Unable to install proper UEFI boot entry

arturro · 2022-10-26 20:31:39

Hi, after changing failed mainboard in my PC I have strange problem with installing new UEFI boot entry. All old components are the same. I have identical new motherboard model with the same bios revision. I'm 99,99% sure that all bios settings are set as they were in old system. Archiso boots in UEFI mode, hard disk has GPT table with protective MBR and proper partition layout (this is drive from old system) and the problem is, that when I trying to install new menu entry in firmware with command:

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=Arch

it creates new record but with invalid partition type and disk uuid:

Boot0002* Arch HD(1,MBR,0x0,0x1,0xee7c2af)/File(\EFI\Arch\grubx64.efi)

and the question is WHY??? This boot option is not working because system is trying to find bootloader on MBR not GPT partition. I tried to install grub bootloader with "default path" ie.with --removable option, to temporarily workaround this issue, but my system recognizes this kind of entries only on removable devices. Also tried to install new entry manually using efibootmgr with -g option to force GPT mode (PMBR is ok but why not to try). I even "killed" whole MBR with dd (act of desperation ) but also with no luck. Even with no MBR data on disk, grub-install keeps installing this as MBR.

d.ALT · 2022-10-26 20:39:10

Double check if there are some CSM settings inside your UEFI that may be interfere while creating NVRAM entries.

What's the output of

# efibootmgr -v

from a LiveUSB?

Last edited by d.ALT (2022-10-26 20:47:22)

cfr · 2022-10-27 00:41:47

Also

gdisk -l <path to disk>

Or fdisk -l if you don't want to install gptfdisk while booting the live iso.

arturro · 2022-10-27 17:47:34

d.ALT wrote:

Double check if there are some CSM settings inside your UEFI that may be interfere while creating NVRAM entries.

What's the output of
# efibootmgr -v
from a LiveUSB?

Hi, CSM is disabled. Output of efibootmgr:

BootCurrent: 0002
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0002,0000,0001
Boot0000* Diagnostic Program    MemoryMapped(11,0xae3df004,0xaec14003)/FvFile(6f1cf8df-2398-4b3b-aaa6-35d97d4a76e9)
      dp: 01 03 18 00 0b 00 00 00 04 f0 3d ae 00 00 00 00 03 40 c1 ae 00 00 00 00 / 04 06 14 00 df f8 1c 6f 98 23 3b 4b aa a6 35 d9 7d 4a 76 e9 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0001* Arch  VenHw(99e275e7-75a0-4b37-a2e6-c5385e6c00cb)
      dp: 01 04 14 00 e7 75 e2 99 a0 75 37 4b a2 e6 c5 38 5e 6c 00 cb / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0002* UEFI: Samsung Flash Drive FIT 1100    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x10,0x0)/USB(3,0)/HD(1,GPT,9e395991-17a2-4ea8-b6a7-11a7bf8a83d9,0x800,0xef039e5)0000424f
      dp: 02 01 0c 00 d0 41 03 0a 00 00 00 00 / 01 01 06 00 00 10 / 03 05 06 00 03 00 / 04 01 2a 00 01 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 e5 39 f0 0e 00 00 00 00 91 59 39 9e a2 17 a8 4e b6 a7 11 a7 bf 8a 83 d9 02 02 / 7f ff 04 00
    data: 00 00 42 4f

and regarding cfr question, gdisk:

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.9

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sda: 250069680 sectors, 119.2 GiB
Model: SK hynix SC210 m
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): FCC13619-1D97-AE48-BBC2-6D2F396A162F
Partition table holds up to 2048 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 513
First usable sector is 514, last usable sector is 250069166
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 1709 sectors (854.5 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048         1026047   500.0 MiB   EF00  EFI system partition
   2         1026048       250068991   118.8 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem

d.ALT · 2022-10-27 18:32:44

arturro wrote:

Boot0002* UEFI: Samsung Flash Drive FIT 1100    PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x10,0x0)/USB(3,0)/HD(1,GPT,9e395991-17a2-4ea8-b6a7-11a7bf8a83d9,0x800,0xef039e5)0000424f

Your PC recognizes well your USB pen.

