Anyone know how to edit a BIOS/start menu from a Beelink mini?

Sheila_Flanagan · June 27, 2024, 12:49am

Wasn’t sure where to put this topic, but I am bedeviled with this mini pc I bought called Beelink SER AMD Ryzen 7 5700U and how it has its own startup menu that I cannot seem to edit.

Basic issue is this:

I have installed about 6 different Linux distros on the smallest SDD inside the machine and I have yet to get good ole GRUB to come up by default. And worst of all is that the dern start menu never gets rid of prior install names. So I have a continuous list in that startup menu with the UUID of the drive (same drive for each install) but with names like
Debian
Fedora
Fedora
Linux Boot Manager
EndeavorOS
OpenSuse
debian
OpenSuse -secureboot

If I choose Linux Boot Manager, it goes into a shell-like area with “endeavoros” listed, counts down and runs through the mounting process until it gets to:
A start job is running /dev/disk/by-uuid/######## and then starts counting up…indefinitely.

Of course there is no Endeavor on the drive. I overwrote it when installing others. I did the same for each of those listed above.

There are basically two options at boot:
Del to get into a very basic BIOS or the start menu which looks like this:

Or the basic BIOS where the only bootable drive option (besides USB) is Hard Disk [debian]:

Even when Endeavor was installed, I could never leave after a reboot and expect to come back and find the GRUB for Endeavor. I had to choose F7 and go to this menu and select Endeavor, then it would show me the GRUB which was installed with that distro.

Beats all I have ever seen. If anyone knows how to fix it, it would be great. Better yet, could I get rid of it and rely on the Linux OS Grub menu?

Thanks,
Sheila

nevj · June 27, 2024, 3:52am

The second screenshot is the bios boot menu… it lists devices to boot from
The first screenshot looks a bit like a grub menu, but it is not… I think it may be some sort of uefi menu.

There is some utility to manage uefi… never used it… I looked it up

You may be able to use that go edit the first screenshot.
You should be able to edit the second screenshot from in the BIOS ( ie after DEL)

The thing is, UEFI is capable of managing booting without grub… and I think that is what is happening in your Beelink.
By all means, have a go at disabling that and using grub instead, but be careful.
The other option is to learn how to use UEFI boot.

Sheila_Flanagan · June 27, 2024, 10:45am

@nevj , that is a new entry for the Linux notebook. The article helped me get the complete list so I can manage it via CLI.

I think because this came with W11 installed on it, this is like the “Start Menu” I recall from Windows you can get into before the OS loads. I remember it had things like safe mode, etc. That appears (below) to be the Boot0000 Windows Boot Manager so I assume that is what this start menu is.

The article does show you how to change the boot order, delete entries, etc. But I am unsure which of these applies to the author’s statement:

“You can see the EFI system partition number, the partition table type (GPT), UUID of the EFI system partition and the boot loader file.”

Here is my verbose output:

