[SOLVED] Cannot boot arch installation USB from UEFI (X1 Carbon)

cybe-arch · 2013-06-11 19:04:03

EDIT: Looks like the same issue has been adressed here https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=164679

Hello there

I recently bought a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 3460.

When i try to boot the arch-USB from UEFI it only shows a black screen.

I´ve done these steps:
Followed the instructions from Create_UEFI_bootable_USB_from_ISO

These settings in BIOS
- UEFI only
- CSM support [No]
- Secure boot [Disabled]

Tried to boot from EFI Shell 2.0 with

vmlinuz-linux initrd=\arch\boot\x86_64\archiso.img archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_201306

Also tried to rename vmlinuz-linux to vmlinuz.efi and to boot with the i915.modeset=1, noacpi and nomodeset parameters.

But no luck, it only shows me a black screen. No debug information.
The LED-indicator on the USB shows me that it reads only for about 1 sec.

Any ideas?

Last edited by cybe-arch (2013-08-21 10:30:37)

archlux · 2013-06-13 00:49:10

what is the label of usb is it ARCH_201306 ?
if you already have arch installed
try this to label your usb
sudo dosfslabel /dev/sdX ARCH_201306
where X is your USB

cybe-arch · 2013-06-13 18:41:42

Thanks for the tip, but yeah, i it's labeled ARCH_201306 with

mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdb1 -n ARCH_201306

Last edited by cybe-arch (2013-06-13 18:42:11)

liq^ · 2013-06-15 18:10:09

So I got this working. Wasnt pretty and took, some trial and error. It UEFI in a nutshell, its the future and oh lord is it buggy. I think Lenovo might have implemented EFI poorly in the X1 Carbon (the described method in wiki works fine on another workstation I have). In the end I had to make a GRUB bootable USB, before the X1C wanted to boot archiso in uefi. GRUB is not really simple and gives some overhead, however the added bonus is that you can boot many other LiveDistros directly from ISO

But basicly:

1. You follow the guide from here nd skip the part about errors and refind.:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Un … B_from_ISO

2. Make sure you USB is mounted to /boot/efi and install grub, like so:

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

OBS: You can remove the entry from your EFI bootmanger, with efibootmgr by issuing:

$ efibootmgr -b XX -B

3. Now you can choose if you wanna hack you grub.cfg or use the custom config in grub.d. Either way generate the grub.cf:

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

4. Make certain appropriate changes have been made to grub.cfg. My working example, which could use cleaning:

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Arch Linux test'  {
	load_video
	set gfxpayload=keep
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_gpt
	insmod ext2
	set root='hd0,gpt1'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1  B35D-FE34
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root B35D-FE34
	fi
	echo	'Loading Linux core repo kernel ...'
	linux	/arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz root=UUID=B35D-FE34 ro  archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_201306
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img
}


### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

5. Move the grub.efi to overwrite the archiso supplied one (which btw works on my desktop. I guess GRUB includes more workarounds for buggy firmware from manufactureres. See this video, if you have time: http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/10014.html

$ sudo mv /boot/efi/EFI/arch_grub/grubx64.efi /mnt/efi/EFI/boot/bootx64.efi

Success. Somethings are implied, like GPT partitiontable etc. I hope you get it working too.

*Update* Added sources:
http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:slackw … d_hardware
http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions … -7-install
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Un … B_from_ISO

Last edited by liq^ (2013-06-15 21:04:56)

cybe-arch · 2013-06-18 12:17:07

Thanks for a great guide, liq^.

I went for legacy and haven't found the time to try UEFI yet.

BTW; I created a page for X1C in the wiki and added your information see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Le … _X1_Carbon

Last edited by cybe-arch (2013-06-19 06:34:39)

liq^ · 2013-06-19 10:12:57

Thanks for adding it to the Wiki.

I can tell you that I initialy installed as Legacy and the migrated to UEFI. It took a while, but that was because I had to repartition my whole drive, while trying to preserve data. But its very doable

Last edited by liq^ (2013-06-21 00:51:05)

Arch Linux

#1 2013-06-11 19:04:03

[SOLVED] Cannot boot arch installation USB from UEFI (X1 Carbon)

#2 2013-06-13 00:49:10

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot arch installation USB from UEFI (X1 Carbon)

#3 2013-06-13 18:41:42

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot arch installation USB from UEFI (X1 Carbon)

#4 2013-06-15 18:10:09

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot arch installation USB from UEFI (X1 Carbon)

#5 2013-06-18 12:17:07

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot arch installation USB from UEFI (X1 Carbon)

#6 2013-06-19 10:12:57

Re: [SOLVED] Cannot boot arch installation USB from UEFI (X1 Carbon)

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