[Solved] Avid Linux user coming back after years lost in installation

fatum · 2014-02-02 15:41:37

Edit:
Solution --> https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 7#p1380897

************

Hi o/

Years ago, I can't remember how many, I got a new pc. I tried to install archlinux, but couldn't get grub to load at all. I tried countless times after that, and always had to resort to win to save my ass because of how lost I was. Until one day I didn't come back. The mere thought of having to research the forums, looking for an answer nobody seemed to have, made me cringe so much that I ended up giving up. "I'll try again in some months, when this motherboard is less 'new'", I thought, but months became years.

Now I'm back, but I'm as lost as I was back then. All I remember is that my motherboard has some kind of "hybrid efi/bios" system of some sort that ended up being a pain in the ass for me and my old ways of installing arch, which seem to be relatively outdated.

So, to the point, can someone point me in some kind of direction to go?
I know the wiki, and I've read the new installation guide superficially, but I'm not sure what to do when it comes to EFI vs BIOS. I can't completely format my hdd atm because I have no means of backing the information up, but the drive is partitioned in my old fashioned way (1win, 2storage, 3lnx, 4swap), so I hope that won't be a problem (GPT don't give me headaches, plz).

Should I repartition my drive entirely? Do I need a new partition table? Do I need a boot partition? Can I install archlinux, win and have an storage partition + swap partition, all at the same time? Can I just choose to not use EFI at all, or should I upgrade entirely?... so many questions, but no clues on where to head to get this solved.

I crave to come back to archlinux. I miss it so much! I hope I can find the answer this time and settle this topic once and for all.

Thanks in advance

This is my hardware:

Computer:      GIGABYTE Z68MA-D2H-B3
CPU:           Intel Core i3-2120 (Sandy Bridge-DT, Q0)
               3300 MHz (33.00x100.0) @ 3292 MHz (33.00x99.8)
Motherboard:   GIGABYTE Z68MA-D2H-B3
Chipset:       Intel Z68 (Cougar Point) [B3]
Memory:        8192 MBytes @ 665 MHz, 9.0-9-9-24
               - 4096 MB PC10600 DDR3 SDRAM - Kingston 9905403-442.A00LF
               - 4096 MB PC10600 DDR3 SDRAM - Kingston 9905403-442.A00LF
Graphics:      POV GeForce GT 520
               nVIDIA GeForce GT 520 (GF119), 2096832 KB DDR3 SDRAM
Drive:         ST3500413AS, 488.4 GB, Serial ATA 6Gb/s
Drive:         HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS70, DVD+R DL
Sound:         Intel Cougar Point PCH - High Definition Audio Controller [B3]
Sound:         nVIDIA GF119 - High Definition Audio Controller
Network:       RealTek Semiconductor RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
OS:            Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) Build 7601

Last edited by fatum (2014-02-12 19:40:27)

jasonwryan · 2014-02-02 16:17:30

And your question is?

Seriously, you say you have read the wiki "superficially"? Read it carefully.

You seem to want to know how to dual boot Arch with an existing Windows (and perhaps another Linux distro) on a UEFI/GPT setup. There is a page for that.

If you can't backup your current system, then you have only one option: use what you have, be it a UEFI or MBR setup.

If you need specific details, ask for those. If you need your hand held, you are out of luck.

nomorewindows · 2014-02-02 16:22:02

You'd have easier times partitioning and making better use of your space with GPT. With x86_64 version of Windows 7 it should play nicely with EFI and GPT. This is where you'd need to start. Linux doesn't care about whether it is GPT, or MBR. I have FreeBSD and Arch nicely working together on GPT/BIOS. You could run win under qemu-kvm for those just have to compulsively run win applications that won't run under wine. There are several forum topics on EFI/Windows and Arch.

vacant · 2014-02-02 16:33:05

fatum wrote:

I have no means of backing the information up

If you know this, then your data is of little value so you are at an ideal stage to reorganize just the way you want. Which means...

fatum wrote:

Should I repartition my drive entirely? Do I need a new partition table? Do I need a boot partition? Can I install archlinux, win and have an storage partition + swap partition, all at the same time? Can I just choose to not use EFI at all, or should I upgrade entirely?

