GRUB UEFI Issues

First off, let me preface this by saying I've read and tried a significant number of tutorials on this and always run into the same/similar problems. Sorry for the verbosity but I've been wrestling with this for way longer than I should and could really use some help.
Relevant portion of the layout as found by lsblk -
sdc
--> sdc1 8:33 0 100M 0 part
--> sdc2 8:34 0 80G 0 part
--> sdc3 8:35 0 80G 0 part
--> sdc4 8:36 0 8G 0 part
My goal is to use the UEFI boot partition required (sdc1) to successfully setup GRUB so I can boot into arch linux. I'm using the most recent stable/core distribution available on the http download mirrors, then installing it onto a flash drive as directed in the tutorial.
When I follow this guide, I get to the GRUB install section and type
# mount -t efivarfs efivarfs /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
This produces errors both in and out of arch-chroot (from / to /mnt) while installing, saying that there is no such directory. I've read a lot of posts on this including this, this, and this. It has been an incredibly frustrating experience as it seems no matter how many times I nuke the partitions and restart this, I always end up with the same result.
Just to be clear, efivarfs and efivars both give errors of directory not found or does not exist. In many cases, the /sys directory exists, but does not contain the subdir firmware; this occurs both in and out of chroot as walked through in the very first link above. Also, just for clarity sake, this is what cgdisk shows for sdc:
Part# Size Partition Type Partition Name
1 100 MiB Linux Filesystem
2 80 GiB Linux Filesystem arch
3 80 GiB Linux Filesystem
4 8 GiB Linux Filesystem swap
Finally, when I do parted -l I find that sdc1 is fat32, sdc2 and sdc3 are both ext4, and sdc4 is linux-swap(v1) with no partitions having any flags set. When I boot up, the prompt says missing boot loader if I push return, but otherwise gives a blank screen with a blinking white bar. I've tried installing and nuking/repartitioning sdc multiple times with the same result. So far, I have not been able to get GRUB to boot into anything no matter what I try. Similar things happen when I tried to install syslinux instead. Everything seems to revolve around these *.efi files that never show up in the installation and don't seem to exist when I search for them. I've also read that there are a lot of known problems with installing GRUB to UEFI systems, but no solutions that fix the fact that these efi folders and files are not even there to use. I also cannot boot into the EFI shell (when it is available in /) by going into the bios and selecting boot to EFI from filesystem as described here. I download, successfully unzip Shell2.zip into /Shell2/{filenames} but again, no success.
Lastly, I also consistently get errors stating "The backup GPT table is not ad the end of the disk"; should I have moved sdc1 to the end of the disk, or is this talking about something else?
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide in getting Arch to actually boot and GRUB to even just show up...

IMHO, the best way to force a computer to boot in EFI mode is to use an EFI-only boot manager or boot loader, such as rEFInd, gummiboot, or ELILO. Prepare a boot medium (a USB flash drive, say) with your chosen EFI boot program and boot it. If you boot through to your chosen Linux without rebooting, you can be sure you're in EFI mode. (One caveat: rEFInd does support chainloading to a BIOS boot loader, but the ability to do so is disabled with the default configuration file.) Checking for the presence of the /sys/firmware/efi directory will verify that you're in EFI mode.
One big problem with many Linux installation media is that they support multiple boot modes. On the face of it, this sounds like a good idea; it makes the boot media universal (or as near to it as can be managed), which minimizes the odds of user confusion. Look deeper, though, and it actually causes problems, because so many EFIs are unclear about their boot paths. The boot options ("UEFI," "UEFI/Legacy", "CSM," etc.) are often interpreted as priorities or suggestions, not restrictions. Thus, you may think that you'll be booting in EFI mode, but if the computer has problems with the EFI-mode boot loader, the firmware will "helpfully" fall back on a BIOS/CSM/legacy-mode boot, and the Linux tool you're booting won't present any big flashing signs to inform you that you booted in the wrong mode. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that so many Linux installers have twisted themselves into shapes that make pretzels looks straight in order to boot in so many different ways (EFI vs. BIOS, CD-R vs. USB flash drive). This makes it hard for the firmware to figure out what to do with them, or to interpret a desired boot mode as invalid for that medium.

