Can't get arch install to boot.

QBWR · 2016-05-22 00:07:14

So, the title says it all. I tried reinstalling arch, but decided to use grub instead of syslinux, and now it won't boot.

It reports no errors during the installation of grub, and I've followed the directions on the wiki meticulously, but when I reboot my computer I just get a message that says "Reboot and select proper boot device".

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here. Could I possibly get some tips or ideas?

dockland · 2016-05-22 00:36:26

QBWR wrote:

So, the title says it all. I tried reinstalling arch, but decided to use grub instead of syslinux, and now it won't boot.
It reports no errors during the installation of grub, and I've followed the directions on the wiki meticulously, but when I reboot my computer I just get a message that says "Reboot and select proper boot device".
I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here. Could I possibly get some tips or ideas?

EFi or not EFI?

QBWR · 2016-05-22 00:41:10

It's EFI, and I can get it to work with EFI, but not for BIOS.

dockland · 2016-05-22 00:55:51

QBWR wrote:

It's EFI, and I can get it to work with EFI, but not for BIOS.

Can you get your current installation to run in EFI, or what do you mean?
Is your BIOS set to run legacy or EFI? Have you booted ARCH installation media in EFI mode?

E: chroot in to your system and give us your lsblk output eg.

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 953.9G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   512M  0 part /boot
├─sda2   8:2    0    60G  0 part /
├─sda3   8:3    0    32G  0 part [SWAP]
└─sda4   8:4    0 861.4G  0 part /home

Last edited by dockland (2016-05-22 00:58:57)

QBWR · 2016-05-22 01:08:15

Yeah, so I installed arch already once about three months ago, and the same problem happened. So I used syslinux instead of GRUB, and everything seemed to work fine.

Now I'm reinstalling, and I tried out GRUB again, and I can get it to work when I use the EFI instructions on the wiki, but when I use the --target=i386-pc option, everything works and it reports no errors, but when I reboot it just says to install boot media.

This whole thing just makes me think it's just something I'm not getting.

Edit:

I'm not at home right now, but I'll get you the partitioning scheme when I get back.

Last edited by QBWR (2016-05-22 01:09:48)

circleface · 2016-05-22 01:42:49

I don't think I understand. If it works in EFI mode, why not just use that? Is there a reason you need MBR support?

QBWR · 2016-05-22 02:37:18

@dockland

Output of lsblk is:
sda 8:0. 0 931.5G 0 disk
-sda1 8:1 0 931.5G 0 part /

QBWR · 2016-05-22 03:33:40

Update:

So I just tried, and syslinux isn't working anymore either, when it did before. There's definitely something I'm missing.

dockland · 2016-05-22 09:32:21

QBWR wrote:

Update:
So I just tried, and syslinux isn't working anymore either, when it did before. There's definitely something I'm missing.

Is your BIOS set to Legacy or UEFI-boot? Is your installation media (arch ISO) booting as UEFI? Have you followed the steps creating all the necessary partitions following the beginners guide? I use gdisk when i set up a new system. It's almost impossible to guide you not knowing all the steps you have taken from booting your installation-media and so on

dockland · 2016-05-22 12:18:47

QBWR wrote:

@dockland
Output of lsblk is:
sda 8:0. 0 931.5G 0 disk
-sda1 8:1 0 931.5G 0 part /

You don't have any boot or boot/efi partitions.

Trilby · 2016-05-22 12:27:28

QBWR, you have a couple members who are willing to help you here, but despite their repeated requests you are not providing the requested information (or only doing so in very small increments). Please read through the questions that have been posed to you and address *all* of them. If you don't know how to get the answer to some, then ask for clarification - but at the moment it looks like you may just be ignoring some of the questions.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-05-22 20:57:43

QBWR wrote:

I tried out GRUB again, and I can get it to work when I use the EFI instructions on the wiki, but when I use the --target=i386-pc option, everything works and it reports no errors, but when I reboot it just says to install boot media.

Make sure that "CSM" or "Legacy" mode is enabled in your firmware ("BIOS") options, this is required to boot a non-UEFI system on UEFI firmware.

QBWR · 2016-05-22 22:47:47

Okay, so I'll try installing it again, but I'll write down everything I do here.

First I turn on my computer, but F12, and get taken to the boot selection menu. I can choose from:

P0: ST1000DM003-9YN162 (my hard drive)
P4: Slimtype DVD A DS8A8SH (DVD drive with live disk in it)
UEFI: Slimtype DVD A DS8A8SH

I select P4, and it boots normally. I'm taken to this menu.
http://i.imgur.com/ovrCmLO.jpg

I hit enter, selecting "Boot Arch Linux (x86_64).

It continues booting. Everything says "OK"

I'm now at the command prompt.

# wifi-menu
I select my Wi-Fi network and enter my password.

# elinks
I go to arch linux.org, and confirm my connection is working.

#timedatectrl set-ntp true
No errors.