The answer to all these questions is "you choose".

Sit down and work out your ideal set up
Install that set up
If you get stuck then post details of what you've tried and ask a specific question
If you cock it up or decide after a while you don't like that set up, scrub it and start again

Last edited by vacant (2014-02-02 16:33:46)

fatum · 2014-02-02 17:07:40

jasonwryan wrote:

And your question is?
Seriously, you say you have read the wiki "superficially"? Read it carefully.
You seem to want to know how to dual boot Arch with an existing Windows (and perhaps another Linux distro) on a UEFI/GPT setup. There is a page for that.
If you can't backup your current system, then you have only one option: use what you have, be it a UEFI or MBR setup.
If you need specific details, ask for those. If you need your hand held, you are out of luck.

I know I'm not asking for specifics, and I know the archlinux community is awesome at resolving issues when you specify decently enough, but the idea was to start somewhere. That was the question, but I guess I could have phrased it differently. Problem is that I can't really be specific when I'm so lost.

By superficially I mean reading it several times, but without actually trying all of the steps to the very end (got stuck at efi,gpt, bios, etc). I've followed the steps carefully several times (at least 5-6 times if I recall correctly), until I rebooted and grub didn't load at all. The bios said something like "Loading operating system..." but nothing happened (can't remember the words exactly, but it says that on every boot). Tried changing the bios config to "efi, bios and automatic" on different installations, but none seemed to work.

About partitions, can I keep my MBR setup as it is and still be able to make grub load in this motherboard? I think I might be missing some information, because I used to install archlinux with a bios/mbr setup without any problems whatsoever. The only thing I think I haven't tested is formatting the hdd entirely and changing to GPT, which is what I would like to avoid if I can. If you think there is something I should try anyway just let me know. If you think I should read some specific wiki article on the topic let me know too.

I don't want my hand held, that just totally makes no sense. I'm just looking for some pointers to break through the wall, which could mean reading articles that I think I've already read 1000 times. I'll read that page carefully, no doubt. Thank you for pointing the (for others) obvious, but not so obvious to me. You helped me remember a lot stuff that I tried back then.

nomorewindows wrote:

You'd have easier times partitioning and making better use of your space with GPT. With x86_64 version of Windows 7 it should play nicely with EFI and GPT. This is where you'd need to start. Linux doesn't care about whether it is GPT, or MBR. I have FreeBSD and Arch nicely working together on GPT/BIOS. You could run win under qemu-kvm for those just have to compulsively run win applications that won't run under wine. There are several forum topics on EFI/Windows and Arch.

I'll try reading about the whole efi-gpt-bios-mbr topic again. I want to avoid formatting as much as I can, but I will eventually change if no other option seems to work.

About qemu, the last time I checked virtual machines didn't work with 3d acceleration good enough to handle the few videogames that are not supported by wine that I play. Those games are the only thing that keep win running in my system. If I manage to install arch I will consider your recommendation and test it all again.

vacant wrote:

fatum wrote:
I have no means of backing the information up
If you know this, then your data is of little value so you are at an ideal stage to reorganize just the way you want. Which means...
fatum wrote:
Should I repartition my drive entirely? Do I need a new partition table? Do I need a boot partition? Can I install archlinux, win and have an storage partition + swap partition, all at the same time? Can I just choose to not use EFI at all, or should I upgrade entirely?
The answer to all these questions is "you choose".
Sit down and work out your ideal set up
Install that set up
If you get stuck then post details of what you've tried and ask a specific question
If you cock it up or decide after a while you don't like that set up, scrub it and start again

You have a point. Starting from scratch might actually be ideal. The problem is that I wanted to avoid formatting as much as I could. I will try to find a way to back the information up, just in case I find any, because, if I do, the whole thing would become a lot easier to handle.

the_shiver · 2014-02-02 17:40:23

you could replicate your setup inside a virtual machine and fiddle with that before laying hands on the real thing

vacant · 2014-02-02 17:48:36

fatum wrote:

I will try to find a way to back the information up, just in case I find any, because, if I do, the whole thing would become a lot easier to handle.

