T420 won't boot from SSD with GPT

dhave · 2011-04-20 19:55:07

Guys, an old goober needs some help, please.

I've got a nifty Thinkpad T420 which has booth efi and legacy booting. My existing Arch system is on a 120Gb SSD that I've been using on a Thinkpad T61p. When I installed Arch on the SSD, I used GPT and Grub2.

I figured I could just plug my SSD with Arch installed on it into my new machine and be up and running. No such luck.

When my first attempt didn't work, I switched to legacy booting frather than efi. Still no go.

I've read several threads* related to this problem, but I haven't been able to work out how to get from Point A to Point B, i.e., make it so that my T420 can boot Arch from my SSD. Is there anybody out there who could outline the steps for me? I want to keep my Arch installation with Grub2 and GPT, as that's supposedly optimal for SSDs. And I definitely don't want to re-install Arch.

Thanks for your help!

*Threads already consulted:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=115400

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=115920

Last edited by dhave (2011-04-20 20:01:33)

sporkexec · 2011-04-23 08:40:21

Same model here, running an OCZ Vertex 2.
How does it fail, is grub even loading?

I used legacy bios boot despite the recommendations on Archwiki with no problems. None of this newfangled flash until it's ready...
Just formatted the drive with 32x32 geometry and aligned partitions to 1024-sector (512KiB, apparently this drive's EBS) boundaries, leaving the first bit open for the MBR (although wasting a couple MB of space). Other than that, it's a totally normal install, no real problems at all. I did explicitly choose legacy boot in bios setup, though.

It appears that the GPT/EFI method is recommended just because it's easier to get the alignment right. I don't see any reason why it would be any more efficient.

Perhaps you can back everything up and repartition? Be sure to back up the entire drive image if you try. Unless you manage to get it working with EFI, you have to repartition.
Enjoy your T420, it's a lot of fun.

% fdisk -l 

Disk /dev/sda: 115.0 GB, 115033153536 bytes
32 heads, 32 sectors/track, 219408 cylinders, total 224674128 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xdeadbeef

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        1024      264191      131584   83  Linux
/dev/sda2          264192    17674239     8705024   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3        17674240   224673791   103499776   83  Linux

Anecdotally, I had a small problem installing on this machine also: The kernel provided on the install disk was too old for the ethernet and wireless. Had to bring in a modern [core] repo on a usb drive to get it working.

Good luck!

dhave · 2011-04-23 11:09:41

@sporkexec: Thanks for your helpful reply. I finally bit the bullet and reinstalled. I went with MBR/legacy boot and reverted to grub. (Actually, I was happy to go back to grub rather than grub2, since it seems so much more transparent to work with.) With some exceptions, I like to use the latest thing, since it pushes me to learn. In this case, though, I agree that EFI/GPT will have to wait.

I didn't do anything special for hd alignment. I may go back and do another install to fix that, assuming it really does make a difference. I have less time for computer tweaking these days, so that may have to wait a while.

Like you, I had to draw on current repos to get not just wifi but also a recent enough version of nvidia drivers.

Now my main challenge is trying to get rid of a 10-second wait during boot due to a controller problem. I'm getting this error:

ata1: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0)
ata1: COMRESET failed (errno=-16)

The boot sequence does resume, thankfully, but I hate to wait so long with an SSD. On my Thinkpad T61p, Arch boot time was really zippy; not so with this link slowdown. I even recompiled a kernel with more extensive SATA support built-in, but that didn't change anything. Have you encountered this?

