Installing on old Mac (EFI boot issue)

Issues related to hardware problems
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yarooyaroo
Posts: 1
Joined: 2019/07/06 13:08:19

Installing on old Mac (EFI boot issue)

Post by yarooyaroo » 2019/07/06 13:23:01

I've got an old Mac Mini (A1176) which has been upgraded to a Core2Duo processor. So I've a 64bit OS with a 32bit EFI.

I CAN successfully and easily install Ubuntu 14 using the +mac installer. It works beautifully and booting is almost flawless (just a slight delay). I don't need to hold option, or 'C' or select anything at a boot menu. It just boots.

So now I come to try to install CentOS and while the installer works perfectly (once I'd modified the ISO to remove EFI support and force it to use BIOS) HOWEVER, when I come to boot the new installation, I just get a flashing question mark.

Someone has posited that CentOS installed itself as GPT rather than MBR and therein lie the root of my woes.

Does anyone know if it's possible to:-
  • Use rEFInd to 'repair' the boot loader so that it can 'find' the new OS? This may not be possible? I gather the Mac can ONLY boot alternative OS from MBR partitions ?
  • Install Ubuntu 14 (which boots just fine without the flashing question mark business and then somehow selectively overwrite the Ubuntu installation with CentOS??
  • Reinstall CentOS but this time INSIST (somehow?) it uses MBR instead of GPT?
Any help MUCH appreciated. Currently struggling. A lot.

Thanks

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