Arch Linux

hwallace

Member

Registered: 2021-08-30

Posts: 110

[SOLVED]syslinux install : partitioning

I have an old desktop machine (HPE-341f). This is a BIOS machine so I can't use my preferred systemd-boot.

I'm giving syslinux a try following https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/syslinux but am having difficulty with the partitioning.

Here's what I have so far:

root@archiso ~ # fdisk -l /dev/sdc
    Disk /dev/sdc: 223.57 GiB, 240057409536 bytes, 468862128 sectors
    Disk model: KINGSTON SA400S3
    Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disklabel type: gpt
    Disk identifier: nnn...
    
    Device       Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
    /dev/sdc1     2048   1050623   1048576   512M BIOS boot
    /dev/sdc2  1050624 468862094 467811471 223.1G Linux filesystem

There's something wrong with this though because :

root@archiso ~ # mount /dev/sdc2 /mnt
root@archiso ~ # mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/boot
130 root@archiso ~ # mkdir /mnt/boot
1 root@archiso ~ # mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/boot
mount: /mnt/boot: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdc1, missing codepage or helper program, or other error.

Last edited by hwallace (2021-09-08 00:14:25)

Slithery

Administrator

From: Norfolk, UK

Registered: 2013-12-01

Posts: 5,776

Re: [SOLVED]syslinux install : partitioning

BIOS boot partitions are never meant to be mounted. It just creates space to install the bootloader which wouldn't usually exist on a GPT formatted disk and as far as I know are only useful for grub because of its size.

Try formatting sdc1 as a normal Linux partition.

---

No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles

Raynman

Member

Registered: 2011-10-22

Posts: 1,539

Re: [SOLVED]syslinux install : partitioning

AFAIK BIOS boot is only used by GRUB. The wiki page says you need to set the Legacy BIOS bootable flag if you want to use GPT, but you'd set that on a normal partition (with a filesystem supported by syslinux and type Linux filesystem).

Edit: Hmm, now Slithery's post includes most of this as well. Was I half asleep when I posted this last night or was it a sneaky edit with moderator powers so there's no "last edited" message?

Last edited by Raynman (2021-09-08 07:04:06)

hwallace

Member

Registered: 2021-08-30

Posts: 110

Re: [SOLVED]syslinux install : partitioning

BIOS boot partitions are never meant to be mounted. It just creates space to install the bootloader which wouldn't usually exist on a GPT formatted disk and as far as I know are only useful for grub because of its size.

Try formatting sdc1 as a normal Linux partition.

Yes. formatting helped a lot. I was confused about the Type for the boot partition but found that ext4 works.

so now

isk identifier: 0x712df4f8

Device     Boot   Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1  *       2048   1050623   1048576   512M 83 Linux
/dev/sdc2       1050624 468862127 467811504 223.1G 83 Linux

But there is another problem now.