Arch Linux

chroot11

Member

Registered: 2020-05-11

Posts: 5

EDIT: Unable to mark partition as bootable in MBR with Intel BIOS?

EDIT: Scroll down please to START OF NEW TOPIC

When trying to decrypt and boot my LUKS partition, I am able to decrypt it fine but then it stalls and doesn't do anything. I couldn't *find* any grub log files.

Some info:
- /etc/fstab appears to be correct
- /boot/grub/grub.cfg entry (abbreviated):

menuentry 'Arch Linux' ... {
  load_video
  set gfxpayload=keep
  insmod gzio
  insmod part_gpt
  insmod ext2
  ~ search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root [UUID of /dev/mapper/cryptroot]
  echo "Loading Linux linux-lts ..." <<
  linux ...
  echo ...
  initrd ...
}

I stop here because something must have gone wrong before then, as nothing is printed.
- I dual boot with windows (used only when I inevitably screw something up, as I am a newbie)
- The /boot and /root devices were at some point moved down 2 (meaning /dev/nvme0n1p5, root, used to be /dev/nvme0n1p7)

Edit: Found a solution on the Wiki. I'll be more thorough next time something goes wrong, sorry for wasting your time!
Edit 2: Actually it's still not working. I assumed marking the 1007KiB partition 'bootable in the MBR' would have done it but it didn't. I have scoured the GRUB wiki page and still cannot find a solution. I can turn on debug mode for grub but it's not useful, and it doesn't apply to when I actually need it, which is what happens after I decrypt the disk. Anyway I don't imagine I'll get any help with this, so I guess I'm locked out.

Last edited by chroot11 (2020-05-12 19:15:17)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,381

Re: EDIT: Unable to mark partition as bootable in MBR with Intel BIOS?

Are you sure it's hanging in GRUB? does it continue if you randomly press keys on your keyboard? Does adding nomodeset debug to the kernel command line give you a form of output?

chroot11

Member

Registered: 2020-05-11

Posts: 5

Re: EDIT: Unable to mark partition as bootable in MBR with Intel BIOS?

Pressing random keys does nothing, and neither does adding nomodoset.

For clarity, when I enter the password it receives it and the screen goes black for a second, and then returns to a slightly different view of the same text:

Starting version 245.5-2-arch

A password is required to access the cryptroot volume:
Enter passphrase for /dev/nvme0n1p5:
/dev/mapper/cryptroot: clean, 394776/16842752 files, 14249657/67366912 blocks

I'm glad you asked whether it's really grub that's hanging, because it seems like it might not be. Just not sure what it could be.

Edit: Also fyi I tried booting with super grub and got the same issue, so maybe it's not the bootloader. Will try to reinstall some packages.
Edit 2: Marking MBR boot flag didn't work with fdisk or parted because it tries to set bootable my first partition, which is the efi. The intended partition is p7, but I can't find an option to change the selected partition.
Edit 3: The problem is I can't set the 1007KiB partition to bootable in MBR. I try doing this using fdisk and parted but the changes are not saved. I think this is due to the fact my disk is labeled gpt?

Last edited by chroot11 (2020-05-12 16:09:09)

chroot11

Member

Registered: 2020-05-11

Posts: 5

Re: EDIT: Unable to mark partition as bootable in MBR with Intel BIOS?

START OF NEW TOPIC

I'm temped to post another topic but don't want to spam the forum. The problem has changed to something else. Can anyone offer information on why I might not be able to mark any partition as MBR bootable? (fdisk>M>a>w>r>w seems to work but when I go back and do fdisk>M>p it says the partition I just marked is not marked for MBR boot). Arch Wiki says Intel BIOSes may not allow gpt booting unless you have at least one partition marked to boot in MBR.

(In case you didn't read the above posts, the issue is that after decrypting the disk it won't boot; no error message is given, it just hangs there)

Last edited by chroot11 (2020-05-12 19:14:30)