Arch Linux

snow-hamster

Member

Registered: 2013-05-20

Posts: 5

Install Arch on an ACER TravelMate p253-e with efi

Hello togehter.

I want to install Arch x86_64 on my ACER TravelMate p253-e Notebook.
The notebook has a efi motherboard. I try to install it without any efi partition.
Then I want to boot my new arch Installtion but the (grub)bootloader dont run.

Next I try to use this wiki entry.

The bootloader don't want to start.

Thank you for your answers.

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Install Arch on an ACER TravelMate p253-e with efi

You are trying to install on a UEFI machine without an EFI System Patition, and you are wondering why it won't boot? 

Or are you trying to install a bios based system on a UEFI machine?  The page you linked to is for UEFI... it tells you that you need an EFI System Partition... it tells you why... I don't understand why you think that it is optional.

snow-hamster

Member

Registered: 2013-05-20

Posts: 5

Re: Install Arch on an ACER TravelMate p253-e with efi

First I install it without an efi Partion and then with an efi Partion. For the Partion I use the instructions on this page but my notebook doesnt boot.

Last edited by snow-hamster (2013-05-20 19:59:30)

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Install Arch on an ACER TravelMate p253-e with efi

I install Arch with an efi Partion and use the instructions on this page but my notebook doesnt boot.

This is kind of like saying to a total stranger, "My dog died... what was his diagnosis?"

snow-hamster

Member

Registered: 2013-05-20

Posts: 5

Re: Install Arch on an ACER TravelMate p253-e with efi

I do not know how to express myself properly because my english is not so good.

The notebook dont run the bootloader and displays:

"No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Install Arch on an ACER TravelMate p253-e with efi

There is a difference between not speaking english well, and not describing your problem whatsoever.

I think your English is perfectly fine for these parts.  But you need to be much more explicit about your issue.  This includes what you actually did as well as any other information that you might find pertinenet.

That message you are seeing though indicates that you have no bootloader or boot manager installed onto whatever it is you are trying to boot.  This does not necessarily mean that you haven't installed the bootloader, but can sometimes be that you have your system pointing to the wrong device or trying to boot legacy bios on an UEFI setup disk.

But alas, these are just guesses because you have not even begun to describe what you actually did.  (Linking to the guide you followed is not sufficient.  The guide is probably right, so obviously you must not have truly followed the guide).

And BTW, first you said you didn't have an ESP and now you say you do... which is it?

snow-hamster

Member

Registered: 2013-05-20

Posts: 5

Re: Install Arch on an ACER TravelMate p253-e with efi

OK I explain my steps:

At first I boot from a CD with Arch Linux on it. I must select Legacy Boot because my BIOS auto selects Seucre Boot.
Then I get a menu with 4 Options:

Arch Linux archiso x86_64 UEFI CD
UEFI Shell x86_64 v1
UEFI Shell x86_64 v2
Reboot Into Firmware Interface

I select the first one and Arch boots normal.
In one minute I get the zsh prompt.
In the console I set the keymap for my Country.

Then I create a new partion table for my harddrive with gdisk because I should get an partion table for uefi systems.

At first I create a Partion with 512 M for efi with Hexcode EF00.
Next I create two new partitions on the drive: one for the system (ext4) and the second for swap.

The next step is I format the partitions:

mkfs.ext4 -L boot /dev/sdaX      # boot Partition
mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdaX         # EFI Partition [ef00]
mkswap -L swap /dev/sdaX # Swap Partition

Next I mount my ext4 Partition, mount the efi in /boot/efi and enable swap.

In the following steps I configure my system e.g. Network, hostname, pacman, etc.

At least I install the grub-loader with this commands:

pacman -S grub-efi-x86_64

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=arch_grub --recheck --debug

mkdir -p /boot/grub/locale
cp /usr/share/locale/en\@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo

grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

efibootmgr -q -c -d /dev/sdX -p 1 -w -L Arch-Linux -l '\EFI\arch_grub\grubx64.efi'

There are no Errors and all suff executes properly.
In the end I create a password for the root user and unmount the Partitions.
After the reboot I get the message that no bootable drives available.

Are this information enough for you ?

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Install Arch on an ACER TravelMate p253-e with efi

Are this information enough for you?

See now that is a post!  FWIW, I wasn't trying to upset you or anything.  But if you want help around here, you need to be explicit about what your problem is.  Assuming that people are going to want to guess what you did is really not okay.

So now, if you boot with the live media, but instead choose UEFI Shell v2 instead of Arch Linux, you will be dropped into (unsurprisingly) a UEFI shell.  From there you can actually launch efi applications that reside in your ESP (amongst various other functions).

Your ESP will likely be listed when the shell loads.  It is similar to a windows command line, and the ESPs get a labeling of fs*.  So try typing "fs0:" and it should put you into the ESP.  This is like typing "C:\" in windows.  You can then use "cd" to navigate to wherever grub.efi installed itself.  I think that it installs itself to \EFI\grub\grub.efi, but I don't actually use grub.  So navigate to \EFI\grub.  Then just launch grub.efi.

In theory, you should be able to just do "fs0:\EFI\grub\grub.efi" and launch grub, but my machine never lets me do that, and I can only launch *efi applications if they don't have a preceeding path.

If that works, then maybe the efibootmgr command didn't take.  This has been a problem of late with the most recent kernel versions and version of efibootmgr.  There is a tool in the UEFI shell that also has this functionality.  It starts with a "b" and is described in the wiki page you linked to above (something like bcfg).

The other option is to move (or more likely copy) the grub.efi file to \EFI\boot\bootx64.efi.  This is the "default" position of the ESP.  Using that spot will make it so that you can boot from the device itself rather than a nvram/efibootmgr entry.  So it would be like booting from the old bios system, where you select the actual HDD.  This would also be a valid way to test to see if you did the actual grub installation correctly.

snow-hamster

Member

Registered: 2013-05-20

Posts: 5

Re: Install Arch on an ACER TravelMate p253-e with efi

See now that is a post!  FWIW, I wasn't trying to upset you or anything.  But if you want help around here, you need to be explicit about what your problem is.  Assuming that people are going to want to guess what you did is really not okay.

You are right. In the future I will write more information about my issues.

To the Problem:

Thank you for your answer! I can run the grub-loader out of the efi shell and arch boots properly! Thanks for this.

Now I add a new boot entry to the efi loader with the bcfg command.

bcfg boot add 3 fs0:\EFI\arch_grub\bootx64.efi but no effect to the boot process.

How can I mark the boot entry as secure for the security boot ? Then I can activate the UEFI function in my bios

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Install Arch on an ACER TravelMate p253-e with efi

I assume you are asking about secure boot.  This is not something that Arch Linux supports.  To make it work you would need to use the shim loader as well as have your kernel and all modules signed.  You can sign them yourself and then specify your key using the shim loader... or maybe you might want to do it the other way around.  Specify your key, then sign all your modules.  But I have never done this before and cannot even begin to tell you how to do it.  I am sure there is documentation somewhere out there.  I just have no interest in this.

Last check, no one on the Arch Linux dev team had a secureboot enabled machine.  So development on this front was impossible at least at the time that all this crap was coming about.  In reality, it is only really needed if you have users who are not willing/able to go into their bios to simply switch it off.  As a distribution, this is typically not the kind of user that Arch Linux caters to.