Dual Boot - Windows 8.1 and Linux Mint

Hello,

I have a Dell Inspiron laptop with preinstalled Windows 8 (and now upgraded to Windows 8.1). I am trying to set up to dual boot with Linux Mint and, of course, after following the usual Linux installation procedures, was unable to do so. I began researching and came across EasyBCD which looked like a way to solve the problem. I installed it and followed the instructions to set up my Linux installation. I restarted and the computer shut down. I restarted, got the EasyBCD boot screen, selected Linux Mint and I got the attached screenshot (boot-1). I tried to start Linux Mint and got the second screenshot (boot-2). I cannot get Linux to boot, nor can I get the EasyBCD boot screen to reappear.

I came to the forum and read the "Sticky: Windows 8 boot problems ? Please read this before posting" posting. Thinking that the Windows fast-boot might be the problem, I disabled that, shut the computer down, unplugged it, and removed the battery (so I would have a true cold boot). After about 3 minutes, I replaced the battery, plugged the power supply back in, and started the computer. I went directly to the "boot-1" screenshot again. I am now at a loss and hope someone here can help me.

Many thanks,

Patrick
 

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Do you have secure boot enabled in the BIOS ?
If so disable it. Windows won't allow dual-booting from a secure W8 (not even to W7).
 
I can get into Mint by disabling UEFI and running Legacy. I am in Mint now posting this, in fact. The problem now is that I can no longer get into Windows 8 at all. When I am in UEFI mode, the bootloader only has Windows 8 (I deleted the Mint entry), but when I click it nothing happens. The screen goes black and that's it. So, at this point, I have Mint but do not have Windows.

Frustrated.
 
UEFI boot looks very different. Remember that there's a System Reserved boot partition which contains all the boot files.
That's where you need to point the UEFI BIOS, not directly at the W8 partition.
 
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