[SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

smileybri · 2015-10-19 17:31:14

I have successfully installed Arch before (it has been a while) but I seem to be having trouble with this install. I am not as familiar with the setup of the needed partitions and needed a bit more "just do this, this way" instructions so I found this tutorial which was very easy to follow: http://www.linuxveda.com/2015/04/20/arc … al-manual/

There was a fork in the tutorial early on for GPT vs. MBR and I went the GPT way. This might be where I went wrong. The computer is an older custom rig with an Intel motherboard (DG33FB) and Core 2 Duo CPU. There is an option to enable EFI, but it was disabled initially.

So it was more than 12 hours ago and I have had a nights sleep now. I'm trying to figure out what the best way to proceed is. I'll start again if need be, but I think the Arch system is actually installed. I even booted to it via the boot media and selecting boot to the installed OS. I can't seem to get back to that now after trying to fix it.

What I remember doing to attempt to get it to boot is I tried enabling EFI. Still "No boot device..."
I remounted the boot and swap partitions, ran # arch-chroot /mnt and then tried to configure Grub again with # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg but still no love.

I have a feeling I am missing something really stupid. I did the obvious change the boot order making the HDD the first device. Right now I can only get to the arch system via the boot device. I am thinking I am going to start over using MBR instead of GPT, but I thought I had use GPT before without issues and thought let me put this out there and see of anyone can point me to the whole in my head.

Last edited by smileybri (2015-10-22 16:29:28)

jasonwryan · 2015-10-19 18:08:11

Don't use random blog posts: use the official installation documentation or the community provided Beginners' Guide. Anything else is unsupported as it is either outdated, wrong or probably both.

STiAT · 2015-10-19 20:39:51

I'd recommend you to check the following:
- Are you going with UEFI or BIOS?
- Is your boot partition (if BIOS) set on BIOS_BOOT (there is a seperate flag for that in GPT-Partitions)?

br,
STi

mich04 · 2015-10-19 20:42:30

I was writing a post for you and than I noticed the tutorial I just used that one 5 days ago. There is an error in one of the steps. I am trying to find it. Also you might want to consider using syslinux instead of grub. It is much easier to deal with in terms of setting up.

edit: I forgot to ask did you check to make sure the boot flag was set on the drive?

Last edited by mich04 (2015-10-19 20:43:12)

smileybri · 2015-10-19 20:46:11

The beginners guide failed me also. Honestly for having the "best Wiki in the world" there is a lot of confusion. Getting a Linux system to boot is something that other distributions just do for you. I get it that it isn't the Arch Way, but maybe Arch should just budge a little and make installation just a tad easier. I just went step by step through the Beginners Guide and near the end could not get Grub to install. If it didn't like my partition table or how they were formatted I would like to have known before I got all the way to installing Grub. I'd like to do it the Arch way and not resort to Architect or some other crutch, but I have nearly 10 hours invested in this already and have gotten NOWHERE! I knew it was a commitment going in, and I am a beginner, but your Wiki has gaping holes and your answer to not supplement documentation with other resources is just less than helpful.

I would like this to be constructive in some way and not just a rant. Maybe separating the instructions depending on UEFI, BIOS, GPT or MBR. The way it is now instructions for different setups run into each other and might be increasing confusion. I like the way the beginners guide gives instructions for multiple options for partition schemes while staying brief. Just enough information to get someone along the way for the setup they want.

Again, I think I got tripped up between GPT and MBR. I might not have stayed with the right set of commands and I am going to go back through it again from scratch. After that it is Architect or OpenSUSE.

jasonwryan · 2015-10-19 20:51:15

If you aren't prepared to put the effort in to learn, then you won't enjoy using Arch anyway. Running Arch is mostly reading.

firekage · 2015-10-19 20:52:21

BTW Grub, EFI, GPT. I tried 3 times to install Arch using EFI and GPT with ArchWiki - neither of them worked for me...with MBR/GPT and no EFI always worked.

