efibootmgr's entries crash instantly - mistake in Beginner's Guide?

lastchancetosee · 2012-10-20 16:28:07

Hi,
after installing Arch on my Laptop (first time using the non-aif method - I much prefer it, thanks guys!) I had some problems with the entries created by efibootmgr, i.e. them crashing instantly on me (screen would turn black, then return to the UEFI boot menu). After some experimentation it turned out that using single '\' (as per "UEFI Bootloaders"-page) instead of double '\\' (as per Beginner's Guide) in the efibootmgr-command fixes this issue. Is this something others experience as well or is it unique to my setup (or just a problem between keyboard and chair)?

I'm on a Lenovo X121e, using UEFI/GPT with a 512MB FAT16 EFI partition (FAT32 has the same problem). Installation as per Beginner's Guide, except for the single backslashes.

Now, to OT my own topic: Additionally, rEFInd seems to misparse refind_linux.conf, because the submenus are empty (not even "Return to main" or similar) although I created multiple boot options. Also, OS descriptions are weird ("Boot EFI\arch\vmlinuz-arch.efi from". Aren't those supposed to be "... from <somewhere>"?).

WonderWoofy · 2012-10-20 21:38:34

Yes, it is a mistake, I changed it. You only need double backslashes if you don't have the quotes around it, as the first backslash is the escape for the second. I thought I remembered changing this on the beginners guide before... but maybe I did it on the UEFI Bootloaders page and forgot the other... I swear I am losing it more and more everyday.

89c51 · 2012-10-21 10:04:26

Slightly off topic but may i ask what changed and double \ is not required anymore? Last time i had to create a boot entry i did it with double \

# echo "root=/dev/sdaX ro rootfstype=ext4 add_efi_memmap initrd=\EFI\\arch\initramfs-arch.img" | iconv -f ascii -t ucs2 | efibootmgr -c -g -d /dev/sda -p 1 -L "Archlinux (EFISTUB)" -l "\EFI\arch\vmlinuz-arch.efi" -@ -

Also is the \\ correct in the initrd sections (this is from uefi bootloaders)

lastchancetosee · 2012-10-21 11:55:07

I guess that's what WonderWoofy meant about the quotes: If you have them you don't need double \\
So both

efibootmgr -l '\EFI\arch\vmlinuz-arch.efi'

and

efibootmgr -l \\EFI\\arch\\vmlinuz-arch.efi

should work. Not sure what would happen with double quotes.

Thanks @WonderWoofy, I would have changed it myself but wasn't sure if it really was a mistake.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-10-20 16:28:07

efibootmgr's entries crash instantly - mistake in Beginner's Guide?

#2 2012-10-20 21:38:34

Re: efibootmgr's entries crash instantly - mistake in Beginner's Guide?

#3 2012-10-21 10:04:26

Re: efibootmgr's entries crash instantly - mistake in Beginner's Guide?

#4 2012-10-21 11:55:07

Re: efibootmgr's entries crash instantly - mistake in Beginner's Guide?

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