[SOLVED] Having trouble dual booting Windows: normal.mod not found

Question

Hello every one, I'm a Gentoo user who wants to try something different. So I thought I'd install Arch on my new laptop.
Anyhow, this is my first proper UEFI install on real hardware. So I might be doing something stupid here, but I've searched all over the forums and the internet and can't seem to find anything similar about it. So please excuse me if there is already a similar or very similar topic
Since I'm new to Arch I followed the Beginner's guide. Everything went fine, install was very quick compared to Gentoo phew... anyhow there came the tricky part, the bootloader install, as I am a real total noob with EFI. I followed the instructions carefully.
The result is: I now have 4 entries in my GRUB menu, 2 are Arch and its fallback, one is Windows 8 detected by osprober, and one is my custom Windows 8 with the usual chain loading setup that i've always used (with some fixes found on the 'net). Arch boots fine, but Windows doesn't; I get booted down to the recovery console, with an error that GRUB cannot find /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/normal.mod. Even though the file is of course existing. I tried to "insmod part_gpt" and others, and it couldn't find any of them, except part_msdos. Yeah I know, it's weird. Unfortunately I need to use Windows sometimes for some programs like Guitar Rig which need a good native audio connection.
My opinion is that there must be some place where the paths are not correct. But I keep looking at the config files and I can't find anything wrong with them...
The system had a Linux Mint 14 install on it previously but it bricked itself while updating to Mint 15. And I only really had Mint on there because of the automatic bootloader setup. Which worked well up to when I got rid of Mint (it was on /dev/sda8, where Arch is now). I hope it doesn't complicate the matter.
My EFI system partition is /dev/sda2. There are so many partitions because it's a Samsung laptop and there's a partition for samsung recovery, one for windows 8 recovery, and so on... The only "real" partitions are /dev/sda2 for EFI, /dev/sda4 for Windows, and /dev/sda8 for Arch.
Here are some command outputs to show you what my system is like. I hope they are helpful. If there's anything missing I shall supplement it of course!
Thanks in advance
sudo efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0002
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0002,0001,0006,0003,0000
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager Vendor(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb,)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.}....................
Boot0001* linuxmint HD(2,fa000,96000,f718c38a-c1d8-4c72-9b59-e098594840a2)File(\EFI\linuxmint\grubx64.efi)
Boot0002* arch_grub HD(2,fa000,96000,f718c38a-c1d8-4c72-9b59-e098594840a2)File(\EFI\arch_grub\grubx64.efi)
Boot0003* Windows Boot Manager HD(2,fa000,96000,f718c38a-c1d8-4c72-9b59-e098594840a2)File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)
Boot0006* Windows Boot Manager HD(6,3a186001,200000,d41549d3-0b93-40ef-4173-636c65706975)File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)
mount
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
sys on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
dev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,size=2997764k,nr_inodes=749441,mode=755)
run on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,mode=755)
/dev/sda8 on / type ext4 (rw,relatime,data=ordered)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000)
tmpfs on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,mode=755)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/systemd type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,xattr,release_agent=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-cgroups-agent,name=systemd)
pstore on /sys/fs/pstore type pstore (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
efivarfs on /sys/firmware/efi/efivars type efivarfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/cpuset type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,cpuset)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/cpu,cpuacct type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,cpuacct,cpu)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/memory type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,memory)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/devices type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,devices)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/freezer type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,freezer)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/net_cls type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,net_cls)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/blkio type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,blkio)
systemd-1 on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type autofs (rw,relatime,fd=35,pgrp=1,timeout=300,minproto=5,maxproto=5,direct)
hugetlbfs on /dev/hugepages type hugetlbfs (rw,relatime)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw)
mqueue on /dev/mqueue type mqueue (rw,relatime)
configfs on /sys/kernel/config type configfs (rw,relatime)
debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw,relatime)
/dev/sda2 on /boot type vfat (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw,relatime)
gvfsd-fuse on /run/user/1000/gvfs type fuse.gvfsd-fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1000,group_id=100)
[james@James-Laptop ~]$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 465.8G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 499M 0 part
├─sda2 8:2 0 300M 0 part /boot
├─sda3 8:3 0 128M 0 part
├─sda4 8:4 0 342.4G 0 part
├─sda5 8:5 0 23.8G 0 part
├─sda6 8:6 0 1G 0 part
├─sda7 8:7 0 977K 0 part
├─sda8 8:8 0 91.8G 0 part /
└─sda9 8:9 0 5.9G 0 part [SWAP]
[james@James-Laptop ~]$ cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
set default="${next_entry}"
set next_entry=
save_env next_entry
set boot_once=true
else
set default="0"
fi
if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
menuentry_id_option=""
fi
export menuentry_id_option
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi
function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
function load_video {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
else
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod ieee1275_fb
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
fi
if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
font=unicode
else
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,gpt8'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt8 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt8 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt8 7e2ee467-3fd3-41b3-8c1f-62cc45f2d098
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7e2ee467-3fd3-41b3-8c1f-62cc45f2d098
fi
font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi
if loadfont $font ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
set lang=en_GB
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_input console
terminal_output gfxterm
set timeout=5
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux core repo kernel' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-core repo kernel-true-7e2ee467-3fd3-41b3-8c1f-62cc45f2d098' {
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_gpt
insmod fat
set root='hd0,gpt2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt2 ECB7-2436
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ECB7-2436
fi
echo 'Loading Linux core repo kernel ...'
linux /vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=7e2ee467-3fd3-41b3-8c1f-62cc45f2d098 rw quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /initramfs-linux.img
menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux core repo kernel (Fallback initramfs)' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-core repo kernel-fallback-7e2ee467-3fd3-41b3-8c1f-62cc45f2d098' {
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_gpt
insmod fat
set root='hd0,gpt2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt2 ECB7-2436
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ECB7-2436
fi
echo 'Loading Linux core repo kernel ...'
linux /vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=7e2ee467-3fd3-41b3-8c1f-62cc45f2d098 rw quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /initramfs-linux-fallback.img
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry 'Windows Boot Manager (on /dev/sda2)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-efi-ECB7-2436' {
insmod part_gpt
insmod fat
set root='hd0,gpt2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt2 ECB7-2436
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ECB7-2436
fi
chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### 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 "Windows 8" {
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 ECB7-2436
chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/60_memtest86+ ###
### END /etc/grub.d/60_memtest86+ ###
Last edited by jabonz2048 (2013-09-19 15:07:34)

