[Solved] Syslinux + GPT on SSD

kemoryan · 2012-08-15 16:49:15

Hello all,

I've been trying to install arch for the past 3 days without success. I have a thinkpad x230 with an M4 SSD on which I want to install the configuration stated in the title. I've managed to install Windows and LMDE on this disk in less than 30 min. But I don't want these.

So the steps I take are:

- Use gdisk to create the GUID partition. 'o' option, then two 'n' options to create the /boot (sdc1) - around 100mb-, and / (sdc2) -around 118GB- partitions. Both as Linux Filesystem.

- Format them with the ext4 filesystem.

- Mount sdc2 on /mnt and sdc1 on /mnt/boot

-Install the base base-devel filesystem.

- Generate fstab.

- Arch-chroot.

- Create an initial ramdisk environment (I skip all the language, locale and network config for now).

- pacman S syslinux. And edit the config file.

- sgdisk /dev/sdc1 --attributes=1:set:2 *here is where I think it fails

- dd bs=440 conv=notrunc count=1 if=/usr/lib/syslinux/gptmbr.bin of=/dev/sdc1

And then I reboot, and it won't boot syslinux at all. No idea what am I missing...

Edit: forgot to mention. The BIOS works both as UEFI or Legacy. THe first two days I tried the UEFI route without success, now I'm trying the normal BIOS option since it seems simpler.

Last edited by kemoryan (2012-08-16 01:13:01)

DSpider · 2012-08-15 17:14:54

Welcome to the forum.

...
dd bs=440 conv=notrunc count=1 if=/usr/lib/syslinux/gptmbr.bin of=/dev/sdc1

Don't do that. Don't write the MBR to a partition.

Use /dev/sdc, not /dev/sdc1. You don't see "sdx1" here, do you?

Also: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GP … er_Support

If you suspect that the boot flag isn't set correctly, you can set it using GParted, from Parted Magic, GParted Live, an Ubuntu LiveCD, etc. Just right click the partition, "Manage Flags" and check the "legacy_boot" checkbox.

PS: Don't forget to mark it as solved (by editing the first post).

DSpider · 2012-08-15 17:23:35

Also, make sure that the drive (the SSD?) is the first to boot in the BIOS (or is it the UEFI menu?).

Edit: I have Arch installed on /dev/sdb here, and there are no issues with Syslinux. If you can't find any options for specifying the boot order, then I'm pretty sure that you can get around this by opening up the computer and using the first SATA cable for this drive, so that /dev/sdc becomes /dev/sda.

Last edited by DSpider (2012-08-15 17:35:59)

kemoryan · 2012-08-15 17:24:31

Thanks for your input.

So I should use sdc and not sdc1 for the sgdisk commands as well?

DSpider wrote:

Welcome to the forum.
...
dd bs=440 conv=notrunc count=1 if=/usr/lib/syslinux/gptmbr.bin of=/dev/sdc1
Don't do that. Don't write the MBR to a partition.
Use /dev/sdc, not /dev/sdc1. You don't see "sdx1" here, do you?

Also: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GP … er_Support
If you suspect that the boot flag isn't set correctly, you can set it using GParted, from Parted Magic, GParted Live, an Ubuntu LiveCD, etc. Just right click the partition, "Manage Flags" and check the "legacy_boot" checkbox.

PS: Don't forget to mark it as solved (by editing the first post).

kemoryan · 2012-08-15 17:29:20

Ahh this was also an issue I thought about (my SSD sometimes was sdc or sdb). I will change the boot order, thanks!

DSpider wrote:

Also, make sure that the drive (the SSD?) is the first to boot in the BIOS (or is the UEFI menu?).
Edit: I have Arch installed on /dev/sdb here, and there are no issues with Syslinux. If you can't find any options for specifying the boot order, then I'm pretty sure that you can get around this by opening up the computer and using the first SATA cable for this drive, so that /dev/sdc becomes /dev/sda.

DSpider · 2012-08-15 17:35:44

So I should use sdc and not sdc1 for the sgdisk commands as well?

