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#1 2013-09-29 11:28:31

tsagas
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Registered: 2009-04-19
Posts: 17

Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

Is it possible to install Arch with UEFI enabled? Since the switch to gummieboot (?) it is impossible for me to get the installation media to work. It boots fine, presents the menu with the boot options, but after I make my choice (or wait for the default) the screen goes blank, the cd is active for a bit, and then nothing happens. The screen doesn't fall asleep, it just stays blank. Ctrl+Alt-Delete doesn't work.

I've tried the recommendations described in the Beginner's Guide e.g. nomodeset etc. (the system uses a nvidia card) My motherboard uses the latest BIOS/UEFI but Arch had this problem before I updated too. This only happens with Arch, although I'm not sure any of the other distros I've tested use this bootloader.

Does anyone have any suggestions I could try? Can I boot to the installer using elilo, which works fine and is already installed on my ESP? If yes, how?

Thanks in advance

PS. The media boots fine in BIOS ("legacy") mode, but I'd rather try making it work with UEFI before resorting to BIOS.

Last edited by tsagas (2013-10-03 18:31:40)

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#2 2013-09-29 21:02:28

iJC
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From: Planet Earth
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 22

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

Same here. I can only boot via "Legacy Mode". [XPS 14]

I was trying to install the system that way, but when the time comes to install and configure the bootloader (GRUB2), specially when I do the command:

# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=$esp --bootloader-id=grub --recheck --debug

"$esp == /boot/efi" in my case.

I've got a message talking about “EFI variables are not supported on this system”. I've searched and found out that some people could fix it by "exiting arch-chroot" > "# modprobe efivars" > "arch-chroot again". I tried it, and checked the "# efivar-tester", but the issue persists...

Anyone can help? The installation was going flawlessly, until that. sad

-------------------

Trying Gummiboot I got "Not booted with UEFI, skipping EFI variable setup.".

Last edited by iJC (2013-09-29 21:16:29)


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#3 2013-09-29 21:58:17

cfr
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From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
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Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

You can install for EFI while booted in BIOS mode except for setting the nvram entry. To do that, you must boot in EFI mode. There are at least 2 ways to do this if you can't boot the installation media in EFI mode:
1) Use any live linux distro which will boot in EFI mode, follow the wiki instructions for setting up a chroot, chroot into your Arch installation, set the entry
2) Copy your EFI boot loader or manager to the default/fallback position. Normally this would be EFI/boot/bootx64.efi on your ESP. So for example, you would copy grubx64.efi there or whatever you use. If you use something like rEFInd, you'd also need to copy the files it expects to find in its own directory but for something like grub, you just need to copy the .efi. Once you are booted into your new install in EFI mode, you can then set the nvram entry.
There are other ways (e.g. setting it from Windows if you dual boot or using the EFI shell) but these are the two I've used myself and I think they are probably the simplest options.


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#4 2013-09-29 22:06:40

iJC
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From: Planet Earth
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 22

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

cfr wrote:

You can install for EFI while booted in BIOS mode except for setting the nvram entry. To do that, you must boot in EFI mode. There are at least 2 ways to do this if you can't boot the installation media in EFI mode:
1) Use any live linux distro which will boot in EFI mode, follow the wiki instructions for setting up a chroot, chroot into your Arch installation, set the entry
2) Copy your EFI boot loader or manager to the default/fallback position. Normally this would be EFI/boot/bootx64.efi on your ESP. So for example, you would copy grubx64.efi there or whatever you use. If you use something like rEFInd, you'd also need to copy the files it expects to find in its own directory but for something like grub, you just need to copy the .efi. Once you are booted into your new install in EFI mode, you can then set the nvram entry.
There are other ways (e.g. setting it from Windows if you dual boot or using the EFI shell) but these are the two I've used myself and I think they are probably the simplest options.

Isn't there a way to boot the media in UEFI? Really, any good distro nowadays allows it, and if I'm correct, previous Arch's ISOs allowed too...

I know Arch is know by "simple, lightweight distribution". Does "simple" really means that I need to use others distros just to install Arch properly?

PS: It's not dual-boot. It's Arch only.

