[SOLVED] GRUB Stuck on Loading Screen

ghostHardware · 2017-12-14 17:53:32

I'm installing on a ThinkPad x200 via USB with the x64 iso, which is a BIOS-boot (not UEFI) system

Here's what I've done.

# wifi-menu

# timedatectl set-ntp true

# cfdisk /dev/sdb 

/dev/sdb1 is 100M as a BIOS boot partition
/dev/sdb2 uses the remaining space and is a Linux filesystem

# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1 

I have also tried with .ext2, same issue

# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb2

#mkdir /mnt/boot

#mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt

#mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/boot

#pacstrap /mnt base

#genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

# arch-chroot /mnt

# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Region/City /etc/localtime

# hwclock --systohc

#pacman -S vim iwconfig wpa_supplicant networkmanager grub intel-ucode

# grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sdb

# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

I'm stumped. There are no obvious error messages, the screen says GRUB Loading and stays like that.

Last edited by ghostHardware (2017-12-16 21:26:37)

jasonwryan · 2017-12-14 18:05:34

Post your config.

ghostHardware · 2017-12-14 18:26:54

jasonwryan wrote:

Post your config.

My GRUB config?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-12-14 19:58:18

ghostHardware wrote:

I/dev/sdb1 is 100M as a BIOS boot partition
/dev/sdb2 uses the remaining space and is a Linux filesystem
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1
I have also tried with .ext2, same issue

A BIOS boot partition only needs to be a few hundred KiB in size and should _not_ have a filesystem.

Furthermore, a BIOS boot partition is only needed if you want to boot GRUB in non-UEFI mode with a disk with a GUID partition table and it may not actually work at all unless your motherboard's firmware ("BIOS") is less buggy than most.

If you want to use a GPT disk then install in UEFI mode, if you want to install in non-UEFI mode then use an ms-dos ("MBR") partition table instead.

If you insist on using a GPT disk with a non-UEFI system then try again with a smaller BIOS boot partition (I use sectors 34-2047, these should be empty in a correctly-aligned drive) and this time _do not_ attempt to format it.

EDIT: missed this:

a BIOS-boot (not UEFI) system

I think we need to see:

# parted --list

EDIT2: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Li … in_clients

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-12-14 20:05:47)

ghostHardware · 2017-12-16 20:11:44

Model: Kingston DT 100 G2 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 3927MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 3927MB 3926MB primary fat32 boot, lba

Model: ATA SAMSUNG SSD PM80 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 128GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 106MB 105MB ext4 bios_grub
2 106MB 128GB 128GB ext4

https://ptpb.pw/cKwP

A BIOS boot partition only needs to be a few hundred KiB in size and should _not_ have a filesystem.

If the partition already has a filesystem on it, how do I format it so that it doesn't have a filesystem? If I didn't do anything to the partition, it would still have all the data from the previous install attempt, right?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-12-16 20:21:28

ghostHardware wrote:

Partition Table: gpt

I would advise wiping the partition table with

# sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sdX # replace X with the letter assigned to your main drive, do not add a partition number

Then starting again and this time create a fresh ms-dos ("MBR"-style) partition table (cfdisk can do this but fdisk is better) and don't bother with a BIOS boot partition (it is not needed for non-UEFI booting on an ms-dos disk), just proceed with `grub-install` & `grub-mkconfig`, as per the wiki.

If the partition already has a filesystem on it, how do I format it so that it doesn't have a filesystem?

If you insist on sticking with the GUID partition table then erase the current partitions and create new ones from scratch using the gdisk program, in that program type "ef02" will produce a BIOS boot partition but be aware that your motherboard may not even boot this way so you might have to go with an ms-dos table anyway.

ghostHardware · 2017-12-16 21:26:23

Thanks, it worked.

Arch Linux

#1 2017-12-14 17:53:32

[SOLVED] GRUB Stuck on Loading Screen

#2 2017-12-14 18:05:34

Re: [SOLVED] GRUB Stuck on Loading Screen

#3 2017-12-14 18:26:54

Re: [SOLVED] GRUB Stuck on Loading Screen

#4 2017-12-14 19:58:18

Re: [SOLVED] GRUB Stuck on Loading Screen

#5 2017-12-16 20:11:44

Re: [SOLVED] GRUB Stuck on Loading Screen

#6 2017-12-16 20:21:28

Re: [SOLVED] GRUB Stuck on Loading Screen

#7 2017-12-16 21:26:23

Re: [SOLVED] GRUB Stuck on Loading Screen

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