Arch Linux

porcelain1

Member

Registered: 2020-01-18

Posts: 101

If you are stuck at "Checking media" after upgrading Linux to 5.7.2...

Hello

I have Arch Linux installed on an Lenovo Ideapad 330 model 81fes00300, with UEFI enabled and GPT, using EFISTUB to load the kernel directly after boot (enabled by default) instead of using a boot manager like GRUB etc. I upgraded Linux to 5.7.2.arch1-1 and, after rebooting, I'd see "Checking media" popping several times and falling to PXE installation. In the end, I just needed to update my UEFI boot manager entry for Arch Linux to use backslashes (\) instead of slashes (/) in the initrd= parts.

I found the solution among these posts:

[SOLVED] Refind fails to boot after update to kernel 5.7.2
Kernel 5.7.2 "Error: Invalid parameter returned from vmliuz-linux"
Linux 5.7 cannot boot with intel-ucode.img

Old post with same problem of "Checking media": [Solved] Checking media error (again on a clean install)

Output of efibootmgr --verbose:

BootCurrent: 000E
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 000E,2001,2003,0001,0000,2002
Boot0000* Realtek PXE B01 D00   BBS(128,Realtek PXE B01 D00,0x0).......................................................................
Boot0001* WDC WD10SPZX-24Z10T0                  BBS(HD,WDC WD10SPZX-24Z10T0            ,0x500)................-...........A.......................................|..
Boot0004* EFI Network 0 for IPv4 (64-1C-67-A6-40-E1)    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1c,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/MAC(641c67a640e1,0)/IPv4(0.0.0.00.0.0.0,0,0)RC
Boot0005* EFI Network 0 for IPv6 (64-1C-67-A6-40-E1)    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1c,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/MAC(641c67a640e1,0)/IPv6([::]:<->[::]:,0,0)RC
Boot0006* EFI Network 0 for IPv6 (64-1C-67-A6-40-E1)    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1c,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/MAC(641c67a640e1,0)/IPv6([::]:<->[::]:,0,0)RC
Boot0007* ubuntu        HD(1,GPT,811918b8-0dca-4838-930d-f710c4e34db6,0x800,0x100000)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)
Boot0008* Windows Boot Manager  HD(2,GPT,c2b5e9f6-42f0-4c43-ac10-e1b457174667,0x109000,0x32000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}....................
Boot0009* Arch Linux    HD(1,GPT,d1504f05-a866-9442-9048-4cd771d1a601,0x800,0x100000)/File(\vmlinuz-linux)r.o.o.t.=./.d.e.v./.s.d.a.2. .r.w. .i.n.i.t.r.d.=./.i.n.t.e.l.-.u.c.o.d.e...i.m.g. .i.n.i.t.r.d.=./.i.n.i.t.r.a.m.f.s.-.l.i.n.u.x...i.m.g.
Boot000E* Arch Linux    HD(1,GPT,d1504f05-a866-9442-9048-4cd771d1a601,0x800,0x100000)/File(\vmlinuz-linux)r.o.o.t.=./.d.e.v./.s.d.a.2. .r.w. .i.n.i.t.r.d.=.\.i.n.t.e.l.-.u.c.o.d.e...i.m.g. .i.n.i.t.r.d.=.\.i.n.i.t.r.a.m.f.s.-.l.i.n.u.x...i.m.g.
Boot2001* EFI USB Device        RC
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM RC
Boot2003* EFI Network   RC

The output is weird but you can see I've booted with entry #000E, while the old one is the entry #0009. I've used efibootmgr to add entries. Notice that while I changed to backslashes (\) in the initrd= parts, I kept slashes (/) in the device path in root=. The Wiki says to put the PARTUUID of the root partition, but I'm too lazy.

# efibootmgr --create --label "Arch Linux" --loader /vmlinuz-linux --unicode 'root=/dev/sda2 rw initrd=\intel-ucode.img initrd=\initramfs-linux.img' --verbose

Remember to update the entries, as in EFISTUB#efibootmgr (just beware it gives examples still using slashes (/). Microcode#EFISTUB has example with proper backslashes.

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Behemoth, wake up!