Similar Messages

Dual boot Arch / Windows 8 with grub, uefi and gpt

hi,
(my aplogies for my bad english)
after a fresh installation without worries I have one last problem : starting w8
Partitions :
[root@ToshCM christian]# gdisk -l /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.7
Partition table scan:
MBR: protective
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: present
Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sda: 1465149168 sectors, 698.6 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): BAE3660C-FC6F-11E1-9C45-C6B1BB081CD7
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1465149134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 3757 sectors (1.8 MiB)
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 923647 450.0 MiB 2700 Basic data partition
2 923648 1456127 260.0 MiB EF00 Basic data partition
3 1456128 1718271 128.0 MiB 0C01 Basic data partition
4 1718272 1230518271 585.9 GiB 0700 Basic data partition
5 1445343232 1465147391 9.4 GiB 2700 Basic data partition
6 1230518272 1250998271 9.8 GiB 8200
7 1250998272 1291958271 19.5 GiB 8300
8 1291958272 1445343231 73.1 GiB 8300
2 = efi (fat32)
4 = Windows (ntfs)
6 = swap
7 = /
8 = /home
EFI partition is mounted in /boot/efi
[root@ToshCM christian]# grep efi /etc/fstab
UUID=7CD3-EE8E /boot/efi vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro 0 2
For now I have a grub that works perfectly without Windows
Now I try to follow this page
[root@ToshCM christian]# grub-probe --target=fs_uuid /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
7CD3-EE8E
[root@ToshCM christian]# grub-probe --target=hints_string /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
--hint-bios=hd0,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt2
I put the result in /etc//grub.d/40_custom
[root@ToshCM christian]# cat /etc/grub.d/40_custom
#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
menuentry "Microsoft Windows Vista/7/8 x86_64 UEFI-GPT" {
insmod part_gpt
insmod fat
insmod search_fs_uuid
insmod chain
search --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt2 7CD3-EE8E
chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
I regenerates grub.cfg
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
I check the result in /boot/grub/grub.cfg
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
menuentry "Microsoft Windows Vista/7/8 x86_64 UEFI-GPT" {
insmod part_gpt
insmod fat
insmod search_fs_uuid
insmod chain
search --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt2 7CD3-EE8E
chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
After reboot I can see a fine line with Windows but it has no effect, neither start nor error message
The computer is a Toshiba Satellite C855-1TM
In the BIOS Advanced page "Boot Mode" is [UEFI Boot]
In the Security page "Secure Boot" is [Disabled]
Thanks in advance

vintherine wrote:
the.ridikulus.rat wrote:
@vintherine: Everything you mentioned in the 1st post is correct. In your case the correct commands should be:
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=arch_grub --recheck
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Thanks. I've tried that, get now a single line with Windows, which does not work
EDIT: Are you able to boot Windows independent of GRUB, ie. directly from the firmware boot menu?
I've tried F12 key, found a menu, started on the HD, found a new menu corresponding with the EFI directories (arch_grub, Microsoft....). Microsoft entry sent me on... grub menu
EDIT: Can you try (note the extra line : "set gfxpayload=keep")
It's time for diner (i'm in France). I'll see this in the next hour.
Many thanks
Seems like the actual Windows bootmgfw.efi was overwritten by grubx64.efi or something else. In the boot menu Windows's entry (created by Windows installer) is usually titled "Windows Boot Manager".
EDIT:
Try this. Copy the files from Windows's C:\Windows\Boot\EFI to <EFISYS>/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ . Overwrite any exisitng files, and make sure <EFISYS>/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/BCD file exists. That is the Windows equivalent of grub.cfg (although BCD cannot be read easily since it is not a text file). Try your menuentry again.
Last edited by the.ridikulus.rat (2013-09-27 18:29:09)

Found a FIX for MBR and GRUB GRUB2 ISSUES!

I like many other have had issues with Linux (Ubuntu), and the MBR modification and GRUB.
My tragedy went something like this. I wanted to install Ubuntu on a netbook without a CD Drive.
I put a Live Ubuntu CD in my computer and booted up.
I connected a Sata drive through my esata port.
I proceeded to install Ubuntu on the external drive.
Drive would not work on netbook,
Compute would not boot to windows 7.
What really happened:
When I installed Ubuntu on the external drive, GRUB was installed on my primary hard drive on my laptop.
If the external drive was attached to the laptop, GRUB came up and I could choose what I wanted to boot to (windows worked fine). But, if that drive was not connected, it gave the error "Device not present", that was it.
DONT DO THIS:
I tried to use a windows 7 dvd from another computer to "repair", didn't work, I think it recognized it was an OEM install.
I tried to use an XP install disk, got blue screen of death, and the computer would not boot, not even with external sata drive connected (now I was starting to sweat)
What worked:
I used the live Ubuntu CD to access my windows drive and did an immediate backup of all important files, all 112GB worth...
I saw I could purchase a windows 7 CD to repair my computer for about $10 (tempting but didn't)
Solution:
I want to my wifes computer: Start->Control Panel->System Security (click: Backup Your Computer)
On the left hand column click: Create System Repair Disk
Create Disk.
Took the disk to my laptop and booted it. I was concerned that It said Toshiba, not Lenovo. I clicked on the language and it noticed the MBR was not correct and asked if it could repair it? I said Yes, then it gave me the option to reboot. I rebooted and removed the CD. Everything is working fine!
I hope this helps someone sort through the sea of informaton concerning GRUB and the MBR file. This solution is for so many people, like myself have no windows 7 disk to boot from.
Lewis.