Agreed. When the time comes for a complete reorganisation of one of my devices, knowing I have regular backups makes it stress-free.

fatum · 2014-02-02 18:15:14

Update:

Checked partition table in Win7's disk management utility, just in case it wasn't MBR, and it says "Partition Style: Master Boot Record (MBR)"

I just remembered that the feature I thought was giving me problems back then was the "DualBIOS" option. I tried searching for it in this forum, and found this:

Gusar wrote:

I have a UEFI DualBIOS Gigabyte board. It's UEFI. The "DualBIOS" bit means what headkase mentioned, there's a second chip on the board containing a backup of the UEFI firmware. The reason they call it DualBIOS is because it's their trademark - they've had this feature of a backup chip already in the old BIOS days.
However, like many UEFI boards, this one has a BIOS compatibility mode - the built-in boot menu shows two entries for each device, one prefixed with UEFI and one without. So it's up to you what to use: create a GPT disk with an EFI partition and put an EFI boot manager there (gummiboot is very nice), or create a MBR disk and boot it in BIOS compatibility mode using a classic bootloader. Since it's an UEFI board, you might as well go with that.

I installed TouchBIOS, the gigabyte's bios utility, and this is the only option regarding EFI I could find

http://i.imgur.com/Zp2J6am.png

Do you know where can that option he talks about be found? I've never seen that boot menu.
The OP on that thread didn't update but, by what I understand, it can be done with bios/mbr.

I also understand now that the board is actually an uefi board, which is something I didn't know at all, so I will definitely change to GPT when I can format the hdd. Until then, since I can't set a target date for that, I will keep trying to make it work the old way.

-- mod edit: read the Forum Etiquette and only post thumbnails http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/For … s_and_Code [jwr] --

nomorewindows · 2014-02-02 18:23:29

You can convert mbr to gpt without repartitioning with gdisk. Sounds like you'd be reinstalling win to get it realize the new scheme.

fatum · 2014-02-12 19:37:51

Turns out the long wait payed off.

I was in BIOS version 9, which was updated when I bought the motherboard but not enough. On summer 2013 a new firmware was published by Gigabyte, which I didn't know.
There is no "choose between EFI or BIOS" in the firmware version that I had, so no surprise I couldn't find my way! O.O

I finally solved the problem by updating to version U1C, converting the disk to GPT with gdisk and creating an EFI partition where I installed an EFI bootloader. As @nomorewindows said, I had to reinstall windows to get it to realize what was going on. It stopped booting when I upgraded the firmware.

Thank you guys for your patience and tips. You made me think, and I finally managed to find the solution because of that!!

I'm officially another happy ArchLinux user once again

Cheers!

Arch Linux

#1 2014-02-02 15:41:37

[Solved] Avid Linux user coming back after years lost in installation

#2 2014-02-02 16:17:30

Re: [Solved] Avid Linux user coming back after years lost in installation

#3 2014-02-02 16:22:02

Re: [Solved] Avid Linux user coming back after years lost in installation

#4 2014-02-02 16:33:05

Re: [Solved] Avid Linux user coming back after years lost in installation

#5 2014-02-02 17:07:40

Re: [Solved] Avid Linux user coming back after years lost in installation

#6 2014-02-02 17:40:23

Re: [Solved] Avid Linux user coming back after years lost in installation

#7 2014-02-02 17:48:36

Re: [Solved] Avid Linux user coming back after years lost in installation

#8 2014-02-02 18:15:14

Re: [Solved] Avid Linux user coming back after years lost in installation

#9 2014-02-02 18:23:29

Re: [Solved] Avid Linux user coming back after years lost in installation

#10 2014-02-12 19:37:51

Re: [Solved] Avid Linux user coming back after years lost in installation

Board footer