broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

gabx · 2022-12-03 00:22:03

I have boot Arch under UEFI for some time with no issue at all. For unknown reason (an upgrade is the only major event I remember), my boot process has switched to GRUB and I can no more boot Arch. A short message tells me the system can't find the path to load the image and then I am left with the word GRUB and the possibility to enter whatever I want, press Enter but it has no effect.
I didn't changed anything to the firmware setup, neither to my /boot folder. I can compare this folder to the one from another computer, also booting Arch under UEFI, and both structures are identical and follow the wiki:

[root@manjaro /]# tree /boot
/boot
├── EFI
│   ├── BOOT
│   │   └── BOOTX64.EFI
│   ├── Linux
│   └── systemd
│       └── systemd-bootx64.efi
├── initramfs-linux-fallback.img
├── initramfs-linux.img
├── intel-ucode.img
├── loader
│   ├── entries
│   │   └── arch.conf
│   ├── entries.srel
│   ├── loader.conf
│   └── random-seed
└── vmlinuz-linux

I didn't change the GPT dedicated partition. I can boot under UEFI with a live CD, so this firmware interface is not broken.
I have no idea how to debug this issue and make a new install would annoy me.

Thank you for any idea how I can proceed, what shall I check and why this new issue arrived suddenly.

Last edited by gabx (2022-12-05 14:24:57)

cfr · 2022-12-03 02:43:29

Your machine can't just 'switch to grub' unless you switch it. Why do you think it has switched to grub? Please post the exact message you receive, including any errors before it. Since this is so early in boot, you could post an image somewhere and provide a link here.

How do you usually boot? The fact that you boot UEFI is relevant but only part of the story as many boot loaders and managers (including grub) are compatible with UEFI.

Scimmia · 2022-12-03 02:45:45

What is vmlinuz-bin?

gabx · 2022-12-03 03:26:29

vmlinuz-bin is an error from me. Please consider vmlinuz-linux instead.

I fully understand my machine will not switch to GRUB by itself. But the trick is I didn't modify my firmware settings, neither my ESP partition. I know it is GRUB now as when I try any bootable device (HD, live media) I have a GRUB command prompt at login. Then, with a live CD, I double checked and I was wrong in my post 1 to say the CD did boot under UEFI. At the home screen with details about the live environment, it is especially written it was boot under GRUB and I can have details about the boot process (partition, parameters ...).
I will come back with the exact message.

cfr · 2022-12-03 03:39:40

The output you posted in your first post cannot be the output from the commands you give, even substituting vmlinuz-linux for vmlinuz-bin. That is just not the kind of output you get from ls -al.

gabx · 2022-12-03 04:26:58

cfr wrote:

The output you posted in your first post cannot be the output from the commands you give, even substituting vmlinuz-linux for vmlinuz-bin. That is just not the kind of output you get from ls -al.

ls -al /mnt/magno/@/boot
total 59948
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root     4096 Jan  1  1970 .
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root      208 Nov  1 14:47 ..
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root     4096 Mar  5  2022 EFI
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 36008312 Nov 14 10:34 initramfs-linux-fallback.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  9552719 Nov 14 10:34 initramfs-linux.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  4706304 Apr 20  2022 intel-ucode.img
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root     4096 Sep  4 09:16 loader
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 11099072 Nov 14 10:34 vmlinuz-linux

Here is the exact copy/past of my boot directory. This comes from /dev/sdb1, a dedicated partition. I had first to mount it:

# mkdir /mnt/magno
# mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt/magno/
# mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/magno/@/boot

Now a little more details when I boot into firmware setup. I have there a few choices for the device to start from.
1- my SSD where Arch is installed. When selected, i arrive on a black screen with GRUB command prompt. I can't enter anything. I am stcuk
2- Linux Boot manager. I get this message: Error getting loaded image path?. Then, back to the GRUB command prompt and stuck
3- the live CD. I can see on the icon a UEFI sign. When I select this device, I get first a welcome message: Welcome to GRUB. I can edit and see two paths for EFI, like this:

hd2,gpt1/efi/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi
hd2,gpt1/efi/boot/bootx64.efi

Then, when i let the boot process go to the end, I log into my live CD (Manjaro) and i can see some parameter details, one is about Boot. If I enter e for edit, I can see a very detailed table titled GNU GRUB and see all boot parameters (device path, kernel parameters, etc.

I hope I have been as complet as possible.

cfr · 2022-12-03 04:49:14

# mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/magno/@/boot

??

gabx · 2022-12-03 05:21:16

cfr wrote:

# mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/magno/@/boot

??

