[Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

gnomiik · 2011-08-30 00:20:34

staticimport wrote:

gnomiik wrote:
When you did "i915.modeset=0 nomodeset quiet" was the resolution normal in any desktop environment? I guess I can try this when I get home from work today. Its really disappointing that this laptop cant run linux normally.
i915.modeset=0 and nomodeset are redundant, and only serve to disable KMS on startup, which the Intel graphics needs to work. As a result, i915.modeset=0 or nomodeset will get you booted up with your screen working, X will fail when trying to use the intel driver. If you have vesa installed, it'll default to that, but you'll be stuck with 1024x768 resolution. I tried booting 'blindly' (not disabling KMS but trying to log in and startx without seeing the screen)...I believe I was successful, in that I saw the screen flash as if it were starting X, but it still just stayed blank, so no luck.
I'm just a noobie, but this is my understanding from my questioning on #archlinux and trying myself.

Yes, you are right, i915.modeset=0 and nomodeset are redundant. I am able to get it to boot into XFCE using the intel drivers, just the margins of the screen are distorted like in my pic.

staticimport · 2011-08-30 14:08:31

gnomiik wrote:

Yes, you are right, i915.modeset=0 and nomodeset are redundant. I am able to get it to boot into XFCE using the intel drivers, just the margins of the screen are distorted like in my pic.

That's more than I can get on my 11" MBA, though not really any better I guess. I'll play around with it a little more today/tonight. Hopefully someone figures out the magic to make this work.

gnomiik · 2011-08-30 17:14:52

Make sure when you install arch linux to take out "autodetect" from the hooks array in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, or you can do it after you install and run "mkinitcpio -p linux". If you use grub2 this is essential, otherwise the system won't boot.

staticimport · 2011-08-30 18:48:00

gnomiik wrote:

Make sure when you install arch linux to take out "autodetect" from the hooks array in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, or you can do it after you install and run "mkinitcpio -p linux". If you use grub2 this is essential, otherwise the system won't boot.

Nah, I've got autodetect enabled and I boot fine with i915.modeset=0, and it doesn't seem to change anything about my inability to get X running if I remove it it seems.

gnomiik · 2011-08-30 20:48:47

Ok, its only for grub2. I am able to achieve normal resolution in the console when booting with grub2. It goes haywire when loading X.

gnomiik · 2011-08-30 21:49:48

I am reading that there is a lot of work being done in 3.1 kernel for sandy bridge graphics. It could be worthwhile to try the RC and see if it solves the problem.

There is an arch guide here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ke … _New_Users.

Unfortunately I will not be able to try this until this weekend to see if it works, but if someone else tries it sooner they can post their results.

gnomiik · 2011-09-06 19:43:59

No luck with the 3.1 kernel. And this thread is not very active unfortunately...

gnomiik · 2011-09-06 21:20:29

[SOLVED]

Fix is here:

First follow this guide https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ke … _New_Users for compiling the 3.1 rc4 kernel

Then when you are on the kernel configuration screen make the edits to intel_bios.c (Instructions here: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39533#c25)

Last edited by gnomiik (2011-09-06 21:22:20)

staticimport · 2011-09-07 23:04:29

So will the next kernel release fix our issues, or would we still have to do this method of hacking a change and compiling ourselves? I'm running an 11" MBA and would need to figure out some different changes to make in the intel_bios.c, plus I'd rather just be able to stick with the pacman kernel updates.

gnomiik · 2011-09-08 01:10:07

Hopefully, but who knows. Personally I got really tired of waiting.
You can get most of these parameters by running

cvt 1440 900 60

and replace 1440 and 900 by the resolution for the 11 inch MBA.

ego.abyssi · 2011-09-24 21:08:29

gnomiik wrote:

No luck with the 3.1 kernel. And this thread is not very active unfortunately...

Sorry... Will be getting busy with it before long. Been caught up packing the house and getting ready for the big move.

