[SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

nixIT · 2014-11-12 20:51:28

Hello all,

I got a new laptop at work, HP ZBook, it's pretty nice, and I have been trying to install arch on it for the last 2 days with no luck.

I've followed the wiki to a T but my system keeps telling me there is no boot disk.

I've tried setting my bios to Legacy and to UEFI, no matter which way I set it, the system won't boot.

I'm trying to set it up with GPT. I know I've used GPT with legacy (bios) boot on other systems with no problem. I've wiped the drives more times than I care to count over the last couple of days, just to get GPT to work. I've noticed my drive is aligned to 2048 sectors, is this normal?

Here is my current scheme, should this allow me to boot after an install:

root@archiso ~ # gdisk -l /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.10
Partition table scan:
MBR: protective
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: present
Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sda: 1953525168 sectors, 931.5 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): F937AE3B-A9D1-4C18-B5B4-60B7204B66DF
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1953525134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2014 sectors (1007.0 KiB)
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 4095 1024.0 KiB EF02
2 4096 31250431 14.9 GiB 8200
3 31250432 503109631 225.0 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem
4 503109632 1953525134 691.6 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem

Is it possible that it just won't work on this system?

EDIT...
I just checked on a 7 year old system that i recently installed arch (last month), and it's installed with GPT, I did noticed that the partitions of that disk are aligned to 8 sector boundaries. Could that be my issue on this laptop?

--nixIT

Last edited by nixIT (2014-11-18 20:34:33)

WorMzy · 2014-11-12 21:00:56

You don't have an EFI System Partition, so UEFI won't work. I don't know too much about booting GPT disks in legacy mode, but I use syslinux on my GPT-based work PC, and as far as I can remember, I just made the boot partition have the "legacy BIOS bootable" attribute and installed as normal.

Perhaps it would help if you told us which wiki pages you have been following, and what you are trying to accomplish.

nixIT · 2014-11-12 21:19:17

@WorMzy,
Thanx for the response..
Here are the wiki's I've been following:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … he_network
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … structions

As I edited my first post, I installed arch on a 7 year old system, GPT with legacy and it worked like a champ.

--nixIT

WorMzy · 2014-11-12 22:30:00

I think you're putting too much thought into sector sizes. As far as I know, they have no bearing on the boot process. So long as 1) your partitions have the correct flags/attributes (legacy booting), or are the correct type and filesystem (UEFI), and 2) your boot loader/manager is correctly installed, you should be able to boot.

That said, I'm not familiar with grub2 on GPT. Maybe it's more finicky about things. Is it essential that you use it?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2014-11-12 22:41:42

At the moment, your drive has a "BIOS Boot Partition" (EF02) and so it should be booted in "Legacy" mode.

You will need to follow the instructons for installing GRUB in a BIOS-based system:

# grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sda

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … guide#GRUB

nixIT · 2014-11-12 23:59:51

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

At the moment, your drive has a "BIOS Boot Partition" (EF02) and so it should be booted in "Legacy" mode.
You will need to follow the instructons for installing GRUB in a BIOS-based system:
# grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sda
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … guide#GRUB

Currently the bios is set to boot in legacy mode, and I followed those instructions, still can't get the system to boot, and from what I'm understanding, ef02 is the proper type for a partition on a BIOS/GPT partition:

Create a mebibyte partition {+1MiB with gdisk) on the disk with no file system and type ef02 (or bios_grub in parted).

like I mentioned, my system at home is set up this way, and I set up a 7 year old Dell at work this same way, and it works fine. It's just this laptop that I can't get working in a bios/gpt configuration.

I'm not sure what I'm missing, or misunderstanding. It's been a terribly long week at work, so I'm sure I'm missing something.

--nixIT

Head_on_a_Stick · 2014-11-13 08:13:12

It could be that your firmware is poorly coded (I know mine is...).

Why not try installing an EFI system?
You will need a 512MiB FAT32 EFI system partition (EF00) mounted at /boot:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Un … _Partition
Gummiboot allows EFISTUB booting (no bootloader) and seems to iron over most of the firmware-induced bumps:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gummiboot

nixIT · 2014-11-16 20:49:47

I think the drive might be messed up...

gdisk reports the drive is GPT, however, gparted pops up warnings saying the GPT partition is messed up and asked if I wanted to fix, even though I chose fix, gparted still reports warnings, even after a reboot.

I'm going to try and blow away all possible partitions and recreate the GPT partition. http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/wipegpt.html

CarlD · 2014-11-16 22:58:40

Another option is that since you are in legacy mode and are not using a UEFI partition, you could just use a msdos/MBR partition table instead of a GPT one. As your HD is 1TB, your BIOS can handle that fine. I did so with my UEFI system some time ago and had no problems whatsoever.

nixIT · 2014-11-17 19:20:44

I appreciate all the info... however, I tried MBR and still won't boot, I get the error:

BootDevice Not Found
Please install an operating system on your hard disk
Hard Disk - (3F0)
F2 System Diagnostics

Bad hard drive, or did I miss something during install? I've double checked the bios, hard drive is listed as first boot device. Even reset bios to defaults, moved internal hard drive to first position.

--nixIT

Last edited by nixIT (2014-11-17 19:25:52)

nixIT · 2014-11-17 21:55:54

Here's something interesting... put in my Arch install USB stick, booted the system, at the Arch menu I selected Boot Internal Hard drive, the screen flashed and I came right back to this menu. I powered down, put in a fresh download burn of LinuxMint DVD, booted, at the linux mint boot menu selected Boot hard drive, and BAM, my arch install booted. So I ejected the DVD, rebooted and got the message above.

I then installed linux mint, rebooted got the same message above, rebooted with the linux mint install media, selected boot hard drive, and linux mint on the hard drive booted.

