Arch Linux

prismavoid08

Member

Registered: 2020-03-27

Posts: 15

New Arch Install went to CLI, then Grub Rescue after reboot

I just tried to install Arch Linux for my first time, and I followed the instructions layed out in the wiki, but when I rebooted, I was taken to the CLI instead of a desktop environment, of which I had (tried to) install plasma. I tried using Ctrl+alt+f# keys to go to try to find the GUI but it was not there. I googled how to display currently installed desktop environment from the CLI, and the comand I found output nothing, so I tried once more to install plasma.

This time when I rebooted, though, I was taken to the Grub Rescue menu with the error "file '/boot/grubx86_64-efi/normal.mod' not found"
I went through the wiki page on the Grub Rescue menu, but half of the commands returned the same error message, and many others returned different ones.

What happened and how do I fix this?
Thanks in advance.

heywoodlh

Member

Registered: 2016-10-31

Posts: 26

Website

Re: New Arch Install went to CLI, then Grub Rescue after reboot

Did you install Xorg when you installed?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg

Also, did you install/enable SDDM or another display manager?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Display_manager

In regard to the Grub error, I would boot back into a live environment, mount your current install on your drives and go through the steps of reinstalling Grub.

Another alternative to recovering your broken system would be to just wipe and reinstall completely. But recovering your system through the live USB would probably be more educational

prismavoid08

Member

Registered: 2020-03-27

Posts: 15

Re: New Arch Install went to CLI, then Grub Rescue after reboot

Thank you so much for your help! I was able to fix the Grub Rescue problem and get back to the CLI. I tried your suggestion and installed sddm, which took me to the login screen for KDE (hooray.) But when I try to login, the screen turns black for a few seconds as if it's loading the desktop, but then takes me back to the login screen. I know that the password I'm entering is correct because when I tried a different password it simply said login failed and didn't do anything else.
I have found a few others with similar problems but none of the solutions seemed to work.
How do I go about fixing this?

sevendogs

Member

From: Texas

Registered: 2016-01-24

Posts: 201

Re: New Arch Install went to CLI, then Grub Rescue after reboot

A couple of things you may look at: what type of hardware do you have and are video drivers installed? (Nvidia or AMD). Also, are the permissions of your user's /home directory appropriate? They should be if you created and formatted the /home directory during the install, but if /home was previously existing, you may need to change ownership to your user.

---

"Give a man a truth and he will think for a day. Teach a man to reason and he will think for a lifetime"

prismavoid08

Member

Registered: 2020-03-27

Posts: 15

Re: New Arch Install went to CLI, then Grub Rescue after reboot

Thank you for your help! The problem was indeed that the home directory was not properly formatted. I am simply used to Debian based distros where adduser <name> is enough to create a user, but apparently for Arch you need the -m parameter. The tutorial I had used did not contain how to add a user so I had just assumed it was the same as I was used to

Last edited by prismavoid08 (2020-03-27 15:08:31)