[SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

jeroen_JDOG · 2015-03-28 14:23:25

Hello everyone,

I am new to Arch, and have tried out Arch on VirtualBox using Windows 8, but I would like to install Arch as dual boot now.
I have a tablet (Microsoft Surface Pro 1 with Windows 8) on which I would like to install a dual boot with Arch.
This tablet has no Ethernet adapter, although I have a USB-Ethernet adapter which I can connect to the tablet, and the tablet also has wireless support.
From the wiki, I downloaded the installation ISO, and burned it to a CD.

Booting the tablet from this CD seems to work, and Arch successfully boots upto automatic root login.
From there on I can set the keyboard layout, partition the hard drive for the dual boot, format partitions and mount partitions.
Only when I need to run "$ pacman -Syy" after configuring the pacman mirrorlist, I have the problem that the tablet does not have any network connection.

When I run "$ ip link", there are only the connections "lo" and "mlan0" (both connected network cable and disconnected cable give this result.)
After a bit of searching on Google, I tried out the steps given on the Network Configuration page on the wiki.
Using these steps I get stuck at "$ lspci -v", which shows three USB controllers (The tablet has one USB port), but there is no Ethernet controller.

On the VirtualBox installation of Arch, the network connection was always automaticly made, probably because the Windows 8 host has a working wireless network connection.
Could someone help me with this problem?
Thanks in advance,
Jeroen

PS. When connecting the network cable through a USB-port adapter I get an error saying "SQUASHFS error: squashfs_read_data failed to read block 0xe94b4fc", would that have something to do with not being able to use the network cable?

Last edited by jeroen_JDOG (2015-03-28 21:08:57)

ewaller · 2015-03-28 14:57:35

To see what are on the USB buses, use lsusb

A real nice alternative is to USB tether a phone. It will share whatever wifi or mobile data the phone is using much the same way the Windows/VB thing worked. On the Arch install, it should "just work", if not run dhcpcd by hand.

jeroen_JDOG · 2015-03-28 15:30:12

Thanks for your reply.

With the network cable connected, the output of "$ lsusb" is the following:
Bus 003 Device 009: ID 0bda:8150 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8150 Fast Ethernet Adapter
With a mobile phone (Google Nexus 4) connected with USB thetering enabled, the output of "$ lsusb" is the following:
Bus 003 Device 007: ID 18d1:4ee3 Google Inc. Nexus 4 (theter)
Both outputs have some other lines before these, giving information about Microsoft, Intel and Linux.

When I run "$ ip link" with the mobile phone connected I get the squashfs error again saying "SQUASH error: squashfs_read_data failed to read block 0x5df78fc".
This error occurs 8 times in total, twice with block "0x5df78fc", four times with "0x5e0134c", and two times with "0x5df78fc" again.

Just as a note, the fact that I have only one USB port means that I can connect either the installation CD, the ethernet adapter, or the mobile phone, but not simultaniously.

I also searched a bit on the squashfs error, since I read that it is a compressed filesystem, it might be worth saying that I formatted my partitions with "$ mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda5" and "mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda6", which are respectively mounted to /mnt and to /mnt/home.
I also read that this might be caused by an error in the CD, which could be solved by creating a new installion CD.

Gusar · 2015-03-28 15:42:19

The squashfs errors are there because you've removed the usb device you booted from. The device needs to always be present. Which means you'll need to use an usb hub. Or you create a boot media that completely copies itself into ram, it appears Archboot works like that.

jeroen_JDOG · 2015-03-28 16:23:03

That could very well be the mistake I made, since I only got the errors once I removed the installation CD and added the ethernet adapter.

I read the link you posted for Archboot, and that sounds very promising for what I want.
Unfortunately I don't know of a way to install that package without a network connection, is there a way to do that since I do have Windows 8 running with a network connection on the same tablet?
I could imagine maybe downloading the tar.gz of that package and creating a small partition with Windows where that file is saved, and then mounting that partition with Linux to read the file, would that work?
I don't have any usb hub around here either, so I would prefer a different solution over buying one.

Gusar · 2015-03-28 16:32:34

Don't use the Archboot package - use the Archboot ISO. It's an alternative boot media created with Archboot. That wiki page contains a link to it.

jeroen_JDOG · 2015-03-28 17:40:12

I downloaded the ISO file from the link on the Archboot wiki page and saved it to a USB stick, since the 1GB file won't fit on my 700MB CD.
The tablet successfully booted using the USB stick, and the Archboot screen appeared (blue background, gray box with text in the center of the screen).
After completing all steps in the given order, the system rebooted and the dual boot screen only gave me an option for Windows 8.
I am not 100% sure if I followed the installation correctly, since the /mnt and /mnt/home are now /install and /install/home.

