Success with triple boot ML Win8 Ubuntu

[Browns76]

I just completed my first Ever PC build and successfully installed ML using the Uni-beast thumb drive method (THANKS guys, I will certainly be making a donation soon to the forum...). Not really any problems getting the CustoMac to work (I even updated to 10.8.4), however one annoying and persisting problem seems to be that as soon as OSX boots and the login screen displays the screen flickers and becomes scrambled. After a long time thinking this was an installation problem I realized if I turned my monitor off then back on it it perfect. But it happens every single time, so maybe a driver problem or something.

Next I installed Ubuntu 13.04 to a separate HDD with legacy boot enabled on the mobo. Grub does not recognize any of the other OS, and when switched back to UEFI and Legacy (dual bios mode) I had to boot onto OSX then reinstall settings (including Chimera) by running multi-beast again. Then on next boot Chimera saw Ubuntu. My only problem is that when I shut down from within Ubuntu the computer turns off completely for about 5 seconds then boots up on its own. Tried reinstalling a few times, but seems to be no way to do a shut-down, always results in a restart.

For Win8 Pro: I disconnected other HDDs and installed on a separate SSD (Samsung 840) while in legacy boot mode. Hmmm... I may have been in dual bios mode actually, not sure. Anyway, after installing, I booted in dual bios mode and Chimera recognized all three OS!!

i got greedy and decided to go for a quad-boot system by installing Fedora 18 on a fourth HDD. I installed a few different times using both UEFI, legacy, or dual bios and did not have any luck getting Chimera to see this one. However if I boot from the Fedora drive I can boot up Fedora. Interestingly it has the same shut-down (or lack thereof) problem as my Ubuntu instal. Not sure what is different about this distro that Chimera can't see it, but I guess I might keep trying.

 

[jarvis_x86]

...as soon as OSX boots and the login screen displays the screen flickers and becomes scrambled. After a long time thinking this was an installation problem I realized if I turned my monitor off then back on it it perfect. But it happens every single time, so maybe a driver problem or something...

I'm using the same motherboard as you, and I had the same problem with the glitched display on startup.
I found that setting the resolution in org.chameleon.Boot.plist (found in /Extra) resolves the problem.
Hope that helps.

To keep your computer from restarting on shutdown, make sure 'Wake on LAN' is disabled in the uefi/bios settings.

As far as bootloader troubles go though, I'm afraid I'm not much help.
I've got both Mac OS X and Ubuntu on one SSD,
and I've had no luck in getting Grub2 to boot into Chimera or Chameleon; only the other way around.

 

[Browns76]

Thanks, turning off wake on LAN worked for the Linux restarting issue.

I appreciate the answer on the screen @ startup issue I'm having, but I have no idea what you mean by "org.chameleon.Boot.plist" Where do I go to do this? Is there a guide on how to make this kind of adjustment?

Thanks!

 

[Going Bald]

Thanks, turning off wake on LAN worked for the Linux restarting issue.

I appreciate the answer on the screen @ startup issue I'm having, but I have no idea what you mean by "org.chameleon.Boot.plist" Where do I go to do this? Is there a guide on how to make this kind of adjustment?

Thanks!

org.chameleon.boot.plist resides in the /Extra folder in the root directory of your OS X drive.
To set the graphics resolution in the list, add the following

<key>Graphics Mode</key>
<string>1920x1080x32</string>

If you have a screen resolution different from 1920x1080, say, 2560x1600 make it your resolution instead.

 

[Browns76]

It worked! Thanks so much for your help guys... even the Chimera boot screen is at the right resolution now.

Now, just have to figure out why Fedora is not recognized the same as Ubuntu...

 

[Going Bald]

It worked! Thanks so much for your help guys... even the Chimera boot screen is at the right resolution now.

Now, just have to figure out why Fedora is not recognized the same as Ubuntu...

Did you install Grub to Fedora root or /boot?

 

[Browns76]

Did you install Grub to Fedora root or /boot?

Well, I'm not sure I understand how the Fedora installer works. I have installed Ubuntu and Mint before, which seem to use similar installers and they have a clear option to choose where to install Grub. When installing Fedora 18 the setup screen for the partitions is quite different and it was not clear to me where Grub was being installed. I tried it two ways:

1) creating just a root partition and a swap area (assuming this puts Grub in the root partition). When I booted up the system in legacy boot mode, Grub booted first (so I could not get to Chimera). When I booted in UEFI mode, Chimera booted but no Fedora option.

I could have lived with Grub as my boot loader, because it did show options for all 3 of my other OS: Windows, Ubuntu, and OSX. Problem was, while the Windows and Ubuntu options loaded, the OSX option had two entries (a 32-bit option and 64-bit option) and neither would boot from there. So, back to trying to use Chimera which I would prefer anyway.

2) reinstalled Fedora with a /boot partition in addition to root and swap. It did not initially show in Chimera (probably b/c of Grub in the /boot this time), but the drive I installed it on is actually going to be used as a storage drive for files shared between all OS so I formatted an additional partition to FAT32 and it now shows up in Chimera as "FAT 32". When I choose that option a message comes up saying no bootable device, but then it quickly loads Grub and from there I can load Fedora. So, in an unintended way it works now even though my Fedora option is labeled FAT 32 in Chimera.

If it is easy to tell Chimera to re-label the the OS options and to choose the graphic that would be great to learn. I also have extra partitions formatted to NTFS which show up now in Chimera as though they are extra Windows operating systems which would be good to hide.

 

[Going Bald]

I also have extra partitions formatted to NTFS which show up now in Chimera as though they are extra Windows operating systems which would be good to hide.

Hide partitions/rename partitions, see http://legacy.tonymacx86.com/wiki/index.php/Org.chameleon.Boot.plist for options to add a key/string to the org.chameleon.boot.plist in /Extra

 

[Doruletz]

Ubuntu, as well as almost all other Linux Distros are not all that happy about UEFI Boot.
I triple boot Linux Mint 13, Windows 7 Ultimate and Mac OSX 10.9 Mavericks, each installed to its own SSD Drive, but use Legay (BIOS) boot for all.
If for some reason you really want the UEFI boot, download and install the Ubuntu for Mac version, specially made to boot under UEFI.
releases.ubuntu.com/saucy/ubuntu-13.10-desktop-amd64+mac.iso