# gdisk /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.0

Partition table scan:
MBR: protective
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): ?
b back up GPT data to file
c change a partition's name
d delete a partition
i show detailed information on a partition
l list known partition types
n add new partition
o create new empty GUID partition table (GPT)
p print the partition table
q quit without saving changes
r recovery and transformation options (experts only)
s sort partitions
t change a partition's type code
v verify disk
w write table to disk and exit
x extra functionality (experts only)
? print this menu

Command (? for help): o
This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR.
Proceed? (Y/N): Y

Command (? for help): n
Partition number (1-128, default 1): <Enter>
First sector (34-1953525134, default = 2048) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: <Enter>
Last Sector (2048-1953525134, default = 1953525134) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: +1M
Current type is 'Linux filesystem'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300): ef02
Changed type of partition to 'BIOS boot partition'

Command (? for help): w

Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING PARTITIONS!!

Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): Y
OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/sda.
The operation has completed successfully.

# parted /dev/sda print
Model: ATA ST1000DM003-9YN1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition table: gpt
Disk flags:

Number 1
Start 1049kB
End 2097kB
Size 1049kB
File system
Name BIOS boot partition
Flags bios_grub

# cfdisk /dev/sda

I see /dev/sda1, and "free space". I select free space, and select "New" I hit enter, letting it take up the rest of the drive. Then I write and quit.

# parted /dev/sda set 2 boot on

# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2

# mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

# pacstrap /mnt base

I'm not going to type out the full output of pacstrap on my phone, but everything goes fine, there's no errors.

# genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

# arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

# vi /etc/locale.gen

I uncomment en_CA.UTF-8 UTF-8, write and quit.

# locale-gen

# echo "LANG=en_CA.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf

# tzselect

I select "America/Edmonton"

# hwclock --systohc --utc

# mkinitcpio -p linux

There's two warnings here, "WARNING: possibly missing firmware for module: wd719x" and "WARNING: possibly missing firmware for module: aic94xx".

# pacman -S grub os-prober

# grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda

This goes ahead for a minute and finishes with "Installation finished. No errors reported"

# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

So now i'm getting a warning I wasn't before. It says:

/run/lvm/lvmetad.socket: connect failed: No such file or directory
WARNING: Failed to connect to lvmetad. Falling back to internal scanning.
[ 90.521606] squashfs: SQUASHFS error: Can't find SQUASHFS superblock on sda1
[ 90.523087] EXT4-fs (sda1): VFS: Can't find ext4 filesystem
[ 90.524640] EXT4-fs (sda1): VFS: Can't find ext4 filesystem
[ 90.526177] EXT4-fs (sda1): VFS: Can't find ext4 filesystem
done"

# passwd

# exit

# umount -R /mnt

Last edited by jasonwryan (2016-05-22 22:55:42)

jasonwryan · 2016-05-22 22:56:08

Read the Etiquette and learn how to format your posts:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … s_and_code

dockland · 2016-05-22 23:06:11

QBWR wrote:

Okay, so I'll try installing it again, but I'll write down everything I do here.
...wall of text...
# umount -R /mnt

As stated:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GU … tion_Table

There might be issues with the combo GPT and Legacy. Try MBR. If you want/need to go with GPT, try a EFI-install instead.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-05-23 07:11:50

dockland wrote:

There might be issues with the combo GPT and Legacy. Try MBR. If you want/need to go with GPT, try a EFI-install instead.

^ This.

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GU … OS_systems

@OP: Try this first before you start again:

# parted /dev/sda set 2 boot off

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2016-05-23 07:12:24)

QBWR · 2016-05-23 18:36:53

dockland wrote:

QBWR wrote:
Okay, so I'll try installing it again, but I'll write down everything I do here.
...wall of text...
# umount -R /mnt
As stated:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GU … tion_Table
There might be issues with the combo GPT and Legacy. Try MBR. If you want/need to go with GPT, try a EFI-install instead.

This worked perfectly. Thanks!

Arch Linux

#1 2016-05-22 00:07:14

Can't get arch install to boot.

#2 2016-05-22 00:36:26

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#3 2016-05-22 00:41:10

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#4 2016-05-22 00:55:51

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#5 2016-05-22 01:08:15

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#6 2016-05-22 01:42:49

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#7 2016-05-22 02:37:18

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#8 2016-05-22 03:33:40

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#9 2016-05-22 09:32:21

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#10 2016-05-22 12:18:47

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#11 2016-05-22 12:27:28

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#12 2016-05-22 20:57:43

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#13 2016-05-22 22:47:47

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#14 2016-05-22 22:56:08

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#15 2016-05-22 23:06:11

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#16 2016-05-23 07:11:50

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

#17 2016-05-23 18:36:53

Re: Can't get arch install to boot.

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