[SOLVED] Grub troubles

17 April 2020, 16:25:41

Yesterday I have successfully installed Artix on my laptop. It could boot, hibernate and resume from hibernation. I have a GPT/UEFI setup. My boot partition used the FAT32 file system, but I was wondering if I could have a boot partition formatted in the ext4 file system, as you suggest in your wiki. So today I tried it. I deleted my boot partition and created a now one, (of type EFI System), then formatted it in ext4: mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1.

Later it turned out that I could not run grub-install. It complained that my boot partition does not look like an EFI boot partition. So I reformatted it again with mkfs.fat -F32 and tried to redo certain parts of the installation procedure to fill the boot partition with usable data again. But now it does not boot anymore. Instead of the Grub boot menu I used to have I get a grub console.

Here is more or less what I have now and I have no clue why this is not booting:

blkid
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/dev/sda1: UUID="A891-66B5" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="58e4f36c-f06c-2c44-a260-10e3e642073a"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="SWAP" UUID="8a8c0b83-8b6f-4fea-bd4a-905e7b51ebb4" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="a1cbabd7-fafa-c64b-8921-901a005335d2"
/dev/sda3: LABEL="HOME" UUID="f157bfe7-62f4-42b9-af5d-c1541758a11b" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="19468959-0a57-1947-a38a-cf92ea8095d8"
/dev/sda4: LABEL="ROOT" UUID="16211fe2-0927-4853-af22-b701645183fd" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="0507a328-c359-2346-929d-7f8e91cc551b"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="DATA" UUID="0a45d2db-2042-4e2e-a463-a5aef98795e3" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="0169bd45-b6fe-694d-a2db-2eda031b507e"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sdd1: BLOCK_SIZE="2048" UUID="2020-04-13-08-06-08-00" LABEL="ARTIX_202004" TYPE="iso9660"
/dev/sdd2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL_FATBOOT="ARTIX_EFI" LABEL="ARTIX_EFI" UUID="CEDB-3FA9" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat"

lsblk -f
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NAME   FSTYPE   FSVER LABEL        UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINT
loop0  squashfs 4.0                                                           0   100% /run/artix/sfs/rootfs
sda                                                                                    
├─sda1 vfat     FAT32              A891-66B5                               248M     3% /mnt/boot
├─sda2 swap     1     SWAP         8a8c0b83-8b6f-4fea-bd4a-905e7b51ebb4                [SWAP]
├─sda3 ext4     1.0   HOME         f157bfe7-62f4-42b9-af5d-c1541758a11b   18.5G     0% /mnt/home
└─sda4 ext4     1.0   ROOT         16211fe2-0927-4853-af22-b701645183fd  181.9G     1% /mnt
sdb                                                                                    
└─sdb1 ext4     1.0   DATA         0a45d2db-2042-4e2e-a463-a5aef98795e3  651.7G     0% /mnt/data
sdd    iso9660        ARTIX_202004 2020-04-13-08-06-08-00                              
├─sdd1 iso9660        ARTIX_202004 2020-04-13-08-06-08-00                     0   100% /run/artix/bootmnt
└─sdd2 vfat     FAT12 ARTIX_EFI    CEDB-3FA9                                           
sr0

fstabgen -L /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab
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# /dev/sda4 UUID=16211fe2-0927-4853-af22-b701645183fd
LABEL=ROOT          	/         	ext4      	rw,relatime	0 1

# /dev/sda3 UUID=f157bfe7-62f4-42b9-af5d-c1541758a11b
LABEL=HOME          	/home     	ext4      	rw,relatime	0 2

# /dev/sda1 UUID=A891-66B5
/dev/sda1           	/boot     	vfat      	rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro	0 2

# /dev/sdb1 UUID=0a45d2db-2042-4e2e-a463-a5aef98795e3
LABEL=DATA          	/data     	ext4      	rw,relatime	0 2

# /dev/sda2 UUID=8a8c0b83-8b6f-4fea-bd4a-905e7b51ebb4
LABEL=SWAP          	none      	swap      	defaults  	0 0

The following snippets are from the phase after artools-chroot /mnt

/etc/default/grub
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# GRUB boot loader configuration

GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="Artix"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="loglevel=3 random.trust_cpu=on resume=UUID=8a8c0b83-8b6f-4fea-bd4a-905e7b51ebb4 quiet"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Preload both GPT and MBR modules so that they are not missed
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_gpt part_msdos"