Last edited by dhave (2011-04-23 11:11:25)

skodabenz · 2011-04-23 13:35:18

dhave wrote:

Guys, an old goober needs some help, please.
I've got a nifty Thinkpad T420 which has booth efi and legacy booting. My existing Arch system is on a 120Gb SSD that I've been using on a Thinkpad T61p. When I installed Arch on the SSD, I used GPT and Grub2.
I figured I could just plug my SSD with Arch installed on it into my new machine and be up and running. No such luck.
When my first attempt didn't work, I switched to legacy booting frather than efi. Still no go.
I've read several threads* related to this problem, but I haven't been able to work out how to get from Point A to Point B, i.e., make it so that my T420 can boot Arch from my SSD. Is there anybody out there who could outline the steps for me? I want to keep my Arch installation with Grub2 and GPT, as that's supposedly optimal for SSDs. And I definitely don't want to re-install Arch.
Thanks for your help!
*Threads already consulted:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=115400
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=115920

Can you post the gdisk output of /dev/sda? Also what specific issue you are facing in grub2-efi booting?

sporkexec · 2011-04-23 16:52:17

Nope. Have you throughly gone through bios settings? Make sure the drive controller is in AHCI mode, other than that I don't know. This is what mine does, hope it helps:

[    1.050982] SCSI subsystem initialized
[    1.063840] libata version 3.00 loaded.
[    1.068931] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: version 3.0
[    1.068943] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: PCI INT B -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
[    1.069092] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: irq 40 for MSI/MSI-X
[    1.069117] ahci: SSS flag set, parallel bus scan disabled
[    1.081473] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: AHCI 0001.0300 32 slots 6 ports 6 Gbps 0x1b impl SATA mode
[    1.081554] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: flags: 64bit ncq sntf ilck stag pm led clo pio slum part ems sxs apst 
[    1.081635] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: setting latency timer to 64
[    1.102164] scsi0 : ahci
[    1.102351] scsi1 : ahci
[    1.102508] scsi2 : ahci
[    1.102662] scsi3 : ahci
[    1.102815] scsi4 : ahci
[    1.102970] scsi5 : ahci
[    1.103438] ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xd2628000 port 0xd2628100 irq 40
[    1.103513] ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xd2628000 port 0xd2628180 irq 40
[    1.103587] ata3: DUMMY
[    1.103642] ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xd2628000 port 0xd2628280 irq 40
[    1.103717] ata5: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xd2628000 port 0xd2628300 irq 40
[    1.103790] ata6: DUMMY
[    1.421338] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
[    1.464623] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/02:00:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) succeeded
[    1.464636] ata1.00: ACPI cmd f5/00:00:00:00:00:a0 (SECURITY FREEZE LOCK) filtered out
[    1.464730] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/10:03:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) filtered out
[    1.494630] ata1.00: ATA-8: OCZ-VERTEX2, 1.29, max UDMA/133
[    1.494711] ata1.00: 224674128 sectors, multi 16: LBA48 NCQ (depth 31/32), AA
[    1.524604] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/02:00:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) succeeded
[    1.524617] ata1.00: ACPI cmd f5/00:00:00:00:00:a0 (SECURITY FREEZE LOCK) filtered out
[    1.524712] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/10:03:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) filtered out
[    1.554610] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
[    1.554825] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      OCZ-VERTEX2      1.29 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5

dhave · 2011-04-23 17:30:48

@skodabenz: I went ahead and repartitioned the drive MBR/legacyboot/grub (not grub2)and did a fresh install, so I've got a booting system now. FWIW, though, I had earlier done a print of gdisk's output:

(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 dat

Thanks for your reply. I'd still be interested in your thoughts on this matter, as I'm sure I'll eventually go back to GUID/EFI/grub2.

dhave · 2011-04-23 17:32:39

@sporkexec: Hmm. That's a pretty printout. What kernel are you using? I'm running 2.6.38.3, x86_64.

Here's what I get for the same part of the boot sequence:

Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.154563] SCSI subsystem initialized
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.167015] libata version 3.00 loaded.
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.171921] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: version 3.0
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.171933] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: PCI INT B -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.172107] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: irq 41 for MSI/MSI-X
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.172131] ahci: SSS flag set, parallel bus scan disabled
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.183830] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: AHCI 0001.0300 32 slots 6 ports 6 Gbps 0x1b impl SATA mode
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.183968] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: flags: 64bit ncq sntf ilck stag pm led clo pio slum part ems sxs apst 
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.184092] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: setting latency timer to 64
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.204500] scsi0 : ahci
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.204725] scsi1 : ahci
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.204906] scsi2 : ahci
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.205093] scsi3 : ahci
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.205282] scsi4 : ahci
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.205466] scsi5 : ahci
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.205952] ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xf5328000 port 0xf5328100 irq 41
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.206068] ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xf5328000 port 0xf5328180 irq 41
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.206184] ata3: DUMMY
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.206268] ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xf5328000 port 0xf5328280 irq 41
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.206384] ata5: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xf5328000 port 0xf5328300 irq 41
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.206499] ata6: DUMMY
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.723156] Refined TSC clocksource calibration: 2691.258 MHz.
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    1.723270] Switching to clocksource tsc
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [    6.530215] ata1: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0)
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.217489] ata1: COMRESET failed (errno=-16)
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.537090] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.537480] ata1.00: FORCE: horkage modified (noncq)
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.537752] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/02:00:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) succeeded
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.537755] ata1.00: ACPI cmd f5/00:00:00:00:00:a0 (SECURITY FREEZE LOCK) filtered out
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.537873] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/10:03:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) filtered out
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.538284] ata1.00: ATA-7: INTEL SSDSA2M120G2GC, 2CV102HD, max UDMA/133
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.538399] ata1.00: 234441648 sectors, multi 16: LBA48 NCQ (not used)
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.539051] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/02:00:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) succeeded
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.539064] ata1.00: ACPI cmd f5/00:00:00:00:00:a0 (SECURITY FREEZE LOCK) filtered out
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.539183] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/10:03:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) filtered out
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.539603] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
Apr 23 13:17:50 localhost kernel: [   11.539826] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      INTEL SSDSA2M120 2CV1 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5

Last edited by dhave (2011-04-23 17:41:42)

sporkexec · 2011-04-23 20:09:17

Nope, same kernel. It's just dmesg instead of kernel.log.

It looks like the kernel is trying to issue a reset command to the drive and something on the bus is blocking it (first it's called slow, then COMRESET has outright failed).
I'm not sure, but by this logic you would be fine skipping the reset command altogether. Maybe try adding a kernel parameter of "libata.force=norst" to disable resets?

dhave · 2011-04-25 15:08:33

The problem with the slow acting ATA1 link was fixed with a firmware update on my SSD (Intel 120Gb). In case anyone's interested, the firmware can be downloaded here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_ … ldID=18363

That's the good news. That bad news is that I *still* can't get the drive to boot when partitioned GPT and with Grub2. It will boot when I use a Live CD to boot from the hard drive, but it won't boot normally.

leprosys · 2011-04-25 16:22:29

I recently installed Arch with GPT (not ssd) following these guides:
http://docs.funtoo.org/wiki/Funtoo_Linu … _Hard_Disk
http://docs.funtoo.org/wiki/GUID_Booting_Guide

Maybe this can help.

vbraun · 2011-05-05 19:17:35

On my W520 I also can't legacy BIOS boot a GPT disk. Putting a boot loader in the protective MBR should work, but it seems like the Thinkpad BIOS looks at the partition table (poo poo) and decides not to boot from the GPT disk. BIOS booting from a old-school MBR formatted disk works, of course. I tried the most recent BIOS update because it mentioned a boot-related fix without explaining the details, but that did not change anything.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-04-20 19:55:07

T420 won't boot from SSD with GPT

#2 2011-04-23 08:40:21

Re: T420 won't boot from SSD with GPT

#3 2011-04-23 11:09:41

Re: T420 won't boot from SSD with GPT

#4 2011-04-23 13:35:18

Re: T420 won't boot from SSD with GPT

#5 2011-04-23 16:52:17

Re: T420 won't boot from SSD with GPT

#6 2011-04-23 17:30:48

Re: T420 won't boot from SSD with GPT

#7 2011-04-23 17:32:39

Re: T420 won't boot from SSD with GPT

#8 2011-04-23 20:09:17

Re: T420 won't boot from SSD with GPT

#9 2011-04-25 15:08:33

Re: T420 won't boot from SSD with GPT

#10 2011-04-25 16:22:29

Re: T420 won't boot from SSD with GPT

#11 2011-05-05 19:17:35

Re: T420 won't boot from SSD with GPT

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