rEFInd 0.8.7 cannot boot Porteus on Macbook Pro12,1 (OS X 10.10.4)
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Hello, I am trying to boot Porteus on my brand new MBP12,1. I have installed rEFInd 0.8.7 successfully and I can reach to boot page. When I try to boot Porteus I am getting the error below;
Boot ROM Version: MBP121.0167.B07
SMC Version(system) : 2.28F7
I would appreciate for any support,
Regards.
EDIT : They work on Macbook Air ( I have tested on several air with different OS versions, they work without any problem )
Last edit: Mesut K. 2015-07-29
Booting BIOS-mode OSes from USB media has been flaky since the beginning of rEFInd, and even before -- this is a known issue with rEFIt, rEFInd's predecessor. Unfortunately, I lack the hardware access, documentation, and time to fully debug this issue, so it's likely to remain a hit-or-miss proposition for the forseeable future.
The best solution is likely to be to switch from BIOS/CSM/legacy-mode booting to native EFI-mode booting. I'm not familiar with Porteus, so I can't recommend a specific way of enabling EFI-mode booting with it, but it might be you'll need to change the way you create the USB drive. With most distributions, you use a tool (
dd, UNetbootin, or something else) to create the drive. Using different options or switching tools may help. I don't know if the same applies to Porteus or if it's set up in some other more specialized way, but I'd look at options along these lines.Thank you for prompt reply.
The weird thing is, I am able to boot it via Macbook Air with same OS Version and rEFInd version. I am also able to boot it directly with stock boot of MBAir. Would it help me if I downgrade the firmware of MBP12,1 or it has nothing to do with it?
I will be creating another Porteus SDCard with EFI Support enabled and update this message whether it works or not.
Thanks again.
BTW I have tested on rEFInd V 0.9.0
Last edit: Mesut K. 2015-07-29
Porteus is a portable Linux OS, and as such, it should be bootable in EFI mode. If it's not, the Porteus developers are way behind the time. Sometimes EFI-bootable OSes on external media show up only after you hit the Esc key, so you might try that to see if something shows up. If you're desperate enough, you could try adding your own EFI-mode boot loader for Porteus, but that will take some research to figure out how to do it. You could start with my EFI boot loaders for Linux page.
The firmware is indeed the component that's causing your boot attempt to succeed or fail, but I don't recommend downgrading it. At best, such a downgrade will work, but that's an unlikely outcome; and any modification of the firmware carries some risk, so there's a possibility that you'll create new problems (up to and including "bricking" your computer) if you make such an attempt.