'No bootable device found' after installation

Genis · 2019-09-05 10:44:45

Hi, I'm having troubles installing Arch Linux on a PC. It is not the first time I install Arch Linux, but it is the first time I get this 'No bootable devices found' error. It is to mention that, of course, I followed the Installation guide, but also tried the archfi script provided by MatMoul at github. I get the same error in both situations. If it could be of any help, this system had Ubuntu installed first, and failing to install Arch, I can install Ubuntu back.

A quick search shows results indicating that this might be a problem related to the choice of MBR or GPT tables (e.g. a previous question in this forum). I must say I have tried first using GPT with the gdisk tool, but after failing I converted GPT tables back to MBR like:

gdisk /dev/sdX -> r  -> g

And used fdisk as usual to partition. After partitioning, fdisk shows the following:

Disk /dev/sdb: 1.84 TiB, ...
...
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device           Boot           Start           End       Sectors      Size      Id     Type
/dev/sdb1                         2048           ...          ...               1.8T     83     Linux


Disk /dev/sda: 1.84 TiB, ...
...
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x75cc37df

Device           Boot           Start           End       Sectors      Size      Id     Type
/dev/sda1       *                2048           ...          ...               1G        ef     EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sda2                         ...               ...          ...               125G     83    Linux
/dev/sda3                        ...                ...          ...               32G       82    Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4                        ...                ...          ...               1.7T      83    Linux

...

Finally, my fstab looks like:

# /dev/sda2
UUID=num_1    /              ext4    rw,relatime    0    1

# /dev/sda1
UUID=num_2    /boot      vfat    rw,relatime,fmask=0022,codepage=437,locharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro    0    2

# /dev/sda4
UUID=num_3    /home    ext4    rw,relatime    0    2

# /dev/sdb1
UUID=num_4    /DATA    ext4    rw,relatime    0    2

# /dev/sda3
UUID=num_5    /none    swap    defaults    0    0

sabroad · 2019-09-05 11:29:06

Genis wrote:

I followed the Installation guide

Did you choose and install a boot loader as per the guide?

Genis wrote:

If it could be of any help, this system had Ubuntu installed first, and failing to install Arch, I can install Ubuntu back.

If Secure Boot is enabled in the BIOS then you'll either need to disable Secure Boot or use a signed boot loader.

V1del · 2019-09-05 11:44:20

Going by the only usable information since a lot of potentially relevant things were redacted, define what you actually want and are doing.

If you want an UEFI boot you must use GPT. If you don't you most likely will have to enable a legacy bios option in your firmware.

Having fixed/decided that, how did you set up, which boot loader? Which install command? Which PC, which motherboard, did you ensure to disable secure boot? What are the outputs of

efibootmgr -v

Given that is insufficient post your unredacted

lsblk -f

as well as boot loader config and fstab (if you still feel the need to redact, be absolutely one hundert percent certain that you aren't missing anything, given that you are asking this question you are probably not certain enough.)

Genis · 2019-09-05 12:04:12

Thank you for your replies,

Secure boot was in fact enabled, but it was disabled before trying to install Arch. PC is a Dell Precision Tower 5810. The output of XXX to see the motherboard is:

# dmidecode 3.1
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.8 present.

Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
	Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
	Product Name: 0HHV7N
	Version: A00
	Serial Number: /GKFF2J2/CN722006B800TU/
	Asset Tag: Not Specified
	Features:
		Board is a hosting board
		Board is replaceable
	Location In Chassis: Not Specified
	Chassis Handle: 0x0003
	Type: Motherboard
	Contained Object Handles: 0

As a boot loader, I did choose GRUB, and installed it (as well as efibootmgr) as stated in the Wiki (I used instructions for UEFI). The commands used for installation and configuration were:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=GRUB
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

I can in fact see the given label (GRUB) when I enter into the UEFI boot options. The target choice was based on the output of ls /usr/lib/grub/.

I think I will try again with GPT, as this PC is in fact using UEFI (didn't know GPT was mandatory in such case). It if fails, I will change in to a Legacy boot (this option is available).

Since I am writing from that PC (temporarily with Ubuntu again), let me try installation once more, and I will write back again with details on the output of efibootmgr, lsblk and a new fstab.

Genis · 2019-09-05 13:02:16

I repeated the installation process now using gdisk instead of fdisk and confirmed in the output that the disklabel type is gpt. Partitions are structured the same as above and the content of /etc/fstab is the same. As the above contained some errors, I write down a revised table (without the UUIDs):

# /dev/sda2
UUID=a21c2307-c122-437b-afe0-a256f5f1c960         /              ext4    rw,relatime    0    1

# /dev/sda1
UUID=E4C9-61DC                              /boot      vfat    rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro    0    2

# /dev/sda4
UUID=82da901e-295e-4c23-925e-3821d598e92b    /home    ext4    rw,relatime    0    2

# /dev/sdb1
UUID=8622942d-41c8-4615-aada-238c3894e23d    /mnt/DATA    ext4    rw,relatime    0    2

The output of efibootmgr -v is:

BootCurrent: 0005
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0001,0000,0005,0004
Boot000 ubuntu HD(1,GPT,4a90790c-ee51-4b0a-a9df6fe3006470b6,0x800,0x100000)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)
Boot001* GRUB HD(1,GPT,a4e38458-f250-4123-9872-73717aab42c9,0x800,0x200000)/File(\EFI\GRUB\grubx64.efi)
Boot004* arch VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)
Boot005* UEFI: VerbatimSTORE N GO 5.00 HD(1,MBR,0x535e5e7a,0xa4,0x20000)/File(\EFI\boot\bootx64.efi)..BO
...

And the output of lsblk -f:

NAME    FSTYPE    LABEL    UUID
loop0    squashfs
sda
 |_sda1 vfat    E4C9-61DC
 |_sda2 ext4    a21c2307-c122-437b-afe0-a256f5f1c960
 |_sda3 swap    c5a45b54-7928-49c3-971c-385c647c69d2
 |_sda4 ext4    82da901e-295e-4c23-925e-3821d598e92b

sdb
|_sdb1 ext4    8622942d-41c8-4615-aada-238c3894e23d

...

As some may note, this time I forgot to swapon, so it does not appear on fstab, but I don't think it would be a cause of the error.

sabroad · 2019-09-05 15:54:04

Genis wrote:

Boot000 ubuntu HD(1,GPT,4a90790c-ee51-4b0a-a9df6fe3006470b6,0x800,0x100000)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)
Boot001* GRUB HD(1,GPT,a4e38458-f250-4123-9872-73717aab42c9,0x800,0x200000)/File(\EFI\GRUB\grubx64.efi)

Do the PARTUUIDs match the EFI boot entries?

ls -l /dev/disk/by-partuuid/

Genis wrote:

 |_sda1 vfat    E4C9-61DC
 |_sda2 ext4    a21c2307-c122-437b-afe0-a256f5f1c960

Is the EFI system partition format FAT32?

file -s /dev/sda1

Arch Linux

#1 2019-09-05 10:44:45

'No bootable device found' after installation

#2 2019-09-05 11:29:06

Re: 'No bootable device found' after installation

#3 2019-09-05 11:44:20

Re: 'No bootable device found' after installation

#4 2019-09-05 12:04:12

Re: 'No bootable device found' after installation

#5 2019-09-05 13:02:16

Re: 'No bootable device found' after installation

#6 2019-09-05 15:54:04

Re: 'No bootable device found' after installation

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