Last edited by iJC (2013-09-29 22:09:18)


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#5 2013-09-29 22:12:23

cfr
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From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
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Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

Yes, it should work to boot it in EFI mode if it is prepared according to the instructions in the wiki. If you use a USB stick, this is different from the way you prepare one for BIOS boot. I believe the CD should work for both. My point was just that *if* for whatever reason, that is not working on your hardware, there are workarounds. There is also, in that case, a bug which is why you need the workaround.

Plus if you have essentially installed Arch except for the nvram entry, I didn't know if you wanted to mess around with the install media or just quickly fix it so you are up and running. For that purpose, copying to the default boot loader position is probably quickest.

EDIT: Instructions for the USB media at https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UE … B_from_ISO. I don't know if you followed these or not as you don't say.

Last edited by cfr (2013-09-29 22:14:41)


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#6 2013-09-29 22:13:32

Raynman
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Registered: 2011-10-22
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Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

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#7 2013-09-30 06:21:41

ebal
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From: Athens, Greece
Registered: 2009-05-26
Posts: 224
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Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

Hi,

i have already done all the above [ https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=170296 ] and i can boot in UEFI mode but the black screen doesnt go away !
I find it impossible to boot into UEFI - although legacy mode works fine.

None of every other distro have the same affect.


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#8 2013-09-30 17:11:13

srs5694
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From: Woonsocket, RI
Registered: 2012-11-06
Posts: 719
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Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

It's possible you're running into the problem discussed in this thread, particularly if you've got a Lenovo computer. If so, the only reliable solution is to switch to another boot loader (GRUB, ELILO, or SYSLINUX). This will require either adjusting the boot medium or using a supplemental boot medium.

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#9 2013-09-30 17:13:41

the.ridikulus.rat
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From: Indiana, USA
Registered: 2011-10-04
Posts: 765

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

@tsagas: You can also try "nouveau.modeset=0" (and also maybe "i915.modeset=0" if you have dual-graphics). Sometimes "nomodeset" alone may not work.

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#10 2013-10-02 18:14:04

tsagas
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Registered: 2009-04-19
Posts: 17

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

@cfr: if the only difference is the nvram entry, then that's what I'll probably try: install using legacy mode and make the switch manually. Since I've already elilo on my ESP I'll try to just add arch to my elilo.conf.

@the.ridikulus.rat: unfortunately none of these alone, or combined worked.

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#11 2013-10-02 19:29:57

the.ridikulus.rat
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From: Indiana, USA
Registered: 2011-10-04
Posts: 765

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

tsagas wrote:

@cfr: if the only difference is the nvram entry, then that's what I'll probably try: install using legacy mode and make the switch manually. Since I've already elilo on my ESP I'll try to just add arch to my elilo.conf.

@the.ridikulus.rat: unfortunately none of these alone, or combined worked.

A new iso is out 2013.10.01 . You can either try that or latest Archboot https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=170238 .

Your issue seems to be similar to issue with EFISTUB booting ( https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/33745 ), which may or may not be solved in latest kernel (3.11.2 used in the latest iso, 3.11.1 in Archboot iso). Were you able to boot using GRUB, Syslinux or ELILO? For Syslinux try syslinux-firmware-git in AUR.

Last edited by the.ridikulus.rat (2013-10-02 19:30:30)

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#12 2013-10-03 16:16:31

tsagas
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Registered: 2009-04-19
Posts: 17

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

I downloaded both cds, and they also suffer from the same issue. The new media also ignores my keyboard and I can't edit my kernel parameters, so that's an improvement.

If the Arch cd uses the kernel stub to boot, then I know for a fact that this stopped working for me since the 3.7.x (?) series.

Anyway, I installed Arch using legacy mode, adjusted my trusted elilo, and I booted in EFI just fine.

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#13 2013-10-03 16:24:29

the.ridikulus.rat
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From: Indiana, USA
Registered: 2011-10-04
Posts: 765

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

tsagas wrote:

I downloaded both cds, and they also suffer from the same issue. The new media also ignores my keyboard and I can't edit my kernel parameters, so that's an improvement.

If the Arch cd uses the kernel stub to boot, then I know for a fact that this stopped working for me since the 3.7.x (?) series.

Anyway, I installed Arch using legacy mode, adjusted my trusted elilo, and I booted in EFI just fine.

