Arch Linux

ChairmanFaust

Member

Registered: 2024-11-27

Posts: 7

[Solved] Arch USB install fails instantly when UEFI is enabled

Last month i was able to get arch to boot and install no problem, the only difference was that i had a windows 11 install already in place and did a dual boot. This time around I've wiped out the whole system and I'm looking to install arch by itself and i cant get it to boot into the install at all. What am I missing? (It works if i used the legacy bios boot)

I've tried both the 12/2024 and 01/2025 boot iso, I've tried going backwards on my ASUS Maximus Hero Z790 firmware, I've tried ISO and DD mode in rufus, I've tried ventoy which boots fine and when i select the arch iso it fails. Its always the same code in red:

../systemd/src/boot/log.c:30@efi_assert: systemd-boot: Assertion 'BS->AllocatePa
ges(type, memory_type, n_pages, &addr) == EFI_SUCCESS' failed at ../systemd/src/
boot/util.h:95@xmalloc_pages, halting.

for reference here is the UEFI Arch menu:

Last edited by ChairmanFaust (2025-01-25 20:21:54)

twelveeighty

Member

From: Alberta, Canada

Registered: 2011-09-04

Posts: 1,219

Re: [Solved] Arch USB install fails instantly when UEFI is enabled

Did you Disable Secure Boot?

What do you mean by "for reference, here is the Arch menu", does that mean you *can* boot the Arch ISO? I'm confused.

ChairmanFaust

Member

Registered: 2024-11-27

Posts: 7

Re: [Solved] Arch USB install fails instantly when UEFI is enabled

yes secure boot is disabled, for this motherboard its set to 'other OS' and 'standard' as per their instructions: https://rog.asus.com/support/faq/1049829/

i put the arch menu in to show that i'm booting the UEFI menu and not the legacy BIOS menu which has a graphical look to it. As soon as i choose the highlighted menu item I get the error.

cryptearth

Member

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 1,223

Re: [Solved] Arch USB install fails instantly when UEFI is enabled

to me this reads you installed arch while in CSM and now it fails when switching to UEFI
well - the error message hints: same as on windows that doesn't seem to work
so if you want to boot arch in UEFI you have to install it in that mode (although there're ways to get a system to boot in several modes without any modification)

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 8,738

Website

Re: [Solved] Arch USB install fails instantly when UEFI is enabled

to me this reads you installed arch while in CSM and now it fails when switching to UEFI

The OP is trying to boot the ISO image rather than an installed system.

@OP: is the USB damaged?

If any other distributions work you can install from their live image instead: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Instal … ting_Linux

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Para todos todo, para nosotros nada

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 13,245

Re: [Solved] Arch USB install fails instantly when UEFI is enabled

There have been reports ventoy is unable to boot archiso recently, so don't use that.

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

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky

ChairmanFaust

Member

Registered: 2024-11-27

Posts: 7

Re: [Solved] Arch USB install fails instantly when UEFI is enabled

@OP: is the USB damaged?

stick is not damaged, tried several different stick but that was my first thought

to me this reads you installed arch while in CSM and now it fails when switching to UEFI
well - the error message hints: same as on windows that doesn't seem to work
so if you want to boot arch in UEFI you have to install it in that mode (although there're ways to get a system to boot in several modes without any modification)

this was the answer... apparently I need to have CSM mode enabled in order to boot arch in UEFI mode (past the initial menu screen) Windows has no such limitation. Once in CSM mode there is an option to do UEFI only, legacy only or both, you need both for boot devices for it to work.

There have been reports ventoy is unable to boot archiso recently, so don't use that.

I had a lot of problems with ventoy for some reason, ended up using rufus in GPT / UEFI (non-csm) mode and ISO to create the stick, that worked once CSM was enabled in the BIOS.

ChairmanFaust

Member

Registered: 2024-11-27

Posts: 7

Re: [Solved] Arch USB install fails instantly when UEFI is enabled

back to my original problem again, honestly this is baffling

reflash of current bios, modified settings back to where they were working yesterday and i can once again boot arch in UEFI. At this point I'm under the impression that its the way UEFI is implemented on the board. Its just surprising since its a premium board. It seems to have a lot of problems with displaying the bios entry screen and will frequently hang there instead of booting anything. These problems seemed to have cropped up after the last few bios updates to address the gen 13 and 14 Intel power bug.

Last edited by ChairmanFaust (2025-01-20 20:14:55)