AFAIK it needn't be the first one on the disk - if memory serves, my Linux laptop came with Windows installed and the UEFI boot partition on the second partition, and the first first few Linux-only installed kept that layout - but it must be VFAT and it must be flagged bootable. Sent from Samsung Mobile on O2 -------- Original message --------From: Juan Carlos Villegas Botero via arch-general <arch-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: 29/10/2016 05:03 (GMT+00:00) To: General Discussion about Arch Linux <arch-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Juan Carlos Villegas Botero <juankvillegas@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: Single Drive Fresh Install (mbr/grub2) Fails to boot (can boot existing from .iso??) And I also think that I read somewhere that theboot partition (EFI) must be the first one in the disk. On 10/28/2016 10:59 PM, Juan Carlos Villegas Botero wrote: > Sorry for the html response :S > > On 10/28/2016 10:58 PM, Juan Carlos Villegas Botero wrote: >> >> I'm not 100% sure that this is the solution, but if you are loading >> from UEFI, the boot partition must be formatted using GPT: >> https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/EFI_System_Partition >> >> >> On 10/28/2016 09:58 PM, David C. Rankin wrote: >>> All, >>> >>> After 7 years and 30+ installs, I thought I had seen it all. I have a new >>> (used) laptop, that I put a fresh 1T drive in, partitioned and loaded arch. The >>> laptop can't find the drive to boot? Huh? There is only a single drive in the >>> laptop, but it will only boot if booting from grub hd1 (instead of hd0). >>> >>> The failure isn't a "grub prefix/root" problem, the problem is the laptop >>> cannot even find grub to begin with when it is booting on it's own. The only way >>> booting happens is to boot the installer (from USB) and then "Choose existing >>> OS" and edit the prefix (from 0 -> 1). Which itself is wonky, because booting >>> from USB creates the USB thumb-drive as /dev/sdb to begin with and the hard >>> drive as /dev/sda where it should be. >>> >>> This is a strange laptop, it has 2 hard drive bays (HP Elite 8760w). The bios >>> is configured to scan both (as well as USB and PXE) for boot. I can boot the >>> install .iso without issue, install went fine, but in order to boot the new >>> install, I have to "Boot existing OS" from the .iso menu, then 'tab' and change >>> >>> hd0 0 >>> >>> to >>> >>> hd1 0 >>> >>> (I took the existing Win10 SSD out of the same bay I put this drive in - which >>> is also a simple mbr boot - no UEFI). The setup is dead simple (.iso is sdb below) >>> >>> $ lsblk >>> NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT >>> sdb 8:16 1 980M 0 disk >>> ├─sdb2 8:18 1 40M 0 part >>> └─sdb1 8:17 1 792M 0 part >>> sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom >>> sda 8:0 0 931.5G 0 disk >>> ├─sda7 8:7 0 880G 0 part /home >>> ├─sda5 8:5 0 500M 0 part /boot >>> ├─sda1 8:1 0 1K 0 part >>> ├─sda8 8:8 0 1G 0 part >>> └─sda6 8:6 0 50G 0 part / >>> >>> and >>> >>> $ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda >>> Disk /dev/sda: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors >>> Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes >>> Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes >>> I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes >>> Disklabel type: dos >>> Disk identifier: 0xff7d45aa >>> >>> Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type >>> /dev/sda1 2048 1953525167 1953523120 931.5G 5 Extended >>> /dev/sda5 * 4096 1028095 1024000 500M 83 Linux >>> /dev/sda6 1030144 105887743 104857600 50G 83 Linux >>> /dev/sda7 105889792 1951383551 1845493760 880G 83 Linux >>> /dev/sda8 1951385600 1953525167 2139568 1G 82 Linux swap / Solaris >>> >>> grub is installed to /dev/sda with >>> >>> grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda (no errors on install), and >>> grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg >>> >>> I've searched for anything related to HP laptops or this model, but only find >>> issues failing to boot the install CD or the newer UEFI pages like >>> >>> https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HP_EliteBook_840_G1. >>> >>> Has anyone encountered something similar? There is no longer a >>> /boot/grub/device.map file installed by grub2, but given the fact the bios isn't >>> seeing the drive at all for boot, I don't see how mapping hd0 to hd1 would make >>> a difference. Does anyone have a link or any idea what the issue may be? I'm >>> happy to send whatever additional information may be required. I'm ssh'ed into >>> the box right now, I just need to get the boot and plasma ironed out. Any ideas? >>> Thanks. >>> >>> >>
