Arch Linux

Jmvars

Member

Registered: 2023-11-05

Posts: 6

Arch BIOS entry disappeared and unable to boot into live installation

I was booted into Windows but when I tried to reboot into Arch the BIOS entry suddenly wasn't there. I created a completely fresh installation medium from the latest ISO and planned to chroot into Arch via a USB installation medium to see if I could fix it but I can't even get into that. I sat on this part for 10 minutes before giving up. I know that sdb is the drive my Arch is on so it seems like Arch somehow got corrupted while I was in Windows, or during boot.

I can't seem to find a way to repair it on Windows, and I can't get into it via the installation medium. I'm not opposed to completely wiping the drive but I would strongly prefer not to as 90% of my time was spent in Arch.

In case it matters: I have two identical 2TB SATA SSD's, one contains Windows, the other Arch. They are two physical drives.
I've been using this setup for 5 months with no issue, dualbooting back and forth.

mpan

Member

Registered: 2012-08-01

Posts: 1,210

Website

Re: Arch BIOS entry disappeared and unable to boot into live installation

Seems like the data on the SSD is damaged. You may try ensuring the SATA cable is still firmly attached on both ends, but I doubt it is the case here: I believe the error comes from the SSD itself failing to read data.

You may check SMART data to get more confidence:

smartctl -A /dev/sdb

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Sometimes I seem a bit harsh — don’t get offended too easily!

Jmvars

Member

Registered: 2023-11-05

Posts: 6

Re: Arch BIOS entry disappeared and unable to boot into live installation

Seems like the data on the SSD is damaged. You may try ensuring the SATA cable is still firmly attached on both ends, but I doubt it is the case here: I believe the error comes from the SSD itself failing to read data.

You may check SMART data to get more confidence:

smartctl -A /dev/sdb

How do I do that when I can't access my Arch install or the Arch installation medium?

Last edited by Jmvars (2024-04-13 15:59:44)

mpan

Member

Registered: 2012-08-01

Posts: 1,210

Website

Re: Arch BIOS entry disappeared and unable to boot into live installation

In the first post you mentioned you have the Arch ISO. So why can’t you use it?

Note that smartctl doesn’t read the contents of the storage medium. It accesses device’s SMART data.

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Sometimes I seem a bit harsh — don’t get offended too easily!

Jmvars

Member

Registered: 2023-11-05

Posts: 6

Re: Arch BIOS entry disappeared and unable to boot into live installation

In the first post you mentioned you have the Arch ISO. So why can’t you use it?

Note that smartctl doesn’t read the contents of the storage medium. It accesses device’s SMART data.

I also linked an image showing the errors I get when trying to boot into the installation medium. I don't even get to do any inputs and eventually it will seemingly freeze and I have to hard reset my PC.

mpan

Member

Registered: 2012-08-01

Posts: 1,210

Website

Re: Arch BIOS entry disappeared and unable to boot into live installation

I understood these errors are when you try to read the SSD.

If these are from Live ISO, perhaps the flash stick on which it is placed is broken? Try reading it on another computer or putting Live ISO on another flash stick.

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Sometimes I seem a bit harsh — don’t get offended too easily!

Jmvars

Member

Registered: 2023-11-05

Posts: 6

Re: Arch BIOS entry disappeared and unable to boot into live installation

I understood these errors are when you try to read the SSD.

If these are from Live ISO, perhaps the flash stick on which it is placed is broken? Try reading it on another computer or putting Live ISO on another flash stick.

Flash stick works fine on my laptop, no errors and I get to give inputs.

At this point the installation medium is besides the point, something has gone wrong on the drive that Arch is installed on to the extent the BIOS entry is gone and the live installation somehow detects those errors on that drive and refuses to boot. I have no way of getting into that drive to fix it and frankly I don't even know if the drive mysteriously died or is just corrupted. Windows detects all partitions on the disk and says they are all okay, but I don't know if I can trust it.

I now successfully mounted the EFI and main partition using Windows Subsystem for Linux and can browse both with no issues but I have yet to find a way to check the drive for errors. Assuming I could run something like fsck and it should scan and fix any potential issues but I have to do that within Windows.

Last edited by Jmvars (2024-04-14 05:24:44)

Jmvars

Member

Registered: 2023-11-05

Posts: 6

Re: Arch BIOS entry disappeared and unable to boot into live installation

I managed to get into the install via rEFInd but it would not load, I got tossed into rootfs saying the drive is corrupted. I tried to fsck it but it didn't work, it's looking like the drive is completely dead because even Windows doesn't see it as active anymore. I'll still have to check the connections on the drive and eventually try it on another free SATA slot, possibly another PC. It's only 5 months old so it should be under warranty, I'll have to look and see it replaced if it is indeed dead.

I guess this is solved for now, nothing I can do on the software side anymore.