so is that the same as MBR?
Traditionally, firmware based on the old BIOS system used the MBR.
In your case, you might try using a conventional MBR disk partitioning scheme and booting in BIOS mode. Even though Intel Macs have EFI firmware, the firmware does support booting in legacy BIOS mode (see here). My understanding is that the firmware will automatically fall back to BIOS mode when it detects an MBR on the boot medium, but I could be mistaken.
The fact that you didn't use the "bless" utility when initially setting up your system to boot in EFI mode, has me concerned. If you used something other than "bless" to register a boot loader or boot manager with the Apple firmware, you may have corrupted the firmware. This is because Apple does not follow the standard EFI specs. Corrupted firmware could explain your monitor problems. Perhaps booting in BIOS mode will bypass the problem. (I have about 60% confidence in this hypothesis. Maybe somebody else on this forum can correct me on this.)
The Arch Wiki has a nice article on UEFI and how it compares to the old BIOS system (link). Given your present situation, it wouldn't hurt to take some time to read through it carefully. Also, the rEFInd documentation is quite informative, and probably worth reading even if you don't use rEFInd.
]]>I currently have to keep using the live cd to load syslinux. I wonder if theres a cd out there that does this automatically.
]]>I wish I knew how ubuntu did it, because there wasn't even an EFI partition.
It sounds like Ubuntu is using BIOS instead of EFI boot. If I understand correctly, the Apple firmware supports the BIOS boot method (cf ArchWiki MacBook). For instance, if I naively boot off the Arch live CD, it appears to boot in BIOS mode (no EFI variables get loaded).
]]>I reinstalled arch again, using the grub2 method, but nothing. The CPU fan goes on full blast, and pressing the power button shuts it off, so I think its stuck on the grey boot menu thing of OSX.
I wish I knew how ubuntu did it, because there wasn't even an EFI partition.
edit: tried with syslinux, no luck either.
]]>@bsilbaugh, you need to read the thread a bit closer, as the problem is that (s)he is not using the normal display, and in fact it was mentioned that it is not even connected. So this should be normal for a macbook that it is not displaying anything to the second monitor if you never set it up to do so. This is why I keep saying that I think that ubuntu is doing this for you.
This is also why I was asking what kind of multi-headed vconsole support arch (or linux in general) has, as I am only familiar with multi-headed support in X. I am not saying it is not possible, I am just saying that I do not know how to do it if it is.
If I plug in an external monitor to my MacBook 5,1 (late 2008 model), the console will automatically be mirrored on both the laptop display and the external monitor. Likewise, for my dual head workstation at home (custom built AMD system with ATI graphics); the console graphics simply get mirrored across all the active displays.
]]>This is also why I was asking what kind of multi-headed vconsole support arch (or linux in general) has, as I am only familiar with multi-headed support in X. I am not saying it is not possible, I am just saying that I do not know how to do it if it is.
]]>EDIT: Fixed silly grammar errors
]]>You probably want to set up openssh as well. So that if you need to, you can ssh into your machine and have actual non-chroot access that you can see.
]]>So for arch, I should also setup xorg from chroot before rebooting?
]]>When you boot up your Ubuntu install, do you see the grub bootloader, or does it stay black and then simply appear at some point? I have a feeling that Ubuntu is taking care of the randr (or xinarama or whatever it uses) for you, whereas w/ arch you are expected to set this up yourself.
But then wouldn't this only be an issue when running Arch in X11. I thought the OP was having issues even when running Arch in console (i.e. run level 3)?
]]>So, is Ubuntu using EFI boot, or BIOS emulation?
]]>Did you use the OS X "bless" utility to register your boot loader with the firmware?
Nope, don't have OS X. And what I read that seemed just for dual booting.
Are you seeing your bootloader screen or anything?
nothing.
But I decided to install Ubuntu to see if that has magic powers during the install, and it worked and boots up fine. Although in the first boot up, the screen was setup to mirror the laptop display, although that display is physically disconnected. Not sure if the arch setup was booting up to the macbook display, which I wouldn't be able to see.
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