You are not logged in.

#1 2013-01-07 11:45:23

BelgiumArcher
Member
Registered: 2010-07-12
Posts: 17

[SOLVED] impossible to boot (UEFI-grub2) after update

Hi,

problem : after update my computer refuses to boot. It doesn't get to the grub2 (actually 1.99) menu, it just says : no boot device found.

My hardware : Asus M8Z77-V LX motherboard with 1 SSD.
In the bios I disabled the bios legacy option to force it to boot with UEFI.

As I hadn't moved to systemd yet, I waited to update a while(2 months).
Last week I updated several pacakges by hand (kernel, vlc, ...) : All updates that according to me didn't involve with systemd.
Then I rebooted and ... problem.

I have tried a whole weekend to solve it by browsing through the wiki's but to no avail.

I can boot with live-cd and access my SSD. All data is there. I can also chroot and do stuff.

The SSD is partitionned in GPT as follows :
sda1 : 1 gb fat 32
sda2 : 20 gb ext4 root
sda3 : 20 gb ext4 var
sda4 : 79 gb ext4 home

I did not do any update of my bios or changed anything on my hardware.
It seems that my bios does not see my SSD as UEFI-bootable device anymore.

When I installed Arch in June on my brand new computer I made a backup with redobackup (partclone) of a working installation.
As a final ressort I put back the image I created then.
But it doesn't work either!

Then I updated my bios but same problem.
My bios can see the fat 32 partition. I know this because to update the bios it looks for attached fat 32 storage and there is shows the partition .

I there anywone who can point me in a good direction?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Last edited by BelgiumArcher (2013-01-08 16:20:43)

Offline

#2 2013-01-07 12:45:32

mariusmeyer
Member
From: Norway
Registered: 2009-04-25
Posts: 244

Re: [SOLVED] impossible to boot (UEFI-grub2) after update

I'm sorry I can't help you fix the problem, because I don't have any experience with (U)EFI. However, you state:

BelgiumArcher wrote:

Last week I updated several pacakges by hand (kernel, vlc, ...) : All updates that according to me didn't involve with systemd.

Partial upgrades are not supported. According to you they may not have anything to do with systemd, but how do you know that?

Anyways, best of luck with solving the problem smile

Offline

#3 2013-01-07 13:06:43

BelgiumArcher
Member
Registered: 2010-07-12
Posts: 17

Re: [SOLVED] impossible to boot (UEFI-grub2) after update

Hi,

I did not know if they had anything to do with systemd, I just thought so.
I shoudn't have done a partial upgrade, sorry!
That's why I put my system back into it's original state with my backup-image.
When that didn't work, I asked help in this forum.

I hope somebody else could help me.

Offline

#4 2013-01-07 13:10:17

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,422
Website

Re: [SOLVED] impossible to boot (UEFI-grub2) after update

No amount of installing or restoring things on your root partition will have any effect on it not detecting grub.  You need to reinstall grub to the block device.  I don't use eufi, but it's be the steps equivalent to installing your bootloader coad to the mbr for mbr systems.


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

Offline

#5 2013-01-07 13:29:30

BelgiumArcher
Member
Registered: 2010-07-12
Posts: 17

Re: [SOLVED] impossible to boot (UEFI-grub2) after update

Hi,

I placed an complete image back onto my SSD. So all 4 partitions.
The SSD should be bit-for-bit identical to what is was when everything worked fine.
Or do I miss something?
And you need to boot with EFI in order to be able to reinstall grub to the EFI-partition.
And booting with EFI (even with live-cd) does not work.

Last edited by BelgiumArcher (2013-01-07 13:31:07)

Offline

#6 2013-01-07 13:39:07

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,422
Website

Re: [SOLVED] impossible to boot (UEFI-grub2) after update

If you can't boot the live cd, then this is definitely not a problem with your installation - it must be a bios issue.  But in your first post you said you *could* boot the live cd.