Gummiboot and rEFInd both use kernel EFISTUB to boot. So if you have problem with EFISTUB, then you cannot boot with both. Both the CDs use Gummiboot v37 and therefore use EFISTUB to actually boot. Gummiboot v38 ( https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/36551 ) fixes the keyboard issue but both the ISOs were generated before the updated pkg reached [core], so they contain the previous version.

EDIT 1: @tsagas: You should have mentioned beforehand that efistub did not work for you since 3.7.x kernel. Also please read https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI_Bootloaders for more info on which ones use EFISTUB and which ones do not.

EDIT 2: Added info to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gummiboot regarding EFISTUB booting issues.

Last edited by the.ridikulus.rat (2013-10-03 16:43:43)

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#14 2013-10-03 16:54:54

ebal
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From: Athens, Greece
Registered: 2009-05-26
Posts: 224
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Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

i confirm too what @tsagas said. I have done almost exactly the same (grub2 Vs elilo) to boot in UEFI with legacy mode on.


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#15 2013-10-03 18:31:13

tsagas
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Registered: 2009-04-19
Posts: 17

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

the.ridikulus.rat wrote:

EDIT 1: @tsagas: You should have mentioned beforehand that efistub did not work for you since 3.7.x kernel. Also please read https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI_Bootloaders for more info on which ones use EFISTUB and which ones do not.

EDIT 2: Added info to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gummiboot regarding EFISTUB booting issues.

Let me just say that I don't like wasting other people's time, but I didn't know the Arch media uses two bootloaders that both use the same -and for a lot of people broken- method (EFISTUB), that's why I didn't even suspect the EFISTUB regression was the culprit. Arch has extensive documentation which is a good thing, but it's also possible to miss a couple of things here and there while reading.

Thanks for your help, I'm marking this as solved, since at least I managed to get the OS installed.

Last edited by tsagas (2013-10-03 18:32:33)

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#16 2013-10-03 18:46:45

srs5694
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From: Woonsocket, RI
Registered: 2012-11-06
Posts: 719
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Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

the.ridikulus.rat wrote:

Gummiboot and rEFInd both use kernel EFISTUB to boot. So if you have problem with EFISTUB, then you cannot boot with both.

It's actually more complex than that. Many users have reported that gummiboot works but rEFInd doesn't, or that rEFInd works when gummiboot doesn't. In fact, some people say that rEFInd built with GNU-EFI works when rEFInd built with Tianocore doesn't. (The opposite may be true, too, but since both my own official builds and the Arch builds use Tianocore, people are more likely to run into problems with the Tianocore version and then try the GNU-EFI build as a possible solution than vice-versa.) My official rEFInd downloads page includes links to both Tianocore-based and GNU-EFI-based builds of the program.

Overall, the EFI stub loader bug is a nasty one. I don't happen to have any affected hardware, so I've mostly been watching helplessly. I hope the recent changes have finally fixed it, but it's too early to start celebrating -- most sufferers have found that the problem comes and goes with apparent randomness from one kernel version to another.

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#17 2013-10-03 21:27:44

the.ridikulus.rat
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From: Indiana, USA
Registered: 2011-10-04
Posts: 765

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

tsagas wrote:

I didn't know the Arch media uses two bootloaders that both use the same -and for a lot of people broken- method (EFISTUB), that's why I didn't even suspect the EFISTUB regression was the culprit.

Arch media does not use 2 bootloaders, it uses only one which is gummiboot. Gummiboot and rEFInd boot via EFISTUB, they do not have direct kernel loading/booting capability the way traditional bootloaders like grub or syslinux boot linux. I just mentioned rEFInd because most people try it as the 2nd choice after gummiboot, because both gummboot and rEFInd are easier to setup. For most Archers setting up GRUB seems hard (although personally I don't think thats the case) and Syslinux UEFI support is actually new and still considered beta.

Both official install media (archiso) and unofficial Archboot media use Gummiboot-EFISTUB for UEFI and Syslinux (or its variant isolinux) for BIOS booting. So if Gummiboot-EFISTUB (or just EFISTUB) does not work for you, then you need to setup grub or syslinux manually to boot the media via UEFI. Or you can boot in bios mode and setup the uefi bootloader in efisys part, then register the bootloader in Firmware Boot Menu via UEFI Shell bcfg command or whatever options your firmware provides to register them.

