[SOLVED] Boot partition filesystem?

diederick76 · 2013-09-14 17:20:43

Hi,

I'm trying to install arch on a new PC. I followed the instructions on https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_Guide, but when I reboot, I get

No such Device: ad4103fa-d940-47ca-8506-301d8071d467.
Loading Linux core repo kernel ...
error: no such partition.
Loading initial ramdisk ...
error: you need to load the kernel first.

Press any key to continue..._

I've read the other threads from people with this problem, but the solutions don't work for me.

The system is a BIOS system. I've therefore followed the instructions here (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … ng#.2Fboot) for partitioning, which gave me this lay-out:

Part. #       Size              Partition type
              1007.0 KiB        free space     
  1           1007.0 KiB        BIOS boot partition        
              17.0 KiB          free space
  2           465.8 GiB         Linux filesystem

Now the instructions get somewhat confusing. It says I should format my partitions, but when I format the boot partition it says its to small for a journal. Do I need a different filesystem from ext4? If I don't format the partition, I can't mount it, and if I don't mount it, I get the feeling grub installs in the /boot directory on /dev/sda2.

Thanks for any help!

Last edited by diederick76 (2013-09-14 19:03:02)

BUR · 2013-09-14 17:30:56

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … ions_be.3F for size guidelines. Boot partition *should* be formatted as ext2.

cfr · 2013-09-14 17:42:29

BUR wrote:

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pa … ions_be.3F for size guidelines. Boot partition *should* be formatted as ext2.

Really? There are lots of other options.

@OP,
You only need a BIOS boot partition with a GPT partition table and you intend to use grub. I'm not clear if that is what you are using or not.

The BIOS boot partition doesn't get mounted and doesn't need formatting or a file system. It is just somewhere grub uses when it installs to disk and it finds it automatically.

If you want a regular boot partition, you need to create a separate partition for that with a regular file system type and of a reasonable size. ext4 is a perfectly good choice for /boot (I use it for my /boot) but you will need something bigger than 1MB!

diederick76 · 2013-09-14 18:43:55

It is a BIOS system and I want to use GPT, so that is why I use a boot partition. It says at https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … structions that

For a BIOS-GPT configuration, create a 1007 KiB partition at the beginning of the disk using gdisk, cgdisk or GNU Parted with no filesystem. The size of 1007 KiB will allow for the following partition to be correctly alligned at 1024 KiB.

so I assume 1007 KiB is sufficient.

@cfr Thanks for clearing up that the boot partition doesn't need to be mounted. But can you tell me how to tell grub-install where the kernel is?

diederick76 · 2013-09-14 19:02:21

I cannot believe I didn't read

Finally, generate a configuration for GRUB (this is explained in greater detail in the Configuration section):

.

Everything works now. Thank you all for your time. I will now go and put on a cone of shame.

Last edited by diederick76 (2013-09-15 08:01:47)

cfr · 2013-09-14 20:05:04

diederick76 wrote:

I cannot believe I didn't read
Finally, generate a configuration for GRUB (this is explained in greater detail in the Configuration section): 
.
Everything works now. Thank you all for your time. I will no go and put on a cone of shame.

Really, no need for that . There are so many details it is easy to miss something - and of course it seems obvious once you figure out what it is. Hindsight is always 20-20! (Why a cone in particular, anyway?)

diederick76 · 2013-09-15 08:02:31

cfr wrote:

diederick76 wrote:
I cannot believe I didn't read
Finally, generate a configuration for GRUB (this is explained in greater detail in the Configuration section): 
.
Everything works now. Thank you all for your time. I will no go and put on a cone of shame.
Really, no need for that . There are so many details it is easy to miss something - and of course it seems obvious once you figure out what it is. Hindsight is always 20-20! (Why a cone in particular, anyway?)

Cone of shame: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R58kSuIhURI

srs5694 · 2013-09-15 14:41:57

FWIW, the term "boot partition" is a bit ambiguous, and its use led to some confusion early in this thread. Depending on the context, the term could mean:

The BIOS boot partition -- This partition is present in diederick76's original setup, and it seems to be what he means by "boot partition." It does not normally hold a filesystem; it's used without a filesystem by GRUB to hold boot code.
The /boot partition -- This partition is mounted at /boot in the Linux directory tree. It holds kernel files, initial RAM disk files, and often GRUB or other boot loader files. Many people recommend using ext2fs on it, but it can use just about any Linux filesystem (or even some non-Linux filesystems, like FAT or HFS+). It's also optional, and diederick76's setup doesn't include such a partition. BUR, however, seems to have misinterpreted diederick76's reference to mean this partition. For clarity, I recommend always using the leading slash ("/boot partition") when referring to this partition. The use of a slash before a directory name and the use of the word "partition" makes it clear that you're talking about a partition mounted at that location. (For the same reason, there's no such thing as a "/swap partition," since swap space is not mounted.)
The EFI System Partition (ESP) -- This partition is used on EFI-based systems to hold boot loaders. It uses a FAT filesystem and is shared across OSes. Some OSes call it the "EFI boot partition," but the EFI specification doesn't use this term. In Linux, it's most commonly mounted at /boot/efi, but Arch users sometimes mount it at /boot. Diederick76 doesn't report having such a partition, and if the system is booting in BIOS mode, it doesn't need one.
The partition that holds the kernel -- The phrase "boot partition" can sometimes mean whatever partition holds the kernel. This can be a separate /boot partition; but if such a partition is absent, the kernel will reside in the /boot directory on the root (/) partition.
The root (/) partition -- Sometimes somebody means the root (/) partition when they refer to the "boot partition," but this is imprecise unless the root partition actually holds the kernel, which is not always the case.

The distinctions among these partitions, and the fact that one partition can sometimes fill multiple roles, can be confusing for new users. The last couple uses are particularly ambiguous. I hope I've helped clarify things a bit.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-09-14 17:20:43

[SOLVED] Boot partition filesystem?

#2 2013-09-14 17:30:56

Re: [SOLVED] Boot partition filesystem?

#3 2013-09-14 17:42:29

Re: [SOLVED] Boot partition filesystem?

#4 2013-09-14 18:43:55

Re: [SOLVED] Boot partition filesystem?

#5 2013-09-14 19:02:21

Re: [SOLVED] Boot partition filesystem?

#6 2013-09-14 20:05:04

Re: [SOLVED] Boot partition filesystem?

#7 2013-09-15 08:02:31

Re: [SOLVED] Boot partition filesystem?

#8 2013-09-15 14:41:57

Re: [SOLVED] Boot partition filesystem?

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