Arch Linux

yamcake3821

Member

Registered: 2024-10-25

Posts: 16

Old Laptop can't install Arch

My old laptop can't install Arch for several reasons:

-when I try to boot with UEFI instead of Legacy, it doesn't show my usb but "Network Boot"

-A few years ago, I tried to install Pop_OS! in this laptop but I forgot my cryptdata password, so I want to erase my entire disk.

-If I boot with Legacy, GRUB just hijacks the entire thing, and doesn't show my usb as well (also doesn't show the "UEFI firmware settings" option)

-fwsetup command not found

-reboot --firmware-setup also doesn't work

(Almost) All of the errors I encountered(I can't remember them all):

grub> set root=(hd1)
grub> chainloader /EFI/BOOT/BOOTx64.EFI
error: invalid signature

**Secure boot is turned off and I use legacy mode

grub> set root=(hd1,msdos1)
grub> linux /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper
Error: file not found
grub> boot
Error: you need to load the kernel first

(Or something like that, I forgot)

Please help me now, I literally have to remove the CMOS battery and then plug it in every single time just to get into BIOS.

I'm really desperate rn as I worked from yesterday til today, if you guys could help me I would really appreciate it.

Laptop name: Dell Vostro 5460 (Core-i3)
Grub version: 2.06

If there's info that I should give then please tell me to do so! Thanks!

Last edited by yamcake3821 (2025-05-05 11:10:16)

ntb314

Member

Registered: 2025-02-13

Posts: 16

Re: Old Laptop can't install Arch

Hey,
I’m not super experienced, but I ran into some similar problems with an old laptop, so maybe some ideas of this can help.

About the UEFI not showing the USB, some older laptops can be picky about how the USB installer is made. In the past I found that using Rufus (if you have access to Windows) to format the USB stick before writing the Arch ISO sometimes helps a lot. Try formatting it as MBR (not GPT) and with the “UEFI (non-CSM)” option disabled. Then write the ISO again and see if it shows up in UEFI boot. If you don’t have Windows, maybe try recreating the USB with dd or a different tool just in case.

As for Legacy boot and GRUB hijacking the bootloader — it could be that leftover boot files or old GRUB installations on the disk are causing trouble. If you can, boot into a live USB (like GParted Live or another Linux live environment, e.g. Ubuntu or so) and wipe the disk completely by deleting all partitions. That might help clean out anything confusing the system.

The fwsetup command not working makes sense if you’re in Legacy mode since it’s usually part of UEFI. Resetting BIOS settings to default and switching back to UEFI-only boot might help too, but I get how annoying that is when you have to remove the CMOS battery every time!

Sorry if this isn’t super clear, and I hope it points you in the right direction at least. Hang in there, I know it can be really frustrating, but you’ll get there eventually!

Cheers & Good luck!

foobarDestroyer

Member

Registered: 2025-07-08

Posts: 9

Re: Old Laptop can't install Arch

- https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/USB_fl … ion_medium

I would suggest using dd; try ensuring everything is configured for BIOS/Legacy/UEFI/MBR settings and if that fails try EFI/GPT.

MBR/GPT refer to static data on the harddrive; partition layouts; not the motherboard
BIOS/EFI refer to the motherboard's systems and not the harddrive nor partitions on the harddrive (static data).