Arch Linux

s0101

Member

Registered: 2010-06-14

Posts: 6

[SOLVED] Installation on a mac. Why Grub Rescue?

I have been trying to install Arch Linux on my MacBook Pro (early 2008). Everything goes fine until the boot loader part. I had Ubuntu 9.10 on this computer before, which installed GRUB2 to a special partition (/dev/sda3) before the Ubuntu root partition. It was a small partition, 1000 kB. then i installed Arch Linux on the Ubuntu partition (/dev/sda4, formatting it clean beforehand) and installed GRUB legacy on it (/dev/sda4). Didn't work. OK, i deleted all linux partitions and installed GRUB Legacy on the boot partition /dev/sda3, ext2; and Arch on /dev/sda4, ext3. Didn't work, even after updating the protective MBR with gptsync. This is the weird part: it gets me to a GRUB rescue prompt:

GRUB Loading.
error: file not found.
grub rescue>

i did my research. it turns out, this rescue prompt is from GRUB2, which I supposedly replaced with GRUB 0.97. it even has an insmod command and stuff that GRUB0.97 does not do. I even tried lilo, still getting the grub rescue prompt. To make sure it would work, i deleted all linux again, grew Macintosh HD to the whole drive, ran bootcamp to reserve 22 GB, and then partitioned with the GParted LiveCD. My drive is as follows.

/dev/sda1 - EFI partition
/dev/sda2 - Mac OS X
/dev/sda3 - for /boot partition, ext2
/dev/sda4 - for root linux partition, ext3
/dev/sda5 - swap

I updated the mbr. I havent installed Arch again, there is no grub or lilo or anything, all linux partitions clean. When i try to boot my boot partition, i *STILL* get to the GRUB rescue limbo. Why? there is no installed bootloader, why do i get this? i think this is the GRUB2 stage1, but it should not be there anymore. Is it the EFI bios emulation, did it store the previous boot sector of my partition in some EFI boot cache? how can i completely remove GRUB2 or this rescue prompt? the only way i have been able to boot Arch is from the installation cd > boot existing os > hd 0 3, because at one point i also installed grub to /dev/sda4.

Sorry if i am confusing you, the situation is confusing.

EDIT:
Some ideas: could GParted live be installing GRUB2 stage1 to my ext2 partition? could my mac be looking for the bootsector of the boot partition in a different offset than it really is, finding GRUB2 stage1 in aplace that has not been erased yet? or could GRUB2 be installed in the boot sector of the EFI partition or the Mac OS X partition, and EFI BIOS emulation mode searches these first? (that would be too crazy, but could it be?)

Last edited by s0101 (2011-12-06 17:43:19)

Cookie

Member

Registered: 2008-03-08

Posts: 119

Re: [SOLVED] Installation on a mac. Why Grub Rescue?

I use arch on intel imac, hop onto your osx first and install refit http://refit.sourceforge.net/, it recognises all the boot partitions on your hd with a nice ui to select which OS you want to boot into. I had troubles when installing grub as well, but I did manage to install it at /boot within the arch linux partition. here is my grub config maybe it will help out http://pastebin.com/1k2VTxaS

its been a year since I installed it so don't remember the steps i took though XD

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Linux nabcake in training...
ArchLinux64

s0101

Member

Registered: 2010-06-14

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] Installation on a mac. Why Grub Rescue?

hmm yes i have used rEFIt on CD to try and boot Arch. same result
it seems you are using GRUB2. i want to use GRUB legacy if possible, because of the blocklists warning, but if i switch to grub2, i'll use your config thanks

Cookie

Member

Registered: 2008-03-08

Posts: 119

Re: [SOLVED] Installation on a mac. Why Grub Rescue?

no problem, hope you get it working

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Linux nabcake in training...
ArchLinux64

s0101

Member

Registered: 2010-06-14

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] Installation on a mac. Why Grub Rescue?

GOT IT! in case anyone has this problem, where your mac doesn't load your desired partition's boot sector, and rEFIt Partition inspector says you have an MBR Contents Boot Code: GRUB, it's because there is grub already installed in your mac's GPT protective MBR (yes, GPT disks have an mbr where code can be loaded). you can do "sudo fdisk -u /dev/rdisk0" on mac os x to erase the boot loader from the first 446 bytes of the mentioned MBR, and then run the Boot Camp utility to install apple's boot loader on the MBR, do gptsync from rEFIt and install Arch. silly me, at some point i must have accidentally installed grub2 to the MBR, or maybe it was Ubuntu installer. thanks cookie

Cookie

Member

Registered: 2008-03-08

Posts: 119

Re: [SOLVED] Installation on a mac. Why Grub Rescue?

glad its working now and np I haven't done anything btw put [Solved] into your topic title please

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Linux nabcake in training...
ArchLinux64