BootCurrent: 000B  
Timeout: 5 seconds  
BootOrder: 000D,0006,0002,0004,0005,0009,000B,000C,0007,0003,0001  
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager  HD(1,GPT,7638681a-9f6b-455f-ae71-925f6058e0db,0x800,0x32000)/File(\EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI)57494e444f5753000100000088000000780000004200430044004f0042004a004500430054003d007b00390064006500610038003600320063002d00350063  
00640064002d0034006500370030002d0061006300630031002d006600330032006200330034003400640034003700390035007d0000006f000100000010000000040000007fff0400  
     dp: 04 01 2a 00 01 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 03 00 00 00 00 00 1a 68 38 76 6b 9f 5f 45 ae 71 92 5f 60 58 e0 db 02 02 / 04 04 46 00 5c 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 5c 00 4d 00 49 00 43 00 52 00 4f 00 53 00 4f 00 46 00 54 00 5c 00 42 00 4f 00 4f 00  
54 00 5c 00 42 00 4f 00 4f 00 54 00 4d 00 47 00 46 00 57 00 2e 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00  
   data: 57 49 4e 44 4f 57 53 00 01 00 00 00 88 00 00 00 78 00 00 00 42 00 43 00 44 00 4f 00 42 00 4a 00 45 00 43 00 54 00 3d 00 7b 00 39 00 64 00 65 00 61 00 38 00 36 00 32 00 63 00 2d 00 35 00 63 00 64 00 64 00 2d 00 34 00 65 00 37 00 30 00 2d 00 61 00 6  
3 00 63 00 31 00 2d 00 66 00 33 00 32 00 62 00 33 00 34 00 34 00 64 00 34 00 37 00 39 00 35 00 7d 00 00 00 6f 00 01 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 7f ff 04 00  
Boot0001* UEFI: Built-in EFI Shell      VenMedia(5023b95c-db26-429b-a648-bd47664c8012)0000424f  
     dp: 04 03 14 00 5c b9 23 50 26 db 9b 42 a6 48 bd 47 66 4c 80 12 / 7f ff 04 00  
   data: 00 00 42 4f  
Boot0002* Fedora       HD(1,GPT,e67afbcc-d2a6-4683-aae1-5ce9852bfd72,0x800,0x12c000)/File(\EFI\FEDORA\SHIMX64.EFI)  
     dp: 04 01 2a 00 01 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0 12 00 00 00 00 00 cc fb 7a e6 a6 d2 83 46 aa e1 5c e9 85 2b fd 72 02 02 / 04 04 34 00 5c 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 5c 00 46 00 45 00 44 00 4f 00 52 00 41 00 5c 00 53 00 48 00 49 00 4d 00 58 00 36 00  
34 00 2e 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00  
Boot0003* UEFI: PXE IPv4 Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller</span>     PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x2)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/MAC(b0416f0c3d76,0)/IPv4(0.0.0.00.0.0.0,0,0)0000424f  
     dp: 02 01 0c 00 d0 41 03 0a 00 00 00 00 / 01 01 06 00 02 01 / 01 01 06 00 00 00 / 03 0b 25 00 b0 41 6f 0c 3d 76 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 / 03 0c 1b 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00  
   data: 00 00 42 4f  
Boot0004* Fedora     HD(1,GPT,e67afbcc-d2a6-4683-aae1-5ce9852bfd72,0x800,0x12c000)/File(\EFI\FEDORA\SHIM.EFI)0000424f  
     dp: 04 01 2a 00 01 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0 12 00 00 00 00 00 cc fb 7a e6 a6 d2 83 46 aa e1 5c e9 85 2b fd 72 02 02 / 04 04 2e 00 5c 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 5c 00 46 00 45 00 44 00 4f 00 52 00 41 00 5c 00 53 00 48 00 49 00 4d 00 2e 00 45 00  
46 00 49 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00  
   data: 00 00 42 4f  
Boot0005* Linux Boot Manager    HD(1,GPT,e67afbcc-d2a6-4683-aae1-5ce9852bfd72,0x800,0x12c000)/File(\EFI\SYSTEMD\SYSTEMD-BOOTX64.EFI)  
     dp: 04 01 2a 00 01 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0 12 00 00 00 00 00 cc fb 7a e6 a6 d2 83 46 aa e1 5c e9 85 2b fd 72 02 02 / 04 04 46 00 5c 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 5c 00 53 00 59 00 53 00 54 00 45 00 4d 00 44 00 5c 00 53 00 59 00 53 00 54 00 45 00  
4d 00 44 00 2d 00 42 00 4f 00 4f 00 54 00 58 00 36 00 34 00 2e 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00  
Boot0006*         HD(1,GPT,e67afbcc-d2a6-4683-aae1-5ce9852bfd72,0x800,0x12c000)/File(\EFI\DEBIAN\SHIMX64.EFI)  
     dp: 04 01 2a 00 01 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0 12 00 00 00 00 00 cc fb 7a e6 a6 d2 83 46 aa e1 5c e9 85 2b fd 72 02 02 / 04 04 34 00 5c 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 5c 00 44 00 45 00 42 00 49 00 41 00 4e 00 5c 00 53 00 48 00 49 00 4d 00 58 00 36 00  
34 00 2e 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00  
Boot0007*   opensuse-secureboot  HD(1,GPT,e67afbcc-d2a6-4683-aae1-5ce9852bfd72,0x800,0x12c000)/File(\EFI\OPENSUSE\SHIM.EFI)  
     dp: 04 01 2a 00 01 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0 12 00 00 00 00 00 cc fb 7a e6 a6 d2 83 46 aa e1 5c e9 85 2b fd 72 02 02 / 04 04 32 00 5c 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 5c 00 4f 00 50 00 45 00 4e 00 53 00 55 00 53 00 45 00 5c 00 53 00 48 00 49 00 4d 00  
2e 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00  
Boot0009* endeavouros  HD(1,GPT,e67afbcc-d2a6-4683-aae1-5ce9852bfd72,0x800,0x12c000)/File(\EFI\ENDEAVOUROS\GRUBX64.EFI)  
     dp: 04 01 2a 00 01 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0 12 00 00 00 00 00 cc fb 7a e6 a6 d2 83 46 aa e1 5c e9 85 2b fd 72 02 02 / 04 04 3e 00 5c 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 5c 00 45 00 4e 00 44 00 45 00 41 00 56 00 4f 00 55 00 52 00 4f 00 53 00 5c 00 47 00  
52 00 55 00 42 00 58 00 36 00 34 00 2e 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00  
Boot000B* opensuse     HD(1,GPT,e67afbcc-d2a6-4683-aae1-5ce9852bfd72,0x800,0x12c000)/File(\EFI\OPENSUSE\GRUBX64.EFI)0000424f  
     dp: 04 01 2a 00 01 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0 12 00 00 00 00 00 cc fb 7a e6 a6 d2 83 46 aa e1 5c e9 85 2b fd 72 02 02 / 04 04 38 00 5c 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 5c 00 4f 00 50 00 45 00 4e 00 53 00 55 00 53 00 45 00 5c 00 47 00 52 00 55 00 42 00  
58 00 36 00 34 00 2e 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00  
   data: 00 00 42 4f  
Boot000C* debian        HD(1,GPT,e67afbcc-d2a6-4683-aae1-5ce9852bfd72,0x800,0x12c000)/File(\EFI\DEBIAN\GRUBX64.EFI)0000424f  
     dp: 04 01 2a 00 01 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0 12 00 00 00 00 00 cc fb 7a e6 a6 d2 83 46 aa e1 5c e9 85 2b fd 72 02 02 / 04 04 34 00 5c 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 5c 00 44 00 45 00 42 00 49 00 41 00 4e 00 5c 00 47 00 52 00 55 00 42 00 58 00 36 00  
34 00 2e 00 45 00 46 00 49 00 00 00 / 7f ff 04 00  
   data: 00 00 42 4f  
Boot000D* UEFI:  USB, Partition 2      PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x8,0x1)/Pci(0x0,0x4)/USB(4,0)/HD(2,MBR,0xfc52a621,0x1d1e0000,0x10000)0000424f  
     dp: 02 01 0c 00 d0 41 03 0a 00 00 00 00 / 01 01 06 00 01 08 / 01 01 06 00 04 00 / 03 05 06 00 04 00 / 04 01 2a 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 1e 1d 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 21 a6 52 fc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 01 / 7f ff 04 00  
   data: 00 00 42 4f

