[Solved] UEFI mode

smileybri · 2015-10-19 23:56:09

So I am new to Arch. I have been having trouble with installation and I am learning to do things the Arch Way and learning to ask better questions. Here goes. I have a computer with an Intel motherboard DG33FB and a Core 2 Duo CPU. This mainboard has UEFI and it is enabled in system setup.

Following the Arch Wiki Beginners guide here:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_guide

There is a section called "UEFI mode" that indicates that "To verify you are booted in UEFI mode, check that the following directory is populated:"

# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

I don't seem to have this path. Inside of /sys/firmware are acpi, dmi and memmap.

Reading further

# mount -t efivarfs efivarfs /sys/firmware/efi/efivars

returns "mount: mount point /sys/firmware/efi/efivars does not exist" which I knew and thought that running that command was going to fix this.

I don't know if this is why I have been having trouble installing Arch and getting it to boot or just complicating things.

Just FYI, I was able to install Arch and have it boot with Architect with UEFI disabled (Shhhh, I know, but I wanted to see that the issue was with me, the user not knowing what to do, rather than a deficiency with Arch or my physical computer).

I don't mind learning what I need to know about UEFI, but I don't want to waste time if this isn't important to getting an Arch system up and running properly. If the answer is to ignore the fact that these variables are not loading or that I must disable UEFI then I will do just that.

In another post I was given an assignment to read https://www.happyassassin.net/2014/01/2 … work-then/ so I will be doing that prior to moving forward for now. I will check here again before doing anything else.

Thanks in advance!

Last edited by smileybri (2015-10-20 22:28:03)

Rethil · 2015-10-20 00:19:03

It looks like you're not in efi mode. Maybe it will looks kinda stupid but... what welcomes you when you boot live media?
Something like this, or this?

(and yes, I know that 2nd pic is from Fedora, but it was first pic of gummiboot in google)

Last edited by Rethil (2015-10-20 00:19:24)

Blasphemist · 2015-10-20 03:53:15

Are you using a CD, DVD or USB Arch installation media? The Arch iso is a hybrid image that works with both BIOS and UEFI systems. If I remember right it should check in which mode to boot. Exactly what it checks I don't know. I think that if you created the /sys/firmware/efi and sys/firmware/efi/efivars directories the mount might well succeed and populate with the variables. I'm still not sure things would go right from there.

I believe that when you boot the iso you should briefly see a boot loader screen displayed by systemd-boot. If the iso see's your system as a UEFI system you'll see that in the boot menu. If yours isn't being seen as a UEFI system, why? What kind of partition table does your drive have? If it doesn't have a GPT, Guid Partition Table, are you trying to leave some storage in place? It gets ugly trying to use UEFI with a MBR disk, however it can be done I understand.

Let's start there. Why is the iso not seeing this as a UEFI environment? If you have to, the directories I mentioned could be created and the efivars file system mounted and populated but I recommend looking into why this is happening now, at the start.

jasonwryan · 2015-10-20 05:01:05

OP is using an older machine: in all likelihood, BIOS is the only option...

Rethil · 2015-10-20 08:26:21

jasonwryan wrote:

OP is using an older machine: in all likelihood, BIOS is the only option...

I second that.

Smileybri, could you tell us what is your motherboard model?

betseg · 2015-10-20 09:02:23

Rethil wrote:

Smileybri, could you tell us what is your motherboard model?

smileybri wrote:

I have a computer with an Intel motherboard DG33FB and a Core 2 Duo CPU.

Rethil · 2015-10-20 09:08:16

betseg wrote:

Rethil wrote:
Smileybri, could you tell us what is your motherboard model?
smileybri wrote:
I have a computer with an Intel motherboard DG33FB and a Core 2 Duo CPU.

Ah yes, my bad. Looks like you have to stick with BIOS as it's only option for you.

smileybri · 2015-10-20 13:44:00

Thank you for your responses! I learn more with every roadblock.

My BIOS has the UEFI option but apparently these Intel boards have an early version of this firmware that is not recommended for use.

Rethil, I guess the good news is that I can now stop reading about UEFI (and I have learned so much already), stick my system in UEFI disable mode, and use MBR.

Oh, and I had the first image boot menu. The one with the Arch logo.

Thank you everyone for your assistance!

Rethil · 2015-10-20 13:55:07

smileybri wrote:

Thank you for your responses! I learn more with every roadblock.
My BIOS has the UEFI option but apparently these Intel boards have an early version of this firmware that is not recommended for use.
Rethil, I guess the good news is that I can now stop reading about UEFI (and I have learned so much already), stick my system in UEFI disable mode, and use MBR.
Oh, and I had the first image boot menu. The one with the Arch logo.
Thank you everyone for your assistance!

So you're not booting in efi mode, but you already know that much.
It's not recommended since efi mode on your motherboard has no proper ahci support.
I will send you PM with some recommendations if you don't mind.

smileybri · 2015-10-20 14:54:25

Me? Mind that you are helpful? Not in any way!

jasonwryan · 2015-10-20 15:48:21

Please remember to mark your thread as [Solved] by editing your first post and prepending it to the title.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-10-19 23:56:09

[Solved] UEFI mode

#2 2015-10-20 00:19:03

Re: [Solved] UEFI mode

#3 2015-10-20 03:53:15

Re: [Solved] UEFI mode

#4 2015-10-20 05:01:05

Re: [Solved] UEFI mode

#5 2015-10-20 08:26:21

Re: [Solved] UEFI mode

#6 2015-10-20 09:02:23

Re: [Solved] UEFI mode

#7 2015-10-20 09:08:16

Re: [Solved] UEFI mode

#8 2015-10-20 13:44:00

Re: [Solved] UEFI mode

#9 2015-10-20 13:55:07

Re: [Solved] UEFI mode

#10 2015-10-20 14:54:25

Re: [Solved] UEFI mode

#11 2015-10-20 15:48:21

Re: [Solved] UEFI mode

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