I should also point out that all the files of my website are in the root folder of my FTP, not in root/Website_Folder_Here folder.

Grub, UEFI, and encrypted partitions

I followed the tutorials on the Wiki regarding setting up luks encryption over LVM which worked fine. Part of this process involved getting grub to decrypt the root partition, which also worked. However, I later went and followed instructions for getting UEFI boot to work; I created a separate /boot partition, used grub-install, etc. I'm now in a weird state, though: grub is still using (and unlocking) the root partition and using whatever is in its /boot directory when it really should be using the /boot partition. I've managed to confuse myself enough through all this that I'm not sure what config files and commands I need to mess with to get grub to load the initramfs from the actual boot partition while not also screwing up the root partition that should be unlocked/mounted by systemd.
My common sense tells me that the latter has nothing to do with the former but it took me long enough to figure out the hack of copying everything in the boot partition to root's /boot just to get the thing booting again after a kernel update that I'd rather just ask here

tcdavis wrote:I'm now in a weird state, though: grub is still using (and unlocking) the root partition and using whatever is in its /boot directory when it really should be using the /boot partition.
UEFI and a dedicated /boot partition are separate things, and they are not dependent on one another. The problem is most likely coincidental.
Make sure your "root=" and "cryptdevice=" kernel parameters are correct. Edit /etc/default/grub, and use the UUID of the LUKS container on the new /boot partition, replacing the old UUID of the root filesystem. This should be the UUID of the LUKS container itself, not the filesystem contained within it. Use `cryptsetup luksUUID /dev/sda2` substituting sda2 with your /boot partition. This only applies to the kernel and is not directly related to GRUB, so it's just a precautionary measure.
Make sure /boot is mounted, and regenerate grub.cfg:
mount /boot
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Delete the contents of /boot on the root partition to prevent confusion:
umount /boot
rm -r /boot
mkdir /boot
mount /boot
Also make sure your /boot partition is being mounted (via crypttab and a keyfile) automatically at boot, or you will run into problems later on.
Strike0 wrote:If you, in your first attempt, installed grub to the MBR and your bios is set to dual legacy/uefi, the grub bios may take precedence now. You should boot the machine/install ISO in pure efi mode before executing the grub install for uefi and best wipe the grub bios which probably installed itself to sectors before the first partition.
I don't know enough about the GRUB internals to say whether or not the UUID of the /boot partition is embedded in GRUB's UEFI stub, but in theory the following commands should overwrite both the BIOS boot loader and UEFI.
mount /boot
grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=grub_uefi --recheck
This way GRUB should use the correct /boot no matter if it is booting in BIOS or UEFI mode.
If these instructions don't solve your problem, please specify what stage of the boot process is failing, and what you saw prior to the boot failure (e.g. did you get a GRUB rescue shell? Did you see the GRUB menu? Did GRUB indicate an incorrect UUID?)

[Solved] Grub Startup Issue

So after my last post and finally getting it booted I ran into more issued.
Turns out apparently nVidia isn't a big fan of EFI booting so I've been trying to switch back to BIOS booting.
I uninstalled grub-efi and install grub-bios.
I put it on /dev/sda2, now when I start up my computer I get this from grub.
http://i.imgur.com/tyNHHz8.jpg?1
Been using linux a while but this is a new one to me.
Last edited by orthanc (2013-06-23 18:36:42)

Ah yes sorry, I forgot to mention, once I installed the nvidia drivers I no longer need the nomodeset kernel option. I turned on debug at one point and it looked like neoveu was having issues with a frame buffer. With the binary blob it booted fine.
I don't recall exactly where but after some googling it I read that some devices are initialized differently under EFI and nvidia's drivers don't always work with it.
Alright, I got EFI booting back and it is sooo much faster than bios mode.
The error I am getting with nvidia is 'could not open the device file /dev/nvidia0 (Input/output error)' when I tried to start X. I tried a couple things from here but none seemed to help.
Below is a couple things from dmesg aswell.
[ 24.793125] NVRM: failed to copy vbios to system memeory.
[ 24.793387] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x30:0ffffffff:711)
[ 24.793398] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed
Edit: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ma … _7,1#Video and https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=162289&p=2 both talk about nvidia not working in EFI mode. I'm going to try again to get legacy mode working.
Last edited by orthanc (2013-06-22 15:43:11)

CTRL not working in Grub-uefi on MacBook Air

Hey guys, just wondering if anyone knows how to get the ctrl key to work in grub. I'm on the first 11" macbook air model. At the moment I can't edit grub options then boot because annoying grub 2 requires CTRL-X or F10 to executed a modified boot entry, but neither combo works in grub on this keyboard. They couldn't just let you use Enter or Shift-Enter, which I would have thought would be more logical...
Anyways, at the moment if my grub entry doesn't work I'm booting up a live usb to edit it, but if anyone knows a solution I'd be thankful.

