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#1 2022-04-17 01:59:29

topher
Member
Registered: 2016-04-28
Posts: 8

changing bootloader

I have a relatively new arch installation on a System76 Galago Pro (galp5). It's set up to boot using EFISTUB, with the EFI system partition mounted at /boot. However, after installing the System76 drivers, daemons and modules (<https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System76_Galago_Pro_galp3>), Iḿ seeing that not all of them are loading successfully. Specifically:

Apr 15 17:24:23 owl systemd-modules-load[256]: Failed to find module 'system76-io'
Apr 15 17:24:23 owl systemd-modules-load[256]: Failed to find module 'system76'

and

Apr 16 17:46:40 owl system76-firmware-daemon[21401]: system76-firmware-daemon: EFI mount point not found

The System76 article has instructions in its troubleshooting section for fixing the firmware daemon error with grub, so Iḿ thinking maybe I should switch from EFISTUB to grub in order to fix at least that problem. If that helps with the missing modules, that would be good too.

Anyway some questions before I start with this:

Is it safe to change the boot loader from EFISTUB to grub on an existing installation?
Can the EFISTUB and grub both be configured to boot from the same EFI partition or would I need to remove the EFISTUB entry with efibootmgr before using grub?
Should I change the ESP mount point from /boot to /efi?
Any other words of wisdom?

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#2 2022-04-17 02:35:16

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,441
Website

Re: changing bootloader

topher wrote:

Any other words of wisdom?

Yeah, don't change your boot loader just to load a module.  That's like buying a new house just so you can get new wallpaper.

topher wrote:

The System76 article has instructions in its troubleshooting section for fixing the firmware daemon error with grub

Where is this article?


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#3 2022-04-17 02:56:48

topher
Member
Registered: 2016-04-28
Posts: 8

Re: changing bootloader

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#4 2022-04-17 02:59:33

topher
Member
Registered: 2016-04-28
Posts: 8

Re: changing bootloader

Hmm. The last bit of that URL is "System76_Galago_Pro_galp3"

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#5 2022-04-17 11:02:59

Lone_Wolf
Member
From: Netherlands, Europe
Registered: 2005-10-04
Posts: 11,867

Re: changing bootloader

Correct, it may not be valid for a galp5 .

Also

system76-firmware: EFI mount point not found

If using the new (replacement) EFI mount point /efi

you don't use /efi , so the instructions likely don't apply to your partition setup.

I suggest you verify the efi bootmgr entry is setup correctly.
the output of (run as root)

# efibootmgr --verbose

should help with that.


Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.


(A works at time B)  && (time C > time B ) ≠  (A works at time C)

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#6 2022-04-17 16:50:44

topher
Member
Registered: 2016-04-28
Posts: 8

Re: changing bootloader

Lone_Wolf wrote:

Correct, it may not be valid for a galp5 .

I'm aware of that, but it's the closest article to the machine I have and the specs of the galp3 are similar to the galp5.

Also

system76-firmware: EFI mount point not found

If using the new (replacement) EFI mount point /efi

you don't use /efi , so the instructions likely don't apply to your partition setup.

Sure. I'm just trying to extrapolate how to point the System76 firmware daemon at the efi mount point.

I suggest you verify the efi bootmgr entry is setup correctly.
the output of (run as root)

# efibootmgr --verbose

should help with that.

Already done that. The bootmgr entry is correct as far as it goes. The system boots and runs fine except that not all of the System76 stuff loads successfully. It seems that maybe I need a boot parameter to point to the efi mount point, which wouldn't require changing boot loaders. Apologies for the misdirect on that.

BTW, this isn't my first time installing arch, just the first time on a System76 machine and installing the System76 modules and daemons. Overall, the system is running fine and is completely usable, including all of the hardware features that I care about that the System76 software is supposed to address. I just don't like messages in the system journal about modules not loading and daemons failing to start.  8^)   It's really the only remaining set-up issue with this install and I'd like to get to the bottom of it.

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#7 2022-04-17 21:43:49

topher
Member
Registered: 2016-04-28
Posts: 8

Re: changing bootloader

DOH!! The issue with the System76 firmware daemon is solved. I noticed in the output of 'fdisk -l' that the EFI partition had a type of 'Linux filesystem'. Changed it to 'EFI System' and system76-firmware-daemon.service is able to find the esp and now starts successfully.

I feel a little silly now for jumping down a rabbit hole and wasting bandwidth when the fix was simple and should have been obvious. Thank you guys for indulging me. Now I need to figure out what's going on with the missing kernel modules, but that's my problem and I won't bother you all with it.

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#8 2022-04-18 09:51:15

leonavis
Member
From: Bremen, Germany
Registered: 2021-06-27
Posts: 70

Re: changing bootloader

Now I need to figure out what's going on with the missing kernel modules

I have quite a few of those while updating kernels, and apparantly none of them are in any way important to Arch working properly.

So if you don't notice anything important missing or the PC misbehaving, it might be safe to just ignore them.

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#9 2022-04-18 18:24:44

topher
Member
Registered: 2016-04-28
Posts: 8

Re: changing bootloader

leonavis wrote:

Now I need to figure out what's going on with the missing kernel modules

I have quite a few of those while updating kernels, and apparantly none of them are in any way important to Arch working properly.

So if you don't notice anything important missing or the PC misbehaving, it might be safe to just ignore them.

Yeah, it turns out that both of the missing modules are optional to other modules and they don't enable any features that are relevant to my installation, so I've removed their packages and the 'not found' messages are no longer cluttering my system journal.  8^)

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