It is on the live CD, to mount my Arch. I have two partitions, one for boot (sdb1) and one for root (sdb2). BTRFS filesystem with snapshots.
Where is the problem?

Back to my issue, is there a way to be able to boot back to my Arch box?

Raynman · 2022-12-03 11:16:22

The mountpoint looks unusual and if you only want to look at /dev/sdb1, mounting (the btrfs toplevel subvolume on?) /dev/sdb2 isn't needed. It's not really a problem, but your posts generally seem somewhat confused/confusing and that just adds extra noise. I don't want really want to spend time on it, but on seeing this:

gabx wrote:

2- Linux Boot manager. I get this message: Error getting loaded image path?.

I remembered a recent thread with link to systemd-boot issue: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=281376

gabx · 2022-12-03 14:54:27

Raynman wrote:

I remembered a recent thread with link to systemd-boot issue: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=281376

Yes, this is exactly the same message I have on my screen, with same letter color, and systemd-boot as bootloader.Thank you for this link, I will read the whole thread quietly as I guess this is same issue.This is very probably due to systemd 252.1 upgrade as according to this thread it seems it broke systemd-boot. As I said in my first post,the onlymajor event on my system was an upgrade. I can see there is a systemd 252.2
I hope I will be able later to mark my post as solved.

Last edited by gabx (2022-12-03 16:08:58)

gabx · 2022-12-03 16:53:12

as often, one issue brings another one.
I chrooted my Arch system and tried to upgrade systemd-252.

# pacman -Syu systemd
....
Packages (76)
......

If I start the upgrade of these 76 packages, I get a bunch of errors of style /path/to/file exists in filesystem.
Removing them will need a long time,so I don't really know how to tackle this upgrade without breaking everything.

cfr · 2022-12-03 19:55:41

That means you've installed stuff in pacman's territory by some other means. Post the complete output. Nobody can advise you what to do without knowing which files are involved.

gabx · 2022-12-05 09:34:18

I finally managed to chroot my system and upgrade systemd to 252.2-3, but it doesn't change anything. I have still the same message as described in this topic

More info:

# bootctl list
         type: Boot Loader Specification Type #1 (.conf)
        title: Arch by Gabx (default) (not reported/new)
           id: arch.conf
       source: /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf
        linux: /vmlinuz-linux
       initrd: /intel-ucode.img
               /initramfs-linux.img
      options: root="LABEL=magnolia" rootflags=subvol=@ rw

# efibootmgr --unicode
BootCurrent: 0007
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0001,0005,0007
Boot0000* Linux Boot Manager	HD(1,GPT,f7422ec4-5637-4ee4-85b9-3e082d5f6ea0,0x800,0x96000)/File(\EFI\systemd\systemd-bootx64.efi)
Boot0001* Hard Drive	BBS(HD,,0x0)
Boot0005* CD/DVD Drive	BBS(CDROM,,0x0)䑃圭㐵⁅††††††††††††
Boot0006* Carte réseau	BBS(Network,,0x0)敒污整潂瑯䄠敧瑮 
Boot0007* UEFI: P2: TSSTcorp DVDWBD SH-B123L  	PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1f,0x2)/Sata(1,65535,0)/CDROM(1,0xcf9f5,0x2000)

# cat /boot/loader/loader.conf 
#timeout 3
#console-mode keep
default		arch.conf
timeout		5
console-mode	max

# cat /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf 
title		Arch by Gabx
linux		/vmlinuz-linux
initrd		/intel-ucode.img
initrd		/initramfs-linux.img
options		root="LABEL=magnolia" rootflags=subvol=@ rw

Last edited by gabx (2022-12-05 12:29:29)

gabx · 2022-12-05 14:24:36

after systemd upgrade, I ran again.

# bootctl install

and now the system boots fine under UEFI.

Arch Linux

#1 2022-12-03 00:22:03

broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#2 2022-12-03 02:43:29

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#3 2022-12-03 02:45:45

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#4 2022-12-03 03:26:29

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#5 2022-12-03 03:39:40

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#6 2022-12-03 04:26:58

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#7 2022-12-03 04:49:14

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#8 2022-12-03 05:21:16

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#9 2022-12-03 11:16:22

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#10 2022-12-03 14:54:27

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#11 2022-12-03 16:53:12

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#12 2022-12-03 19:55:41

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#13 2022-12-05 09:34:18

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

#14 2022-12-05 14:24:36

Re: broken Arch UEFI boot process [SOLVED]

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