I've never used EFI before other than my desktop's dodgy hybrid efi on its gigabyte board, using efistub, so I really have no idea what I'm doing with it. I'll look into using rEFInd this time (I had to use it on the boot usb because gummiboot was giving a blank screen). I'm up for a reinstall anyway because my btrfs has died and btrfsck is throwing out a corrupt double-linked list error I'll post back what I use in the end.

GRUB bootloader issue

I'm actually new to Solaris on x86 (worked with Cadence on Ultra Sparc).
I succesfully installed Solaris 10 on the slave HD of a 'Packard Bell' Desktop computer.
On the master I have Fedora installed.
Currently I can only boot Solaris via the BIOS menu, by selecting the slave as boot device.
When I add the proper code in the Fedora bootloader:
title Solaris 10 8/07 s10x_u4wos_12b X86
root (hd1,0,a)
kernel /platform/i86pc/multiboot
module /platform/i86pc/boot_archive
I receive GRUB error 17.
Is there a way I can point from the MBR to the slave boot record?
Or should I simply physically switch the devices and add Fedora
to the Solaris menu.lst?
Otherwise Solaris 10 works excellent. Up until now it's the only
OS from the many I've tried where the correct screen size was selected automatically.

Hi
It's not (yet) possible for a Linux version of GRUB to boot Solaris. The problem is that GRUB needs to have a small amount of ability to read the filesystem being booted (when using 'kernel' etc, rather thasn chain booting). Sun has added the required changes, and submitted them to be folded into the GRUB source. However, this may take some time since GRUB 2 is being developed and, from a GNU perspective, the Sun extensions were Not Invented Here.
So, either you need to boot from Solaris GRUB, of you need to chain boot Solaris GRUB from Fedora GRUB.
Paul

[SOLVED]: Grub setup issue

Hi Arch community !
First, please excuse my (very) (bad) english...
I'm installing the Arch on a new machine, but in the grub installation step, something is blocking me.
The output says
grub> root (hd0,2)
Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x82
grub> setup (hd0,3)
Error 17: Cannot mount selected partition
Huh... is really 0x82 an unknown type ? There might be a problem somewhere...
So i look my fdisk :
# fdisk -l
/dev/sda1 * 946 25261 195318270 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 1 945 7590681 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 25262 25784 4200997+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 25785 48641 183598852+ 83 Linux
Partition table entries are not in disk order
I agree with this... one redmond, one redmond/backup, one swap and my /.
And they are not in disk order, ok.
I check my menu.lst with thoses informations :
title Arch Linux
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26.img
It seems to me to be all right ! Where is the problem ?
Do you maybe have an idea ?
Last edited by F-eeks (2007-10-09 21:52:59)

Thank you peart
You are right, (hd0,2) seems to be my swap partition, and (hd0,3) my ext2 one.
I did the change, bu grub is always trying
root (hd0,2)
setup (hd0,3)
with the same errors... strange
SOLVED : That is allright after re-install...
thank you quand même !
Last edited by F-eeks (2007-10-09 21:52:40)

GRUB pause issue

I have a computer with two hard drives. Solaris 10 is on hd0 and Windows XP is on hd1.
The menu.lst entry for Windows looks something like this:
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1
My problem is that when you select this option a black screen comes up with a little smiley face in the corner. You need to press a key to get Windows XP going. How do you skip this screen?
| : > | (The smiley face looks like this except it's standing up)
Is it even a smiley face? It kinda looks like Tux.

The smiley u r talkin abt is an ASCII character set which i belive is coming from the BIOS setting.
This does not seem to be a Solaris problem.
Enabling/Disabling the ACPI function in BIOS may solve the need to press a key to boot into Windows.

(SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

So I've been using Arch for over a year and a half and have installed it on 10+ systems. I got a new laptop in January 2013 which has a UEFI motherboard (I hate Intel) And ive tried installing Arch from pure memory and also from the beginners guide, the first day I got the laptop I installed Arch in 15 minutes with NO issues, now all of a sudden when I boot into UEFI (For some reason legacy support which is called "CSM" Does not seem to work with Arch, so I must use UEFI, if you know a way around this let me know) on the live disk, install goes successful, but when I try and install GRUB (Not grub-legacy) it says "UEFI Commands are not supported on this device" I read the article in the wiki about starting the kernel module, and I did that, install went successful with GRUB and I was able to make my grub file install to /boot/efi/EFI/grub.cfg. When I try and boot up it takes me to a grub screen for about 2 seconds, then reboots, then shows grub for 2 seconds, then reboots, etc..... And the grub menu that pops up ONLY says "grub" twice, it doesn't display any information as to what its going to load, so it seems like it failed. I DID change the root directory which is sda4, and I still get this issue.
My partitions are:
sda1 /boot 300MB
sda2 /boot/efi 700MB
sda3 SWAP 2048MB
sda4 / (the remaining amount of my 1TB HDD)
Does anyone have any tips? I really need to get this working.
EDIT: Also, I have tried SysLinux as well, that didn't work either. I don't care what bootloader I use as long as it can boot Arch! Ive currently got Debian installed and for some reason that's failing as well, but that disables my screen due to a kernel issue, I see the module fail to load in SystemD with Debian and it goes out, so I need Arch. Debian isn't that great anyways IMHO
SOLVED: Just installed via CSM instead. Took me some work arounds but i finally got it installed.
Last edited by Kitkin15 (2013-12-20 07:43:32)

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi/ --bootloader-id=grub --recheck --debug
It told me to do that HERE
First, mount the ESP at your preferred mountpoint (usually /boot/efi, hereafter referred to as $esp). On a first install, you will need to mkdir /boot/efi, if that's where you want to mount it.
Now, install the GRUB UEFI application to $esp/EFI/grub and its modules to /boot/grub/x86_64-efi:
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=$esp --bootloader-id=grub --recheck --debug
The way I understand it is that I still needed /boot to be the MBR boot partition, then /boot/efi as the UEFI partition so I can build compatibility with my legacy support later on, right now that's an even bigger pain as it doesn't fully work (After I get it running with UEFI I can tinker with it, if I cant get it running then ill have to wait for a BIOS update).
Also, ive tried the Alternative method listed below that and it still didn't load GRUB like it should have, same original error
Also, right now im trying to install with just using these partitions:
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1 #EFI BOOT 700MB
mkswap /dev/sda2 #SWAP 2048MB
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3 # / Remaining amount of my 1TB HDD
Right now im going to wipe my HDD and then try and install using GummiBoot, I had it all correct but my partitions were not GPT so it didn't work (Which is most likely why GRUB failed, I don't know too much about the differences but from what I know that's what did it) Now when I try to erase and re-partition using a GPT tool it gives me an error saying its not possible to partition /dev/sda or something along the likes of that, im going to see if I can try gparted live later tonight or tomorrow instead of the one they use in the beginners guide.
Im honestly confused as to how I got it running earlier this year when I set it up lmfao. I know I used cfdisk to partition and was still using UEFI.
Last edited by Kitkin15 (2013-12-18 22:05:24)

Bootloader pauses before counting down on UEFI motherboard

Hi,
I recently installed Arch Linux on my new computer and, strangely, the computer freezes for a moment before the bootloader counts down. I'm surprised by this because before installing Arch, Windows 8 would launch within a couple of seconds (I have a SSD disk).
Here's the output of systemd-analyze:
Startup finished in 3.076s (firmware) + 11.176s (loader) + 1.477s (kernel) + 15.204s (userspace) = 30.935s
(note that the bootloader's timeout is 5 seconds, so the loader freezed more than 6 seconds.)
I've had the same issue with Gummiboot and GRUB. I'm not familiar yet with debugging/analyzing tools, could someone help me to dig into this bug?
Thanks!
Edit: maybe a useful info: my computer is a Toshiba Satellite Z30t
Last edited by lawrent (2015-01-23 21:32:32)

$ efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 000A
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 000A,000B,0009,0008,0007,0005,0004,0000,0003,0001
Boot0000* HDD/SSD ACPI(a0341d0,0)PCI(1f,2)SATA(0,0,0)
Boot0001* LAN2 ACPI(a0341d0,0)PCI(19,0)MAC(MAC(b86b2348eb80,0)
Boot0002* LAN1 BIOS(80,0,30)........................E..............................................
Boot0003* LAN1 ACPI(a0341d0,0)PCI(19,0)MAC(MAC(b86b2348eb80,0)030d3c000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000004000000000000000000000000000000000
Boot0004* Windows Boot Manager HD(2,200800,32000,a6e7aee1-3752-11e4-a1c7-b86b2348eb80)File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}...0................
Boot0005* Windows Boot Manager HD(2,200800,32000,a6e7aee1-3752-11e4-a1c7-b86b2348eb80)File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}....................
Boot0007* Syslinux HD(1,800,200000,a6e7aedb-3752-11e4-a1c7-b86b2348eb80)File(\EFI\syslinux\syslinux.efi)
Boot0008* Syslinux HD(1,800,200000,a6e7aedb-3752-11e4-a1c7-b86b2348eb80)File(\EFI\syslinux\syslinux.efi)
Boot0009* Syslinux HD(2,200800,32000,a6e7aee1-3752-11e4-a1c7-b86b2348eb80)File(\EFI\syslinux\syslinux.efi)
Boot000A* Linux Boot Manager HD(2,200800,32000,a6e7aee1-3752-11e4-a1c7-b86b2348eb80)File(\EFI\gummiboot\gummibootx64.efi)
Boot000B* grub-uefi HD(2,200800,32000,a6e7aee1-3752-11e4-a1c7-b86b2348eb80)File(\EFI\grub-uefi\grubx64.efi)
I guess all those entries come from the trial-and-error I went through when installing my bootloader. Could it be possible that they are responsible for my setup delay?

Cannot boot Arch (USB or HDD) in UEFI Mode

I have a new MSi GT70-0ND, 1x 128GB SSD (no RAID) and 1x 750GB HDD. The SSD was preloaded with an MSi OEM copy of Windows 8. I did not receive an OEM disc, so I've tried to avoid touching the SSD and the hidden recovery partition on the HDD.
Using Universal USB Installer, installed archiso onto USB flashdrive.
Windows boot device selection menu did not detect the flashdrive.
Checked UEFI BIOS settings - USB set to "Full Initial".
Moved flashdrive from port to port, eventually was detected.
Reboot, received an error relating to bootloader signing.
Rebooted again into UEFI BIOS settings, disabled secure boot.
Rebooted, received infamous "No loader found. Configuration files in \loader\entries\*.conf are needed."
Googled, checked forums, saw gummiboot issues, recommendations to use rEFInd, and dd/UEFI issue.
Transferred archiso to working Arch machine, followed instructions here https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UE … B_from_ISO.
Installed rEFInd using instructions here https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/31894#comment102233. I have since tried various changes to refind.conf and can not discern any difference.
Attempted to boot laptop from flashdrive in UEFI mode after Windows' boot device menu again failed to detect flashdrive multiple times.
Got rEFInd menu, found nothing functional (except Windows bootloader, of course): Arch entry froze the system requiring hard reboot, UEFI Shell v2 gave an assertion error (from memory, it was "String.c(166) String != ((void *)0)"); Googled, seeing some related but no identical errors, UEFI Shell v1 failed to start reporting something like "using load options '<null string>'".
Rebooted in BIOS/Legacy mode, but flashdrive was unbootable (duh)
Again using Universal USB Installer, installed archiso onto flashdrive.
Rebooted in BIOS/Legacy mode, archiso menu appeared, but during udev events, received a drm/nouveau init table error; Hard reboot. Appended
nouveau.modeset=0
to kernel line, everything worked
Installed vanilla Arch system to the HDD including UEFISYS partition.
When it came time to set up and install rEFInd/efibootmgr, of course
modprobe efivars
failed.
Redid flashdrive the UEFI-safe way on Arch machine, attempted to boot in UEFI mode, it appears that menu entries from my /boot/efi (UEFISYS) partition are present, but this is irrelevant as only the Windows bootloader and \refindx64.efi work (loads rEFInd graphical mode, in which nothing works except BOOTX64.efi which quickly flashes a message with a file path (too quickly to read) then loads Windows. UEFI Shell v2 now has same error as v1:
Using load options '<null string'> Error: Not Found while loading shellx64_v2.efi
rEFInd (version 0.5.0) "About" dialog reports EFI Revision 2.31, Firmware: American Megatrends 4.653, Screen Output: Graphics Output (UEFI)
I have tried adding various things to the refind.conf "options" directive, e.g. gpt, loglevel=7, pci=nocrs, add_efi_memmap, archisobasedir=arch, archisolabel=ARCH_201212, acpi=off, etc. in different combinations.
I am at wits' end. Bottom line: nothing but rEFInd (via flashdrive) and Windows works in UEFI boot mode - nothing. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I doubt if this will help you with your main goal, but I've fixed a few memory bugs in rEFInd recently, so the "String.c(166) String != ((void *)0)" error you mentioned might go away if you upgraded to the latest version of rEFInd (0.6.0).
Beyond that, here's a suggestion:
Prepare a USB flash drive or CD-R with rEFInd 0.6.0. Be sure to include an EFI driver for whatever filesystem you used in Arch's /boot (or root, if there's no separate /boot partition) in the flash drive's or CD's EFI/BOOT/drivers_x64 directory. (Note that rEFInd 0.6.0 includes an ext4fs driver.)
Using an emergency disc, create a refind_linux.conf file in Arch's /boot directory. Include, at a minimum, two lines, each of which should include the options "ro root=/dev/{whatever} initrd={\path\to\initrd}", changing the device filename to point to your root and the initrd= specification to point to your two Arch initrd files (one for each line). The path should be relative to the root of whatever filesystem holds those files, so if you've got a separate /boot partition, there would be no directories, just the filename preceded by a backslash; and if you have no separate /boot partition, you'd lead with "\boot\". Note the need for BACKslashes, not forward slashes, in the initrd= specification (but forward slashes in the root= specification).
Reboot using the rEFInd flash drive or CD-R you've prepared. With any luck, rEFInd should come up and show you an Arch option. Try using it. If it fails, try again, but hit Insert and select the second option from the list.
With any luck this will get your system booted in EFI mode, but I can't make any promises about that.