Thanks,
Sheila

nevj · June 27, 2024, 12:32pm

Read around. That is a reasonable article, but there are others.
There is also efitools
The whole thing looks incredibly primitive?
When you master it, you can educated the rest of us.

Sheila_Flanagan · June 27, 2024, 10:21pm

Well that was easy as pie. I read a lot of forum posts where using efibootmgr they were able to remove all those entries, but they always reappeared after a reboot.

A couple of posts suggested deleting the folders in /efi/boot. So I first used rm to get rid of the folders via CLI and then used efibootmgr -b [000n] -B to remove each entry I needed gone. As each one was removed, I ran efibootmgr again and checked for the next correct number, just in case they got renumbered after removing one.

The final one was the Linux Boot Manager folder which I had not used rm to get rid of yet, as I was unsure why I had one. So when it came up as the 1st to boot, it was the old EndeavorOS entry. So I repeated the rm of that folder in /efi/boot & used efibootmgr to get rid of the entry.

Once I did that, the computer booted to the current installed OS menu of OpenSuse, since I installed both Leap & Tumbleweed, and I could choose from either of those upon boot, or after 5 seconds, it auto booted to the first entry, Tumbleweed.

I am now going to install one of the other distros I am wanting to test, over Leap, and see if I can get the normal grub menu. I did not care for Leap. I may not even keep Tumbleweed, but I did want to test it out.

Sheila

nevj · June 27, 2024, 11:00pm

It is a good habit to use mv instead of rm when doing such things.
I use something like
mv folder folder.hide
It has saved me from my own stupidity several times.

