If you are unwilling or unable to update the machine's firmware, elilo (the EFI Linux Loader) can be used to boot the Mac mini. However, this requires a specially prepared kernel and has some drawbacks (like not having 2D/3D accelerated graphics.). To be safe, be sure that you have the latest EFI (which is like a BIOS but for Apple computers) for your Mac Mini. First check to ensure your efi is the latest here. For some users, the efi update never installed because of an issue with Snow Leopard 10.6.8 so, if this applies to you, first download this file and install it.
I read about 'bless --info' so I did it & this is what came up:
finderinfo[0]: 49 => Blessed System Folder is /System/Library/CoreServices
finderinfo[1]: 3751013 => Blessed System File is /System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi
Efi Update Mac Mini
finderinfo[2]: 0 => Open-folder linked list empty
finderinfo[3]: 0 => No alternate OS blessed file/folder
finderinfo[4]: 0 => Unused field unset
finderinfo[5]: 49 => OS X blessed folder is /System/Library/CoreServices
64-bit VSDB volume id: 0x6500D7AE3A72109E
I don't understand why I was able to do a clean install of El Capitan on my MBP, but not on my mini. I didn't have the 'EFI boot' problem when I did a clean install of Yosemite on my MBP & mini. Only the keyboard, mouse & Superdrive are plugged into the back of the mini. Should I unplug the Superdrive? Is it 'confusing' OS X?
Nov 5, 2015 6:00 AM
rEFIt is a boot menu and maintenance toolkit forEFI-basedmachines like theIntel Macs.You can use it to boot multiple operating systems easily,including triple-boot setups with Boot Camp.It also provides an easy way to enter and explorethe EFI pre-boot environment.
On this page:News- Download- Troubleshooting- Resources
Other pages:Documentation- Troubleshooting- Screenshot- Myths and Facts
News
2013-03-29: As you may have noticed, rEFIt is no longer activelymaintained. Please check outrEFInd,a fork that is maintaned and under active development.
Efi Boot Mac Mini
2010-03-12: The site has a newtroubleshooting section.Some common problems are also listed below.
2010-03-07: Version 0.14 was released. This release adds a configurationoption for the default boot choice, fixes the Linux/GRUB detection issue, andfixes Snow Leopard 64-bit issues.
Download
The current release is 0.14.It is available in various forms.Both disk image distributions include the Installer package andcan be burned as a bootable CD as well.All three binary distributions can be used to install rEFIton a USB memory stick or other disk drives.
- rEFIt 0.14 (6.5M Mac disk image)
- rEFIt 0.14 (6.5M ISO disk image)
- rEFIt 0.14 (3.2M .tar.gz)
- rEFIt 0.14 source code (253K .tar.gz)
You can browse the source code online through theViewVC interfaceto the Subversion repository at SourceForge.
Efi Update Mac Mini 2010
Troubleshooting
See the troubleshooting section for a full list.Here are a few common problems:
- I just installed rEFIt, but the menu doesn’t show up.
- It takes two reboots after using the package installer.More...
- I can’t boot Windows/Linux from a USB hard disk.
- This is not well-supported by Apple’s firmware.More...
- I can’t boot Windows/Linux from the second internal hard disk.
- This is not explicitly supported by rEFIt at this time.More...
Resources
This project is hosted by SourceForge.You can use the trackers to submitbug reports,feature requests,and patches.The latest development source code is available from theSubversion repository.Other resources are listed on theproject summary page.
To discuss rEFIt with other people, check out theOnMac Forumsor theDual Boot forum at InsanelyMac.