(SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

Kitkin15 · 2013-12-16 22:02:53

So I've been using Arch for over a year and a half and have installed it on 10+ systems. I got a new laptop in January 2013 which has a UEFI motherboard (I hate Intel) And ive tried installing Arch from pure memory and also from the beginners guide, the first day I got the laptop I installed Arch in 15 minutes with NO issues, now all of a sudden when I boot into UEFI (For some reason legacy support which is called "CSM" Does not seem to work with Arch, so I must use UEFI, if you know a way around this let me know) on the live disk, install goes successful, but when I try and install GRUB (Not grub-legacy) it says "UEFI Commands are not supported on this device" I read the article in the wiki about starting the kernel module, and I did that, install went successful with GRUB and I was able to make my grub file install to /boot/efi/EFI/grub.cfg. When I try and boot up it takes me to a grub screen for about 2 seconds, then reboots, then shows grub for 2 seconds, then reboots, etc..... And the grub menu that pops up ONLY says "grub" twice, it doesn't display any information as to what its going to load, so it seems like it failed. I DID change the root directory which is sda4, and I still get this issue.

My partitions are:

sda1 /boot 300MB
sda2 /boot/efi 700MB
sda3 SWAP 2048MB
sda4 / (the remaining amount of my 1TB HDD)

Does anyone have any tips? I really need to get this working.

EDIT: Also, I have tried SysLinux as well, that didn't work either. I don't care what bootloader I use as long as it can boot Arch! Ive currently got Debian installed and for some reason that's failing as well, but that disables my screen due to a kernel issue, I see the module fail to load in SystemD with Debian and it goes out, so I need Arch. Debian isn't that great anyways IMHO

SOLVED: Just installed via CSM instead. Took me some work arounds but i finally got it installed.

Last edited by Kitkin15 (2013-12-20 07:43:32)

Kitkin15 · 2013-12-17 00:37:43

Also, i want to try using Gumminboot, but the first thing i want to know is how exactly do i set /boot as my efi partition if its already set as a boot partition? Do i just make /boot then format it to fat32? Do i need to have an additional partition that's for normal boot? or no? Im very confused as there is damn near no explanation in the WiKi.

Kitkin15 · 2013-12-17 09:05:12

Ugh 42 views and still no responces. God damn now even the support is going to hell here.

the.ridikulus.rat · 2013-12-17 16:58:06

@Kitkin15: Did you read the UEFI, GPT and Boot Loaders page in the wiki?

EDIT: /boot/efi/EFI/grub.cfg is totally wrong. Can you post the entire command you used to install GRUB?

Last edited by the.ridikulus.rat (2013-12-17 16:59:53)

Kitkin15 · 2013-12-17 22:35:48

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi/ --bootloader-id=grub --recheck --debug

It told me to do that HERE

First, mount the ESP at your preferred mountpoint (usually /boot/efi, hereafter referred to as $esp). On a first install, you will need to mkdir /boot/efi, if that's where you want to mount it. 

Now, install the GRUB UEFI application to $esp/EFI/grub and its modules to /boot/grub/x86_64-efi: 
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=$esp --bootloader-id=grub --recheck --debug

The way I understand it is that I still needed /boot to be the MBR boot partition, then /boot/efi as the UEFI partition so I can build compatibility with my legacy support later on, right now that's an even bigger pain as it doesn't fully work (After I get it running with UEFI I can tinker with it, if I cant get it running then ill have to wait for a BIOS update).

Also, ive tried the Alternative method listed below that and it still didn't load GRUB like it should have, same original error

Also, right now im trying to install with just using these partitions:

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1 #EFI BOOT 700MB
mkswap /dev/sda2         #SWAP 2048MB
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3    # / Remaining amount of my 1TB HDD

Right now im going to wipe my HDD and then try and install using GummiBoot, I had it all correct but my partitions were not GPT so it didn't work (Which is most likely why GRUB failed, I don't know too much about the differences but from what I know that's what did it) Now when I try to erase and re-partition using a GPT tool it gives me an error saying its not possible to partition /dev/sda or something along the likes of that, im going to see if I can try gparted live later tonight or tomorrow instead of the one they use in the beginners guide.

