battery, leave for half hour then all is good.

Is MX going to be similar to Mint as my options look limited.

Cheers

[MXRobo]

https://linux-hardware.org/?d=Linux_Mint
https://linux-hardware.org/?d=MX
https://linux-hardware.org/?view=computers
Perhaps

[Gub]

Cheers for the suggestions, ended up removing drives, graphics card and battery just to get into BIOS.

Long story short, RST and associated BIOS settings may not be something that is compatible with Linux distros, some background info here

https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions ... intel_rst/

It seems integrated with the other BIOS settings such as secure boot and legacy options, disabled the former and enabled the latter. Machine boots a little slower but at least it starts, that said it also feels like a step backwards after paying for some of these features.

I'll post this on the Mint forum as well, back to MX which looks great and a good option for my laptop.

Thanks again.

P.S I'll leave the thread open for a day or two in case there are any other suggestions before making Solved

[Gub]

After all that effort back to square one, this morning machine fails to boot or access BIOS despite almost everything in legacy mode where possible, disabling UEFI mode reports failure to find MNMe disk which is a non starter.

Surprised there is not more info on this as loads of machine must be fitted with this BIOS NVMe combo.

[f.denys]

Thank you @grub of bringing up this issue, which was an eye-opener for me. It probably explains why i was facing troubles with one of my Dell pc's, which i wished to donate to my grandson - he preferred ..windows
Probably the following link provides a consice overview:
https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/Pros ... 996#M64794
Later this week will have the machine available for further tests - for which you kindly supplied some "ammunition" .

[Gub]

Hi bud, posted this on the Mint forum - if you have any Q's be more than happy to help.

Cheers
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Well, I am the bearer of good news, albeit with a twist..let me explain

Probably best to outline my thoughts on why this turned out so complicated and the steps taken in remedy.

First of all, there appears to be two separate issues which are intertwined making fault finding almost impossible, they are:

1 - Unable to access BIOS or boot without extensive delays, hardware removal and general messing around.

2- Configuration of vanilla install of Mint on NVMe hard disk with associated BIOS changes

Point 2 is actually quite minor and easily resolved under normal circumstances, the problem arises with point 1 being unable to access the BIOS or even boot leading to delays.

So the big question in my mind is what happens overnight to prevent the above?

In hindsight it should have been fairly obvious especially as I picked up on the fault early on when removing the CMOS battery for umpteenth time, despite wearing gloves my arm touched the heat sink getting a fair old jolt in the process. Puzzled as the machine was unplugged and drained, however carried on with the task in hand putting this to the back of my mind.

It took until this weekend (over a week later) to be reminded of the fault after wiring up electrical sockets in the garage, still the penny didn't drop !

The final prompt came after contemplating writing an email to a local supplier, I say 'contemplating' as they are such a nice company I don't like to complain, however the issue with my Dell laptop is a pain.

Basically some of the cheaper PSU's are not grounded well causing all sorts of unpredictable behaviour, the most common being touchpad jumping around..wait a minute..Dell..grounding...ding!!

Its been fine since plugging directly into a grounded wall socket, no issues at all accessing BIOS.