I was given a lenovo b350 with a bad drive. I have a blank hd. I also have a mac mini circa 2012 with dual drives.
Not sure if i can format it into something ubuntu can use to boot with, so. . .
Sorry if i've missed where this info is, but i've posed the question 6 different ways and can't seem to figure out how to make a bootable image on the drive.
thanks
103 Answers
Thats easy!
put the new HDD in the laptop
Download a Ubutnu image:
install it on a usb:
If you can't boot from USB, make a CD. (usually not necessary.)
(Assuming you want to install Ubuntu, not Winblows)
Install Ubuntu the normal way. When it asks for partitions, make a big linux one (EXT4) and a small Swap space one. (Like 4gb or so.)
While i can not give a super detailed answer, it was in the bios. My friend and resident guru came over today and fixed it. It was indeed in the bios settings. We didn't have the boot from usb set properly. I've asked him to update this so that the community will know if this comes up again. Thanks to all that helped. I'm super happy this worked, and am putting the computer out in my wood shop right now. It is fully networked with my mac mini, and the remote printer works perfectly.
The fix to the problem was in adjusting the boot mode and the boot order in the BIOS. Some of the instructions you will find on this device reference the "Novo" button to get to the BIOS setup and the Boot menu. If you don't have the original keyboard you won't have a Novo button, but the BIOS is still accessible if you press F1 at power up and the Boo menu is accessible if you press F12 at power up.
As to the changes I made, I switched the device's boot mode from Automatic to Legacy Mode. I don't know if that was strictly required, but I did it and it worked so there you go. The other change I made was to adjust the boot order placing USB Key at the top of the list. Some good instructions can be found in Lenovo B350 Maintenance Manual at
Curiously, the boot order change did not work the first time. I redid it with an bootable Ubuntu install image on a USB Key inserted into a USB port. The USB Key appeared as in instance beneath, the "USB Key" entry. I saved the new state, rebooted, pressed F12 several times on boot and the USB Key appeared in the boot menu. I was then able to start the Ubuntu installer.
The Ubuntu install itself was uneventful. I used Ubuntu Desktop 16.04.1 and all the needed drivers loaded fine. So the problem was never about Ubuntu. It was just a persnickety BIOS and some misleading instructions for that BIOS.