# Uncomment to enable booting from LUKS encrypted devices
#GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y

# Set to 'countdown' or 'hidden' to change timeout behavior,
# press ESC key to display menu.
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu

# Uncomment to use basic console
GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT=console

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal
#GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
GRUB_GFXMODE=auto

# Uncomment to allow the kernel use the same resolution used by grub
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

# Uncomment if you want GRUB to pass to the Linux kernel the old parameter
# format "root=/dev/xxx" instead of "root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/xxx"
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true

# Uncomment and set to the desired menu colors.  Used by normal and wallpaper
# modes only.  Entries specified as foreground/background.
GRUB_COLOR_NORMAL="light-blue/black"
GRUB_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="light-cyan/blue"

# Uncomment one of them for the gfx desired, a image background or a gfxtheme
#GRUB_BACKGROUND="/path/to/wallpaper"
#GRUB_THEME="/path/to/gfxtheme"

# Uncomment to get a beep at GRUB start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

# Uncomment to make GRUB remember the last selection. This requires
# setting 'GRUB_DEFAULT=saved' above.
GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT="true"

With grub, os-prober, efibootmgr already installed:
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=grub
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg
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#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
insmod part_gpt
insmod part_msdos
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="${saved_entry}"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

set menu_color_normal=light-blue/black
set menu_color_highlight=light-cyan/blue

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod part_gpt
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,gpt4'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-ieee1275='ieee1275//disk@0,gpt4' --hint-bios=hd0,gpt4 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt4 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt4  16211fe2-0927-4853-af22-b701645183fd
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 16211fe2-0927-4853-af22-b701645183fd
fi
    font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_input console
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
  set timeout_style=menu
  set timeout=5
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
  set timeout=5
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

