Arch Linux

enois

Member

From: Italy

Registered: 2017-06-14

Posts: 8

[SOLVED] Unable to install on Asus 1015CX (LiveUSB/on existing Linux)

Hi everybody!
I'm completely new in Arch: to become familiar with it and avoid any risk I firstly tried it on Oracle VM, and I didn't have any particular problem. Now, my aim is to install and use Arch as main OS on my notebook (ASUS UX303LAB) but before doing that I'd like to test Arch (and my skills...) on another machine I have, a netbook, ASUS 1015CX, which I rarely use (it has Ubuntu 12.04 but it's too slow, maybe with Arch I could use it more frequently).

Following this guide (USB flash installation media) I created a live USB with ‘dd’, but when I try it on the netbook nothing happens and it boots from the HD. I used live USB on that netbook many times before, with different distros, and things were always fine. I tried the USB on the UXU303LAB and, after disabling UEFI security boot, it worked, so the problem isn't in the USB stick, I think. (I didn't find any useful option in the 1015CX bios menu). The processor is 32 bit, could be this the problem?

I attempted another approach, and following this guide (Install from existing Linux) I tried to install Arch from Ubuntu 12.04 which is on the netbook. With

tar xzf archlinux-bootstrap-2017.06.01-x86_64.tar.gz

I obtain

tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword `SCHILY.acl.access'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword `SCHILY.acl.default'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword `SCHILY.acl.access'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword `SCHILY.acl.default'

I searched a bit but I didn't find a way to fix it, anyway the files seemed extracted correctly, so I went on.

# mount --bind /tmp/root.x86_64 /tmp/root.x86_64
# cd /tmp/root.x86_64
# cp /etc/resolv.conf etc
# mount -t proc /proc proc
# mount --rbind /sys sys
# mount --rbind /dev dev
# mount --rbind /run run    # (assuming /run exists on the system)

were ok, but

# chroot /tmp/root.x86_64 /bin/bash

gives me

chroot: failed to run command `/bin/bash': Exec format error

I found out that probably this is due to an incompatibility between 64 and 32 bit. The guide mentioned above says to edit

/tmp/root.i686/etc/pacman.conf

adding

Architecture = i686

That directory does not exist, there is instead

/tmp/root.x86_64/etc/pacman.conf

in which I found ’Architecture = auto’ that I modified in ‘Architecture = i686’, but nothing changed. There is certainly something I can't figure out, any ideas? Thank you!

(I also tried the so called method B, found here Method B: Using the LiveCD image, but the problem with ‘bash’ remains...)

Info that may be useful:
biosdecode
dmidecode
less /proc/cpuinfo
lspci

Last edited by enois (2017-06-26 23:07:27)

circleface

Member

Registered: 2012-05-26

Posts: 639

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to install on Asus 1015CX (LiveUSB/on existing Linux)

The processor is 32 bit, could be this the problem?

Almost certainly.  Arch no longer supports 686 architectures, only 64 bit.  See here for more information.

Last edited by circleface (2017-06-15 03:06:46)

enois

Member

From: Italy

Registered: 2017-06-14

Posts: 8

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to install on Asus 1015CX (LiveUSB/on existing Linux)

Ok, thanks. I'll try another distro (maybe Debian?) in order to have a lighter sytsem. I'm gonna need it while installing Arch on my main pc.

enois

Member

From: Italy

Registered: 2017-06-14

Posts: 8

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to install on Asus 1015CX (LiveUSB/on existing Linux)

Well, I changed my mind and I eventually installed Arch. I found the archlinux-2017.02.01-dual.iso (the last compatible with i686) and I installed it on the netbook, without any particular issue (I'm writing this post from Arch, ).

Now I'll take my time to become more confident with Arch (I've A LOT of things to learn and understand) and then I'll install it on the other machine.

Should I tag the topic as [SOLVED] then?

circleface

Member

Registered: 2012-05-26

Posts: 639

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to install on Asus 1015CX (LiveUSB/on existing Linux)

If you are satisfied with the solution, go ahead and mark it solved.  Just make sure you do all your learning and experimenting by November, because at that point there will be no more 32 bit packages

enois

Member

From: Italy

Registered: 2017-06-14

Posts: 8

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to install on Asus 1015CX (LiveUSB/on existing Linux)

Yeah, I don't have a lot of time these days, but I'm definitely going to install Arch on my other notebook before November