GRUB (uefi drops to rescue "normal.mod missing") F2FS on root

danielpublic · 2020-09-04 09:38:46

Problem; As the topic says, trying to boot through uefi and I get tossed into GRUB rescue mode with the output that normal.mod is m.i.a. While it in fact does reside comfortably:

[root@archiso /]# ls /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/normal.mod
/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/normal.mod

Exact steps (I have installed the system already)

(Mount root f2fs)

mount /dev/sde2 /mnt -O compress_algorithm=lzo
mount /dev/sde1 /mnt/EFI
arch-chroot /mnt

/etc/fstab

# Static information about the filesystems.
# See fstab(5) for details.

# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# /dev/sde2 LABEL=Arch
UUID=9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df       /               f2fs           rw,relatime,lazytime,background_gc=on,nodiscard,no_heap,inline_xattr,inline_data,inline_dentry,flush_merge,extent_cache,mode=adaptive,active_logs=6,alloc_mode=default,fsync_mode=posix,compress_algorithm=lzo,compress_log_size=2       0 0

# /dev/sde1 LABEL=EFI
UUID=82D0-3934          /efi            vfat            rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro       0 2

Installing grub

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/EFI --bootloader-id=GRUB

Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.

 grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg                          Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-linux
Found initrd image: /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-linux.img
Found fallback initrd image(s) in /boot: initramfs-linux-fallback.img
done

/boot/grub/grub.conf

# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_gpt
insmod f2fs
set root='hd4,gpt2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275/(null)/sas/disk@0,gpt2' --hint-bios=hd4,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd4,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci4,gpt2  9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
  set lang=en_US
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_input console
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
  set timeout_style=menu
  set timeout=5
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
  set timeout=5
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Arch Linux' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df' {
        load_video
        set gfxpayload=keep
        insmod gzio
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod f2fs
        set root='hd4,gpt2'
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275/(null)/sas/disk@0,gpt2' --hint-bios=hd4,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd4,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci4,gpt2  9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df
        fi
        echo    'Loading Linux linux ...'
        linux   /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df rw  loglevel=3 quiet
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-linux.img
}
submenu 'Advanced options for Arch Linux' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df' {
        menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux linux' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-linux-advanced-9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df' {
                load_video
                set gfxpayload=keep
                insmod gzio
                insmod part_gpt
                insmod f2fs
                set root='hd4,gpt2'
                if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275/(null)/sas/disk@0,gpt2' --hint-bios=hd4,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd4,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci4,gpt2  9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df
                else
                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df
                fi
                echo    'Loading Linux linux ...'
                linux   /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df rw  loglevel=3 quiet
                echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
                initrd  /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-linux.img
        }
        menuentry 'Arch Linux, with Linux linux (fallback initramfs)' --class arch --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-linux-fallback-9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df' {
                load_video
                set gfxpayload=keep
                insmod gzio
                insmod part_gpt
                insmod f2fs
                set root='hd4,gpt2'
                if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275/(null)/sas/disk@0,gpt2' --hint-bios=hd4,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd4,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci4,gpt2  9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df
                else
                  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df
                fi
                echo    'Loading Linux linux ...'
                linux   /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=9a128302-1aca-4416-85c9-e9c432be81df rw  loglevel=3 quiet
                echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
                initrd  /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
        }
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

Any advice for a oldienew user?
Thanks!

Last edited by danielpublic (2020-09-04 09:41:01)

danielpublic · 2020-09-04 13:44:47

Removed the f2fs partition (as one can't shrink it), created a new f2fs partition, made a ext4 /boot partition; "problem solved".

Last edited by danielpublic (2020-09-04 13:45:46)

d.ALT · 2020-09-17 10:47:39

Me too.
Same problem, same solution.

Please danielpublic mark this topic as [SOLVED] or, better, [WORKAROUND].

Arch Linux

#1 2020-09-04 09:38:46

GRUB (uefi drops to rescue "normal.mod missing") F2FS on root

#2 2020-09-04 13:44:47

Re: GRUB (uefi drops to rescue "normal.mod missing") F2FS on root

#3 2020-09-17 10:47:39

Re: GRUB (uefi drops to rescue "normal.mod missing") F2FS on root

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