[SOLVED] UEFI Grub install problem: no space left on device

custo · 2018-03-01 16:35:25

Following the Install guide I've been trying to install Arch on an old laptop of mine. It's supposed to be UEFI with Grub and an encrypted home partition.

I'm running into the following issue:

[root@archiso ~]# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=arch
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Could not prepare Boot variable: No space left on device
Installation finished. No error reported.

Why is that? Did I create the ESP too small?

Here is some information:

[root@archiso ~]# lsblk
NAME     MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINT
loop0      7:0    0   432M  1 loop  
sda        8:0    0 298.1G  0 disk  
|-sda1     8:1    0   550M  0 part  /boot
|-sda2     8:2    0    50G  0 part  /
|-sda3     8:3    0     5G  0 part  [SWAP]
`-sda4     8:4    0 242.6G  0 part  
  `-home 254:0    0 242.6G  0 crypt /home
sdb        8:16   1  14.6G  0 disk  
|-sdb1     8:17   1   539M  0 part  
`-sdb2     8:18   1    64M  0 part  
sr0       11:0    1  1024M  0 rom

[root@archiso ~]# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 298.1 GiB, 320072933376 bytes, 625142448 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 6229E9EC-1F71-0B4D-B9BA-9CBE991E3206

Device         Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1       2048   1128447   1126400   550M EFI System
/dev/sda2    1128448 105986047 104857600    50G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda3  105986048 116471807  10485760     5G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda4  116471808 625142414 508670607 242.6G Linux filesystem




Disk /dev/sdb: 14.6 GiB, 15682240512 bytes, 30629376 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x32051230

Device     Boot Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1  *        0 1103871 1103872  539M  0 Empty
/dev/sdb2         164  131235  131072   64M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)


Disk /dev/loop0: 432 MiB, 452915200 bytes, 884600 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/mapper/home: 242.6 GiB, 260437253632 bytes, 508666511 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

[root@archiso ~]# cat /etc/fstab
Disk /dev/mapper/home: 242.6 GiB, 260437253632 bytes, 508666511 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
fdisk -l
# Static information about the filesystems.
# See fstab(5) for details.

# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# /dev/sda2
UUID=963372bf-e0a9-44dd-b651-898746ab16a9	/         	ext4      	rw,relatime,data=ordered	0 1

# /dev/sda1
UUID=2AB4-01E3      	/boot     	vfat      	rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro	0 2

# /dev/mapper/home
UUID=cba8ac8e-1c0e-4202-a366-774b29ffe41e	/home     	ext4      	rw,relatime,data=ordered	0 2

# /dev/sda3
UUID=80933324-1c23-4b8f-84f3-0ca133342576	none      	swap      	defaults,pri=-2	0 0

Any thoughts?

Last edited by custo (2018-03-01 18:18:33)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2018-03-01 17:11:20

Check the output of:

# efibootmgr -v

If you have lots of entries then try deleting some that are not in use with

# efibootmgr -b xxxx -B

Replace xxxx with the boot number obtained from the output of the first command.

This bug report suggests that updating the motherboard firmware ("BIOS") may help but I would be wary of that.

As the last post in that thread notes, copying GRUB's .efi loader to $ESP/efi/boot/bootx64.efi may allow you to boot without an NVRAM entry.

EDIT: and here's an Arch forums thread about a similar issue with me in it:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=182978

I don't remember that at all...

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2018-03-01 17:12:34)

R00KIE · 2018-03-01 17:25:58

It seems more like grub can't setup the uefi boot entry, but this is just a guess from the error message because I don't recall seeing such a problem before.

I do remember that some laptops could be bricked under some circumstances and to try to avoid that the kernel does make the nvram storage read only unless you tell it you know what you are doing - this assuming I'm not wrong

Head_on_a_Stick · 2018-03-01 17:28:45

^ Yes, copying grubx64.efi to bootx64.efi is probably the safest technique.

custo · 2018-03-01 18:18:11

I get the following, what does that mean? Should I be concerned about it?

[root@archiso /]# efibootmgr -v
Timeout: 10 seconds
No BootOrder is set; firmware will attempt recovery

Anyway, I have created the /boot/EFI/BOOT directory and pasted /boot/EFI/arch/grubx64.efi to /boot/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI. Is this the same as if I'd had used grub-install --removable?

And it works! I could successfully boot into my system. Thanks a lot.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2018-03-01 18:39:02

custo wrote:

I get the following, what does that mean?

No idea, sorry.

custo wrote:

Should I be concerned about it?

Well, it doesn't look normal but if your system is booting now perhaps you should leave it well alone.

custo wrote:

I have created the /boot/EFI/BOOT directory and pasted /boot/EFI/arch/grubx64.efi to /boot/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI. Is this the same as if I'd had used grub-install --removable?

Oh yes, I forgot about that flag, that would have been simpler

Arch Linux

#1 2018-03-01 16:35:25

[SOLVED] UEFI Grub install problem: no space left on device

#2 2018-03-01 17:11:20

Re: [SOLVED] UEFI Grub install problem: no space left on device

#3 2018-03-01 17:25:58

Re: [SOLVED] UEFI Grub install problem: no space left on device

#4 2018-03-01 17:28:45

Re: [SOLVED] UEFI Grub install problem: no space left on device

#5 2018-03-01 18:18:11

Re: [SOLVED] UEFI Grub install problem: no space left on device

#6 2018-03-01 18:39:02

Re: [SOLVED] UEFI Grub install problem: no space left on device

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