Arch on MacBook Air: rEFIt won't find Arch partition

Leye · 2011-11-10 11:13:04

Hi,

I'd like to ask a question to those users that use Arch on a MacBook, preferably on a MacBook Air.

My partition table looks as follows:

diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Mac OS X                90.0 GB    disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:                  Apple_HFS boot                    209.7 MB   disk0s4
   5:       Microsoft Basic Data                         30.3 GB    disk0s5

Where partition number 4 is my boot partition (with rEFIt installed on it) and number 5 is where Arch Linux is installed. Note that it somehow says "Microsoft Basic Data," even though it's really an ext4 partition with Arch on it.

When I boot my MacBook Air and press the alt key, I'll get 4 options:

1. Mac OS X
2. "Windows"
3. Mac OS X Recovery
4. rEFIt

If I get into rEFIt, I'll get the option to boot Mac or to boot Windows ("legacy OS from hard disk" or something like that). The Wiki says I'd have to sync my partition table, but if I choose rEFIt's partition manager, it says there is no need to sync.

How can I tell rEFIt to boot from the Arch Linux partition, and how did it come that Arch ended up as Microsoft/Windows?

I'm new to rEFIt, having used Linux on PPC MacBooks long time ago, and then using normal x86 machines with GRUB. I'd appreciate any help from you

rjorgenson · 2011-11-16 10:43:33

I'm having the same problem with regards to rEFIt, in addition if the "Microsoft Basic Data" partition is there I can't get my MBA to boot Arch off of the thumb drive, it says the operating system was missing. Once I boot into OS X and delete that partition I can boot the thumb drive without issues.

Anyone have any advice on either of these problems? I'd really love to get Arch up and running on my MBA!

bsilbaugh · 2011-11-22 03:11:11

Are you chain booting with GRUB or trying to boot Arch directly with rEFIT?

I recently installed Arch on my MacBook 5,1. For the most part I followed the steps outlined on the Arch Wiki. There is a note on the wiki page flagging it as out of date. Although, it is not clear what parts of the wiki are outdated. Nonetheless, you can probably use it as a good first guess; just be sure that you understand what each step is doing and verify that it makes sense for your specific system.

In my case I'm using rEFIT to launch GRUB which then boots Arch (chain booting). Admittedly it's a bit convoluted, but I've heard that getting rEFIT to boot linux can be problematic. Other linux distros (e.g. Ubuntu) also seem to suggest chain booting via GRUB for the MacBooks.

Last edited by bsilbaugh (2011-11-22 03:22:09)

mjv196 · 2011-11-23 06:09:34

I'm not sure since I have a different setup (OS X, Arch and Win7). But I think you have too many partitions. The partitions start from where you list the EFI partition, and ends at 5 with the Linux partition. On my system at least, rEFIt shows a hybrid GPT/MBR table is in effect with an 1. EFI partition, 2. HFS partition and two Microsoft Basic data partitions 3. Arch ext4 and 4 Win7 NTFS. If that is also the case on your system (hybrid GPT/MBR), then the last partition with Linux on it is not getting synced to the MBR part of the table. I'm guessing by the recovery line that you're running Lion, I'm not familiar enough with it to give advice on how to proceed, hopefully someone else can tell you.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-11-10 11:13:04

Arch on MacBook Air: rEFIt won't find Arch partition

#2 2011-11-16 10:43:33

Re: Arch on MacBook Air: rEFIt won't find Arch partition

#3 2011-11-22 03:11:11

Re: Arch on MacBook Air: rEFIt won't find Arch partition

#4 2011-11-23 06:09:34

Re: Arch on MacBook Air: rEFIt won't find Arch partition

Board footer