How to boot into Live USB/CD with UEFI on latest Vaio S series?

Question

I am unable to boot from USB/CD into a live Ubuntu session to proceed with install. Esc or F12 didn't work and I can't seem to be able to enter the bios settings.

Sony Vaio S w/ Ivy Bridge (just one month old, Insyde H2O EFI?)

I have read about:

• creating /EFI/boot on a fat16 stick http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=12071096&postcount=2

• installing rEFInd

• using the Alternate install CD (supposedly in order not to mess with W7 UEFI boot partition)

It's pretty clear what I have to do afterwards https://askubuntu.com/a/157062 but I am at loss on how to simply boot into a Live Session then install.

Thank you

Solution

Long press F11 on startup until the VAIO logo disappears. At least this worked for me with a new (July 2012) VAIO S1511 and an Ubuntu 12.04 Live/Installer installation on an USB memory stick.

Comments

[Mitch]

Which release of Ubuntu are you trying to install?

[Admin]

which of the partitions can be formated??? all of them?

[user76528]

I was trying to install 12.04.1 but will skip to Lubuntu 13.04 Vaio already had 4 primary partitions but I didn't mind erasing the recovery one.

[logoff]

I have installed rEFInd on my Vaio S following the installation instructions and doing the Alternative Naming Options (rodsbooks.com/refind/installing.html#naming) and long-pressing F11 gives me an error about something not found. I can boot Windows with the proper rEFInd option, but I can't boot from USB.

[logoff]

I have tried changing boot order changing H2O BIOS options to make "External devices" have more priority, but it did not boot. My USB was generated with UNetBootin and worked on other computers. Can rEFInd detect the USB device? I have tested different USB ports without succes...