Last edited by firekage (2015-10-19 20:52:44)

ewaller · 2015-10-19 20:53:26

If you are going UEFI, I strongly recommend using Systemd-boot (Link to the maligned Arch Linux wiki)

smileybri · 2015-10-19 21:10:32

Thanks mich04. Sorry I was working on that rant, got distracted and came back to it and did not notice your reply.

On the unsupported tutorial I think marking a partition the boot partition was the issue. I tried the GPT and MBR forks and still never could boot. If you know where to insert the instruction for making the partition bootable I would greatly appreciate it. I did get further following that than I did the beginners guide here.

In fairness the beginners guide here is easier to follow now that I have been through most of these steps a few times. Repetition is the mother of retention.

frank604 · 2015-10-19 21:19:54

smileybri wrote:

I am not as familiar with the setup of the needed partitions and needed a bit more "just do this, this way" instructions

smileybri wrote:

The beginners guide failed me also. Honestly for having the "best Wiki in the world" there is a lot of confusion. Getting a Linux system to boot is something that other distributions just do for you. I get it that it isn't the Arch Way, but maybe Arch should just budge a little and make installation just a tad easier.

I think Xyne's post on Arch Community Ethos would answer your question regarding this. Third paragraph really hits the point.

smileybri · 2015-10-19 22:17:06

Well, I get it. I am not asking questions correctly and apparently unable to get the support I need from the community. For the record I did try to explain what I was doing and did ask, what was to the best of my knowledge a detailed question initially. My second post was me being a bit frustrated, but even then I tried to offer a solution via a question of having separate instructions to get through the confusion that all of the different forks of installation that deal with UEFI vs. BIOS and GPT vs. MBR (if I even have all of that right).

Instead of polity telling me to get lost, a question or two like STiAT, or at least some advice like ewaller or firekage might actually have helped me work it out. Thanks to those who tried to help.

Go ahead and TGN this. You are clearly better at that than helping users.

Last edited by smileybri (2015-10-19 22:18:19)

Rethil · 2015-10-19 22:30:46

Don't be discouraged.

Let's say your disk is sda. Let's say you want to make partitions for esp, boot, root, swap and home. Let's say you're using fdisk.
Boot Arch medium in efi mode.

# fdisk /dev/sda

Make GPT table, 256M or 512M partition for EFI, set partition type to EFI system. Make other partitions.
Make filesystems on your partitions. For esp (let's say sda1):

# mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1

Let's say your table looks like this:
sda1 - esp
sda2 - boot
sda3 - root
sda4 - swap
sda5 - home
Mount them:

# mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
# mkdir -p /mnt/{boot/EFI,home}
# mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot
# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/EFI
# mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/home
# swapon /dev/sda4

Install base system, generate fstab, chroot to /mnt.
Install grub:

# pacman -S grub efibootmgr dosfstools
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/EFI --bootloader-id=grub --recheck

Make other things and then generate your grub config.

I just showed you way that it could be done. You're not supposed to just copy it, but to change it to your needs and sort out what confuses you.

frank604 · 2015-10-19 23:03:28

Please keep in mind that we are all trying to point you in the right direction. Your posts have strayed from your original question, which has already received a response stating unofficial instructions are not supported here. When providing a question of installation it often helps to provide output such as Rethil did in his example. As for my post I just wanted to answer your other ranty statements in the best possible way I could. But please don't throw a tantrum.

To the topic at hand, it seems you can boot using the live arch bootloader. That means you need to properly install/configure grub on your pc.

What is inside /boot (dir/files)? What is the output of grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg? Does /boot/grub/grub.cfg exist? What is output for lsblk -f?

smileybri · 2015-10-19 23:12:34

Thank you Rethil!

Just for the heck of it I was up and running in no time using Architect. Even with Gnome +extras! That was so fast I wonder why anyone does it the Arch Way! Anyway, I appreciate your post so much I am going to scrap it and start again the Arch Way.