Should be nice to pull that shiney new MBA out of the case, and take another--hopefully successful--stab at shoehorning Arch into it.

gnomik wrote:

Fix is here:
First follow this guide https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ke … _New_Users for compiling the 3.1 rc4 kernel
Then when you are on the kernel configuration screen make the edits to intel_bios.c (Instructions here: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39533#c25)

Ugh... And, to think I used to like hacking and compiling LFS! Now, I don't even want to fiddle with the ABS really.

Though, on top of this, I'll have to if I want Clojure to work with the Oracle JVM installed, which is a must to trade on Oanda's FX Trade, unfortunately.

Thanks!

cameronwilby · 2011-11-19 01:39:45

Has anybody had anymore success with the xf86-video-intel driver and Xorg? I've recently installed Arch onto the 2011 13" Air (4,2) and can happily start Xorg by using the xf86-video-vesa drivers, but in the wrong resolution, and in fallback mode.

I'm going to try the fix at https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39533#c25. It will be great having gnome-shell working on this thing!

Fleet · 2011-11-22 16:25:54

The script provided by tjim (http://pastebin.com/qQgt6kGj) still produces an image that is bootable with the MBA 4,2 but the keyboard still doesn't work after the kernel has been loaded. Has anyone found any solutions?

EDIT: Matthew Garrett mentions the dead-keyboard issue which seems to be limited to the MacBook Air line.

Last edited by Fleet (2011-11-26 08:26:24)

delerious010 · 2011-11-27 02:32:19

I had similar graphical issues when initially installing Arch on my 13'' Macbook Air 4,2 using grub2 efi. Managed to get this resolved a while back using the patch detailed in : https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39533#c25. Haven't gotten around to recompiling the kernel yet, but I've Gnome Shell working fully with
kernel 3.1.0-rc6-g4b32264
xf86-video-intel 2.17.0-1

As for the keyboard not working, is that in console or in X ? If it's in X, I've read that the touchpad and keyboard often get detected strangely. Originally, I was having an issue where the touchpad would only get detected as an evdev device and wouldn't load synaptics / mtrack / etc... though a bit of config massaging got that working.

Anyhow, provide some more details regarding your issue and I'll see if there's any info from my working config I can provide should you want it.

Fleet · 2011-11-27 13:42:51

delerious010 wrote:

As for the keyboard not working, is that in console or in X ?

Console (only with the UEFI-purified image). There is no problem booting archboot in bios-compatibility mode and installing from there, i'm just curious why the keyboard dies after grub when EFI-booting.

ego.abyssi wrote:

The image boots, the keyboard works until grub loads and runs the initrd. So, pressing enter to get to the shell doesn't do anything, and niether does attaching a separate usb keyboard.

the.ridikulus.rat · 2011-11-27 17:37:27

Fleet wrote:

delerious010 wrote:
As for the keyboard not working, is that in console or in X ?
Console (only with the UEFI-purified image). There is no problem booting archboot in bios-compatibility mode and installing from there, i'm just curious why the keyboard dies after grub when EFI-booting.
ego.abyssi wrote:
The image boots, the keyboard works until grub loads and runs the initrd. So, pressing enter to get to the shell doesn't do anything, and niether does attaching a separate usb keyboard.

Might help http://www.rodsbooks.com/ubuntu-efi/index.html

twiggz · 2011-12-28 12:09:30

I had a few problems getting things running so if someone else is trying to use EFI + GPT + GRUB2 + encrypted root these configs might help.

grub.cfg:

insmod efi_gop
 
set timeout=5
set default=0
 
set menu_color_normal=light-blue/black
set menu_color_highlight=light-cyan/blue
 
menuentry "Arch Linux" {
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root d9793023-db44-4ef8-8ac4-97eb022b8882
  linux /vmlinuz-linux cryptdevice=/dev/sda5:root:allow-discards root=/dev/mapper/root ro
  initrd /initramfs-linux.img
}
 
menuentry "Arch Linux, Fallback" {
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root d9793023-db44-4ef8-8ac4-97eb022b8882
  linux /vmlinuz-linux cryptdevice=/dev/sda5:root:allow-discards root=/dev/mapper/root ro
  initrd /initramfs-linux-fallback.img
}

mkinitcpio.conf:

MODULES="ahci"
HOOKS="base udev sata keymap usbinput encrypt filesystems"

fstab:

/dev/mapper/root / ext4 defaults,noatime,discard 0 1

Hope someone finds this useful. The mkinitcpio.conf stuff is really important because encrypted root is a no go otherwise!

ego.abyssi · 2012-01-01 21:20:26

Well, just ran tjim's script over the latest Archboot iso, which works; ableit with some harmless warnings that the lts images don't exist.