Problems with partitioning and install Grub. Fresh install

All,
First post here. I appreciate any help you can offer.
I am having some problems when installing Arch Linux.
I am installing Arch on a brand new (3 days old) Toshiba SatelliteC655D-S5300 Laptop.
Hot sheet can be found at http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content … -S5300.pdf.
I was initially installing from 2011.08.19 x86_64 Core CD but someone suggested using the latest version.
Now I am installing from 2011.11.13 x86_64 CD burned at 4x (the slowest my burner can go).
I am able to complete all steps up to installing GRUB, but it fails to install.
During partitioning I receive a few errors and I believe this is contributing to the issue.
At first I tried automatic partitioning with 100mb boot, 1024mb swap, 10,000mb / and the rest of 320g for /home. Each partition is ext3 except /boot which is ext2.
During the automatic partitioning an error briefly occured: /usr/lib/aif/core/libs/lib-blockdevices-filesystems.sh: line 355: !((partition_flag)): command not found.
After speaking with a friend they suggested manually partitioning and using UUIDs instead.
1) So far I have removed all partitions, rebooted.
2) Partitioned using cFdisk. Bootable 100mb parition, 1024mb swap, 15,000mb primary (/), 3000mb logical (/var), and the rest 300949mb logical (/home).
3) Once I write the changes and quit I reboot.
4)I go back into the installer and complete steps 1-3.
5) Go to step 4 and and then manually configure block devices, file systems, or mount points.
6) I choose the option for uuid and hit ok.
At this point 3 error messages appear at the bottom:
/usr/lib/aif/core/libs/lib-ui-interactive.sh: line 602: local: 'part,' : not a valid identifier
/usr/lib/aif/core/libs/lib-ui-interactive.sh: line 602: local: 'type,' : not a valid identifier
/usr/lib/aif/core/libs/lib-ui-interactive.sh: line 602: local: 'label,' : not a valid identifier
(Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/OHRKo.jpg)
7) Next it prompts me to add the mount points for each partition set.
8) Select the partition, the mount point, it asks me for label and any additional opts for mkfs.ext3.
9) I leave the label and opts field blank. After selecting ok to the opts field I get the same 3 errors as above:
/usr/lib/aif/core/libs/lib-ui-interactive.sh: line 602: local: 'part,' : not a valid identifier
/usr/lib/aif/core/libs/lib-ui-interactive.sh: line 602: local: 'type,' : not a valid identifier
/usr/lib/aif/core/libs/lib-ui-interactive.sh: line 602: local: 'label,' : not a valid identifier
(Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/QqkSP.jpg)
I am able to successfully set a mount point and format each partition. But I receive the same set of 3 errors occur for each partition.
10) Once I complete the formatting I proceed to step 8, install bootloader.
It says Generating Grub device map.. This could take a while. Please be patient.
I receivieve the following error on this screen: /usr/lib/aif/core/libs/lib-blockdevices-filesystems.sh: line 355: !((partition_flag)): command not found.
(Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/B5j4K.jpg)
11) After the error displays it goes to the next screen, before installing grub you must review config file. etc.
12) I hit ok and then :q the config file. Is there a critical change in the config file that I'm missing?
13) After closing the file I select which the boot device where the GRUB bootloader will be installed. My only option is /dev/sda. I hit ok
Then I get the following 2 errors:
/usr/lib/aif/core/libs/lib-blockdevices-filesystems.sh: line 355: !((partition_flag)): command not found
/usr/lib/aif/core/libs/lib-blockdevices-filesystems.sh: line 355: !((partition_flag)): command not found
(Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/ol840.jpg)
13) Error installing GRUB. See /dev/tty7 for output. Ok
14) GRUB was NOT successfully installed. Ok
I checked out TTY7.
It shows the installer issuing the following commands in GRUB.
1) device (hd0,) /dev/sda
Error 12: Invalid device requested
2) root (hd0,0)
Filesystem type is extf2, partition type 0x83
3) setup (hd0,)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... no
Checking if "/grub/stage1" exists... yes
Checking if "/grub/stage2" exists... yes
Checking if "/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
Running "embed /grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0,0)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "embed /grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0,0)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "install /grub/stage1 (hd0,0) /grub/stage2 p /grub/menu.lst "... succeeded
Done.
4) quit
I have tried rebooting from here and using the Arch CD to boot into the existing OS but it does not work.
I tried grub-install /dev/sda
I get Probing devices to check BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
/dev/mapper../dm-0 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive.
I have tried going into grub and issuing the same commands the install script did.
Same errors.
I'm afraid I don't have network access at the moment so I can't get a successful /arc/report-issues to run.
I hope I've included enough information to start the troubleshooting.
Let me know if I've missed anything!
Thanks in advance,
-Jason
Last edited by username17 (2011-11-17 22:37:56)