I've been playing with computers a long time and quite honestly (U)EFI is still a bit puzzling to me. Your post above makes it look quite easy and while that blog post and the beginners guide are still a bit fresh I think I understand your instructions and am giving them a try.

I think I will follow your partition structure exactly so that I know that an edit I make is not what fouls it up.

smileybri · 2015-10-19 23:17:23

Thank you frank604.

I did already start over several times since the initial post so I guess it is moot. I should have been more patient and I would be able to answer your very good question.

Since I am going to move forward with Rethil's post as a guide should I just start a new post if needed since the OP is no longer relevant? If I end up stuck at the same spot I'll know to start by answering your questions.

Thanks again. Feeling like I can do this now...

jasonwryan · 2015-10-19 23:18:21

smileybri wrote:

and quite honestly (U)EFI is still a bit puzzling to me.

See: https://www.happyassassin.net/2014/01/2 … work-then/

Rethil · 2015-10-19 23:44:33

Smileybri, you should first read about different file systems, figure out what partition layout is best for you, and squeeze every bit of juice out of that lemon. This example layout is kinda poor in my opinion. It was just an example, working, but still just example.
I myself prefer doing thing the Arch Way cuz what I think is that I always know better what I want than some who-knows-who-made-it installer.

Consider:
What kind of drive are you using?
Do you really need separate partitions for esp and boot?
Do you need full system encryption?
Or maybe you want only data encryption or nothing at all?
Do you want to dual boot?
Do you prefer heavily tested and reliable file systems?
Or maybe something robust like XFS and with interesting features like btrfs?
How big should be your swap partition?

Last edited by Rethil (2015-10-19 23:55:22)

smileybri · 2015-10-20 02:30:59

Rethil, thank you for your continued helpfulness.

It is an older computer with a 500GB SATA drive.
I would be satisfied with a single partition plus swap assuming that this helps performance.
I do not require encryption. This is a desktop computer and will remain in the office.
I do not desire to dual boot.
I would prefer a reliable file system. I planned on using ext4.
The computer has 6GB pf RAM and I read swap should be equal to this.

I got side tracked by dinner with my wife and her TV program. I better get on with my reading assignment. https://www.happyassassin.net/2014/01/2 … work-then/

smileybri · 2015-10-22 16:29:07

Thanks again Rethil!

I was able to install Arch the Arch Way thanks to your patience. Sorry to all whom my comments might have offended. I was a bit frustrated, but even comments from those who were trying to get me to understand how Arch is different, and that I might have to read more and work at resolving things on my own a bit more ended up being somewhat helpful.

In the end my system is not UEFI compliant (old Intel board with meaningless UEFI enable option) and I stuck with MBR and GRUB was able to make the needed boot partition that I must have missed on my first few attempts. I got bogged down with all the needless (for my system) UEFI instructions and missed the simplest thing.

I still think the beginners guide might be more helpful if split into UEFI and nonUEFI system parts but the truth is all the information is there. I didn't need that blog tutorial - in the end the beginners guide here on the Arch Wiki plus a little encouragement from Rethil was what was needed.

Thank you!

Arch Linux

#1 2015-10-19 17:31:14

[SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#2 2015-10-19 18:08:11

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#3 2015-10-19 20:39:51

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#4 2015-10-19 20:42:30

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#5 2015-10-19 20:46:11

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#6 2015-10-19 20:51:15

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#7 2015-10-19 20:52:21

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#8 2015-10-19 20:53:26

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#9 2015-10-19 21:10:32

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#10 2015-10-19 21:19:54

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#11 2015-10-19 22:17:06

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#12 2015-10-19 22:30:46

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#13 2015-10-19 23:03:28

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#14 2015-10-19 23:12:34

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#15 2015-10-19 23:17:23

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#16 2015-10-19 23:18:21

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#17 2015-10-19 23:44:33

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#18 2015-10-20 02:30:59

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

#19 2015-10-22 16:29:07

Re: [SOLVED] Arch installed but will not boot

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