[SOLVED] GRUB2 not loading on UEFI system

lucas · 2011-03-29 17:02:49

Hello!

I tried to install Arch Linux on a new Sandy Bridge-system with UEFI, but am not able to boot it from the firmware.
During the installation I choose not to install a bootloader and instead followed the instructions in the GRUB2 wiki page.

After the installation I'm not able to load GRUB2 by selecting the device in the UEFI firmware (MSI's Click BIOS).
It say's something like "reboot and select proper boot device, or insert boot media in selected boot device.".
I am however able to boot the system by running the EFI Shell and loading grub2 by entering the following commands:

fs0:
cd efi
cd grub
grub.efi

I can then continue to boot arch in the grub console using:

set root=(hd1,gpt4)
linux /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sdb4 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

And arch boots fine. (more or less, but it starts).

I'm not sure why the firmware isn't able to load the grub efi application, while the efi shell is.
I'm now looking for help troubleshooting this issue, since i don't really know where to begin looking.

Last edited by lucas (2011-03-29 22:04:26)

skodabenz · 2011-03-29 19:06:26

http://linux.die.net/man/8/efibootmgr

lucas · 2011-03-29 19:53:21

Thank you for your response.

I'm not sure what to do with efibootmgr, it is installed and if I recall correctly was run by grub_efi_x86_64-install.
Anyway, here is it's output:

BootCurrent: 0004
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0001,0004
Boot0000* SATA: SAMSUNG HD103SJ         
Boot0001* SATA: Optiarc DVD RW AD-7260S 
Boot0004* Built-in EFI Shell

Where 0000, the Samsung HDD is the device from which i want to boot.

Below is some additional output which may be useful:

parted /dev/sdb print wrote:

Model: ATA SAMSUNG HD103SJ (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 17.4kB 134MB 134MB Microsoft reserved partition msftres
2 135MB 936GB 936GB ntfs Basic data partition
3 936GB 936GB 210MB fat32 boot
4 936GB 999GB 62.7GB ext4
5 999GB 1000GB 1073MB linux-swap(v1)

ver (EFI Shell) wrote:

EFI Specification Revision : 2.0
EFI Vendor : American Megatrends
EFI Revision : 4.640

map (EFI Shell) wrote:

Device mapping table
fs0 :HardDisk - Alias hd30a3 blk0
Acpi(PNP0A03,0)/Pci(1F|5)/Ata(Primary,Master)/HD(Part3,Sig3F3EFEE6-9632-4869-A31F-1793DE47F346)
blk0 :HardDisk - Alias hd30a3 fs0
Acpi(PNP0A03,0)/Pci(1F|5)/Ata(Primary,Master)/HD(Part3,Sig3F3EFEE6-9632-4869-A31F-1793DE47F346)
....
hd30a3 :HardDisk - Alias fs0 blk0
Acpi(PNP0A03,0)/Pci(1F|5)/Ata(Primary,Master)/HD(Part3,Sig3F3EFEE6-9632-4869-A31F-1793DE47F346)

Is there anything more you would like to see?

skodabenz · 2011-03-29 20:03:17

lucas wrote:

Thank you for your response.
I'm not sure what to do with efibootmgr, it is installed and if I recall correctly was run by grub_efi_x86_64-install.
Anyway, here is it's output:
BootCurrent: 0004
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0001,0004
Boot0000* SATA: SAMSUNG HD103SJ         
Boot0001* SATA: Optiarc DVD RW AD-7260S 
Boot0004* Built-in EFI Shell
Where 0000, the Samsung HDD is the device from which i want to boot.
Below is some additional output which may be useful:
parted /dev/sdb print wrote:
Model: ATA SAMSUNG HD103SJ (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 17.4kB 134MB 134MB Microsoft reserved partition msftres
2 135MB 936GB 936GB ntfs Basic data partition
3 936GB 936GB 210MB fat32 boot
4 936GB 999GB 62.7GB ext4
5 999GB 1000GB 1073MB linux-swap(v1)
ver (EFI Shell) wrote:
EFI Specification Revision : 2.0
EFI Vendor : American Megatrends
EFI Revision : 4.640

You have UEFI 2.0 . I have UEFI 2.3 (Vendor EDK2). But thats not a big deal anyway. Try

sudo modprobe efivars
sudo efibootmgr --create --gpt --disk /dev/sda --part 3 --write-signature --label "GRUB2" --loader "\\EFI\\grub\\grub.efi"
<reboot>

Assuming you have grub.efi installed at /boot/efi/efi/grub/grub.efi which translates to (/dev/sda) -> partition 3 -> \\EFI\\grub\\grub.efi .

Last edited by skodabenz (2011-03-29 20:05:16)

lucas · 2011-03-29 22:03:42

Thank you!

That solved it. I am writing this from my new Arch system

Last edited by lucas (2011-03-30 17:36:33)

dhave · 2011-04-21 23:42:50

I have a similar problem: new Sandy Bridge system (Thinkpad T420), Arch previously installed on SSD with Grub2, GPT partitions.

Since I can toggle between legacy and efi booting under BIOS setup, I figured I wouldn't have a problem. The SSD booted fine on my legacy machine.

For reason, though, on my T420, I can't boot from my SSD under legacy OR efi.

Can one of you guys advise me? I don't want to have to reinstall Arch, and I don't want to zap the partitions on my SSD. I toyed with gdisk (gptfdisk, I think it's really called), but was afraid to make changes.

Here's the print from parted for my SSD:

(parted) print
Model: ATA INTEL SSDSA2M120 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 120GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 2097kB 1049kB BIOS boot partition bios_grub
2 2097kB 1076MB 1074MB ext2 Linux/Windows data
3 1076MB 1613MB 537MB linux-swap(v1) Linux swap
4 1613MB 76.8GB 75.2GB ext4 Linux/Windows data
5 76.8GB 120GB 43.3GB ext4 Linux/Windows data

TIA. Very much. Very.

Last edited by dhave (2011-04-22 04:42:33)

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-29 17:02:49

[SOLVED] GRUB2 not loading on UEFI system

#2 2011-03-29 19:06:26

Re: [SOLVED] GRUB2 not loading on UEFI system

#3 2011-03-29 19:53:21

Re: [SOLVED] GRUB2 not loading on UEFI system

#4 2011-03-29 20:03:17

Re: [SOLVED] GRUB2 not loading on UEFI system

#5 2011-03-29 22:03:42

Re: [SOLVED] GRUB2 not loading on UEFI system

#6 2011-04-21 23:42:50

Re: [SOLVED] GRUB2 not loading on UEFI system

Board footer