tree /boot
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/boot
|-- EFI
|   `-- grub
|       `-- grubx64.efi
`-- grub
    |-- fonts
    |   `-- unicode.pf2
    |-- grub.cfg
    |-- grubenv
    |-- themes
    |   `-- starfield
    |       |-- COPYING.CC-BY-SA-3.0
    |       |-- README
    |       |-- blob_w.png
    |       |-- boot_menu_c.png
    |       |-- boot_menu_e.png
    |       |-- boot_menu_n.png
    |       |-- boot_menu_ne.png
    |       |-- boot_menu_nw.png
    |       |-- boot_menu_s.png
    |       |-- boot_menu_se.png
    |       |-- boot_menu_sw.png
    |       |-- boot_menu_w.png
    |       |-- dejavu_10.pf2
    |       |-- dejavu_12.pf2
    |       |-- dejavu_14.pf2
    |       |-- dejavu_16.pf2
    |       |-- dejavu_bold_14.pf2
    |       |-- slider_c.png
    |       |-- slider_n.png
    |       |-- slider_s.png
    |       |-- starfield.png
    |       |-- terminal_box_c.png
    |       |-- terminal_box_e.png
    |       |-- terminal_box_n.png
    |       |-- terminal_box_ne.png
    |       |-- terminal_box_nw.png
    |       |-- terminal_box_s.png
    |       |-- terminal_box_se.png
    |       |-- terminal_box_sw.png
    |       |-- terminal_box_w.png
    |       `-- theme.txt
    `-- x86_64-efi
        |-- acpi.mod
        |-- adler32.mod
        |-- affs.mod
        |-- afs.mod
        |-- ahci.mod
        |-- all_video.mod
        |-- aout.mod
        |-- appleldr.mod
        |-- archelp.mod
        |-- at_keyboard.mod
        |-- ata.mod
        |-- backtrace.mod
        |-- bfs.mod
        |-- bitmap.mod
        |-- bitmap_scale.mod
        |-- blocklist.mod
        |-- boot.mod
        |-- boottime.mod
        |-- bsd.mod
        |-- bswap_test.mod
        |-- btrfs.mod
        |-- bufio.mod
        |-- cacheinfo.mod
        |-- cat.mod
        |-- cbfs.mod
        |-- cbls.mod
        |-- cbmemc.mod
        |-- cbtable.mod
        |-- cbtime.mod
        |-- chain.mod
        |-- cmdline_cat_test.mod
        |-- cmp.mod
        |-- cmp_test.mod
        |-- command.lst
        |-- configfile.mod
        |-- core.efi
        |-- cpio.mod
        |-- cpio_be.mod
        |-- cpuid.mod
        |-- crc64.mod
        |-- crypto.lst
        |-- crypto.mod
        |-- cryptodisk.mod
        |-- cs5536.mod
        |-- ctz_test.mod
        |-- date.mod
        |-- datehook.mod
        |-- datetime.mod
        |-- disk.mod
        |-- diskfilter.mod
        |-- div.mod
        |-- div_test.mod
        |-- dm_nv.mod
        |-- echo.mod
        |-- efi_gop.mod
        |-- efi_uga.mod
        |-- efifwsetup.mod
        |-- efinet.mod
        |-- ehci.mod
        |-- elf.mod
        |-- eval.mod
        |-- exfat.mod
        |-- exfctest.mod
        |-- ext2.mod
        |-- extcmd.mod
        |-- f2fs.mod
        |-- fat.mod
        |-- file.mod
        |-- fixvideo.mod
        |-- font.mod
        |-- fs.lst
        |-- fshelp.mod
        |-- functional_test.mod
        |-- gcry_arcfour.mod
        |-- gcry_blowfish.mod
        |-- gcry_camellia.mod
        |-- gcry_cast5.mod
        |-- gcry_crc.mod
        |-- gcry_des.mod
        |-- gcry_dsa.mod
        |-- gcry_idea.mod
        |-- gcry_md4.mod
        |-- gcry_md5.mod
        |-- gcry_rfc2268.mod
        |-- gcry_rijndael.mod
        |-- gcry_rmd160.mod
        |-- gcry_rsa.mod
        |-- gcry_seed.mod
        |-- gcry_serpent.mod
        |-- gcry_sha1.mod
        |-- gcry_sha256.mod
        |-- gcry_sha512.mod
        |-- gcry_tiger.mod
        |-- gcry_twofish.mod
        |-- gcry_whirlpool.mod
        |-- geli.mod
        |-- gettext.mod
        |-- gfxmenu.mod
        |-- gfxterm.mod
        |-- gfxterm_background.mod
        |-- gfxterm_menu.mod
        |-- gptsync.mod
        |-- grub.efi
        |-- gzio.mod
        |-- halt.mod
        |-- hashsum.mod
        |-- hdparm.mod
        |-- hello.mod
        |-- help.mod
        |-- hexdump.mod
        |-- hfs.mod
        |-- hfsplus.mod
        |-- hfspluscomp.mod
        |-- http.mod
        |-- iorw.mod
        |-- iso9660.mod
        |-- jfs.mod
        |-- jpeg.mod
        |-- keylayouts.mod
        |-- keystatus.mod
        |-- ldm.mod
        |-- legacy_password_test.mod
        |-- legacycfg.mod
        |-- linux.mod
        |-- linux16.mod
        |-- loadbios.mod
        |-- loadenv.mod
        |-- loopback.mod
        |-- ls.mod
        |-- lsacpi.mod
        |-- lsefi.mod
        |-- lsefimmap.mod
        |-- lsefisystab.mod
        |-- lsmmap.mod
        |-- lspci.mod
        |-- lssal.mod
        |-- luks.mod
        |-- lvm.mod
        |-- lzopio.mod
        |-- macbless.mod
        |-- macho.mod
        |-- mdraid09.mod
        |-- mdraid09_be.mod
        |-- mdraid1x.mod
        |-- memdisk.mod
        |-- memrw.mod
