Arch Linux

kjmeagher

Member

Registered: 2015-10-20

Posts: 9

[solved] What exactly did arch linux do to my BIOS

I recently got a new motherboard and thought it was a good opportunity to try out arch. The motherboard has an onboard intel integrated video card and had a normal post and BIOS menu before I installed arch. I followed the instructions on the Beginners' guide to install arch, I had add the option --target=i386-pc when I ran grub-install because contrary to the wiki page that is not the default, and adding that option was what was recommended by the first page I got when I googled the error message.

After installation was complete I rebooted. There was no bios post message, the screen displayed no signal for a long time before eventually showing a login prompt. The install seems to work, but waiting that long while my monitor shows no signal doesn't sit right with me. Booting with a disconnecting the hard disk i see no signal on the bios. I don't have a PC speaker so i cant listen for any beep codes. I know this sounds weird but did grub somehow disable my bios?

Last edited by kjmeagher (2015-10-20 13:52:57)

graysky

Wiki Maintainer

From: :wq

Registered: 2008-12-01

Posts: 10,600

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Re: [solved] What exactly did arch linux do to my BIOS

No.  Grub just rights to the disk, not the bios.  Have you tried resetting the bios via the on board jumper and removing the battery method?  Consult your manual.

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Rethil

Member

Registered: 2014-08-21

Posts: 83

Re: [solved] What exactly did arch linux do to my BIOS

Your bios cannot be "disabled" since it is a layer of communication between your hardware and software. If your bios isn't running you would not be able to boot at all. Also bios *beep* comes not from speakers but from motherboard itself. Since there is no beeping it means that bios does not report any errors.

How long is "long" before login prompt?

Last edited by Rethil (2015-10-20 11:19:57)

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,559

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Re: [solved] What exactly did arch linux do to my BIOS

Is there an external monitor or second display connection?  I suspect all the startup stuff is being sent to a different display, and the 'long' wait would be the default grub timeout before booting.

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"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

kjmeagher

Member

Registered: 2015-10-20

Posts: 9

Re: [solved] What exactly did arch linux do to my BIOS

Switching from a DVI to D-SUB seems to fix the problem, thanks Trilby.

Rethill: PC speaker refers to the simple speaker which can only basically be used for beeping which PCs come with and are distinct from the speakers you plug into your sound card.  Some motherboards have built in PC speakers, my motherboard does not, it has a pinout for the PC speaker.

Last edited by kjmeagher (2015-10-20 13:53:28)