username17 wrote:I get Probing devices to check BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
/dev/mapper../dm-0 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive.
Your drive does not have an MBR to install grub to as it is a GPT disk - which is also not supported under the old GRUB.
You need to create a small partition at the very beginning of the drive (8MB is plenty) and set the "bios_grub" flag. ie the "BIOS drive" your error refers to.
You will then need to install the grub2-bios package following the chroot instructions on the grub2 wiki page here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB2#Installation
** Please note that I found the chroot mounts to be outdated - replace "/tmp/install" with "/mnt" **
Your alternative solution is to boot a gparted liveCD and prepare your disk as MBR - this will (most likely) destroy all existing data on the disk.

Twist USB 3.0 Issue

I have a second Twist, Core i7. I still cannot get the system to recognize my Corsair Voyager GT 64GB 3.0 memory stick.
I can use the Corsair USB stick on other Lenovo USB 3.0 devices (including the USB 3.0 Port replicator).
I've spoken to Corsair and they replaced my USB Stick and I STILL have the problem. So, this points to the Twist. I opened a ticket with Lenovo and am awaiting an answer. I suspect this is a UEFI issue.
JIM

Hi, jrainey
Have you ensured that your BIOS is up to date? The latest version is 1.07 and can be found here. Also, I would recommend going into BIOS and checking out the settings under Config > USB Configuration. Ensure USB 3.0 is turned on.
Good luck, and let me know how it goes
Adam
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GRUB loads but get thrown into rescue shell without any errors

I forgot to read the news before I did an upgrade for the first time in a long time and borked my system because of the filesystem update.
Used to get Arch news by mail with a RSS forwarder, but the service I used shut down and I forgot to sign up for another one.
Used chroot and it seems like I fixed the filesystem and bash packages with all the related symlinks, and I did mkinitcpio -p linux and got no errors.
However when I boot I get directly thrown into GRUB rescue shell without any errors. Tried to reinstall GRUB but didn't change anything.
Read GRUB - GRUB UEFI drops to shell, but I still have a grub.cfg. I believe I just have a pretty standard GRUB2 installation, however I'm not really since it's a long time since I installed it and it was a lot of back and forth because I tried a lot of combinations of GPT/MBR and GRUB/Syslinux since my HP ProBook 6460b laptop has UEFI. If more information is needed about my current GRUB install please do ask, chroot is working just fine.
My system is updated and I'm using systemd.
What should I do to fix my boot/GRUB?
Also, I'm not sure if it's relevant, but when I try to run a Lubuntu LiveCD (same arch as my Arch install) it fallbacks to BusyBox with the error "unable to find a medium containing a live file system".
It's still a fully working TTY so I haven't bothered to research further why. Maybe just a corrupt usb memory drive (setup).
Last edited by Occi (2013-08-10 17:40:59)

unilx wrote:You can manually create a grub.cfg file, the wiki has a detailed section on this, just Google: "arch linux manually creating grub.cfg"
This might be the fix, but I'm not sure what I did that could've changed it. Anyway, I'm tired of having to use time maintaning my system just for a simple update and switching to Debian testing. Learning alot playing around with Arch, but the last half year or so have just felt like a big hazzle with all the (in my opinion) unecessary changes and distancing from it's BSD-like roots and KISS (systemd and all that jazz).

GRUB UEFI Issues

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