SOLVED-Dual-boot/mixed MBR/GPT GRUB configuration failure

mibadt · 2016-05-13 05:33:28

Hi,
My BIOS based Arch64/Win 10, triple drive suffered a crash cuasing me to loose my Arch.
Trying to install (latest May 2016) Arch, I ge major problems at the grub-mkconfig stage (which aborts).
I would not like to reinstall WIN.

Detailed info below- any help very much appreciated!

My drives structure

Arch LInux is installed in GPT-partitioned sdb2 (all except for /home), with flags boot,esp.
sdb1 is a BIOS boot 2M partition (type ef02).

Win 10 is installed on MBR-partitioned sdc1, with boot flag.

% lsblk -f
NAME   FSTYPE   LABEL    UUID                                 MOUNTPOINT
sda                                                           
└─sda1 ntfs     LR       34CD700E5339BFA3                     
sdb                                                           
├─sdb1                                                        
├─sdb2 ext4     Root     06b7093f-b4f8-4676-a823-1d2b3b1d2f7f 
├─sdb3 swap     Swap     359a5fbe-c4ff-431e-aa23-9f88abaf10a5 
├─sdb4 ext4     Backup   b699300e-ee30-4206-9b58-9bac4115e1a4 
└─sdb6 ntfs     Photos   364B2FD71257E770                     
sdc                                                           
├─sdc1 ntfs     Windows  60EF627E1C378908                     
├─sdc3 ext4     HOME     9d6eb8a2-be83-477b-976e-e6d1ad560f8d 
└─sdc4 ntfs     LR_Cache 77FD25D34293B799                     
sr0                                                           /livemnt/boot
loop0  squashfs                                               /livemnt/squashfs
root@sysresccd /root % gdisk /dev/sdb
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/sdb: 5860524911 sectors, 2.7 TiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 93CDF1D4-939E-3940-9993-B85A5623DF47
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 5860524877
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 6 sectors (3.0 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1              40            4135   2.0 MiB     EF02  BIOS boot partition
   2            4136        50335783   24.0 GiB    EF00  Linux filesystem
   3        50335784        71307303   10.0 GiB    8200  Linux swap
   4        71307304       297411344   107.8 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem
   6       297411345      5860524877   2.6 TiB     0700  photos

Note that although lsblk reports sdb2 to be ext4 fs (that's correct), qdisk shows an EF00 fs -shouldn't it be 8300?
Installation proceeded flawlessly , including grub-install on sdb.
However, at thegrub-mkconfig stage, it aborted caling the followinh:
1. No lvmetad socket
2. sdb1 can't find ext4
3. NTFS sdb1-primary boot sector is invalid

I would VERY much appreciating guidance, especially as to:
1. Should GRUB be installed on sdb or sdc
2. Is it OK to have TWO drives flagged with boot, and if not, which one should be flagged as boot.

Thanks a lot!

Michael Badt

Last edited by mibadt (2016-05-16 00:23:10)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-05-14 11:39:06

mibadt wrote:

Arch LInux is installed in GPT-partitioned sdb2 (all except for /home), with flags boot,esp

That makes no sense at all

Please post the full output of:

# parted -l

mibadt · 2016-05-16 00:22:29

Thanks all!

Solved as follows:
1. Adding a 140MB separate /boot partition on sdc2 (same drive containing Windows)
2. Flagging the Win partition as boot (and remocing that flag from other partitions
2. Installing grub in the Win drive (SDC)

Arch Linux

#1 2016-05-13 05:33:28

SOLVED-Dual-boot/mixed MBR/GPT GRUB configuration failure

#2 2016-05-14 11:39:06

Re: SOLVED-Dual-boot/mixed MBR/GPT GRUB configuration failure

#3 2016-05-16 00:22:29

Re: SOLVED-Dual-boot/mixed MBR/GPT GRUB configuration failure

Board footer