[Solved] Gummiboot not working in dual boot configuration

Archer61 · 2014-06-12 06:56:04

I installed Arch and Win8 in dual boot configuration. I followed the installation guide step by step and added an entry for Arch Linux in gummiboot using nano. The wiki page for gummiboot says that gummiboot identifies Win8 bootlooder IF the EFI file system is mounted on boot which I did so I DID NOT add an entry for Windows.

The Problem : Gummiboot is not working at startup. It worked one time randomly but apart from that it is not working.

Logs : /var/logs only has logs for xorg and pacman.

Relevant configuration files: Contents of loader.conf file are

#timeout 3
default b57a30f449264e73ba42de24e2e451c2-*

Versions of packages involved : I performed pacman -Syy and -Syu to update my system. So gummiboot is of the latest version.

-Syu did not break it. It did not work before either.

Last edited by Archer61 (2014-06-12 19:48:08)

jasonwryan · 2014-06-12 07:00:17

And the actual gummiboot configuration file? And your partition table?
Please see: How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

Archer61 · 2014-06-12 07:46:01

jasonwryan wrote:

And the actual gummiboot configuration file? And your partition table?
Please see: How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

title             Arch Linux
linux             /vmlinuz-linux
initrd            /initramfs-linux.img
options           root=/dev/sda2 rw

Partition Table:

Disk /dev/sda: 698.7 GiB, 750156374016 bytes, 1465149168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: CD08B7A1-F1E6-4D22-88FE-710C6B70F0D1

Device           Start          End                    Size Type
/dev/sda1         2048       411647             200M EFI System
/dev/sda2       411648     63326207         30G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda3     63326208    105269247      20G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda4    105269248    117852159     6G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda5    117852160    956712959     400G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda6    956712960   1093027839    65G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda7   1093027840   1465149134   177.5G Microsoft basic data

version of package involved : gummiboot 45-1

And yes I read both the "Post complete logs/output/versions/error messages" and "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way". As you can see there is improvement in my posts but it won't suddenly become perfect. I am currently reading "Getting Familiar with Linux Logs". I did search the Forum, Google and Stack Exchange but most of the posts are on Grub2.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2014-06-12 18:11:06

Archer61 wrote:

Contents of loader.conf file are
#timeout 3
default b57a30f449264e73ba42de24e2e451c2-*

Un-comment the timeout bit so the gummiboot menu actually appears & see if Windows is listed as an option...
You need to put the name of your gummiboot .conf file after default; if your file is called arch.conf (as in the wiki) then your loader.conf should be:

timeout 3
default arch

Just to note: Arch now uses the journalctl component of systemd for logging --- see man journalctl for details

Archer61 · 2014-06-12 19:37:04

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Archer61 wrote:
Contents of loader.conf file are
#timeout 3
default b57a30f449264e73ba42de24e2e451c2-*
Un-comment the timeout bit so the gummiboot menu actually appears & see if Windows is listed as an option...
You need to put the name of your gummiboot .conf file after default; if your file is called arch.conf (as in the wiki) then your loader.conf should be:
timeout 3
default arch
Just to note: Arch now uses the journalctl component of systemd for logging --- see man journalctl for details

I'm sorry for wasting your time but I fixed it another way. My Arch installation went bad again. Startx stopped working and after a few reboots I went into fallback. But no worries I am not giving up easily. I deleted the partitions and the EFI system partition(because opensuse is still there) and then did the complete dual boot install again. This time I paid a lot more attention to Arch installation. For every step I read the corresponding wiki links to really understand what going on and I have to say it paid off. The system is working just fine. For example, I was avoiding some configuration like sudo, user rights, graphic cards. In all my previous installs I was avoiding stuff and was always doing everything as root, running all sorts of things. This time did it properly and I can say I know the installation process by heart .

As for the bootloader I tried Refind this time and it worked without any hiccups. None of my previous installs survived 10 reboots but this one did. I will try to reboot it more, like after installing a few packages and installing a few drivers in Windows because I wanna be sure because a lot of hard work goes down the drain but Refind is working great. Currenly learning system maintenance from Wiki. If it fails again I don't care. I think I can take a few more install but this time a lot of the small nagging errors are not happening which is a good sign.

Refind's creator has these great linux opensource books which are a delight. I am getting sidetracked here. I'll put a solved in front of the title.

Now time to build a developer box for Web Development for my course.

Last edited by Archer61 (2014-06-12 19:50:01)

Arch Linux

#1 2014-06-12 06:56:04

[Solved] Gummiboot not working in dual boot configuration

#2 2014-06-12 07:00:17

Re: [Solved] Gummiboot not working in dual boot configuration

#3 2014-06-12 07:46:01

Re: [Solved] Gummiboot not working in dual boot configuration

#4 2014-06-12 18:11:06

Re: [Solved] Gummiboot not working in dual boot configuration

#5 2014-06-12 19:37:04

Re: [Solved] Gummiboot not working in dual boot configuration

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