Dual boot on an HP Ultrabook 840 G1?

[#1]

Hi,

I have been attempting to install Ubuntu alongside Windows 7 on an HP Ultrabook 840 G1 laptop.

Windows 7 is already installed and working fine.

The problem is that after I format a drive (or create free space, or create unallocated space) , and try install Ubuntu on it, while the installation succeeds, I am unable to boot into the linux.

What's more, the drive which I used to install the Linux is still unaltered on Windows 7's disk management, as if nothing was done to it. I have tried different versions of linux (fedora/ubuntu/debian etc), but all show the same problem.

I came across this link here:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HP_EliteBook_840_G1

which talks about how HP has hardcoded the boot options.

Could someone please clarify what needs to be done?

I have tried disabling secure boot, editing the EFI strings available in the BIOS but to no avail.

I can provide more details if needed.

[#2]

Update:

>>parts of the update may sound half-baked, first attempts at trying to get my head around the SSD-HDD combo<<

On a whim, more than anything else, I set the boot option to legacy, and set the device setting for the disk drive to AHCI (was earlier set to RAID). Saved changes, went through BIOS.

Now, the GRUB Loader which my Ubuntu installed, comes up, with options for Ubuntu and Windows (read through, it gets interesting). This never happened earlier.

I chose Ubuntu at Grub, and I am logged into my Ubuntu OS now. Everything works just fine, audio, mp3, video, access to the NTFS partitions, WLAN, Mobile Broadband USB etc.

Then, I rebooted (no changes made in BIOS), and chose Windows 7, and I got a BSOD almost instantaneously, or a short while after the Windows Video boot.

So I went back to BIOS, and set the drive settings back to RAID.

Now, GRUB does not come up, and I boot straight into Windows, which knows something bad happened, cannot figure out what, shrugs it off, and works just fine. I am logged in, I check Disk Management, and it still “thinks” the 40 GB I used to install Ubuntu on is “free” (bright green, and available for use).

I think, if I may, that the solution is to reinstall Windows under the AHCI mode, because, if you open the laptop’s hatch, there is a 32 Gb SSD embedded, not as a secondary storage, or a separate disk, but as a cache to speed up the boot process/system performance.

RAID’ing between the SSD, and the HDD is a little …umm…pointless(?), because the net performance would depend on the slower entity (the HDD). So it is not really offering a world changing benefit. But then again, this is what I have surmised, after checking various sources on the Net about why one would choose one over the other, as far as AHCI or RAID is concerned.  

I may be wrong, any thoughts? 

[#3]

After much tinkering, because of the constraints of the image I 'must' have to conform to IT rules, I am back to RAID, and a single OS.

For now, the solution that worked for me was to

-->disable secure boot

-->disable fast boot

-->change boot mode to legacy

-->set Disk configuration to AHCI

-->install Windows 7, and then install Linux (install the GRUB boot loader on the / of linux)

As AHCI, I installed Linux, and then Windows (2 separate occasions), on the 32 Gb SSD, and I got _absolutely phenomenal performance_. Boot/shut down times were in the range of 3-5 seconds, system performance in general was outstanding.

I wish I could stick to this, but RAID with performance boost by Intel Rapid Storage Tech is not all that bad either.

With RAID, boot times are in the 10-12 seconds range, and performance is still ok, I guess somewhere between using a pure SSD storage, and using r/w needle type HDDs (yes, it makes me cringe putting it like that).

[Morelaughs]

Yes, I remember spending hours attempting to get Ubuntu and Windows dual boot working on my HP 15-D004AU notebook. It was a nightmare. Messing aroung with BIOS settings, secure boot and Legacy support options. If windows booted (the windows version that came with the laptop), when i restarted and chose ubuntu, ubuntu would fail to boot. If I re-installed ubuntu and chose ubuntu, next time I restarted, windows would fail to boot.

After a lot of perserverence, came across a site that mentioned a gem of a tweak. Its not perfect, but had to settle for it. It said if you make a copy of a file xxxxx.xxx residing in the efi partition (I cannot remember the exact name of the file but will be able to locate it if I ever need to boot windows). Then rename it to something else xxxxx.old. i would be able to boot ubuntu. Whenever i need to boot windows, I have to go back to the efi partition directory then rename that file back to what it was xxxxx.xxx and restart. It should boot windows. Have not tested this, as I have never booted windows on the notebook after doing this.

However, next time I restart, I will give it a go and report on here. If it works, can post the workaround if anyone is interested. Like I say, there is some tweaking involved, but you do get to keep the O/S that came with the notebook.

Spoiler