Post here output of:

# minfo -i /dev/sda1

arturro · 2022-10-27 19:02:28

d.ALT wrote:

Post here output of:
# minfo -i /dev/sda1

It shows:

Hidden (2048) does not match sectors (63)
device information:
===================
filename="/dev/sda1"
sectors per track: 63
heads: 255
cylinders: 64

media byte: f8

mformat command line:
  mformat -T 1023939 -h 255 -s 63 -H 0 -r 0 -c 8 -L 1000 -i "/dev/sda1" ::

bootsector information
======================
banner:"mkfs.fat"
sector size: 512 bytes
cluster size: 8 sectors
reserved (boot) sectors: 32
fats: 2
max available root directory slots: 0
small size: 0 sectors
media descriptor byte: 0xf8
sectors per fat: 0
sectors per track: 63
heads: 255
hidden sectors: 2048
big size: 1023939 sectors
physical drive id: 0x80
reserved=0x1
dos4=0x29
serial number: 2D33995F
disk label="NO NAME    "
disk type="FAT32   "
Big fatlen=1000
Extended flags=0x0000
FS version=0x0000
rootCluster=2
infoSector location=1
backup boot sector=6

Infosector:
signature=0x41615252
free clusters=127698
last allocated cluster=4082

d.ALT · 2022-10-27 19:33:27

WARNING! YOU'RE ABOUT TO WIPE ALL OF HARD DISK!
ATTENTION! PLEASE BACKUP YOUR DATA!
You could try resetting all of your partitions:

# wipefs --all /d3v/WHOLEharddisk
# sgdisk --zap-all /d3v/WHOLEharddisk

Recreate GPT table and Partitions:

# parted -a optimal /dev/sda
(parted) mktable gpt
(parted) unit MiB
(parted) mkpart primary fat32 2 302
(parted) mkpart primary ext4 302 100%
(parted) name 1 ESP
(parted) name 2 ARCH
(parted) set 1 esp on
(parted) quit

Format partitions:

# mkfs.fat -n ESP -F 32 /dev/sda1
# mkfs.ext4 -L ARCH /dev/sda2

arturro · 2022-10-29 21:11:11

Resetting all partitions did the trick I can not explain what happened during mainboard change.Maybe I made something weird by mistake.

Now gdisk -l gives this:

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sda: 250069680 sectors, 119.2 GiB
Model: SK hynix SC210 m
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 13083FF9-03D5-4E0B-A069-BB222D957AFA
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 250069646
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 4717 sectors (2.3 MiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            4096         1003519   488.0 MiB   EF00  ESP
   2         1003520       250068991   118.8 GiB   8E00  ArchLVM

and grub-install created nice working entry:

Boot0001* ArchLinux     HD(1,GPT,a1bc7468-05ca-41dd-a0b9-1536d59d032f,0x1000,0xf4000)/File(\EFI\ArchLinux\grubx64.efi)

Thank you for all suggestions!

Arch Linux

#1 2022-10-26 20:31:39

Unable to install proper UEFI boot entry

#2 2022-10-26 20:39:10

Re: Unable to install proper UEFI boot entry

#3 2022-10-27 00:41:47

Re: Unable to install proper UEFI boot entry

#4 2022-10-27 17:47:34

Re: Unable to install proper UEFI boot entry

#5 2022-10-27 18:32:44

Re: Unable to install proper UEFI boot entry

#6 2022-10-27 19:02:28

Re: Unable to install proper UEFI boot entry

#7 2022-10-27 19:33:27

Re: Unable to install proper UEFI boot entry

#8 2022-10-29 21:11:11

Re: Unable to install proper UEFI boot entry

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