boot uefi grub issue [solved]

wolfdogg · 2013-12-10 01:01:46

im having a hard time getting grub to boot again, this time on a new system.
i managed to get grub installed, and grub-mkconfig.

when looking at the config it had the correct uuid it looks like, but when it boots im getting an error
<code>error : no such device ad4103fa-d940-47ca-8506-301d8071d467.
Loading linux core repo kernel...
error: no such partition.
loading initial ramdisk...
unaligned pointer 0x22
Aborted, press any key. </code>
Im not sure where its referencing the ad4103fa-...... is that some UUID, or what is that?

im also wondering if this problem is related to the specific type of mobo im using. should i just boot other than UEFI?

i was wondering if it didnt support the x64 portion of this command for e.g. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … 400_Family the S5400 family, but im not sure at all what equipment im on. If this mentioned error above doesnt suggest its related to this, then id rather assume this isnt related to the problem, and it may be a configuration error..

Edit:
Ok, i found a hint to the problem. First off, i found the entry for the ad4103fa-...... so i may have found the issue, that of which im still entirely unsure about how to go about fixing it. So, i remember initially when i installed grub, i thought i was chrooted, but i wasnt, so it installed to the installation medium maybe. I mounted the installation medium to a USB flash drive. so maybe it overwrote something there. So, just now i rebooted, before chrooting, i went straight to /boot/grub/grub.cfg and i see that entry in there <code>ad4103fa-...... </code>

since i had installed before chrooting, i reinstalled after chrooting, and do see the config file at /mnt/boot/efi/EFI/grub/grub.cfg does contain the correct UUID. but im not seeing that one trying to load when i reboot.

Note, i AM pulling out this usb stick / installation medium when i reboot.

Note, being not sure about UEFI, another problem might be that i am booting into bios, then toggling on the setting to boot from UEFI, and i think it then dynamically is seeking the boot directory on the medium, and i WONDER if somehow i have been leaving the USB in there during this phase or something and therefore it may just be looking for the wrong boot path??????

Note, i had also ran into this bug https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/37904 and had to disable SUBMENU, not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Any help is appreciated

Last edited by wolfdogg (2013-12-10 20:43:30)

cfr · 2013-12-10 02:10:54

Were you chrooted when you ran grub-mkinstall?

What command did you use?

What output did you get?

What is the output of lsblk -f?

Please post grub.cfg.

frazer · 2013-12-10 04:40:20

Well, shiver my timbers! This is my first post on the forum, having only recently started to use Arch Linux.

I seem to have had a very similar problem myself, and it would be wonderful if it was to help rather than to ask for help (which I thought it would be!).

Without beating about the bush, please would you have a look in the folder containing your grub.cfg (mine is currently: /boot/grub/grub.cfg - I tried different boot folder configs - /boot/efi...)?

Hopefully you will find a grub.cfg.new file along with your grub.cfg file, the grub.cfg.new file, will hopefully reference your 'true' UUIDs (according to fstab and blkid for example).

I copied the grub.cfg.new contents to grub.cfg, and, upon reboot, Grub sailed through to a Login prompt, and I do hope that you will find the same. It appears that, in this case, Universally Unique IDentifiers may not be unique! My grub.cfg file referenced a UUID starting exactly as yours: ad4103fa.... It's written on my pad right next to me, from last night's breakthrough!

I have spent about four nights burning the midnight oil until sunrise trying to get Arch to efi boot, what would really make me happy would be if this enables your installation to boot, and, perhaps with some help from this Forum's members, we can get to the bottom of why this is happening. I certainly have learnt a lot about UEFI boot processes, and, to me, this is what I love about Arch.

Best of luck, and I really hope that this helps. If so, let's try and find out how and why!

BTW - sorry for the mixed up sentences in this post - exhaustion has caught up with me - I hope that I have made sense enough to have helped.

Last edited by frazer (2013-12-10 04:44:38)

wolfdogg · 2013-12-10 04:40:46

yeah that may be a bit difficult to post the output. i do remember wgetpaste, ill have to get that installed tomorrow. i was chrooted the 2nd and 3rd time i ran it, but not the first. i ran it exactly following this https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … _systems_2 . I then ran it following the alternative method, which makes more sense to me. In the end i have two grub directories /boot/grub and boot/efi/EFI/grub, its getting kind of chaotic.
the output was that it ran successfully all times.
ill get you the lsblk -f and grub.cfg tomorrow.

Last edited by wolfdogg (2013-12-10 04:41:14)

wolfdogg · 2013-12-10 18:36:45

it looks like i dont have an entry in fstab for this. looking at this post https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1126548 it looks like there should be. im not yet finding documentation on fstab on either the GRUB wiki, or the UEFI wiki. should i just regenerate it? Maybe when i generated it i didnt have the efi partition mounted??