Answer 1

Hello cfr,
Thanks for your reply!
Yes, I had /dev/sda2, my EFI partition, mounted at /boot when I did grub-install and grub-mkconfig. I also had the efivars filesystem unmounted, and ran rmmod plus modprobe on efivars as written.
umount /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
# modprobe -r efivars
# modprobe efivars
My command was exactly the same as the beginner's guide, and it was
grub-install --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=arch_grub --recheck
Now looking at that command, I am wondering, should it have been "--efi-directory=/boot/EFI" or something similar like that? But the fact that Arch boots and runs fine kind of shows the bootloader did indeed install correctly... Or partially at least.
Maybe an ls -l of some of my /boot directories might be useful. Thanks!
ls -l /boot
total 16352
drwxr-xr-x 39 root root 4096 Nov 17 2012 Boot
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 398156 Jul 25 2012 bootmgr
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1 Jun 2 2012 BOOTNXT
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Aug 26 15:28 EFI
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Aug 26 17:39 grub
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10351180 Aug 26 14:19 initramfs-linux-fallback.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2185900 Aug 26 14:18 initramfs-linux.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3782368 Aug 21 11:53 vmlinuz-linux
[james@James-Laptop teamviewer]$ ls -l /boot/EFI
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 26 15:28 arch_grub
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 May 22 20:53 Boot
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 May 22 20:53 linuxmint
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Nov 17 2012 Microsoft
[james@James-Laptop teamviewer]$ ls -l /boot/grub/
total 48
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 26 15:28 fonts
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4767 Aug 26 17:39 grub.cfg
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4063 Aug 26 14:22 grub.cfg.example
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1024 Aug 26 15:28 grubenv
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 26 15:28 locale
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Aug 26 15:28 themes
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 20480 Aug 26 15:28 x86_64-efi