        |-- minicmd.mod
        |-- minix.mod
        |-- minix2.mod
        |-- minix2_be.mod
        |-- minix3.mod
        |-- minix3_be.mod
        |-- minix_be.mod
        |-- mmap.mod
        |-- moddep.lst
        |-- modinfo.sh
        |-- morse.mod
        |-- mpi.mod
        |-- msdospart.mod
        |-- mul_test.mod
        |-- multiboot.mod
        |-- multiboot2.mod
        |-- nativedisk.mod
        |-- net.mod
        |-- newc.mod
        |-- nilfs2.mod
        |-- normal.mod
        |-- ntfs.mod
        |-- ntfscomp.mod
        |-- odc.mod
        |-- offsetio.mod
        |-- ohci.mod
        |-- part_acorn.mod
        |-- part_amiga.mod
        |-- part_apple.mod
        |-- part_bsd.mod
        |-- part_dfly.mod
        |-- part_dvh.mod
        |-- part_gpt.mod
        |-- part_msdos.mod
        |-- part_plan.mod
        |-- part_sun.mod
        |-- part_sunpc.mod
        |-- partmap.lst
        |-- parttool.lst
        |-- parttool.mod
        |-- password.mod
        |-- password_pbkdf2.mod
        |-- pata.mod
        |-- pbkdf2.mod
        |-- pbkdf2_test.mod
        |-- pcidump.mod
        |-- pgp.mod
        |-- play.mod
        |-- png.mod
        |-- priority_queue.mod
        |-- probe.mod
        |-- procfs.mod
        |-- progress.mod
        |-- raid5rec.mod
        |-- raid6rec.mod
        |-- random.mod
        |-- rdmsr.mod
        |-- read.mod
        |-- reboot.mod
        |-- regexp.mod
        |-- reiserfs.mod
        |-- relocator.mod
        |-- romfs.mod
        |-- scsi.mod
        |-- search.mod
        |-- search_fs_file.mod
        |-- search_fs_uuid.mod
        |-- search_label.mod
        |-- serial.mod
        |-- setjmp.mod
        |-- setjmp_test.mod
        |-- setpci.mod
        |-- sfs.mod
        |-- shift_test.mod
        |-- shim_lock.mod
        |-- signature_test.mod
        |-- sleep.mod
        |-- sleep_test.mod
        |-- spkmodem.mod
        |-- squash4.mod
        |-- strtoull_test.mod
        |-- syslinuxcfg.mod
        |-- tar.mod
        |-- terminal.lst
        |-- terminal.mod
        |-- terminfo.mod
        |-- test.mod
        |-- test_blockarg.mod
        |-- testload.mod
        |-- testspeed.mod
        |-- tftp.mod
        |-- tga.mod
        |-- time.mod
        |-- tpm.mod
        |-- tr.mod
        |-- trig.mod
        |-- true.mod
        |-- udf.mod
        |-- ufs1.mod
        |-- ufs1_be.mod
        |-- ufs2.mod
        |-- uhci.mod
        |-- usb.mod
        |-- usb_keyboard.mod
        |-- usbms.mod
        |-- usbserial_common.mod
        |-- usbserial_ftdi.mod
        |-- usbserial_pl2303.mod
        |-- usbserial_usbdebug.mod
        |-- usbtest.mod
        |-- verifiers.mod
        |-- video.lst
        |-- video.mod
        |-- video_bochs.mod
        |-- video_cirrus.mod
        |-- video_colors.mod
        |-- video_fb.mod
        |-- videoinfo.mod
        |-- videotest.mod
        |-- videotest_checksum.mod
        |-- wrmsr.mod
        |-- xfs.mod
        |-- xnu.mod
        |-- xnu_uuid.mod
        |-- xnu_uuid_test.mod
        |-- xzio.mod
        |-- zfs.mod
        |-- zfscrypt.mod
        |-- zfsinfo.mod
        `-- zstd.mod

7 directories, 311 files

Can you see why this is not booting?

One thing I noticed is that the Arch-Wiki writes that "grub-install also tries to create an entry in the firmware boot manager" and in the article about efibootmgr they mention that there should be some refind directory in my /boot/EFI after running the command create the boot entry manually. But as you can see in my tree /boot listing, there is none such thing for me. I've always relied on the automatic boot entry generation by running grub-install.

Re: Grub troubles

Reply #1 – 17 April 2020, 17:06:54

Maybe try installing grub again then kernel

There should be no refind dir unless you are using the rEFInd boot manager

Re: Grub troubles

Reply #2 – 17 April 2020, 18:29:58

Thanks for the tip. After reinstalling grub and then kernel, I noticed that the /boot partition contains these files which were absent in my previous tries:

tree /boot
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/boot
|-- initramfs-linux-fallback.img
|-- initramfs-linux.img
`-- vmlinuz-linux

0 directories, 3 files

Then I installed and configured grub again. Now it actually had some more output:
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
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Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image /boot/vmlinuz-linux
Found initrd image /boot/initramfs-linux.img
Found fallback initrd image(s) /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
done

Thanks a lot for your quick assistance. This solved my problem. I can boot again.