Arch Linux

maanvol

Member

Registered: 2016-08-09

Posts: 20

Grub refuses to start up...

After having installed arch I rebooted the system, but it remained stuck on the term 'grub'.
I did find out that I did forget to include '/bin/bash', on the command line 'arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash'. Is there a way to correct this, or do I have to start the installation all over again?

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,778

Website

Re: Grub refuses to start up...

I did find out that I did forget to include '/bin/bash', on the command line 'arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash'.

How peculiar -- if that command was run from the Arch live ISO without /bin/bash at the end then it would fail unless you had included zsh in the pacstrap packages.
EDIT: the above is not true.

If the command succeeded then the other installation steps should have worked even if the shell wasn't BASH.

it remained stuck on the term 'grub'.

Please post the exact commands that you used to install the GRUB bootloader to your disk and configure the program.

Please also outline your installation process, including partitioning, filesystem and mount details.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2016-08-14 18:13:06)

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

maanvol

Member

Registered: 2016-08-09

Posts: 20

Re: Grub refuses to start up...

I was installing it on a usb stick with Arch live ISO. Sda1 for the boot, and sda2 for the root.
'pacstrap -i /mnt  base base-devel nano yajl'
'pacman -S bash-completion'
'pacman -S grub'
'grub-install --target=i386-pc -- recheck --debug /dev/sda'
'grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg'

'mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2'
'mount /dev/sda2 /mnt'
Hex code 8300

Last edited by maanvol (2016-08-13 19:25:24)

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,778

Website

Re: Grub refuses to start up...

'pacstrap -i /mnt  base base-devel nano yajl'
'pacman -S bash-completion'
'pacman -S grub'
'grub-install --target=i386-pc -- recheck --debug /dev/sda'
'grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg'

At which point did you run the `arch-chroot` command?

As posted, those commands will only install & configure the GRUB package in the live environment rather than the installed system.

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

maanvol

Member

Registered: 2016-08-09

Posts: 20

Re: Grub refuses to start up...

"At which point did you run the `arch-chroot` command?" Directly, after 'genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab'.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,778

Website

Re: Grub refuses to start up...

Well then if you ran `pacstrap` after `arch-chroot` then the system will not be installed on your drive.

You can now see why a *complete* list of the commands used helps to avoid ambiguity, I hope.

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

maanvol

Member

Registered: 2016-08-09

Posts: 20

Re: Grub refuses to start up...

Why is the result of command line: 'grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck --debug /dev/sda' --> "grub-install: error: failed to get canonical path of airootfs"?

maanvol

Member

Registered: 2016-08-09

Posts: 20

Re: Grub refuses to start up...

Grub installation did go well ths time, but the end result of my installation: "Oh! Something has gone wrong. A problem has occurred and the system can't recover. Pease log out and try again."  This is a closed loop... login... log out, try again...

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,778

Website

Re: Grub refuses to start up...

Why is the result of command line: 'grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck --debug /dev/sda' --> "grub-install: error: failed to get canonical path of airootfs"?

Because you haven't run `arch-chroot` before using the `grub-install` command.

In order for me to determine where exactly you are going wrong in the installation process, I need to know *all* of the commands and configuration files used.

Did you manage to install the GRUB bootloader to your disk?

Do you see the GRUB menu?

How did you configure GRUB?

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

maanvol

Member

Registered: 2016-08-09

Posts: 20

Re: Grub refuses to start up...

The grub installation is no longer a problem. I did made the mistake in thinking that it would be all right to replace 'bash' by 'zsh' in the command line: 'arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash', for it did not report any errors, but it was not to be. I came up with this idea since it is possible to replace 'bash' by 'zsh' on the command line: 'useradd -m -g users -G  wheel -s /bin/zsh name'.