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#1 2011-10-23 11:20:08

esc
Member
Registered: 2011-10-23
Posts: 8

Major concerns about Arch + T420s (UEFI)

Hey folks,

I got a couple of weeks ago my new T420s. Before this I used LMDE for a couple of months already. I tried to install LMDE on that machine, but never suceeded. After installation, I couldnt boot the system, it was stuck at the bootscreen of EFI, where you can choose which device to boot.
Then after a lot of tires (with, without legacy mode etc), I installed 11.10 beta, which worked booted flawlessly. It detected and even created the UEFI partition automatically.

And yes, Iam currently using Ubuntu 11.10. But I have to admit, that Iam not really happy with it. Iam looking more for a slim and rolling distribution like Arch. I know, that you cant compare the installation process to Ubuntu. But I would like to ask, if somebody has any experience with the whole installation progress.

Iam not the advanced user of Linux. So the whole issue with UEFI, grub2 looks very unfamiliar and complicated to me.
Does somebody has some step by step instruction, how to setup the machine with the T420s and Arch?

I looked up your wikis. There I was told, that you have first to install everything, then to boot somehow with a live cd/usb, and then over "chroot" or so to install all the needed packages and so on. But it looks almost impossible, to do so.

Has anybody any experiences?

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#2 2011-10-23 12:36:42

the.ridikulus.rat
Member
From: Indiana, USA
Registered: 2011-10-04
Posts: 765

Re: Major concerns about Arch + T420s (UEFI)

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#3 2011-10-23 12:40:28

esc
Member
Registered: 2011-10-23
Posts: 8

Re: Major concerns about Arch + T420s (UEFI)

thanks. Will it work "out of the box"? (according to "Arch-OOTB") My main concern is not the configuration of Arch (the Wiki is perfect for that), just the boot procedure.

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#4 2011-10-26 03:39:59

spoked
Member
Registered: 2011-09-03
Posts: 30

Re: Major concerns about Arch + T420s (UEFI)

Welcome to the boards esc!

I have the exact same machine as you and I can testify it is totally possible to install arch and boot with UEFI. It doesn't exactly work out of the box, so you have to be willing to get your hands dirty. With the command line that is wink

Make you fully grasp the concept of UEFI, how it differs from BIOS, before you start, it is easy to get lost along the way. Knowing what it is your dealing with helps alot to assimilate all the different steps. Here are a couple of pointers to get you started.

This thread discusses issues with UEFI: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=111327

Get the archboot installer (from the Annoucements forum thread, or the wiki page). This is what i found to boot UEFI "out of the box". This is the first thing I did wrong multiple times, the installer itself has to be booted with UEFI to be able to complete the grub-efi install at the end of the process. With Debian (and LMDE), i think you would have to make a custom installer with grub-efi and efi added to it. Ubuntu does this, but not Debian, if I am correct.

To create an archboot USB read this: https://gitorious.org/tianocore_uefi_du … I_boot_USB
You can simply put archboot on it and not the other OS, it will still work.

Afterwards, this is your bible: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB2#UEFI_systems
For full explanation of the efi configuration process. Little precision there, at the end, I copied the generated grub.cfg from /boot/grub to /boot/efi/efi/grub because that is the base path for grub-efi.

I hope this helps, let us know how it goes.

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#5 2011-10-26 15:52:04

esc
Member
Registered: 2011-10-23
Posts: 8

Re: Major concerns about Arch + T420s (UEFI)

Thank you. I will try my best this coming weekend. Is it enough to have the EFI on "both" mode or did you switch it to "EFI only mode" in the settings? I installed Ubuntu on "both" mode. It made also a GPT Partition for UEFI and so on. When I tried to boot the USB Installer disk with the "EFI only" mode, I could not boot from the USB Disk.

But I will try the same procedure then with archboot.

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#6 2011-10-26 16:31:51

spoked
Member
Registered: 2011-09-03
Posts: 30

Re: Major concerns about Arch + T420s (UEFI)

You can set it to "both" as long as it is "UEFI first" in the following option. You can also choose "UEFI only" to be extra sure your booting the USB installer with EFI, it will revert to BIOS in "both" mode if the installer wasn't properly installed on the USB disk for EFI.

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#7 2011-10-26 21:29:22

esc
Member
Registered: 2011-10-23
Posts: 8

Re: Major concerns about Arch + T420s (UEFI)

Just to summarize:

1) Boot archboot from USB (I just tried it, it works..created it with unetbootin)
2) Follow https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB2#UEFI_systems

Regarding 2: I just have to do the following steps, not everything above? But after completing the install of Archlinux from USB, Iam still located on my usb-system. Do I have to do chroot or something like that?

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#8 2011-10-28 02:50:35

spoked
Member
Registered: 2011-09-03
Posts: 30

Re: Major concerns about Arch + T420s (UEFI)

Exactly, you must chroot to your installation to complete the grub-efi install from your new system.

Before doing chroot, make sure you have an internet connection or have previously acquired package grub-efi-*architecture*.
Also, you should mount -o bind the following: /dev /proc and /sys to the chroot of your install
and modprobe dm-mod

Then, chroot to your install, pacman -S grub-efi-x86_64, do all the configuration. At this point, modprobe efivars should not give an error message if you have done it correctly. You'll then be able to run the efibootmgr tool which allows you to assign the created grub-efi binary to your system's UEFI.

Last edited by spoked (2011-10-28 02:55:45)

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#9 2011-10-28 16:28:54

esc
Member
Registered: 2011-10-23
Posts: 8

Re: Major concerns about Arch + T420s (UEFI)

Thanks for your reply.
How do I chroot /proc and sys?

The wiki tells me, how to chroot /dev
"    From the installer's live shell, chroot to the installed system:

# mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev
# chroot /mnt bash
"

So do I have to do for /proc for example:

#mount -o bind /proc /mnt/proc
#chroot /mnt bash

?

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#10 2011-10-29 19:11:12

spoked
Member
Registered: 2011-09-03
Posts: 30

Re: Major concerns about Arch + T420s (UEFI)

esc wrote:

Thanks for your reply.
How do I chroot /proc and sys?

The wiki tells me, how to chroot /dev
"    From the installer's live shell, chroot to the installed system:

# mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev
# chroot /mnt bash
"

So do I have to do for /proc for example:

#mount -o bind /proc /mnt/proc
#chroot /mnt bash

?


Yes, mount /dev /proc and /sys seperately exactly like you wrote above.

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#11 2011-12-15 14:09:34

esc
Member
Registered: 2011-10-23
Posts: 8

Re: Major concerns about Arch + T420s (UEFI)

In the mean time archboot r7, does everything automatically! Amazing! smile

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