It Won't Work on My PC (Mi Air 12 Notebook)

balenaEtcher
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*BTW, I think I may have solved this nightmare…

First of all, I did manage to get Ubuntu-Studio installed. *Linux uses UEFI variables, Hoo hoo!!!

I insert the USB device, login to bash as root#, enter “efibootmgr,” without arguments to get the boot order; enter efibootmgr -o “boot order” (2001, 2002, 0000) etc., reboot, (so that the PC recognizes the device), enter efibootmgr again to get the “updated” boot order (there will be a new USB entry listing the new device explicitly, in addition to the generic entry; enter efibootmgr -o “updated boot order” (0001,2001,2002, 0000) to select the new device explicitly (that’s going to be the “0001” entry, then reboot again (2nd reboot). If the bootable USB device was created successfully it WILL boot this time, yeah!!! *This was only the “first” problem.

*The second problem.

NONE of the “usual” bootable USB stick apps will produce a reliable USB boot device and some don’t work AT ALL. “Etcher” doesn’t work AT ALL, in either Windows (ALL) or Linux. “Rufus” doesn’t work AT ALL, in Windows (ALL). “Multiboot USB” works “sometimes” with major distros; but, NOT AT ALL, with “Clonezilla” or “GParted LIVE.” So, I can “hopefully” install “a” Linux distro that I don’t “hate;” but, I can’t back up… HOW USELESS!!!

So, Mi salvador fue “UNetBootin.” Thie biggest P.O.S. of the lot! It can’t get any more stupid than that; it really can’t…

*The operational and scientific reason that p.o.c. UnetBootin works and works EVERY TIME, is that, it is based on a very very little known distro called “Linpus Lite” v1.17, authored in Taiwan primarily for the Taiwanese and Chinese mobile phone and Netbook markets. *Guess what I have??? A “Chinese” Xiaomi “Mi Air 12” Netbook, “Chinese” model, that’s what I have… @!X$!.

Screw Gladiator school. I’ve returned from triumphant conquest, Vini, vidi, vici! COOKIE PLEASE!!!

*So, now comes the fun part, where I get to email “Balenasoft, rufus.ie & multibootUSB.org.”

references:

*Linpus Linux
Linpus Linux is a Fedora-based operating system created by the Taiwanese firm Linpus Technologies Inc. Linpus was designed specifically to fully support the Asian market, with full Unicode support for the Chinese and Japanese languages. A special version, Linpus Lite, was written to run on devices with lower-cost hardware such as netbooks. It has both an icon and tab-based “Simple mode”, designed for new users; and, a conventional style “PC mode” for those wanting a more Microsoft Windows-lik Th…

*Linpus
Linpus Linux is used in the Acer Aspire Revo R3700 desktop pc, it comes with as standard either Linpus or Windows 7. There is a free version, but the full version costs$4.99 USD.

https://www.linpus.com/pages/page_index_en

*Article at: https://forums.puri.sm/t/uefi-alternative/7986/14

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Hi! Thank you for reaching out. May I ask that you please clarify what you mean with ‘“Etcher” doesn’t work AT ALL’? What exactly are you trying to do?

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Hi Alida,

Thanks for your reply.

What I mean is it that after burning “any” iso image with Etcher, “no” iso image I burn “will boot” from a USB-stick. This is true regardless of whether I burn the image from Windows 10 or Linux in either UEFI/GPT or BIOS/legacy mode. This is a very weird little bug; but, I was so puzzled by it, that I spent the last 6 weeks brute-forceing this, to try to discover what was preventing “Etcher created bootable USB sticks” from booting on my “Chinese” version Mi Air 12 Notebook. BTW, it’s not just Etcher. I have the same problem with Rufus and Multiboot USB, as I stated in the OP.

The funny thing is that “UNetBootin,” authored on “Linpus Lite” linux (v1.17) (owned by ACER Taiwan), will create bootable USB-sticks that work, “boot,” 100% of the time, on my “Chinese” market Mi Air 12 Notebook.

*What I’m trying to suggest “implicitly” is that Balenasoft “consider” recompiling Etcher on Linpus Lite linux; so that the bootable USB-sticks created with your product will boot on Chinese market PCs. That’s all I’m saying.

**Furthermore this looks like a “deliberate” feature. I’m a retired technology worker; and based on my experience in data-security this “feature” appears “security” related. As a thought experiment, let’s say that as a Taiwanese-Chinese market manufacturer (Xiaomi, Acer, etc), I wanted to prevent anyone from the “West” from booting their mighty USB-sticks on Taiwanese-Chinese “mission-critical” systems and installing trojans or infiltrating-exfiltrating data, and all other forms of data sabotage, I decided to design-in a “no-boot” feature, that would recognize Western authored bootable USB-sticks and prevent them from booting and installing sofware, while allowing bootable USB-sticks authored on a “friendly” Chinese “only” market OS to boot normally, which is what Linpus Lite linux is. *The DVD industry does something similar with “zone” encryption. I probably “unintentionally” did “The Company” a very big favor, or not. Who knows? This is what this smells and tastes like to me and I’m pretty sure I’m right. The fact that Xiaomi went completely “silent” on the issue, after at least half a dozen attempts at getting even the slightest help or even hints, reinforces this opinion.

I hope this clarifies the problem and what I would “like” Balenasoft to provide as a solution.

If I may, does “Odendaal” translate to “God on Earth?”

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Hi @bmy,

Thank you for the report. balenaEtcher is designed to flash OS images to a variety of bootable media, and we continually test this under Windows, Linux and macOS to ensure the best possible compatibility with host platforms.

Unfortunately, it sounds like the issue you’re describing rests firmly with the manufacturer of your hardware, so in this instance I’d suggest you report this issue to them to come to a successful resolution.

Thanks and best regards,

Heds