Last edited by Trilby (2013-01-07 13:40:04)


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

Offline

#7 2013-01-07 13:47:23

BelgiumArcher
Member
Registered: 2010-07-12
Posts: 17

Re: [SOLVED] impossible to boot (UEFI-grub2) after update

It does boot in live-cd when I enable "legacy and efi" in bios.
When I chose "only EFI" it does not.
so the live-cd boots through legacy.
But the point is : the booting-problem occured 1 minute after I did those (unfortunate) partial upgrades.
Can you have that much coincidance that my bios fails after an update?
Can a bios be broken even if you can update that bios without problem?

Last edited by BelgiumArcher (2013-01-07 13:48:53)

Offline

#8 2013-01-07 13:58:26

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,422
Website

Re: [SOLVED] impossible to boot (UEFI-grub2) after update

I can't be confident of much if the information keeps changing.  You don't need to boot in uefi mode to (re)install the boot loader.  If this were the case no one could ever install a uefi set up in the first place.


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

Offline

#9 2013-01-07 14:42:16

BelgiumArcher
Member
Registered: 2010-07-12
Posts: 17

Re: [SOLVED] impossible to boot (UEFI-grub2) after update

I am sorry if I lost your confidence. I can't find any contradictory info in my post.

The Arch Wiki-Grub 2 says that you need to boot in UEFI before you can (re)install grub2.
As my live-cd won't boot in UEFI mode, the only option is that I make a live-usb stick and see if that one will boot in UEFI.

But in the end it is still strange that a software update breaks my Asus UEFI-boot.
I just found another unlucky guy with a simular problem. I'll try his solution tonight.
http://superuser.com/questions/372962/w … ot-manager
http://superuser.com/questions/376470/h … -grub2-efi
I will try the live-usb method and report on it later.

Offline

#10 2013-01-07 15:07:32

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,422
Website

Re: [SOLVED] impossible to boot (UEFI-grub2) after update

No, I was just confused.  This may be because I've never used uefi - but people with uefi hardware have to start somewhere in the installation process.  If one can't install a uefi system until they have a uefi system ... well I doubt there would be wiki pages devoted to a topic that is impossible because of a catch22 so I've concluded that one must be able to isntall a uefi system from a live media.

My main(/only) point is that if the boot loader menu never shows up then the problem is not in installed packages: it is either in the bios, or the boot loader itself.  The latter is much more likely, and in an MBR/bios system, the fix would be to reinstall the bootloader to the mbr - so I think what is needed is the equivalent step for uefi.

Last edited by Trilby (2013-01-07 15:08:15)


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

Offline

#11 2013-01-07 17:57:45

bgc1954
Member
From: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Registered: 2006-03-14
Posts: 1,160

Re: [SOLVED] impossible to boot (UEFI-grub2) after update

I can only echo what others have said--partial upgrade not a good idea--and you need to reinstall grub.  I myself do not use uefi and hope it can stay that way for some time as it seems it is not as straightforward as the old mbr method.  All the steps appear in various wikis but you have to do alot of reading to get the steps right.   If you want to use someone elses guide then at leat use something like: http://www.alaux.net/index.php?article3 … hat-s-good --this is at least an arch linux guide and not an ubuntu one.  There are many, many posts with a simple google search so you're not alone.  Good luck.


Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz

Offline

#12 2013-01-08 16:19:07

BelgiumArcher
Member
Registered: 2010-07-12
Posts: 17

Re: [SOLVED] impossible to boot (UEFI-grub2) after update

Hi,

thanks for this link. I will examen it this evening.
Yesterday evening I already found out how to boot.
My solution came from : http://www.overclockers.com/forums/show … p?t=707382
Now I know that my Arch installtion is still fine.
The only problem left is that my solution is not permanent.
After each boot I have to boot in a UEFI shell and start grub that way.
With this new guide you gave, I probably will find a lasting solution.
UEFI is not ready for prime time according to me.

Thanks.
I'll mark this thread as solved.

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB