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#1 2021-03-25 05:20:21

englee
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Registered: 2021-03-24
Posts: 32  

Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

Re: late 2013 macbook pro
___devuan_beowulf_3.1.1_RC_amd64_netinstall.iso
Hi,
Devuan_ascii_2.0_amd64_netinst.iso installed and was fully functional on referenced hardware.
Referenced beowulf iso install fails to boot kernel, displaying the following:

GNU GRUB version 2.02+dfsg1-20+deb10u4

Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB
lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists possible
device or file completions.

grub>
Possible commands are:

. [ acpi authenticate background_color background_image badram boot break cat
chainloader clear configfile continue cpuid crytomount cutmen distrust dump
echo exit export extract_entries_configfile extract_entries_source false
gettext halt help initrd initrdefi insmod keystatus linux linuxefi list_env
list_trusted load_env loadfont loopback ls lsefi lsefimmap lsefisystab lsfonts
lsmod lssal menuentry net_add_addr net_add_dns net_add_route net_bootp
net_bootp6 net_del_addr net_del_dns net_del_route net_get_dhcp_option
net_ipv6_autoconf net_ls_addr net_ls_cards net_ls_dns net_ls_routes
net_nslookup normal normal_exit password_pbkdf2 play reboot regexp return rmmod
save_env search search.file search.fs_label search.fs_uuid set setparams shift
sleep source submenu terminal_input terminal_output test true trust unset
verify_detached zfs-bootfs zfsinfo zfskey
grub>

Q: Is there a way to rescue this non-booting GRUB on referenced beowulf, using displayed GRUG commands?
Please help rescue non booting beowulf GRUB on a USB external HDD.
Kind Regards,
englee

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#2 2021-03-25 06:54:45

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
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Posts: 3,125  
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Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

Use the ls command to view all of the attached disks and their partitions and use (for example)

ls (hd0,1)

^ That will show the content of the first partition on the first hard drive.

Once you find vmlinuz & initrd.img set that partition as the root, for example

set root=(hd0,1)

Then declare the location of the kernel, root partition (presumed to be /dev/sda1 for this example, edit that bit if it's elsewhere) & initramfs image and boot the system:

linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1
initrd /initrd.img
boot

Once the system is booted then run this command for a non-UEFI system (be sure to choose the block device rather than a partition when asked):

# dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc

Or this command for a UEFI system:

# dpkg-reconfigure grub-efi-amd64

The grub> prompt indicates that /boot/grub/grub.cfg cannot be found, reconfiguring the relevant GRUB package should fix that.

If you're curious then you can use the set command (with no options) to find out where GRUB is looking for the configuration file.


Brianna Ghey — Rest In Power

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#3 2021-03-25 10:30:29

englee
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Registered: 2021-03-24
Posts: 32  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

Hi,
Something has changed with GRUB, since Devuan_ascii_2.0_amd64_netinstall.iso was installed on identical hardware:

feature_default_font_path=y
feature_menuentry_id=y
feature_menuentry_options=y
feature_nativedisk_cmd=y
feature_ntldr=y
feature_platform_search_hint=y
feature_timeout_style=y
grub_cpu=x86_64
grub_platform=efi
lang=
local_dir=
net_default_ip=(null)
net_default_mac=(null)
net_default_server=
pager=
prefix=(hd2,gpt1)/boot/grub

grub> ls
(proc) (hd0) (hd1) (hd2) (hd2,gpt3) (hd2,gpt2) (hd2,gpt1)
grub> ls (hd0)
Device hd0: No known filesystem detected - Sector size 512B - Total size 0.5KiB

No sign of vmlinuz & initrd.img, making GRUB think /boot/grub is on efi partition.
Any other clues how to boot kernel?
englee

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#4 2021-03-25 12:41:05

fsmithred
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Registered: 2016-11-25
Posts: 2,409  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

set root=(hd0)   # might be hd1 or hd2
linux /boot/isolinux/linux
initrd /boot/isolinux/initrd.gz
boot

But you will be booting and installing in uefi mode. Legacy boot will give you an isolinux boot menu instead of a grub boot menu. Is there a way to force a legacy boot?

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#5 2021-03-25 15:57:15

englee
Member
Registered: 2021-03-24
Posts: 32  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

fsmithred wrote:
set root=(hd0)   # might be hd1 or hd2
linux /boot/isolinux/linux
initrd /boot/isolinux/initrd.gz
boot

But you will be booting and installing in uefi mode. Legacy boot will give you an isolinux boot menu instead of a grub boot menu. Is there a way to force a legacy boot?

Hi,
Agree, beowulf_3.1.1 & devuan_ascii_2.0 was both installed in UEFI mode, but beowulf's GRUB traps this error:

error, unknown filesystem.

when quering (hd0), (hd1), (hd2) with:

linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1

or

linux /boot/isolinux/linux

I see no way to force a legacy boot, so probably that's what changed since devuan_ascii_2.0 . . .

Q: What's your definition of 'legacy boot'?

englee

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#6 2021-03-25 18:04:13

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
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Posts: 3,125  
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Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

You need to set the partition as the root rather than the entire device.

Use

ls (hd2,gpt1)
ls (hd2,gpt2)
ls (hd2,gpt3)

Are the kernel & initramfs image (symlinks) listed in the output of any of those commands?

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2021-03-25 18:04:33)


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#7 2021-03-25 21:50:13

englee
Member
Registered: 2021-03-24
Posts: 32  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

You need to set the partition as the root rather than the entire device.

Use

ls (hd2,gpt1)
ls (hd2,gpt2)
ls (hd2,gpt3)

Are the kernel & initramfs image (symlinks) listed in the output of any of those commands?

Hi,
No, perhaps that's omitted on beowulf:

grub> ls (hd2,gpt1)
   Partition hd2,gpt1: Filesystem type fat - Label ‘EFI’, UUID 67E3-17ED -
Partition start at 20KiB - Total size 204800KiB
grub> ls (hd2,gpt2)
   Partition hd2,gpt2: Filesystem type hfsplus - Label “Macintosh HD" -
Last modification time 2021-03-25 20:19:31 Thursday, UUID 8351e041f4755bfe -
Partition start at 204820KiB - Total size 244277768KiB
grub> ls (hd2,gpt3)
   Partition hd2,gpt3: Filesystem type hfsplus - Label ‘Recovery HD’ -
Last modification time 2021-03-24 01:24:42 Wednesday, UUID a754e4dc63345617 -
Partition start at 244482588KiB - Total size 634768KiB
grub>

GRUB appears to overlook the beowulf ext4 root/boot partition on the USB external HDD?
It appears GRUB only can find the internal SSD partitions!
englee

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#8 2021-03-26 18:20:47

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
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Posts: 3,125  
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Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

So hd2 is the Mac drive then?

What does set say about the root & prefix?

If you have a live ISO image handy can you post the output of

efibootmgr -v
parted --list

Brianna Ghey — Rest In Power

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#9 2021-03-26 19:24:01

englee
Member
Registered: 2021-03-24
Posts: 32  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

So hd2 is the Mac drive then?

What does set say about the root & prefix?

If you have a live ISO image handy can you post the output of

efibootmgr -v
parted --list

Hi,
Yes, and booting via macOS uefi requires the GUID partition map, which might be corrupted.
Why not have the option to add bootloader to the USB external HDD?
The only ISO at my disposal is:
devuan_beowulf_3.11_RC_amd64_netinstall.iso
How would you go about having it output the data you requested using:

efibootmgr -v
parted --list

? . ? . ?
englee

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#10 2021-03-26 20:10:34

rolfie
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Registered: 2017-11-25
Posts: 1,047  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

You could start the medium, use the rescue mode, chroot into the installed system and try your luck with the commands.

rolfie

Last edited by rolfie (2021-03-26 20:10:51)

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#11 2021-03-26 20:48:27

ralph.ronnquist
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From: Clifton Hill, Victoria, AUS
Registered: 2016-11-30
Posts: 1,106  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

Some months ago I used rEFInd to rescue an old mac mini; it might work for your troubles too...

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#12 2021-03-27 05:52:27

englee
Member
Registered: 2021-03-24
Posts: 32  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

rolfie wrote:

You could start the medium, use the rescue mode, chroot into the installed system and try your luck with the commands.

rolfie

rolfie,
I've had very little experience using chroot, especially with devuan.  Could you please walk me through a quick chroot session, beginning with the ISO rescue mode to entering CLI commands?  In fact the devuan ascii 2.0 HDD came in mighty handy to rescue issues related to the old mac, which no longer boots after the beowulf upgrade.
englee

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#13 2021-03-27 08:23:38

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
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Posts: 3,125  
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Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

englee wrote:

Could you please walk me through a quick chroot session, beginning with the ISO rescue mode to entering CLI commands?

You don't need to enter any commands at all, just select rescue mode from the "Advanced Options" sub-menu and follow the prompts to open a shell in the installed system.

See also https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/ … 06.en.html

Once you're chrooted into the installed system you can install the pastebinint package and use that to upload the command output to Debian's pastebin service so you can just share the URL here rather than transcribe it. See the manpage for details.


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#14 2021-03-29 23:54:03

englee
Member
Registered: 2021-03-24
Posts: 32  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

So hd2 is the Mac drive then?

What does set say about the root & prefix?

If you have a live ISO image handy can you post the output of

efibootmgr -v
parted --list

Hi,
Mounted beowulf root sdb, using installer rescue:

root@beo:/# ls
bin boot dev etc home initrd.img initrd.img.old lib lib64 lost+found media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var vmlinuz vmlinuz.old
root@beo:/# efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 5 Seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0080
Boot0000* devuan HD(1,GPT, lbc27af6-16da—4b55-9dda-6ab2e0b4c0b9,0x28,0x64000)/File(\EFI\devuan\shimx64.efi)
Boot00B0x PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1c,0x4)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Sata(0,0,0)/HD(2,GPT,16b323b3-ebaa-4f60-b53f-0bf289726415,0x64028,0x1d1ec410)/File(\System\Library\CoreServices\boot.efi)
BOOTFFFF* PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1c,0x4)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Sata(0,0,0)/HD(2,GPT,16b323b3-ebaa-4f60-b53f-0bf289726415,0x64028,0x1d1ec410)/File(\System\Library\CoreServices\boot.efi)
root@beo:/# parted --list
Model: ATA APPLE SSD SM0256 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 251GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start   End   Size File system Name                 Flags
1      20.5KB 210MB    210MB   fat32  EFI System Partition boot, esp
2      210MB  250GB    250GB   hfs+   Customer
3      250GB  251GB    650MB   hfs+   Recovery HD

Model:    (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 8074MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table msdos
Disk Flags:

Number    Start    End    Size    Type     File system    Flags
1        32.3kB    7813MB 7813MB   primary ext4           boot
2        7813MB    8074MB  261MB   primary linux-swap(v1)

Warning: Not all of the space available to /dev/sdd appears to be used, you can
fix the GPT to use all of the space (an extra 1335296 blocks) or continue with
the current setting?
Fix/Ignore?

I see no error flags why kernel fails to boot, do you?
Would you suggest I reinstall GRUB onto sda or try installing GRUB onto beowulf root, sdb?
englee

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#15 2021-03-30 05:11:11

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
Registered: 2019-03-24
Posts: 3,125  
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Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

englee wrote:
Boot0000* devuan HD(1,GPT, lbc27af6-16da—4b55-9dda-6ab2e0b4c0b9,0x28,0x64000)/File(\EFI\devuan\shimx64.efi)

The grub-efi-amd64-signed package is hard-coded to look under $ESP/EFI/debian/ for the location of the configuration file so that might be why it's having trouble.

So from the shell in the installed system run these commands (this presumes the EFI system partition is assigned to /dev/sda1):

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
cp -r /mnt/EFI/de{vu,bi}an
efibootmgr -b 0 -B
efibootmgr --create --label 'Devuan' --loader '/EFI/debian/shimx64.efi'
debconf-set-selections <<<'grub-efi-amd64 grub2/update_nvram boolean false'

^ That copies the "devuan" directory to a "debian" version, deletes the current boot entry, creates a new boot entry pointing to the "debian" directory and tells the grub-efi-amd64 package not to change the boot entries in future.

englee wrote:

Would you suggest I reinstall GRUB onto sda or try installing GRUB onto beowulf root, sdb?

Defining a target drive or partition is meaningless for the UEFI version of GRUB.


Brianna Ghey — Rest In Power

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#16 2021-03-30 08:32:45

englee
Member
Registered: 2021-03-24
Posts: 32  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
englee wrote:
Boot0000* devuan HD(1,GPT, lbc27af6-16da—4b55-9dda-6ab2e0b4c0b9,0x28,0x64000)/File(\EFI\devuan\shimx64.efi)

The grub-efi-amd64-signed package is hard-coded to look under $ESP/EFI/debian/ for the location of the configuration file so that might be why it's having trouble.

So from the shell in the installed system run these commands (this presumes the EFI system partition is assigned to /dev/sda1):

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
cp -r /mnt/EFI/de{vu,bi}an
efibootmgr -b 0 -B
efibootmgr --create --label 'Devuan' --loader '/EFI/debian/shimx64.efi'
debconf-set-selections <<<'grub-efi-amd64 grub2/update_nvram boolean false'

^ That copies the "devuan" directory to a "debian" version, deletes the current boot entry, creates a new boot entry pointing to the "debian" directory and tells the grub-efi-amd64 package not to change the boot entries in future.

Hi,
I was able to run all five command lines from beowulf root w/o error, but was unable to 'shutdown' or 'reboot' from shell and simply hit power button.

How would you shutdown/reboot from beowulf root?

usage: shutdown [-] [-h [-u] [-n] | -r [-n] | -s | -k] time [warning-message ...]

When I rebooted beowulf HDD, there was _no_ sign of GRUB and mac booted instead!
Finally, how could I get beowulf to boot from this root shell, to see if installation is functional?
englee

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#17 2021-03-30 15:39:11

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
Registered: 2019-03-24
Posts: 3,125  
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Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

englee wrote:

How would you shutdown/reboot from beowulf root?

You can't shutdown or reboot from the chroot environment. You should have exited the shell and used the installer menu to shutdown.

englee wrote:

there was _no_ sign of GRUB

Did you check that /dev/sda1 was assigned to the EFI system partition before running the commands?

What is the output of efibootmgr -v now?


Brianna Ghey — Rest In Power

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#18 2021-03-30 22:07:56

englee
Member
Registered: 2021-03-24
Posts: 32  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
englee wrote:

How would you shutdown/reboot from beowulf root?

You can't shutdown or reboot from the chroot environment. You should have exited the shell and used the installer menu to shutdown.

englee wrote:

there was _no_ sign of GRUB

Did you check that /dev/sda1 was assigned to the EFI system partition before running the commands?

What is the output of efibootmgr -v now?

Hi,
My preference would be to add bootloader to the USB external HDD, w/o tampering with mac SSD.
Q1: Explain what Rescue means by 'Force GRUB installation to the EFI removable media path'?

[!!] Enter rescue mode

Rescue operations

Execute a shell in /dev/sdb1
Execute a shell in the installer environment
Reinstall GRUB boot loader
Force GRUB installation to the EFI removable media path
Choose a different root file system
Reboot the system

<Go Back>

Yes, /dev/sda1 did appear to be assigned to the EFI system partition, but I'll plead ignorance.
This, now, is what's reported after running the five command lines:

root@beo:/# ls
bin boot dev etc home initrd.img initrd.img.old lib lib64 lost+found media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var vmlinuz vmlinuz.old
root@beo:/# efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 5 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0080
Boot0000* Devuan  HD(1,GPT,1bc27af6-16da-4b55-9dda-6ab2e0b4cob9,0x28,0x64000)/File(\EFI\debian\shimx64.efi)
Boot0080*  PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1c,0x4)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Sata(0,0,0)/HD(2,GPT,16b323b3-ebaa-4f60-b53f-0bf289726415,0x64028,0x1d1ec410)/File(\System\Library\Coreservices\boot.efi)
BootFFFF*  PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1c,0x4)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Sata(0,0,0)/HD(2,GPT,16b323b3-ebaa-4f60-b53f-0bf289726415,0x64028,0x1d1ec410)/File(\System\Library\Coreservices\boot.efi)
root@beo:/#

Q2: Why can't the installed beowulf use the same type of standalone bootloader as it's installer, that's fully functional on a mac?
englee

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#19 2021-03-31 14:54:06

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
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Posts: 3,125  
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Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

englee wrote:

Explain what Rescue means by 'Force GRUB installation to the EFI removable media path'?

That applies the --removable option to the grub-install command, which copies grubx64.efi & shimx64.efi to $ESP/EFI/BOOT/ and renames the latter to BOOTX64.EFI. This should be booted automatically even without any boot entries.

See also https://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloade … ive-naming

EDIT: corrected link.

englee wrote:
Boot0000* Devuan  HD(1,GPT,1bc27af6-16da-4b55-9dda-6ab2e0b4cob9,0x28,0x64000)/File(\EFI\debian\shimx64.efi)

So the new boot entry has been created correctly (and /dev/sda1 was the ESP, as can be seen from the GUID code) and it is being booted by default. Was the "devuan" folder correctly copied to a "debian" version? Check the ESP for /EFI/debian/shimx64.efi; grubx64.efi should also be in the same directory.

englee wrote:

Why can't the installed beowulf use the same type of standalone bootloader as it's installer

You can do that but it will require a new EFI system partition on the beowulf drive to hold the GRUB files.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2021-03-31 15:01:12)


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#20 2021-03-31 20:49:36

englee
Member
Registered: 2021-03-24
Posts: 32  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
englee wrote:

Why can't the installed beowulf use the same type of standalone bootloader as it's installer

You can do that but it will require a new EFI system partition on the beowulf drive to hold the GRUB files.

Hi,
The installer should be able to add another partition, besides root and swap, to the beowulf drive, correct?
If so, what format and size is required for its new EFI system 'primary' partition add on?
Also, can I tell the installer to put GRUB on the beowulf drive, rather than mac host SSD default?
Kind Regards,
englee

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#21 2021-04-01 16:06:00

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
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Posts: 3,125  
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Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

The EFI system partition should be FAT-formatted and have the "boot,esp" flags applied (partition code "EF00" if you're using gdisk). 100MiB should be plenty but some older systems need 512MiB so just make it the same size as the one you already have.

I'm not sure how the installer will cope if presented with multiple ESPs but I would try mounting the one you want to be used under /boot/efi in the installer, that's where the grub-install command will presume the ESP to be located unless told otherwise.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2021-04-01 16:06:16)


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#22 2021-04-02 05:58:02

englee
Member
Registered: 2021-03-24
Posts: 32  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

The EFI system partition should be FAT-formatted and have the "boot,esp" flags applied (partition code "EF00" if you're using gdisk). 100MiB should be plenty but some older systems need 512MiB so just make it the same size as the one you already have.

I'm not sure how the installer will cope if presented with multiple ESPs but I would try mounting the one you want to be used under /boot/efi in the installer, that's where the grub-install command will presume the ESP to be located unless told otherwise.

Hi,
Installer failed to recognize beowulf USB drive's ESP, which now appears to match installers ESP:

Model: (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 8074MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:
Number Start   End      Size    File system Name                 Flags
1      1049kB  99.6MB   98.6MB  fat16       EFI System Partition boot, esp
2      99.6MB  7812MB   7712MB  ext4        root
3      7812MB  8073MB    261MB  linux-swap(v1)

Any other tips booting kernel on this USB drive?
Sincerely,
englee

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#23 2021-04-02 09:29:25

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
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Posts: 3,125  
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Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

englee wrote:

Installer failed to recognize beowulf USB drive's ESP

What does that mean, exactly?

I've just experimented in a VM and if I use the "manual" partitioning option then multiple ESPs are detected and identified as such. I managed to install Devuan onto a second disk with it's own ESP by marking the ESP on the first disk as "do not use". The Devuan ESP was marked as "EFI system partition" and the installer then successfully created a boot entry pointing to it. I think you can use the "Advanced" installer to force the fallback EFI loader but I just rebooted and used "Rescue Mode" to do that afterwards.

englee wrote:
1      1049kB  99.6MB   98.6MB  fat16       EFI System Partition boot, esp

Was the original ESP marked "fat16"? I always use FAT32.


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#24 2021-04-03 05:22:48

englee
Member
Registered: 2021-03-24
Posts: 32  

Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

root@beo:/# grub-install /dev/sdb
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: this GPT partition label contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

root@beo:/# grub-install /dev/sdb1
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: File system ‘fat' doesn't support embedding.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged...
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

root@beo:/# grub-install /dev/sdb2
Installing for i3586-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: File system ‘ext2' doesn't support embedding.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.
root@beo:/#

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
englee wrote:

Installer failed to recognize beowulf USB drive's ESP

What does that mean, exactly?

I've just experimented in a VM and if I use the "manual" partitioning option then multiple ESPs are detected and identified as such. I managed to install Devuan onto a second disk with it's own ESP by marking the ESP on the first disk as "do not use". The Devuan ESP was marked as "EFI system partition" and the installer then successfully created a boot entry pointing to it. I think you can use the "Advanced" installer to force the fallback EFI loader but I just rebooted and used "Rescue Mode" to do that afterwards.

englee wrote:
1      1049kB  99.6MB   98.6MB  fat16       EFI System Partition boot, esp

Was the original ESP marked "fat16"? I always use FAT32.

Hi,
VM on mac generated this 'helpful' dialog:

You need to make the newly installed system bootable, by installing the GRUB boot loader
on a bootable device. The usual way to do this is to install GRUB on the master boot
record of your first hard drive. If you prefer, you can install GRUB elsewhere on the
drive, or to another drive, or even to a floppy.

The device should be specified as a device in /dev. Below are some examples:
- “/dev/sda" will install GRUB to the master boot record of your first
hard drive;
- "/dev/sda2” will use the second partition of your first hard drive;
- "/dev/sdc5” will use the first extended partition of your third hard
drive;
- “/dev/fdo" will install GRUB to a floppy.

Device for boot loader installation:

Q: Why would VM mistake an AMD64 w/i386-PC?

root@beo:/# grub-install /dev/sdb
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: this GPT partition label contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

root@beo:/# grub-install /dev/sdb1
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: File system ‘fat' doesn't support embedding.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged...
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

root@beo:/# grub-install /dev/sdb2
Installing for i3586-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: File system ‘ext2' doesn't support embedding.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.
root@beo:/#

Still no sign of kernel booting, even w/blocklists.
englee

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#25 2021-04-03 13:53:48

Head_on_a_Stick
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From: London
Registered: 2019-03-24
Posts: 3,125  
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Re: Non Booting GRUB on Beowulf

englee wrote:

Why would VM mistake an AMD64 w/i386-PC?

That message is from GRUB — "i386-pc" is for non-UEFI systems, even if they're 64-bit; the UEFI GRUB targets are called "i386-efi" & "x86_64-efi".

So the VM seems to have the grub-pc package installed instead of grub-efi-amd64, which is incorrect if you want to dual-boot with a UEFI OS X installation.

Try this in the installed system:

# apt install grub-efi-amd64{,-signed} # this should cause the removal of the grub-pc package
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=debian --removable # make sure the correct ESP is mounted under /boot/efi first

Brianna Ghey — Rest In Power

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