So this tells me something is not being written to the hard drive during install, or some partition is not set correctly.

Any ideas?

--nixIT

ratcheer · 2014-11-17 23:06:00

This thread has me bamboozled. I've been using GPT, only, for about 3-4 years. I've installed Arch several times and it is currently my main OS. I've never had any problems booting that I would attribute to GPT. My system uses grub2 and the boot BIOS style (i.e., non-EFI). I always make my EF02 partition be sdx1 of 2 MB. I am wondering if yours is big enough.

I'll keep thinking about it.

Tim

Head_on_a_Stick · 2014-11-17 23:11:43

My EF02 BIOS Boot Partitions are at sectors 34-2047 -- I always place them there (you have to create it last to fill the first 1007KiB on the disk) and it always works, even in systems which also have EF00 EFI system partitions.

nixIT · 2014-11-18 00:59:52

@ratcheer, I'm like you, I've been using GPT with bios for years as well and it's always worked like a champ, I have it on 2 systems that way. It's just this new laptop. Hell, MBR won't even boot on it.

@Head_on_a_Stick, I'm wondering if creating the EF02 BIOS Boot Partition last could be the thing, I've always created it first. I will try to create it last tomorrow to see what happens.

--nixIT

nixIT · 2014-11-18 14:25:52

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

My EF02 BIOS Boot Partitions are at sectors 34-2047 -- I always place them there (you have to create it last to fill the first 1007KiB on the disk) and it always works, even in systems which also have EF00 EFI system partitions.

Reset my bios to defaults
bios is set to boot in legacy mode.
followed the Beginners guide wiki,
deleted partitions and recreated a new GPT partition table
took your advice on creating the bios boot partition last
installed arch.
reboot, and I get the BootDevice not found message.

It's looking like a potential HD issue, I can't get arch to install via MBR or GPT on legacy.

Any other ideas to check while I wait for my hardware vendor return my call for a HD replacement?

--nixIT

WorMzy · 2014-11-18 15:58:46

Which partition did you set the legacy BIOS bootable attribute on?

On my work PC, I have it set on the boot partition (where syslinux looks for it's files), sda4. I assume you would do the same for grub2.

nixIT · 2014-11-18 16:07:34

@WorMzy,

1 = \
2 = swap
3 = \personal\data
4 = bios boot

I'm thinking about trying grub_legacy to see if that works. I have never had this much trouble trying to get Arch or any other linux installed. If bios_legacy doesn't work, going to try MBR one more time.

before I do the MBR, going to boot up parted magic to blow away partitions and start from scratch.

--nixIT

TheSaint · 2014-11-18 16:07:34

After formatting what you see by

# gdisk -l /dev/sdX

Where X could be one of a range of letter which point to that HDD

nixIT · 2014-11-18 19:30:19

TheSaint wrote:

After formatting what you see by
# gdisk -l /dev/sdX
Where X could be one of a range of letter which point to that HDD

root@archiso ~ # gdisk -l /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.10
Partition table scan:
MBR: protective
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: present
Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sda: 1953525168 sectors, 931.5 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 486D5234-7093-44C6-8E7B-6E491AB80806
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1953525134
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 0 sectors (0 bytes)
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 471861247 225.0 GiB 8300
2 471861248 1953525134 706.5 GiB 8300
3 34 2047 1007.0 KiB EF02

do you see anything out of the ordinary?

--nixIT

Head_on_a_Stick · 2014-11-18 19:48:21

That should work fine, as long as you use:

# grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sda

However, a quick scan of the wiki brings up:

While GPT support on BIOS systems is theoretically possible it sometimes isn't practical and other times there are complete incompatibilities.

A few workarounds are listed:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GU … OS_systems

Of course, this all applies to "Legacy" mode -- and, as always, the firmware implementation is variable.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2014-11-18 19:50:04)

TheSaint · 2014-11-18 19:50:52

I think should be OK, as it says here. It's preferred that the partition was for sector 34 for about 1 Mb onward.

nixIT · 2014-11-18 20:34:17

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

That should work fine, as long as you use:
# grub-install --target=i386-pc --recheck /dev/sda
However, a quick scan of the wiki brings up:
While GPT support on BIOS systems is theoretically possible it sometimes isn't practical and other times there are complete incompatibilities.
A few workarounds are listed:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GU … OS_systems
Of course, this all applies to "Legacy" mode -- and, as always, the firmware implementation is variable.

Holy Guacamole!!! it booted...

the thing that made it work was this:

Set the boot flag on the protective MBR partition (type 0xEE) . This can be done with parted /dev/sdX and disk_toggle pmbr_boot or using sgdisk /dev/sdX --attributes=1:set:2

Thanx to all that helped me figure this out. Now the stupid question is, why did this work?

--nixIT

Arch Linux

#1 2014-11-12 20:51:28

[SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#2 2014-11-12 21:00:56

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#3 2014-11-12 21:19:17

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#4 2014-11-12 22:30:00

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#5 2014-11-12 22:41:42

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#6 2014-11-12 23:59:51

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#7 2014-11-13 08:13:12

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#8 2014-11-16 20:49:47

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#9 2014-11-16 22:58:40

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#10 2014-11-17 19:20:44

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#11 2014-11-17 21:55:54

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#12 2014-11-17 23:06:00

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#13 2014-11-17 23:11:43

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#14 2014-11-18 00:59:52

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#15 2014-11-18 14:25:52

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#16 2014-11-18 15:58:46

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#17 2014-11-18 16:07:34

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#18 2014-11-18 16:07:34

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#19 2014-11-18 19:30:19

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#20 2014-11-18 19:48:21

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#21 2014-11-18 19:50:52

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

#22 2014-11-18 20:34:17

Re: [SOLVED] fresh install, can't boot to GPT

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