Im honestly confused as to how I got it running earlier this year when I set it up lmfao. I know I used cfdisk to partition and was still using UEFI.

Last edited by Kitkin15 (2013-12-18 22:05:24)

Kitkin15 · 2013-12-18 22:05:00

I tried using Gparted to make my partitions, this is what I made:

/dev/sda1 /boot    #700MB With Gparted I formatted to FAT32, then after I booted into Arch I did mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
/dev/sda2 SWAP   #2048MB With Gparted I formatted to linux-swap, booted into Arch and ran mkswap /dev/sda2 and swapon /dev/sda2
/dev/sda3 /          #Remaining amount of 1TB With Gparted I formatted to ext4 and then in arch I did mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3

When I ran

gummiboot install

it said:

/boot/ is not an EFI file system

I have yet to try GRUB, but im going to try and set that up when I get home to see if I can get it to work. If anyone has suggestions on any of this please let me know!!

Last edited by Kitkin15 (2013-12-18 22:08:58)

srs5694 · 2013-12-18 22:13:16

Please show the output of:

df -h
parted /dev/sda unit s print

(This assumes that /dev/sda is your main disk.) It's almost always best to show the output of such commands rather than try to summarize them. Summaries invariably omit the most important details. (That's probably a corollary of Murphy's Law.)

Kitkin15 · 2013-12-18 23:19:20

Ok ill do that once I get home, right now im at work

Kitkin15 · 2013-12-19 08:11:26

First command results(While arch-chrooted into my freash install):

Filesystem                   Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/arch_root-image  915G  691M  867G   1% /
dev                          3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev
run                          3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /run
tmpfs                        3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                        3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /tmp
hugetlbfs                    3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev/hugepages
/dev/sda3                    915G  691M  867G   1% /
/dev/sda1                    699M   23M  677M   4% /boot
udev                         3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev
shm                          3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev/shm
run                          3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /run
tmp                          3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /tmp
/dev/mapper/arch_root-image  1.5G  694M  759M  48% /etc/resolv.conf

Second commands results(In the live disk, before i arch-chrooted):

Model: ATA TOSHIBA MQ01ABD1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1953525168s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start     End          Size         File system     Name  Flags
 1      2048s     1435647s     1433600s     fat32
 2      1435648s  5629951s     4194304s     linux-swap(v1)
 3      5629952s  1953523711s  1947893760s  ext4

Everything looks fine IMO, am i missing something?

Last edited by Kitkin15 (2013-12-19 08:13:14)

Vxed · 2013-12-19 10:41:19

I had some problems myself setting up grub with EFI on my ASUS board. I experienced the same issues as you with the looping the boots. The reason it didn't work for me was because I used the wrong disc option during boot of install.

I had the following options when booting the PC

Samsung DVDRW
Main HDD
UEFI Samsung DVDRW

Creation of the grub-install failed when using Samsung DVDRW instead of UEFI Samsung DVDRW

# mount -t efivarfs efivarfs /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
# pacman -S grub efibootmgr
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=arch_grub --recheck

I don't know if this related to your issue but worth checking I guess.

srs5694 · 2013-12-19 15:40:05

Kitkin15 wrote:

Second commands results(In the live disk, before i arch-chrooted):

Model: ATA TOSHIBA MQ01ABD1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1953525168s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start     End          Size         File system     Name  Flags
 1      2048s     1435647s     1433600s     fat32
 2      1435648s  5629951s     4194304s     linux-swap(v1)
 3      5629952s  1953523711s  1947893760s  ext4

Everything looks fine IMO, am i missing something?

Your ESP isn't an ESP; it's a plain-vanilla FAT32 partition. You must mark it as an ESP by setting its type code correctly. You can do this in either of two ways:

In GParted, parted, or some other libparted-based tool, set the "boot flag" on partition #1.
In GPT fdisk (gdisk, cgdisk, or sgdisk), set the type code of partition #1 to EF00.

