Boot Linux PC with nvme/pcie with Clover Bootloader

[jsluk55]

Hi all,
Newbie here. I have an old Linux PC (Asus P8Z77-V) with an NVME ssd /pci3 adaptor plugged into the X4 slot. I finally got my operating system to see this drive and I can read and write files to it. However, I cannot get my uefi / grub to boot the operating system (Linux Mint).

So far I have watched several really old You tube videos on this subject but most of them is for a Windows PC or a hackintosh PC. I have also read the documentations on this site but I got even more confused. I have a USB flash drive with a GPT partition formatted as fat32. I then downloaded the iso file and extracted it the the USB's esp partition but I still cannot get it to boot.

Could someone please give me a step by step instructions on how to get the Clover bootloader to work? Best regards.

[jzrodriguez98]

Have you looked in the links below? The first one has been very helpful for me.

https://github.com/5T33Z0/Clover-Crate

https://drovosek01.github.io/CloverHackyColor-WebVersion/english/from%20Word/Clover_Of_Khaki_Color_eng_5129.htm

https://sourceforge.net/p/cloverefiboot/wiki/Configuration/

https://hackintosh.gitbook.io/r-hackintosh-vanilla-desktop-guide

Also, have you considered using rEFInd or rEFInd plus as a bootloader alternative?

[jsluk55]

Thanks jzrodriguez98 for your reply. I have looked into the first link that you supplied. I studied the links on this page and it skipped to so many other pages that I got even more confused. Being a rookie, I still don't understand what I actually need to do to create an USB Clover boot disk. I found a reference in the documentation to a linux clover bootloader page but that document is over 5 years old and I wonder how relevant is it anymore.

I don't know what rEFLnd bootloader is but I will look into it. Perhaps it can do what I want but a bit more simple than Clover. Do you know by chance that this system will work with Linux operating systems installed in a m.2 nvme / pcie slot? Best regards.

[jzrodriguez98]

Thanks jzrodriguez98 for your reply. I have looked into the first link that you supplied. I studied the links on this page and it skipped to so many other pages that I got even more confused. Being a rookie, I still don't understand what I actually need to do to create an USB Clover boot disk. I found a reference in the documentation to a linux clover bootloader page but that document is over 5 years old and I wonder how relevant is it anymore.

I don't know what rEFLnd bootloader is but I will look into it. Perhaps it can do what I want but a bit more simple than Clover. Do you know by chance that this system will work with Linux operating systems installed in a m.2 nvme / pcie slot? Best regards.

I have used rEFInd to boot Ubuntu in the past alongside Windows 8/10/11 and macOS so it works. Google it and you'll find extensive rEFInd documentation in its homepage as it's been out there for a while now. There are themes created by great contributors that allow you to change the appearance of bootloader booting entries menu. rEFInd Plus is based on the original rEFInd but with expanded features and options, and has its GitHub repo.

[jzrodriguez98]

As for Clover, most of the documentation out there is old and the most current one I've found is the first link. Plus it's mostly focused on booting macOS. In the past, after I successfully created the Clover EFI folder to boot macOS, I was able to boot Ubuntu without any issues. A Clover EFI for various Intel generations can be created using Clover Configurator. Clover just boots Linux so you can just create the EFI folder configuration and select in the BIOS the ESP where the Clover EFI folder was created. It could take some time to get it done.

[jsluk55]

jzrodriguez98, thanks again for the latest bit of suggestions. Looks like rEFind is the way to go for my application. I will study this approach some more. Best regards.