[SOLVED] external USB HDD fails to install arch w/boot device ERROR

fnord0 · 2010-03-11 22:58:53

I've been working on installing arch linux via an external USB harddrive (specifically seagate free agent go 320GB) for 1 week now, and everytime I failed - until TODAY! thankfully I found this post, where user Dieter@be references this link, which displays BUG ID#17231 at the top titled "Can't boot LiveCDs 2009.08 (/dev/archiso doesn't show up)". the bug report states ::

I can't boot the LiveCDs 2009.08, neither netinstall nor core.
When it tries to access /dev/archiso it shows these messages:
:: Waiting for boot device ...
Waiting 30 seconds for device /dev/archiso ...
ERROR: boot device didn't show up after 30 seconds ...
Falling back to interactive prompt
You can try to fix the problem manually, logout when you are finished
ramfs$
........

reading further thru this bug report, I found a very insightful post by Heiko Baums (cyberpatrol) where he says the following, and I quote ::

Problem found. The link /dev/archiso wasn't created.
After
ramfs$ cd /dev
ramfs$ ln -s sr0 archiso
ramfs$ exit
it continued booting correctly.
And sg was also loaded after this. ;-)

as you see, the bug report was for the CD version, not the USB version - yet, my issue with the USB bootdisk was the same, (no matter which boot disk I tried = netinstall, core, .img, .iso, etc) meaning I got the EXACT same error = "ERROR: boot device didn't show up after 30 seconds ..." ! well, I figured that I'd try one of the new fancy ISOs found @ http://build.archlinux.org/isos/ - specifically I use/used archlinux-2010.03.04-netinstall-x86_64.iso.

upon running Unetbootin from windows 7, and choose to install the ISO archlinux-2010.03.04-netinstall-x86_64.iso to my first partition on my USB harddrive (that first partition being FAT32, and had already been set as bootable previously), that completed successfully. I rebooted, and choose to boot from USB drive, the ISOlinux bootloader came up as normal, I choose DEFAULT and off it went.... sure enough, it errored out at the same place as listed in the bug report ::

:: Waiting for boot device ...
Waiting 30 seconds for device /dev/archiso ...
ERROR: boot device didn't show up after 30 seconds ...
Falling back to interactive prompt
You can try to fix the problem manually, logout when you are finished
ramfs$
........

this time though, I issued the following 2 commands ::

ln -s /dev/sdb1 /dev/archiso
exit

from there, EVERYTHING worked as it should!

to recap: the solution for me was create a symbolic link pointing /dev/archiso => to my partition which held the archlinux netinstall (which is where I told Unetbootin to install it to)! done and done. I felt this needed to be posted here, as I could not find this solution after MANY google searches, archlinux wiki searches, forum searches, etc. honestly, I think it would be prudent to have this tidbit of information added to the Install from USB stick archwiki page as a side note to those that may run into this issue.

this is not the FIRST time I have run into this problem with a USB install of archlinux, but this is the FIRST time I found a fix! thanks to all the great posts I reference here, without this information I dont think I would have been able to install archlinux on my new alienware m11x laptop.

-peace-

PS: no amount of rootdelay=XX nor pmedia=usb nor usbdelay=XX would work in my above attempts either.

Last edited by fnord0 (2010-03-12 04:54:26)

bowbalitic · 2010-04-07 01:10:01

This didn't work for me. But I finally found an answer that helped me. Just posting this in case the above suggestion didn't help.

Make sure you use the live CD option, the default option doesn't work (at least for me)

ramfs$ ln -sf /dev/sd[x] /dev/archiso
ramfs$ mount -t vfat /dev/archiso /bootmnt (this is for fat32)
ramfs$ exit

I got the answer from http://hi.baidu.com/%D3%CE%C7%E5%B0%B2/ … 8203e.html

Last edited by bowbalitic (2010-04-18 19:38:04)

DSpider · 2010-04-07 07:43:31

You think it'll work for FAT too ? Perhaps with a mount -t fat /dev/archiso /bootmnt command ?

I'm asking because the USB stick will be also used to install Windows XP (and it installs very slow on FAT32, at least for me).

bowbalitic · 2010-04-07 13:44:40

Ok, I reformatted my usb and tried it out.

vfat works for both fat16 and fat32

Hope this helps. (unless you already found it out for your self by now )

[EDIT]

Ok, reinstalling again, the last install was my first of arch; and I ended up following to many wikis suggesting outdated/inefficient programs and obsolete information. So I'm reinstalling for a "cleaner" system.

But anyway, I am using Unetbootin, and I had trouble mounting the /archiso in the default boot mode. So for anyone using Unetbootin, I would use the "live cd" option that works for your hd.

Last edited by bowbalitic (2010-04-13 23:00:01)

DSpider · 2010-04-16 19:55:02

FAT16 here. Parted Magic sees my USB drive as sdd. I tried your way and surprise, surprise, it didn't work.

ln -sf /dev/sdd /dev/archiso
mount -t vfat /dev/archiso /bootmnt
mount : Invalid argument

I thought maybe you meant mount -f vfat /dev/archiso /bootmnt instead. I tried it too, it resulted in a kernel panic.

What else can I try besides installing from a IDE/SATA CD drive ? Because this issue is NOT solved. At least not for me. Wonder if "archlinux-2010.04.05-netinstall-i686.iso" from the here will solve it (really hope so).

SOLVED IT HERE (with yet another image): http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=93645

Last edited by DSpider (2010-04-17 14:21:27)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-03-11 22:58:53

[SOLVED] external USB HDD fails to install arch w/boot device ERROR

#2 2010-04-07 01:10:01

Re: [SOLVED] external USB HDD fails to install arch w/boot device ERROR

#3 2010-04-07 07:43:31

Re: [SOLVED] external USB HDD fails to install arch w/boot device ERROR

#4 2010-04-07 13:44:40

Re: [SOLVED] external USB HDD fails to install arch w/boot device ERROR

#5 2010-04-16 19:55:02

Re: [SOLVED] external USB HDD fails to install arch w/boot device ERROR

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