Yes. There's no "sdx1" for it either.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … le_aka_GPT

my SSD sometimes was sdc or sdb

That's probably because the USB stick was /dev/sda. This is normal behaviour from what I can tell.

kemoryan · 2012-08-15 17:37:24

Wouldn't that mess up with the syslinux.config pointing to my arch? That is, in case I boot arch while having a USB drive connected with the /dev/sda label assigned?

DSpider wrote:

So I should use sdc and not sdc1 for the sgdisk commands as well?
Yes. There's no "sdx1" for it either.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … le_aka_GPT

my SSD sometimes was sdc or sdb
That's probably because the USB stick was /dev/sda. This is normal behaviour from what I can tell.

DSpider · 2012-08-15 17:44:54

That's what UUIDs are for.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … sic_Config

$ sudo blkid

LABEL arch
        MENU LABEL Arch Linux
        LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
        APPEND root=UUID=978e3e81-8048-4ae1-8a06-aa727458e8ff ro
        INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img

Last edited by DSpider (2012-08-15 17:45:04)

kemoryan · 2012-08-15 18:02:30

I did it correctly this time (using sdb and not sdb1, etc.), and still no luck when booting even though it seems to set the flag well now. Then ran a live lmde usb to use gparted. The "boot" flag (I don't see any "legacy_boot" flag) on sdb1 was not set (I read somewhere that GPT doesn't need it, but I might be wrong) , so I set the flag active, reboot, and still syslinux is not booting, ugh. I must have missed out some really obvious thing... thanks for being patient!

DSpider · 2012-08-15 18:37:12

So the SSD is now in the first SATA slot? Great. Then it will show up as "/dev/sdb" from a LiveUSB and as "/dev/sda" when you're booting from the drive. Ok, so the boot flag and the MBR boot code are set. What about the files? Were they ever installed? Because I don't see any indication of it in the initial post. Maybe you just forgot. Pop in the Arch install media and run:

# mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt
# mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/boot
# arch-chroot /mnt
# mkdir /boot/syslinux
# extlinux --install /boot/syslinux

This is congruent with the manual install, btw. Basically: files, legacy_boot flag and gptmbr.bin.

Screenshot from Parted Magic 2012.05.30:

If you're booting with BIOS compatibility you should definitely use this flag.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GP … er_Support

Syslinux requires the /boot partition to be marked as "Legacy BIOS Bootable" GPT attribute (legacy_boot flag in GNU Parted) to identify the partition containing the syslinux boot files by its MBR boot code gptmbr.bin.

kemoryan · 2012-08-16 01:17:52

I finally got it working!

While I still didn't see the legacy_boot in my gparted version, I decided to try the automatic syslinux install again (which failed everytime until I stopped trying it). With the fixes mentioned by DSpider it worked this time and I've been able to boot syslinux and thus arch as well

I would have really given up had it not been for the excellent help I got here (also, being a computer scientist and not being able to install a linux distribution was hurting my pride). Again, thanks to everyone!

Last edited by kemoryan (2012-08-16 01:18:26)

Arch Linux

#1 2012-08-15 16:49:15

[Solved] Syslinux + GPT on SSD

#2 2012-08-15 17:14:54

Re: [Solved] Syslinux + GPT on SSD

#3 2012-08-15 17:23:35

Re: [Solved] Syslinux + GPT on SSD

#4 2012-08-15 17:24:31

Re: [Solved] Syslinux + GPT on SSD

#5 2012-08-15 17:29:20

Re: [Solved] Syslinux + GPT on SSD

#6 2012-08-15 17:35:44

Re: [Solved] Syslinux + GPT on SSD

#7 2012-08-15 17:37:24

Re: [Solved] Syslinux + GPT on SSD

#8 2012-08-15 17:44:54

Re: [Solved] Syslinux + GPT on SSD

#9 2012-08-15 18:02:30

Re: [Solved] Syslinux + GPT on SSD

#10 2012-08-15 18:37:12

Re: [Solved] Syslinux + GPT on SSD

#11 2012-08-16 01:17:52

Re: [Solved] Syslinux + GPT on SSD

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