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#1 2014-06-26 01:11:35

gabe.benson
Member
Registered: 2011-08-16
Posts: 38

EFI USB Boot on Macbook 4,1

I have an old white Macbook from 2008 that someone gave me and I'm having trouble booting up the usb disk in uefi mode.

I hold down the option key and select the usb which brings up the gummiboot menu, but when I select the first option to load the arch installer, the screen stays on for a few seconds, then shuts off completely.

I tried using nomodeset with i915.modeset=0 in the launch options, but that got me nowhere.  All that will happen differently is that the screen will stay on, while still displaying nothing (no messages at all, simply a blank screen).

If anyone has any ideas, I would really appreciate it; I am absolutely lost on this one.

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#2 2014-07-03 11:33:59

admbk
Member
Registered: 2014-07-03
Posts: 3

Re: EFI USB Boot on Macbook 4,1

I am having the same issue and equally frustrated.

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#3 2014-07-03 11:54:58

blablubb1234
Member
Registered: 2013-07-04
Posts: 34

Re: EFI USB Boot on Macbook 4,1

Can both of you verify that your USB boot disk is indeed in (U)EFI mode? Can you access the shell (from the UBS stick's boot menu)?

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#4 2014-07-03 22:01:16

admbk
Member
Registered: 2014-07-03
Posts: 3

Re: EFI USB Boot on Macbook 4,1

I can indeed access the shell (V1 only though, V2 gives an error). Not sure how to verify that the USB boot disk is in EFI mode. `efivar -l` does not work from the shell.

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#5 2014-07-09 02:42:29

vrg
Member
Registered: 2012-06-18
Posts: 36

Re: EFI USB Boot on Macbook 4,1

I ran into the same problem with my Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook, using the 2014.07.03 installation media (the newest one).

I was able to get around the issue by using an older version of the installation media (2014.05.01, which you can download from here).

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#6 2014-07-09 19:47:47

gabe.benson
Member
Registered: 2011-08-16
Posts: 38

Re: EFI USB Boot on Macbook 4,1

Like admbk, I'm able to load up the v1 shell, but not v2.

I tried your suggestion, vrg, but unfortunately the problem persists.

Thanks for the help!

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#7 2014-07-09 20:01:46

rgb-one
Member
Registered: 2013-09-15
Posts: 19

Re: EFI USB Boot on Macbook 4,1

Try with a DVD/CD assuming the laptop has a DVD/CD drive. The same thing happened when I tried to install ArchBang on a HP g7 last year from USB. I am not sure of the cause however. The DVD has worked well so far. Also you won't have to download the iso again because the iso will install all the latest versions of the relevant packages, atleast until all the mirrors in /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist go down.

Last edited by rgb-one (2014-07-09 20:09:48)

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#8 2014-07-10 23:55:24

gabe.benson
Member
Registered: 2011-08-16
Posts: 38

Re: EFI USB Boot on Macbook 4,1

CD boot worked perfectly!  I've got Arch up and running now, thanks!  Still, the issue with the USB boot hasn't been solved...

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#9 2014-07-14 13:01:33

srs5694
Member
From: Woonsocket, RI
Registered: 2012-11-06
Posts: 719
Website

Re: EFI USB Boot on Macbook 4,1

Many distributions use a Frankenstein's Monster of disk formats for their installation media. The intent is to have one medium that supports both BIOS-mode and EFI-mode boots from both optical discs and USB flash drives. The problem is that they play games with the disk formats to the point that they sometimes aren't recognized by firmware, particularly on USB flash drives. (This assumes that the user creates the media by using "cdrecord" or "dd"; see the next paragraph for use of tools like unetbootin.)

Tools like unetbootin re-write the boot medium file by file, and in these cases another problem can crop up: These tools must be coded to support the boot mode (BIOS or EFI), and perhaps to parse the boot loader configuration to "translate" it for the new layout. Many of these tools don't do so properly -- especially older versions. If you're using unetbootin from a couple of years ago, it's unlikely to work correctly on a modern EFI distribution. (In my limited experience, Rufus does a better job than most at this task -- but it's Windows-only.)

I'm convinced that many of the problems people have booting Linux installers in EFI mode are caused by one or both of these issues.

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#10 2014-07-14 13:13:45

zacariaz
Member
From: Denmark
Registered: 2012-01-18
Posts: 539

Re: EFI USB Boot on Macbook 4,1

It has been some time, but I've had much of that same problem with my ideapad y500. Not with arch though, but with other distributions. The solution to my problem, though it may not be that same, was quite simple. Instead of dd'ing the image to /dev/USB, I simply formatted the usb device as FAT32 and extracted the contents of the iso to it.
Actually, I did have a few issues with the ladder, as it does matter how you do it, to get all files and permissions. I don't quite remember how I did it in the end, but I'm sure someone else can enlighten us if relevant.


I am a philosopher, of sorts, not a troll or an imbecile.
My apologies that this is not always obvious, despite my best efforts.

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#11 2014-07-21 14:54:29

admbk
Member
Registered: 2014-07-03
Posts: 3

Re: EFI USB Boot on Macbook 4,1

Been off the grid for a couple of weeks, but right before I tried the 2014.05.01 release image (I saw this recommended somewhere in my googling). After dd'ing it to a flash drive, I got Arch up and running in no time! Not sure what the difference why this worked, but at least for me it worked.

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