Arch Linux

Edict

Member

Registered: 2014-07-28

Posts: 4

Systemd GPT Auto Generator, Partition Table Type Error[SOLVED]

I'm having an odd problem. During boot up and when I first enabled a systemd service I get a:

[13.351089] systemd-gpt-auto-generator[131]: Failed to determine partition table type of /dev/sda: Input-Output error

Error. The numbers in the brackets change depending on when the error occurs(i.e. lower numbers early during the boot up process higher numbers when enabling a service)

I've already reformatted my system and reinstalled, but the error keeps appearing.

If it is of any use my format procedure is as follows:

1: boot Arch Linux from a memstick for live installation
2: start Gdisk
3: -o for a new GPT partition table
4: create partitions including a MS-Dos Boot partition for GRUB
5: write to disk
6: from CL, use "mkfs.ext4" command to make root and home directories ext4
7: Install Arch

The system operates as expected, the only issue is that error message that I get when booting and enabling services. I really don't want to reinstall everything again, but is an option if that is what needs to be done.

I've read the Beginners Guide, WIKI on Grub, Systemd Auto Generator, and searched for a fix to this issue, but am unable to find anything. Thank you all for your help.

Last edited by Edict (2014-07-28 19:53:41)

headkase

Member

Registered: 2011-12-06

Posts: 1,977

Re: Systemd GPT Auto Generator, Partition Table Type Error[SOLVED]

Post your "/etc/fstab" file contents.  If you explicitly define all the mount points then the auto-generator should use those values.

Edit: Also post the output of "lsblk -fs" so we can see the disk structure in addition to your defined mount points.

Last edited by headkase (2014-07-28 19:06:31)

Edict

Member

Registered: 2014-07-28

Posts: 4

Re: Systemd GPT Auto Generator, Partition Table Type Error[SOLVED]

This is my fstab:

# <file system>	<dir>	<type>	<options>	<dump>	<pass>
# /dev/sda2
UUID=0140064d-aa47-491e-8918-25e1d98cf82f	/         	ext4      	rw,relatime,data=ordered	0 1

# /dev/sda3
UUID=b79fafb1-0f6c-4889-8ce6-299c56c5cebc	/home     	ext4      	rw,relatime,data=ordered	0 2

This is the output of the "lsblk -fs" command

NAME  FSTYPE     LABEL UUID                                 MOUNTPOINT
sda1  zfs_member                                            
└─sda zfs_member                                            
sda2  ext4             0140064d-aa47-491e-8918-25e1d98cf82f /
└─sda zfs_member                                            
sda3  ext4             b79fafb1-0f6c-4889-8ce6-299c56c5cebc /home
└─sda zfs_member                                            
sr0

I also saw a table with what the GUID #'s should be based on computer architecture, but I decided against changing those and get some help.

headkase

Member

Registered: 2011-12-06

Posts: 1,977

Re: Systemd GPT Auto Generator, Partition Table Type Error[SOLVED]

I'm not familiar with the "zfs_member" output so I can't comment on that.  sda1 however doesn't have a format type.  By the way, why are you creating a MS-DOS partition for GRUB?  GRUB writes to the MBR which is outside of partitions to work, no MS-DOS partition required.

Edict

Member

Registered: 2014-07-28

Posts: 4

Re: Systemd GPT Auto Generator, Partition Table Type Error[SOLVED]

Ahh! That "ZFS_member" must be some leftover from when I had FreeBSD installed.

As for the BIOS boot partition, When I format my disk using gdisk I create a partition that is of type ef02. If I don't have that 200MB partition Grub won't install. I might have misspoken and called it an MS-DOS partition.

Unfortunately, it sounds like I'm going to have to break out dBan and start from scratch once again.

Appreciate your help.

headkase

Member

Registered: 2011-12-06

Posts: 1,977

Re: Systemd GPT Auto Generator, Partition Table Type Error[SOLVED]

You could also consider syslinux as your bootloader.  That is what I use and I just have one big ext4 partition and a swap partition.  Syslinux goes into the MBR and you don't need any special partition layout for it.

Edict

Member

Registered: 2014-07-28

Posts: 4

Re: Systemd GPT Auto Generator, Partition Table Type Error[SOLVED]

I've just always used GRUB so I'm familiar with it, no particular reason other than that. I'll look into Syslinux the next time I reinstall. Thanks.

headkase

Member

Registered: 2011-12-06

Posts: 1,977

Re: Systemd GPT Auto Generator, Partition Table Type Error[SOLVED]

Right on, you're welcome.  Syslinux is what you use in BIOS systems, if you're UEFI (GRUB can be) then Syslinux probably wouldn't be the best choice.

srs5694

Member

From: Woonsocket, RI

Registered: 2012-11-06

Posts: 719

Website

Re: Systemd GPT Auto Generator, Partition Table Type Error[SOLVED]

200MiB is serious overkill for the BIOS Boot Partition (type EF02 in gdisk); that partition only needs to be 30KiB to 1MiB on most systems, although I've seen some reports that 1MiB is not quite adequate. I've never seen reports of 2MiB being inadequate.

200MiB is a more reasonable size for an EFI System Partition (ESP; type EF00 in gdisk), which is used for booting in EFI mode. Such a partiion holds a FAT filesystem and EFI boot loaders.

In any event, your original report includes the words "Input-Output error." That's usually an indication of a hardware fault. You might have a bad hard disk, a bad cable, a loose cable, or some more exotic problem. I recommend you start by re-seating the cable or a SMART test on the disk, then do the other of those two things.

alex.forencich

Member

Registered: 2011-05-29

Posts: 96

Re: Systemd GPT Auto Generator, Partition Table Type Error[SOLVED]

I just ran in to this exact same issue.  Looks like the fact that the drive was in a ZFS system is causing the problem by getting systemd confused.  The solution is to use wipefs to strip out the remaining bits of ZFS formatting from the drive.  I had some issues with this for unknown reasons.  First was that neither lsblk nor wipefs discovered the zfs formatting from my boot flash drive.  I had to connect the drive to my main laptop with a SATA to USB cable before wipefs would see the ZFS fomatting and actually be able to write to the disk to remove it.  However, it seems that wipefs stops searching after it finds the first ZFS signature and it won't detect the next one until you blow away the first one and re-run wipefs.  The drive apparently had ZFS formatting at multiple offsets, probably around 50 or so, and I had to run wipefs many times to get all of them.  However, once every trace of ZFS was purged from the drive, it appears to work correctly and this error message and boot delay have gone away. 

Also, it appears that there is no I/O error here at all, systemd just prints that when it gets confused - neither dmesg nor smartctl report any disk errors.