Congratulations, you are now the efi authority

Sheila_Flanagan · June 27, 2024, 11:08pm

Well, I was in Tumbleweed to get this done and I thought, well I can’t do it with Nemo, cause you can’t go root with that file manager. So the only command I could think of to delete them was rm. I guess I could have hidden them. Just wanted to be sure they didn’t come back

So you are saying I can mv the folders at the same time create a folder.hide? Cool. I did not know that one.

Thanks,
Sheila

nevj · June 27, 2024, 11:28pm

Yes, it is the same as moving a single file

mv does not copy if the source and destination are on the same partition, it makes the new name and points it to the file or directory.

don.karon · June 28, 2024, 2:48pm

I got a BeeLink SER8 earlier this week. (Awesome little machine.) I went into the BIOS, changed the boot order to use my bootable Ubuntu 24.04 USB stick as the first option and then let the installer erase everything and do its thing. This might clear the list of your previous installs.

Sheila_Flanagan · June 28, 2024, 4:18pm

Hi, Don.

The boot order in BIOS was not the issue. It was that since it came with W11 installed, there was a start menu, generated by Windows, which the BIOS used in the "boot override’ section only. In that start menu, every OS that had ever been installed remained. I was able to get rid of them all in Linux terminal via the steps outlined above in my solution.

Thanks,
Sheila

callpaul.eu · June 28, 2024, 4:42pm

I am not going to try to answer your question, its just a comment on the beelink computer, when I looked them up on amazon as its a mark I dont know, thought, gosh thats expensive for a little box, but then checked the system spec all that memory should be quite a powerful beast… question does it run hot due to size and ventilation?
For years I have toyed with the idea of a mac mini which is a similar size and have had several in to upgrade to linux when the mac osx has reached end of life. But each time I think space needed for screen keyboard etc, so stick with my netbooks.

Sheila_Flanagan · June 28, 2024, 5:00pm

Hi, Paul

I have absolutely NO issues with mine. I read some of the reviews, not only on Amazon, but Reddit, and people talked about running hot and other issues. I am not sure if the internal components make a big difference or not, but here are my specs:

Beelink SER AMD Ryzen 7 5700U Specification

AMD Ryzen 7 5700U 1.8-4.3GHz 8C/16T
AMD Radeon Graphics 8-core 1900 MHz
M.2 2280 500GB NVMe SSD, (Supports extended up to 2TB)
(I installed a 2 TB SSD)
WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
VIDEO: 4K@60Hz，1*HDMI 2.0 DP 1.4 TYPE-C

I probably would not have chosen it except someone got one for Christmas as a gift and was selling it new in the box for $200 USD. Considering it was listed on Amazon (US) for $369, I snatched it up. And I use it for my home server as well as my test machine for other distros.

I have a 32" monitor attached via HDMI as I constantly use the C port for my Venmo drive of other Linux distros. I have found it to be more than sufficient for the home server part and with so much space on the 500 gb PCIe M.2 disk I installed, I decided to create partitions just for testing Linux on.

Sheila Flanagan

callpaul.eu · June 28, 2024, 6:01pm

Here they sell for between 450 and 600 euros new, sounds like you got a bargain

don.karon · June 29, 2024, 3:21am

Paul, to answer your question about temperature the SER8 runs quite cool. The case stays cool to the touch. Note that I’m not a gamer and nothing I do really pushes the machine hard, so it might warm up under heavy load. The fan is barely audible (my breathing is louder).

Here is the output of the the “sensors” command just now:

don@don-SER8 ~ $ sensors
amdgpu-pci-c400
Adapter: PCI adapter
vddgfx: 1.03 V
vddnb: 658.00 mV
edge: +23.0°C
PPT: 10.03 W (avg = 2.23 W)

k10temp-pci-00c3
Adapter: PCI adapter
Tctl: +24.8°C

acpitz-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
temp1: +20.0°C

iwlwifi_1-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1: N/A

nvme-pci-0300
Adapter: PCI adapter
Composite: +25.9°C (low = -0.1°C, high = +82.8°C)
(crit = +84.8°C)
Sensor 1: +25.9°C (low = -273.1°C, high = +65261.8°C)

Note the little joke in the last line. Sensor 1 is reported at 25.9°C with alarm levels set to -273.1°C, which is absolute zero, and +65261.8°C, which is about 10 times hotter than the boiling point of tungsten, the metal with the highest boiling point. Those BeeLink guys are a laugh a minute.

callpaul.eu · June 29, 2024, 8:57am

Thanks don for the extra info, appreciate that.