[Solved] Installing Arch to an external HDD, but can't get it to boot.

JcGNeon · 2013-09-07 09:17:07

After playing around with Arch in virtual boxes I decided to install it on my PC. On my internal HDD I have Linux Mint installed ATM with the grub bootloader. I managed to install everything in Arch onto my 2TB external HDD (I don't intend to use it with multiple computers) with syslinux as the bootloader. However, when I reboot my PC it boots straight to Linux Mint. I set my computer's BIOS to boot from USB before the internal HDD, but it still boots into Mint. After some time tampering with stuff I'm not sure what the problem is.

External HDD looks like this:
/dev/sdb (GPT)
~/dev/sdb1 1.8TB [ext4] (/, /home, /boot)
~/dev/sdb2 2G [SWAP]

mkinitcpio.conf:

HOOKS="base udev block autodetect modconf filesystems keyboard fsck keymap"

syslinux.cfg:

LABEL arch
MENU LABEL Arch Linux
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
APPEND root=/dev/sdb1 rw
INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img

LABEL archfallback
MENU LABEL Arch Linux Fallback
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
APPEND root=/dev/sdb1 rw
INITRD ../initramfs-linux-fallback.img

I have my files backed up and am willing to purge Mint if necessary. Thanks in advance.

Edit: solved the problem. I did a fresh install and partitioned with fdisk and booted with grub. Worked like a charm. Cheers.

Last edited by JcGNeon (2013-09-23 09:05:36)

karol · 2013-09-07 10:09:20

Would it be possible to boot Arch Linux from your grub?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gr … NU.2FLinux

Last edited by karol (2013-09-07 10:12:31)

Trilby · 2013-09-07 12:16:57

Did you install the syslinux MBR code and mark the partition as bootable?

JcGNeon · 2013-09-08 07:32:26

karol wrote:

Would it be possible to boot Arch Linux from your grub?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gr … NU.2FLinux

Added this to the grub.cfg with no change.

menuentry "Arch Linux" {
set root=(hd1,1)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux
initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

Trilby wrote:

Did you install the syslinux MBR code and mark the partition as bootable?

Yes, both with the syslinux-install_update -i -a -m and the sgdisk /dev/sdb --attributes=1:set:2 commands.

As I was browsing around I noticed something about my Mint / and my Arch Linux virtualbox / that was different from the external HDD's /.

Mint / had initrd.img, initrd.img.old, and vmlinuz

The virtualbox / had initramfs-linux.img, initramfs-linux-fallback.img, and vmlinuz-linux.

My Arch installation on the external HDD does not have these files in /, only in the /boot folder. Is this of any significance?

r0b0t · 2013-09-08 08:05:28

Try specifying the full path , and maybe you can replace LINUX with KERNEL ( in your syslinux.cfg ).

Mr Green · 2013-09-08 09:00:07

I would use UUID instead of device name, might have more chance of system booting external drive

JcGNeon · 2013-09-08 09:43:38

r0b0t wrote:

Try specifying the full path , and maybe you can replace LINUX with KERNEL ( in your syslinux.cfg ).

Tried (both LINUX and KERNEL), but nothing changed:

LABEL arch
MENU LABEL Arch Linux
KERNEL /dev/sdb1/boot/vmlinuz-linux
APPEND root=/dev/sdb1 rw
INITRD /dev/sdb1/boot/initramfs-linux.img

LABEL archfallback
MENU LABEL Arch Linux Fallback
KERNEL /dev/sdb1/boot/vmlinuz-linux
APPEND root=/dev/sdb1 rw
INITRD /dev/sdb1/boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img

Mr Green wrote:

I would use UUID instead of device name, might have more chance of system booting external drive

I already tried multiple times with UUID, but saw no change.

I've also tried to install Arch on my internal HDD, but it doesn't boot there either.

Last edited by JcGNeon (2013-09-08 09:45:46)

Trilby · 2013-09-08 11:36:57

Is this a uefi system?

JcGNeon · 2013-09-08 15:15:03

Trilby wrote:

Is this a uefi system?

Nope.

Mr Green · 2013-09-10 14:14:57

Another way is use device lable

LABEL arch
	MENU LABEL Arch Linux
	LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
	APPEND root=UUID=ARCHUSB rw
	INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img

I have just tested syslinux on a usb drive (key type) and works fine

Arch Linux

#1 2013-09-07 09:17:07

[Solved] Installing Arch to an external HDD, but can't get it to boot.

#2 2013-09-07 10:09:20

Re: [Solved] Installing Arch to an external HDD, but can't get it to boot.

#3 2013-09-07 12:16:57

Re: [Solved] Installing Arch to an external HDD, but can't get it to boot.

#4 2013-09-08 07:32:26

Re: [Solved] Installing Arch to an external HDD, but can't get it to boot.

#5 2013-09-08 08:05:28

Re: [Solved] Installing Arch to an external HDD, but can't get it to boot.

#6 2013-09-08 09:00:07

Re: [Solved] Installing Arch to an external HDD, but can't get it to boot.

#7 2013-09-08 09:43:38

Re: [Solved] Installing Arch to an external HDD, but can't get it to boot.

#8 2013-09-08 11:36:57

Re: [Solved] Installing Arch to an external HDD, but can't get it to boot.

#9 2013-09-08 15:15:03

Re: [Solved] Installing Arch to an external HDD, but can't get it to boot.

#10 2013-09-10 14:14:57

Re: [Solved] Installing Arch to an external HDD, but can't get it to boot.

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