Upon booting the initrd, the keyboard still fails to operate on the MBA 4.2, as before.

I wonder if anyone knows of some useful flags that can be passed to the kernel to change how it detects the keyboard, mouse, or other input devices?

I can't dump a dmsg output to troubleshoot this.

arno · 2012-01-02 12:08:00

Hi there

We still have to use the hard-coded resolution i915_bios.c patch against the 3.1.6 kernel (only a small mod is needed into the PKGBUILD in abs) to rebuild the kernel package which boots OK in EFI (refit +grub.efi installed into the MacOS partition).

After many tries, I found out that only the 64bits kernel boots OK in EFI, NOT the 32bits kernel. BT, In BIOS mode, the 32bits version only sees 2GB out of the 4 installed.

My kernel boop parameters (not sure all of them are useful):

cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-linux root=LABEL=ROOT64 ro add_efi_memmap reboot=pci elevator=noop i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 quiet

load.cfg:

search.fs_label ROOT64 root
set prefix=($root)/efi/grub

.efi generation cmd:

grub-mkimage -O x86_64-efi -o /tmp/grub.efi -c /efi/grub/load.cfg -p "" part_gpt hfsplus ext2 normal boot configfile linux multiboot xnu xnu_uuid search loadenv echo

grub.cfg:

set timeout=2
menuentry 'Arch Linux, normal' --class archlinux --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-linux root=LABEL=ROOT64 ro add_efi_memmap reboot=pci elevator=noop i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 quiet
	initrd	/boot/initramfs-linux.img
}
menuentry 'Arch Linux, fallback' --class archlinux --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-linux root=LABEL=ROOT64 ro add_efi_memmap reboot=pci elevator=noop i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 quiet
	initrd	/boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
}

Booting in EFI is much faster than in BIOS mode

Everything works so far (X, Bluetooth, Wifi, Ethernet, hardware buttons for sound and screen and keyboard backlight). I haven't tested the external video output, so I can't tell.

Arnaud.

Last edited by arno (2012-01-02 12:10:13)

ego.abyssi · 2012-01-14 18:18:30

Arno,

So... You're keyboard worked without issue?

Did you use the vanilla Arch installation media, the Archboot iso, or the Archboot iso efi-if-ied with Jjim's script?

Maybe I'll take a few more stabs at this, or even settle for BIOS emulation.

The disk/controller on my Acer crapped out the other day. It was a miracle I was able to recover anything from it at all.

Now, I'm running on a slightly uncomfy 16gb thumb drive. Would like to get this damn MBA running Linux!

litemotiv · 2012-01-14 18:27:19

ego.abyssi wrote:

Arno,
So... You're keyboard worked without issue?
Did you use the vanilla Arch installation media, the Archboot iso, or the Archboot iso efi-if-ied with Jjim's script?
Maybe I'll take a few more stabs at this, or even settle for BIOS emulation.
The disk/controller on my Acer crapped out the other day. It was a miracle I was able to recover anything from it at all.
Now, I'm running on a slightly uncomfy 16gb thumb drive. Would like to get this damn MBA running Linux!

I'm using bios-mode here, but can confirm that everything works fine with the kernel currently in [testing].

ego.abyssi · 2012-01-15 20:40:33

This just gets stranger by the minute.

Tjim's script no longer works with the current Archboot image. I get IO errors, "failed to copy", "failed to extend", etc.

