Jump to content

[Solved] E7440 won't boot from OC USB


LyonLeBrun

Recommended Posts

My Latitude e7440 won't boot from an OpenCore installer USB stick. Here's what I've done:

 

1. I created the USB stick by formatting the entire USB device in macOS (Catalina) to be GUID Partition Map and Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system. I used createinstallmedia to copy Catalina onto the USB drive. I also copied Jake Lo's OC 0.6.0 folder from the post below into the EFI partition (I used MountEFI to make the EFI partition visible in the Finder).

 

2. I plugged the USB drive into my Latitude E7440, and got to Boot Options. I set the USB drive to be first in the list, and used Hervé's list to configure the rest of my E7440 BIOS Settings.

 

3. Each time I boot, the USB drive is skipped/ignored, and the laptop boots from the internal drive.

 

What should I investigate to make the computer boot OpenCore from the USB drive?

 

PS I don't think it would matter, but I should note that the laptop has a previous macOS install based on Clover. Once I get OpenCore booting, my plan is to erase the entire internal drive and do a clean install of macOS Catalina ... Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

Unlike 7490, on E7440 you'll need to enable Legacy Option ROMs in the BIOS.

During boot, press F12 to select the USB drive. If it doesn't boot at least to OpenCore Picker, then you have an issue with the installer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for this speedy response. I'll ensure Legacy Option ROMs are enabled. (Yes, they were.)

 

But which "installer" might have the problem: the macOS installer or the USB drive itself? And what information could I collect to debug this? Thanks again.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

The USB is not bootable perhaps.  Were you able to select the USB from F12 and get to the OpenCore picker?

The MacOS part won't start until after you select "Install macOS ..."

 

After downloading the folder, did you rename it to EFI and put it in the EFI partition?

It should be /EFi/EFI with the 2 folders inside: Boot and OC

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, I never got to the OpenCore picker.

 

In the interest of full disclosure, in the Boot Sequence page, the USB was not listed when I checked the "UEFI" button. I had to click Add Boot Option and select the USB choice from the File System List (it had "USB" in the text). I gave it the Boot Option Name of "USB". Should I enter anything into the File Name field? Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm... I agree that I expected to see the USB drive, but it wasn't listed when I initially chose UEFI options. I think you're correct, but I don't know what keeps the USB from being identified. Here's what I did to make the USB drive visible when I clicked the "UEFI" button...

 

Or is this a red herring? Is there some other reason that the USB drive wasn't recognized?

 

In any event, the first image shows the original set of options, and me using "Add Boot Option" to select the  USB device (top item in File System List) I then used the up/down arrows to move "USB OC" to the top of the list, clicked Apply, and then exit.

 

BootOptions.jpg.5303c0ed66860481b8af40b2568949c4.jpg

 

The laptop then rebooted, and F12 gave me this screen: It shows the Boot Sequence page and my selection of "USB OC" just before I pressed Return. The result was that the laptop still booted from the Mac OS X drive, ignoring the USB.BootSequence.jpg.d2b332b977698391e7ff9b809439792a.jpg

 

I

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

 

After downloading the folder, did you rename it to EFI and put it in the EFI partition?

It should be /EFI/EFI with the 2 folders inside: Boot and OC

 

BINGO! That was the problem - I hadn't realized that the /EFI volume needs to have a top level EFI folder to contain both Boot and OC. 1368180819_UEFIDiskSeen.jpg.def6b7f5ac125df2be2880132ab8e461.jpgThe Boot Sequence page now includes UEFI: SanDisk (above), and after pressing Return, I got to the OpenCore partition picker (below). Choosing "Install macOS Catalina" got me to the macOS Utilities screen, and I was off to the races, formatting my disk and installing Catalina. THANK YOU!1636893019_OpenCorePartitionPicker.jpg.8401f3bf38ff829f4a9fe7f00e432cd4.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...