For the dual boot screen I am using EasyBCD on the Windows 8 part of the tablet.
EasyBCD says there are two entries, namely "Windows 8", which boots from "C:\", and the other entry is "GRUB_Normal" which has an empty bootloader path.
I would say the "GRUB_Normal" would have to be Arch, since I did not have this entry before the dual boot.
I added a third entry manually, called "Arch Linux" which boots from "\NST\AutoNeoGrub.mbr". (In the "Add entry" menu I selected "Linux/BSD" as OS, and "Partition 5 (HFS+ - 3 GiB)" as drive since I installed Arch on /dev/sda5.)
Upon rebooting, I can now see the Windows 8 entry and the new Arch Linux entry, but when I select Arch Linux I get an error message saying "Could not boot Windows". (message is not quoted, had to translate it from Dutch.)

I am not sure what to do now, do I even need EasyBCD or maybe install something like "os-prober" using Arch?
If so, how would I boot into Arch from here on?

Thanks in advance

EDIT: Reporting some progress
After changing the order in which the OS's are listed, "GRUB_Normal" now does show up upon rebooting.
Selecting "GRUB_Normal" gives the same error saying "Could not boot Windows".
The bootloader path of this entry is still empty.

Last edited by jeroen_JDOG (2015-03-28 17:50:52)

Gusar · 2015-03-28 18:43:07

No experience with EasyBCD, and I'm not touching that monster that is Grub with a ten foot pole.

I'd say go with syslinux or gummiboot. Gummiboot is extremely simple, but does the job wonderfully. It even automatically detects Windows, so you can have Gummiboot as the primary loader and boot both Linux and Windows from there.

jeroen_JDOG · 2015-03-28 20:06:51

Thanks, I re-installed Arch from the Archboot ISO.
When requested to choose a bootloader, Gummiboot was not available, so I chose Syslinux.
The installation completed without any problems, but when rebooting I can only see the Windows 8 dual boot screen, showing only the Windows 8 entry.
Is there something I have to do to change the default bootloader from Windows' bootloader to Syslinux?

Gusar · 2015-03-28 20:34:53

That's the problem with alternative installers. It's impossible to know what state the installer left things in, how it attempted to install syslinux, where things went wrong, etc. The standard way of installing Arch is doing everything manually, which makes you a lot more aware of what's going on. All I can suggest is, read the wiki on syslinux and install it as described there.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2015-03-28 20:57:35

@OP: Please open a new thread for your booting problem using a descriptive title.

As Gusar says, use the standard manual method of installation and follow the Beginner's Guide.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_guide

I'm pretty sure I know what's going on here and how to solve it but it would be more useful to the Arch community if the solution was posted under a thread title that would show up in internet searches.

jeroen_JDOG · 2015-03-28 21:09:06

This is indeed no longer the problem the tread title suggests.
Anyways, the problem I had in the first place is solved now, so I would like to thank you for your help.
I will also mark this thread as solved.
Thanks for all the support.

Gusar · 2015-03-28 21:15:23

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

I'm pretty sure I know what's going on here and how to solve it

You do? I don't. I mean, maybe syslinux is installed and all it takes is some poking with efibootmgr to make it the default. Or maybe it didn't get installed at all. I have no idea what the Archboot installer did and what it's even capable of - can it handle UEFI syslinux at all, or did it just run syslinux_install-update which is for BIOS only? My advice to go with Archboot turned out to not be good advice. It did do one thing though - I now have even more appreciation for the standard Arch install method, its advantages are many.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-03-28 14:23:25

[SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

#2 2015-03-28 14:57:35

Re: [SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

#3 2015-03-28 15:30:12

Re: [SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

#4 2015-03-28 15:42:19

Re: [SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

#5 2015-03-28 16:23:03

Re: [SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

#6 2015-03-28 16:32:34

Re: [SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

#7 2015-03-28 17:40:12

Re: [SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

#8 2015-03-28 18:43:07

Re: [SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

#9 2015-03-28 20:06:51

Re: [SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

#10 2015-03-28 20:34:53

Re: [SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

#11 2015-03-28 20:57:35

Re: [SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

#12 2015-03-28 21:09:06

Re: [SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

#13 2015-03-28 21:15:23

Re: [SOLVED] Installation with network through USB port

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