Thanks for that info Frazer. it was helpful. i think that UUID must just be a default, and not related to an actual ID. they are normally unique, so i suspect that is not the proper UUID or it would be unique.

wolfdogg · 2013-12-10 18:55:07

lsblk -f http://bpaste.net/show/157348/
/boot/grub/grub.cfg http://bpaste.net/show/157351/
/etc/fstab http://bpaste.net/show/157355/ (just regernerated it after mounting the boot drive, and now all 3 partitions are showin up here, still no cigar)
blkid http://bpaste.net/show/157356/

Edit: this current configuration is landing me inside the grub command line.

now im also suspecting im doing something wrong tweaking th ebios, where i log into bios, delete the grub config boot entry, then add boot entry, browse to the file /boot/efi/EFI/grub/grubx64.efi , and some basic entries are added with this. Im wondering if the entries that are being added in by default are wrong, or if i even need to be doing this at all.....

im at work, and need to get this stuff done asap, so im wondering if i should just reinstall the system, and see how that goes, then ill pretty much know its the UEFI configuration. not sure if i should steer away from UEFI in the interest of time, or if theres another way, i.e. usb boot, or if i have to launch the UEFI shell (which is one of the options when i boot from the usb flash drive), and do something in tha tshell. Im not sure if thats a "Dell" UEFI shell or what. (This PC is a Dell.)

Last edited by wolfdogg (2013-12-10 19:07:10)

wolfdogg · 2013-12-10 20:43:15

ok, i reinstalled, then went with gummiboot https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … #Gummiboot GEESE, it worked flawlessly that time, so ill stick with the beginners guide, years in to arch still. lol.

frazer · 2013-12-10 21:19:10

I'm really glad that you have got it up and running. Funnily enough, I only moved to Grub from Gummiboot due to having problems with Gummiboot!

I'm sorry that I didn't make myself clear (first post...), you're right, the UUIDs must be unique, and the fact that we were both 'generating' the same start of the UUID suggests to me that we were both getting into trouble at the same point of installation.

Also, I deleted my old /etc/fstab entry and regenerated it, as, like you I was getting repetition of the UUIDs from genfstab as you were, but, as they are #'d out, I presume that you were on to this.

You can see in your blkid output your true UUIDs, and that is what made me suspicious about the grub.cfg that I had in /boot/ (I see that you also decided on mounting your boot partition as /boot/ and not /boot/efi).

What (I didn't explain properly) I would love to know, [if you have not formatted/repartioned your drive for the gummiboot install], is if you do have a grub.cfg.new file in your /boot/ folder, and if it has your correct UUIDs listed (as per blkid)? As mentioned, renaming this grub.cfg.new to grub.cfg worked for me, and grub booted Arch.

It really is gnawing at me that I have not found out what is creating this UUID (or what I am doing wrong to create this UUID) in my grub.cfg. I feel that I am missing a 'part of the puzzle' here, and, though I am happy that I have got a working Arch system, I would prefer it to be without me having to reconfigure my grub.cfg file.

So, please could anyone more knowledgeable than me comment on any helpful ideas to find out what the problem is/what am I doing incorrectly?

As mentioned, this is my first post (or reply?) I have made on a forum, so I really don't know the basic etiquette. I did see this as marked solved, does this mean that I should not be commenting, and I should start a new thread?

Any help and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Glad you are up and running wolfdogg.

wolfdogg · 2013-12-13 18:34:34

Hi Frazer,
No i dont have a grub.cfg anywhwere, because i just simple reformatted the drive

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1

then ran the install one more time, this time going with gummiboot.
the directory structure is as follows
sda1 mounted to /boot
-boot
--intramfs..
--loader
--vmlinuz...
---EFI
----Boot
-----BOOTX64.EFI
----gummiboot
-----gummibootx64.efi

Now i cant tell you what i did in my bios, but i think after i did all this, i went to the UEFI settings and point and clicked with the mouse to one of the .efi files to make sure it had the right settings. Im not sure how much my bios setting had to do wtih the success, but i can tell you that GRUB was my problem because it was getting stuck at the grub command line. I would say, in the fiture, if one has this problem, to reinstall, since they are probably on top of a fresh installation already... reformat then reinstall. this way you can overcome whatever mistake was made in a way that you can guarantee wont rear its ugly head in the future again for some reason.

as far as commenting, no your more than welcome to keep commenting. its just marked solved to that any user that has my problem mentioned in the OP(original post at the top), can find what solution i did to solve it. its fine to keep commenting which may help other users. the basic etiquette is to just not worry about it, but i guess it doesnt hurt to ask.

So the main question you have is where did that original UUID come from? I think its just a default that gets overwritten once it reads the actual.

I have a question for you, are you sitting in a position which you have tried to install, but cant get it up and running yet? If so, they i would make a new post with your problem, and someone will help you more likely that way, because right now others are looking at this as solved and are not likely to get into this conversation and see that your needing any help yourself.

Last edited by wolfdogg (2013-12-13 18:38:41)

Arch Linux

#1 2013-12-10 01:01:46

boot uefi grub issue [solved]

#2 2013-12-10 02:10:54

Re: boot uefi grub issue [solved]

#3 2013-12-10 04:40:20

Re: boot uefi grub issue [solved]

#4 2013-12-10 04:40:46

Re: boot uefi grub issue [solved]

#5 2013-12-10 18:36:45

Re: boot uefi grub issue [solved]

#6 2013-12-10 18:55:07

Re: boot uefi grub issue [solved]

#7 2013-12-10 20:43:15

Re: boot uefi grub issue [solved]

#8 2013-12-10 21:19:10

Re: boot uefi grub issue [solved]

#9 2013-12-13 18:34:34

Re: boot uefi grub issue [solved]

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