That said, I can't promise that this will fix your gummiboot installation problems; I don't know if the script checks for the right type code on the partition mounted at /boot. If it does, this should fix the problem. If not, there's some other cause that's not apparent.

Kitkin15 · 2013-12-19 20:18:58

srs5694 wrote:

Kitkin15 wrote:
Second commands results(In the live disk, before i arch-chrooted):
Model: ATA TOSHIBA MQ01ABD1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1953525168s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start     End          Size         File system     Name  Flags
 1      2048s     1435647s     1433600s     fat32
 2      1435648s  5629951s     4194304s     linux-swap(v1)
 3      5629952s  1953523711s  1947893760s  ext4
Everything looks fine IMO, am i missing something?
Your ESP isn't an ESP; it's a plain-vanilla FAT32 partition. You must mark it as an ESP by setting its type code correctly. You can do this in either of two ways:
In GParted, parted, or some other libparted-based tool, set the "boot flag" on partition #1.
In GPT fdisk (gdisk, cgdisk, or sgdisk), set the type code of partition #1 to EF00.
That said, I can't promise that this will fix your gummiboot installation problems; I don't know if the script checks for the right type code on the partition mounted at /boot. If it does, this should fix the problem. If not, there's some other cause that's not apparent.

Ok makes sense, i know when i use cfdisk i always use the boot flag correctly, but since i cant use that for efi i had to use gparted and it must have slipped my mind lol

Kitkin15 · 2013-12-19 20:21:11

Vxed wrote:

I had some problems myself setting up grub with EFI on my ASUS board. I experienced the same issues as you with the looping the boots. The reason it didn't work for me was because I used the wrong disc option during boot of install.
I had the following options when booting the PC
Samsung DVDRW
Main HDD
UEFI Samsung DVDRW
Creation of the grub-install failed when using Samsung DVDRW instead of UEFI Samsung DVDRW
# mount -t efivarfs efivarfs /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
# pacman -S grub efibootmgr
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=arch_grub --recheck
I don't know if this related to your issue but worth checking I guess.

Yea i made that mistake once becuase i forgot to switch back to UEFI after using a debian live USB lol

Kitkin15 · 2013-12-19 20:46:58

Ok so ive got that installed correctly, now when i try and boot its trying to boot sda2 as root instead of sda3.. When i look in /etc/default/grub i dont see anything about which partition is root. Where would i do this at?? I really miss legacy lmfao

jasonwryan · 2013-12-19 20:52:15

Please stop bumping the thread. Take some time to read the wiki and work through your issue.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … te#Bumping

Kitkin15 · 2013-12-19 20:57:17

jasonwryan wrote:

Please stop bumping the thread. Take some time to read the wiki and work through your issue.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … te#Bumping

I ran into a new error related to the first one. Im looking though the Wiki. Thats what ive been doing this entire time as i stated in my first post.

UPDATE: heres my /boot/EFI/grub/grub.cfg (I did install Grub to /boot/EFI)
Take a look HERE(dpaste.de)

00_header is correct for my /, but 10_linux is not at all. I believe thats my error?

Last edited by Kitkin15 (2013-12-19 22:07:21)

Arch Linux

#1 2013-12-16 22:02:53

(SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#2 2013-12-17 00:37:43

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#3 2013-12-17 09:05:12

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#4 2013-12-17 16:58:06

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#5 2013-12-17 22:35:48

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#6 2013-12-18 22:05:00

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#7 2013-12-18 22:13:16

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#8 2013-12-18 23:19:20

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#9 2013-12-19 08:11:26

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#10 2013-12-19 10:41:19

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#11 2013-12-19 15:40:05

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#12 2013-12-19 20:18:58

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#13 2013-12-19 20:21:11

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#14 2013-12-19 20:46:58

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#15 2013-12-19 20:52:15

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

#16 2013-12-19 20:57:17

Re: (SOLVED)Toshiba P850 UEFI and issues with bootloaders

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