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#1 2013-06-03 20:30:12

Harlequin
Member
Registered: 2009-07-28
Posts: 25

UEFI usb install - blank screen after boot option

Hello archlinux forum, I just got my new laptop, a samsung series 5 and want to install archlinux on it, but UEFI is spoiling my day right now.

I followed these instructions (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UE … B_from_ISO) to the letter,I get to the boot menu, but after I select the Arch as boot option, the screen just stays blank forever and I need to do a hard reboot. I tried to create an usb stick under linux and windows, both failed

Did anyone else had this kind of problem and got it fixed, is there something I have overlooked?

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#2 2013-06-03 21:12:19

teateawhy
Member
From: GER
Registered: 2012-03-05
Posts: 1,138
Website

Re: UEFI usb install - blank screen after boot option

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#3 2013-06-03 21:22:21

Harlequin
Member
Registered: 2009-07-28
Posts: 25

Re: UEFI usb install - blank screen after boot option

the model in question is an 540U3C, the series 5 affected are 530U3C ;-)

No it's not the UEFI bug, what happens is this:
1. I insert the usb stick, prepared according to the guide in the wiki
2. UEFI detects the drive drive correctly and gives me the option to boot archlinux
3. After selecting archlinux: laptop is stuck

...but still boots fine to windows

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#4 2013-06-03 21:34:14

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: UEFI usb install - blank screen after boot option

Could it possibly be the good old Intel KVM bug?  Does this laptop have intel integrated graphics?  If so, the typical solution would be to put the i915 module in the initramfs.  But since you are trying to boot from the installer, you could try using "i915.modeset=1" on the kernel command line.  It still may not have early enough access to the module though.

Sayin that you followed the instructions "to the letter" doesn't actually tell of what you did.  It tells of what you are pretty sure you did.  Still creating a UEFI usb from archiso is pretty simple.  But the configuration in \loader\entries on the ESP does require a pretty specific filesystem label.  So did you make sure that you were using the right string?  Can you verify that they are the same with lsblk (or blkid) and then actually checking the contents of \loader\entries\ to see what archiso= is set to there?

Edit: Also, I have never seen anything that indicates that the Samsung UEFI bug is only of consequence on a specific model.  Where did you find such information? If you are referring to the list posted in that article, it states "at least", which to me says that you should proceed with caution.  I had my system go down in a very similar way, I can only suspect that it was a filling nvram, but the conditions were definitely similar, and I have a Thinkpad.

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2013-06-03 21:37:20)

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#5 2013-06-03 22:15:30

Harlequin
Member
Registered: 2009-07-28
Posts: 25

Re: UEFI usb install - blank screen after boot option

I admit, "to the letter" is a poor choice of words ;-) yes, I did label the correctly with "ARCH_201306" and I did now set i915.modeset, but no success either.

I did read a couple of revies which said, that they successfully installed linux on this laptop, so I assumed that it is not affected. Either way new kernels deactive the samsung drive which bricked the laptops, so I assumed (again) that this bug is "fixed" by now.

PS: Anyway, I switched now from uefi to csm mode and archlinux works fine till now, so it's sort of fixed now

PPS: Is there a way to convert a cms system to an uefi system, by installing an appropriate bootloader or something? the uefi entry in the wiki doesn't mention anything

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#6 2013-06-03 23:12:14

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: UEFI usb install - blank screen after boot option

Yes, bios comaptibilty and UEFI can peacefully coexist without issue. So you can indeed convert a system to UEFI.  To problem becomes the point at which you need to make an entry into the firmware boot manager.  But there are a couple ways around this as well.  You could use the "default" spot in the ESP, which is \EFI\boot\bootx64.efi.  So whatever you put there will be what boots if you choose to boot from the device itself with UEFI as the priority.  So you can either put a bootmanager or bootloader there (like grub-uefi, elilo, refind, or gummiboot).  Then you can proceed to create efibootmgr entries once you are booted with UEFI.  Or you can put the UEFI Shell in that default spot, and use bcfg to create the entries.  (Then there is the fact that some hardware actually includes a UEFI shell)

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