Arch Linux

cervyesterday

Member

Registered: 2022-11-13

Posts: 72

[ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

Hello everyone,
I bought a new acer aspire5 A515-48m and i would like to install arch. Unfortunately soon after i select the bootable usb as the boot media a loud sound starts and an error is shown on black screen:

"Error: serial port com0 isn't found"

It's the first time i see such an error while installing arch, so idk what i can do to

Thanks in advance

Last edited by cervyesterday (2023-10-30 15:19:35)

Lone_Wolf

Forum Moderator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 11,989

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

It's been a long time  but I think it have seen that before when no keyboard was detected.

Since modern laptops tend to use usb for peripherals and often don't initialise usb devices* you could be bitten by that.
There should be an option in firmware to change that, but I have no idea how it's called .
Look for 'disable fast startup' , 'enable usb devices at boot' , run Power On Self Test POST) every boot and similar .

* In order to make it look like they boot fast they don't initialise usb devices but rely on OSes to do that.

---

Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

(A works at time B)  && (time C > time B ) ≠  (A works at time C)

cervyesterday

Member

Registered: 2022-11-13

Posts: 72

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

I've already disabled fastboot and secure boot in UEFI settings, if you meant that

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 17,526

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

Does adding any of the following kernel parameters allow the boot to progress further?

nomodeset
iommu=soft
iommu=off
acpi=off

If none of the above worked the following may produce more output

earlyprintk=vga,keep earlycon=efifb ignore_loglevel

Also what release of the Arch ISO are you encountering the issue with?  Has the live media been proven to work on another system?

cervyesterday

Member

Registered: 2022-11-13

Posts: 72

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

How should i add those parameters on windows?

The iso is the 2022.07.01 found here

https://archmirror.it/repos/iso/2023.07.01/
I've already used it to install arch on virtualbox

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 17,526

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

Is the boot breaking before the bootloader appears where you could add those parameters?

You used the USB to install Arch on virtualbox or used the ISO directly?  The former would conform the USB is good while the latter would only comfirm the ISO is good.

cervyesterday

Member

Registered: 2022-11-13

Posts: 72

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

Is the boot breaking before the bootloader appears where you could add those parameters?

It's not booting, it doesn't show me grub (i suppose to add those parameters there..)

You're right, i'll try on another pc

cervyesterday

Member

Registered: 2022-11-13

Posts: 72

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

I'v set up two different USB and both of them gave me that error.
I've tried with a different laptop and i can see grub menu with both of them, it shows me the error anyway though before grub is shown.

Any ideas?

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 17,526

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

From firmware can you enable UEFI CSM may also be called legacy bios or legacy boot and reach syslinux using BIOS boot mode?

nl6720

The Evil Wiki Admin

Registered: 2016-07-02

Posts: 609

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

Seeing that error is normal, since the ISO's GRUB is set up to enable the serial console. Since this prevents booting for you for some reason, prepare the installation medium using the manual method described in https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/USB_fl … #UEFI_only. Then edit the boot/grub/grub.cfg file on the USB drive with a text editor and remove the offending lines. I.e. these ones:

if serial --unit=0 --speed=115200; then
    terminal_input --append serial
    terminal_output --append serial
fi

cervyesterday

Member

Registered: 2022-11-13

Posts: 72

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

Thanks, i'll try and let you know

cervyesterday

Member

Registered: 2022-11-13

Posts: 72

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

I've followed the guide so i mounted the .iso file and then copied those files in it to the USB and edited grub.cfg file but it still not showing me grub, no error message this time but the loud sound and black screen

nl6720

The Evil Wiki Admin

Registered: 2016-07-02

Posts: 609

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

The general dislike people have for GRUB is not unwarranted...

The GRUB menu has a 15 second timeout before it boots the default entry. Could you try waiting and see if it boots?

If that doesn't help, then the next step is to either keep troubleshooting the GRUB issue (making sure CSM is disabled in UEFI, replacing "terminal_output console" with "terminal_output gfxterm", etc.) or to try booting via CSM like loqs suggested. You can still install for UEFI boot even while booted in BIOS mode, you'll just need to install the boot loader to the default/fallback boot path.

cervyesterday

Member

Registered: 2022-11-13

Posts: 72

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

Still nothing fix waiting for grub to load.
How can i verify whether CSM is disabled in UEFI?
Idk how to boot via CSM as well.. :')

cervyesterday

Member

Registered: 2022-11-13

Posts: 72

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

I've found this https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Laptop/Acer and tried to follow what's written at 8.1: Flaky secure boot. Unfortunately i cannot modify secure boot mode settings

EDIT:
Ok i couldn't modify them because i had disabled secure boot. Now i can. Just few questions:

-Idk what it means by "clear trusted bootloaders within the Secure Boot settings" there's not such an option
-when it says "the bootloader as a trusted UEFI file" i thought just to add the USB  as trusted but it let me choose a file in it, so i don't know wich file should I trust. Shellx64.efi? Or BOOTx64.EFI?

EDIT2:
i've changed the title. I would have moved it to Installation section but don't know to do.

Furthermore, i tried to install ubuntu as well just to see and in that case grub is shown properly, but if i click on "Try/Install" it simply reboot into grub, why so different?

Last edited by cervyesterday (2023-07-07 15:36:36)

nl6720

The Evil Wiki Admin

Registered: 2016-07-02

Posts: 609

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

I've found this https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Laptop/Acer and tried to follow what's written at 8.1: Flaky secure boot. Unfortunately i cannot modify secure boot mode settings

I want to say that that section may not be relevant to this issue since you don't see UEFI complaining about access violations when booting the USB drive and GRUB does gets launched (you hear the beep), but then again, this is firmware so all bets are off.

when it says "the bootloader as a trusted UEFI file" i thought just to add the USB  as trusted but it let me choose a file in it, so i don't know wich file should I trust. Shellx64.efi? Or BOOTx64.EFI?

It's BOOTx64.EFI—the GRUB EFI binary.

Furthermore, i tried to install ubuntu as well just to see and in that case grub is shown properly, but if i click on "Try/Install" it simply reboot into grub, why so different?

Ubuntu has a different version of GRUB and has custom patches on top of it. It's hard to compare to Arch's GRUB.

How can i verify whether CSM is disabled in UEFI?
Idk how to boot via CSM as well.. :')

Looking online at similar Laptop models, it could be possible that your laptop doesn't support CSM. That's generally not an issue as UEFI booting is preferred anyway. Now to just get it to boot the installation medium...

To sidestep the GRUB issue entirely, you could try the netboot image. You won't be able to use Wi-Fi for installation and will need an Ethernet connection, though.
Download the ipxe-arch.efi file from https://archlinux.org/releng/netboot/ and follow https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Netboo … lash_drive to place it on a USB flash drive.

cervyesterday

Member

Registered: 2022-11-13

Posts: 72

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

Thanks for the reply.
I went to a pc buster shop and ask them what they think about it and it turned out that probably my laptop had a bad compatibility with linux. So i asked for a refund at the shop and i bought a thinkpad instead (that is giving me other issues, so i'll open another topic)
Thanks a lot to all of you for your help (how should i mark this topic now?)

Lone_Wolf

Forum Moderator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 11,989

Re: [ABANDONED]Grub doesn't boot during installation

Maybe [Abandoned] or {Gave Up] ?

---

Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

(A works at time B)  && (time C > time B ) ≠  (A works at time C)