[SOLVED] Bootloaders and partitioning (Syslinux and GPT)

I don't understand why this is so difficult.
All I want to do is install Arch over two partitions (boot and root, both ext2) on a GPT disk, doesn't matter which bootloader.  But I can't find any obvious way to do this.  My understanding of partitioning and MBR's and bootloaders is probably a bit lacking.
When I use gdisk to create the partitions, and then try to install syslinux, I always get an error about not being able to set the legacy BIOS bootable attribute, even if I set it beforehand with gdisk.  Tried various things and I have yet to create a bootable disk.  No luck with GRUB2 yet either.
Is there a more idiot-proof way to get this up and running?  I've looked through the Beginner's Guide, Installation Guide, the wiki pages on these bootloaders, etc.  Re-partitioning and re-pacstrapping after each and every attempt at configuring a bootloader is making this take all day.
Last edited by joebrooks (2012-08-04 02:48:03)

silentsnake wrote:Just do it manually – this worked for me.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … al_Install
Follow the steps for GPT while you are in your chroot environment (after running arch-chroot). If sgdisk is missing install the gptfdisk package via pacman.
That did it, thank you. 
Three polite responses in a day... Pretty good first impression of the Arch community.
I'm using ext2 btw because I read somewhere I shouldn't use a journaling file system on the SSD in my Eee PC 2G Surf.  Hoping that won't create any headaches for me later.

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    WARNING: Failed to connect to lvmetad: No such file or directory. Falling back to internal scanning.
    WARNING: Failed to connect to lvmetad: No such file or directory. Falling back to internal scanning.
    WARNING: Failed to connect to lvmetad: No such file or directory. Falling back to internal scanning.
    WARNING: Failed to connect to lvmetad: No such file or directory. Falling back to internal scanning.
    WARNING: Failed to connect to lvmetad: No such file or directory. Falling back to internal scanning.
    WARNING: Failed to connect to lvmetad: No such file or directory. Falling back to internal scanning.
    WARNING: Failed to connect to lvmetad: No such file or directory. Falling back to internal scanning.
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    set default="0"
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    save_env prev_saved_entry
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    insmod part_msdos
    insmod part_msdos
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    insmod ext2
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    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root edf3011c-e581-448e-baad-d1e03d5fb8f6
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    insmod part_msdos
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod lvm
    insmod ext2
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    ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
    ### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
    ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
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    if [ -f ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
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    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
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    Disk identifier: 0x1bbed4e9
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    Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
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    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
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    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
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    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
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    Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
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    Last edited by psycho (2013-08-01 18:58:18)

    Your first partition starts at block 63.  Grub has gotten so bloated that it now writes to not only the MBR, but also to the space from the MBR (after sector 0) to the start of the first partition, which these days is sector 2048.  This new start point is for alignment purposes.
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    The question is, there are any advantages in use one or another? What is the benefits of using grub and rEFInd? Should I be using rEFInd?
    Last edited by AlexVanAxe (2014-01-19 15:36:21)

    I do the opposite of WorMzy and keep gummiboot as my primary and rEFInd as a secondary.  I like gummiboot because it has the option to have no timeout and still show the menu if you hold the spacebar when it loads.  I like rEFInd because it allows me to boot from kernels that are on my btrfs partition, so in the event that my kernels don't get properly copied over to the ESP, I can still boot from the ones directly in /boot.
    The efistub functionality has not been without its issues though, so it is probably a good idea to not rely on those entirely.  I also keep a couple more traditional style bootloaders configured as well.  In particular, I keep grub-efi set up because it can act as a fallback to the fallback, but also because it allows me to boot the archiso through a loop mount, which is quite nice.

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