Booting Arch-ISO from USB-Stick in UEFI mode fails

Question

Hi there,
I'm running an Asrock H77M-ITX UEFI mobo. On this system I've already installed Arch on a Samsung 830 SSD (GPT formatted) - but in BIOS legacy mode because I've written the Arch-ISO image with "dd" to an USB-Stick (and UEFI boot mode wasn't even presented at boot).
Out of curiosity I've re-formatted the stick and copied Arch-ISO following https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Un … B_from_ISO.
Now I could start the ISO in UEFI mode, but it failed to start gummiboot with the "No loader found. Configuration files in \loader\entries\*.conf are needed." error message, concerning a problem with gummiboot.
Following some advice on the forum, I did this:
- install refind-efi 0.4.7-2
- copy /usr/lib/refind/refindx64.efi to [USB]/EFI/boot and renaming it to bootx64.efi (i.e. replacing the original bootx64.efi from gummiboot)
- Create a new file in the same directory ([USB]/EFI/boot/) called refind.conf
- Add this to it:
textonly
scanfor manual
menuentry Arch {
loader /arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz
initrd /arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img
options "gpt loglevel=7 add_efi_memmap none=UEFI_ARCH_x86_64"
With this I can launch Arch-ISO from the USB-Stick in UEFI mode and I can choose Arch from rEFIND. Then Arch-ISO starts booting but it always stops at the same point with this message:
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page present
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
ERROR: '/dev/disk/by-label/' device did not show up after 30 seconds ...
Falling back to interactive prompt
You can try to fix the problem manually, log out when you are finished
sh: can't access tty: job control turned off
[rootfs /]#
sdb is the USB-Stick from which I start Arch-ISO. Again - I didn't use dd to write the ISO to the stick.
Maybe this is pretty easy to solve, but I have to admit that I'm somewhat stuck
Last edited by swordfish (2012-11-19 21:31:43)

Answer 1

WonderWoofy wrote:See what the difference is between archiso and archboot maybe?  Seriously, have you made any effort whatsoever?
Of course. Read:
The "Main Page" ( https://www.archlinux.org/ ) states:
"You've reached the website for Arch Linux, a lightweight and flexible Linux® distribution that tries to Keep It Simple."
"Keep It Simple". Yeah!
In line with that, the "The Arch Way" page ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/The_Arch_Way ) states:
"The following five core principles comprise what is commonly referred to as the Arch Way, or the Arch Philosophy, perhaps best summarized by the acronym KISS for Keep It Simple, Stupid."
The ArchWiki ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/ ) links to several other pages, such as these:
The "Forum Etiquette" page ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Forum_Etiquette ) states under "Ineffective Discussion":
"Arch is a Do It Yourself community" and "treat others as you would be treated; respect them and their views". I am very much a "do it yourself" person -- that's why I like The Arch Way. I also go by the Golden Rule stated here.
Now, everyone is a newbie at some time. I and other posters here are obviously newbies with respect to ArchLinux. Even experts were newbies at one time. Newbies, by definition, do not necessarily know what they're doing, or where to find information. Hence, Arch's "Beginners' Guide" and such. Hence, posts on this board from newbies asking for help.
As regards initial installation of ArchLinux, and consistent with the above, the FAQ ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/FAQ ), under "Q) Arch needs an installer. Maybe a GUI installer", states:
"A) Since installation doesn't occur often (read the rest of this article to know more about what rolling release means), it is not a high priority for developers or users. The Installation Guide and Beginners' Guide have been fully updated to use the command-line method. If you're still interested in using an installer, consider using Archboot."
So the basic installation instructions explicitly state that Archboot is not needed.
The "Installation Guide" ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_Guide ) says nothing about either Archboot or Archiso.
The "Beginners Guide" ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_Guide ) says nothing about either Archboot or Archiso.
The "Archboot" page ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Archboot ) is consistent with the above information, because it states:
"Archboot is a set of scripts to generate bootable media for CD/USB/PXE.
It is designed for installation or rescue operation."
The "Archiso" page ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Archiso ) states:
"Archiso is a small set of bash scripts that is capable of building fully functional Arch Linux based live CD and USB images. It is a very generic tool, so it could potentially be used to generate anything from rescue systems, install disks, to special interest live CD/DVD/USB systems, and who knows what else."
So the pages describing both Archboot and Archiso clearly state that these tools are oriented towards already-existing installations -- even though it seems that they might be used, in certain circumstances, for initial installations.
I happen to be very new at playing around with installing Linux distros (although I've used Unix/Linux as a regular user for more than 30 years), and am brand new with respect to ArchLinux. I only began playing with it this past Saturday. So I would expect a bit of useful help as opposed to "RTFM!" I will soon get past the need to RTFM for basic tasks, but I have a way to go.
The fact is that for me and a number of other new ArchLinux users, the installation guides simply do not work. C.f. my post https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=153170 . I've done a lot of googling as well as searching the archives on this board, and others have come up against the same show-stopping installation problems that I have. I and others have posted to several recent threads on this board, trying to get past the problems, so far with no success.
Now, the.ridikulus.rat had written:
"You guys are using Archboot's kernel options for Archiso. Thats the issue in both the cases."
Given that neither of these sets of scripts were used by me or swordfish, this comment is not useful.
Given the above, can you or anyone else tell us what Archiso or Archboot might do to help us with our installation problems? Also, can you tell us how we, as newbies, ought to have found out how these might help?
Alan