So, I figured, what the hey... I'll just install on GPT and use GRUB2 BIOS. Haven't cracked the code on how exactly to do this.

Stranger yet, now the wireless card fails to work.

If I install on an MBR with Grub legacy, I can boot fine, but I still run into problems with the wireless card. The loopback device gets the wlan0 name, and the wireless card get the name rename2, which also doesn't work.

EDIT:

Quick update... Wireless still works. For whatever reason, the kernel installs the b43 module vice the brcmsmac module. As a result, I have to rmmod b43, ssb, and bcma, then modprobe brcmsmac, and then I can get wireless working again.

To be continued!

Last edited by ego.abyssi (2012-01-15 22:14:50)

ego.abyssi · 2012-01-16 00:11:18

Yep... I can't seem to crack the code with even using Grub2 BIOS and a GPT partitioned disk....

Do I install Grub2 BIOS on the disk itself, /dev/sda, the boot partition, /dev/sda2, or the 2mb partition that Grub2 BIOS needs for embedding its image, /dev/sda1?

I'm just not clear on how exactly to do this, and pouring through the Grub2 and MacBook Wiki pages doesn't seem to make it any clearer.

EDIT:

To be clear, I'm now first booting into rEFIt, which recognizes that Linux is installed on the hard drive, but when selected, claims there is no bootable image....

Last edited by ego.abyssi (2012-01-16 00:15:19)

litemotiv · 2012-01-16 10:26:05

ego.abyssi: i used the releng iso, which iirc by default installs syslinux as bootloader. It selects the partition containing /boot as the standard partition for the bootloader, which should be the one you want.

ego.abyssi · 2012-01-16 23:52:32

Ha! If it's not one thing, it's another...

Using the releng iso, I am now able to boot this damn thing from a GPT formatted disk in UEFI mode, using rEFIt until I can bless the partitions with an OS/X thumb drive.

By specifying the graphics mode from Grub2's grub.cfg as 1366x768x32, the linux kernel accepts it, and the native resolution works in the linux console at least. Have yet to get to loading X.

The Grub2 menu displays very strangely, showing odd-looking smilies where other characters should be. I double-checked that the unicode.pf2 file was missing from /boot/efi/efi/grub, and sure enough, it was. Copying it over from /usr/share/grub/ didn't seem to help...

But, it boots, and using the arrow keys at least gives me the impression that the two menu options, the primary and the fallback, are there and individually selectable.

Keyboard works fine in UEFI mode, too.

Just one problem now... udev, in the initramfs environment, fails to populate any disks! So, no /dev/sd*, no /dev/disk/by-*, nothing...

My only guess at this point is that the mkinitramfs.conf is missing a key module.

Any ideas?

Sooooo close.....

BTW, I'd be remiss if I did not extend my thanks to you all for your input thus far. You've all been helpful, if not directly contributing to this semi-working install, at least in pointing me to informative resources.

Arch Linux

#26 2011-08-30 00:20:34

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#27 2011-08-30 14:08:31

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#28 2011-08-30 17:14:52

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#29 2011-08-30 18:48:00

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#30 2011-08-30 20:48:47

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#31 2011-08-30 21:49:48

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#32 2011-09-06 19:43:59

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#33 2011-09-06 21:20:29

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#34 2011-09-07 23:04:29

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#35 2011-09-08 01:10:07

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#36 2011-09-24 21:08:29

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#37 2011-11-19 01:39:45

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#38 2011-11-22 16:25:54

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#39 2011-11-27 02:32:19

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#40 2011-11-27 13:42:51

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#41 2011-11-27 17:37:27

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#42 2011-12-28 12:09:30

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#43 2012-01-01 21:20:26

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#44 2012-01-02 12:08:00

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#45 2012-01-14 18:18:30

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#46 2012-01-14 18:27:19

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#47 2012-01-15 20:40:33

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#48 2012-01-16 00:11:18

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#49 2012-01-16 10:26:05

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

#50 2012-01-16 23:52:32

Re: [Solved] Arch/Archboot Macbook Air (4,2) Installation Woes

Board footer