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#18 2013-10-03 23:55:30

cfr
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From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
Posts: 7,130

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

srs5694 wrote:

Overall, the EFI stub loader bug is a nasty one. I don't happen to have any affected hardware, so I've mostly been watching helplessly. I hope the recent changes have finally fixed it, but it's too early to start celebrating -- most sufferers have found that the problem comes and goes with apparent randomness from one kernel version to another.

The consistent bug I experience is not fixed for me. I've not been able to boot this way since 3.7.* (which were all fine). Nothing in 3.8, 3.9. 3.10 or (so far) 3.11. Grub works. Nothing involving EFISTUB does.

However, I don't know how this plays out with live media.


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#19 2013-10-04 11:41:03

the.ridikulus.rat
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From: Indiana, USA
Registered: 2011-10-04
Posts: 765

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

cfr wrote:

The consistent bug I experience is not fixed for me. I've not been able to boot this way since 3.7.* (which were all fine). Nothing in 3.8, 3.9. 3.10 or (so far) 3.11. Grub works. Nothing involving EFISTUB does.

I suppose you are the one testing at http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.ker … focus=2115 .

However, I don't know how this plays out with live media.

You mean the live media (archiso or archboot, using gummiboot via efistub) is booting fine for you but the same kernel from installed system fails for you? Thats strange. In that case the issue may be in your initramfs or the kernel parameters being used for the installed system.

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#20 2013-10-05 01:39:36

cfr
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From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
Posts: 7,130

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

the.ridikulus.rat wrote:

I suppose you are the one testing at http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.ker … focus=2115 .

That would be me sad.

However, I don't know how this plays out with live media.

You mean the live media (archiso or archboot, using gummiboot via efistub) is booting fine for you but the same kernel from installed system fails for you? Thats strange. In that case the issue may be in your initramfs or the kernel parameters being used for the installed system.

No. I meant I don't know - not that it works. It is just that my firmware seems to be generally much less fussy about USB media than what's on the internal drive. But the USB media I've currently got predates the problem. (And I don't want to update it for obvious reasons.)


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#21 2013-10-26 07:46:00

Vilius
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From: Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Registered: 2012-01-05
Posts: 26
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Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

I'm also unable to install Grub with UEFI.

grub-install gives me the "EFI variables are not supported on this system" error. I tried this, but efivar-tester gives me the following error:

About to test empty
testing efi_set_variable()
About to test one
testing efi_set_variable()
[...several other tests pass, and then...]
FAIL: "one"(line 172) (-1) append test failed: Invalid argument

Could this be causing my problem with grub-install?

Also when I try to "modprobe efivars", as suggested in the mentioned link, I get "Module efivars not found" error.

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#22 2013-10-26 08:29:13

the.ridikulus.rat
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From: Indiana, USA
Registered: 2011-10-04
Posts: 765

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

Vilius wrote:

I'm also unable to install Grub with UEFI.

grub-install gives me the "EFI variables are not supported on this system" error. I tried this, but efivar-tester gives me the following error:

About to test empty
testing efi_set_variable()
About to test one
testing efi_set_variable()
[...several other tests pass, and then...]
FAIL: "one"(line 172) (-1) append test failed: Invalid argument

Could this be causing my problem with grub-install?

Also when I try to "modprobe efivars", as suggested in the mentioned link, I get "Module efivars not found" error.

Always follow the wiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Un … _Variables .

EDIT: Also, you need to run "efivar-tester" as root because manipulating efivarfs/efivars kernel data requires root access.

Last edited by the.ridikulus.rat (2013-10-26 10:58:16)

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#23 2013-10-26 12:54:40

Vilius
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From: Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Registered: 2012-01-05
Posts: 26
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Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

Guess I'll just stay with BIOS and MBR partitions.

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#24 2013-10-30 23:02:06

chuckiv
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Registered: 2013-10-28
Posts: 106

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

sorry for the noob question but i have installed arch and i want to know if it is in EFI or not

if i type efivar -l in terminal i get a bunch of keys, does that mean im booting efi??

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#25 2013-10-31 02:44:57

cfr
Member
From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
Posts: 7,130

Re: Booting from UEFI = blank screen [SOLVED]

Yes.


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