AMD64 UEFI solved finally Partly my fault (solved)

[Gentobobbyuk]

[/profile]Info temporarily removed

[pietinger]

I dont know why you think the information you gave is not in the amd64 handbook ?

See here:
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Disks#Default_partitioning_scheme
together with
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Disks#What_is_the_EFI_System_Partition_.28ESP.29.3F
together with
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Bootloader

Maybe you didnt read it, did you ?

Your mistake was: You did sda1 as efi partition and sda2 as addititional boot partition. It is easier if you use only ONE partition (boot) and format it with fat32, like the handbook says.

[pietinger]

[deleted because outdated]

[Gentobobbyuk]

IYs wrong but i followed the manual ?

[Gentobobbyuk]

[NeddySeagoon]

Gentobobbyuk,

The 2M bios_grub partition is only for legacy BIOS with GPT.
Do not make a filesystem on it.
Do not list it in /etc/fstab.

Its always safe to make the 2M bios_grub partition as it will be ignored if its not required.

Your original post contains a lot of typos that need to be fixed and your code tags are broken too.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[Gentobobbyuk]

I will remove the code part it was just xample

i followed and copied directly of the website
into notepad and then just
pasted them in the point it is it now boots ok

Im going to try the boot partition as /dev/sda as mentioned above.

[Gentobobbyuk]

sorry i will fix everything make sure its spelt correctly and try explain i think im beinh miss understood/

I have jjst been trying what everyone has suggested and then found a fix myself .

OIk the fix may be wrong but i will try what u just suggested.

SO boot is going to be an actually efi partition formated to vfat ? leave sda1 file system less if its not needed grub will ignore it .

As you no im just trying to make it clear for myself and others .

Im glad ihave at least got it working somehow.

Im going to re try what u say

i think i understand the way it works from my mistake

[NeddySeagoon]

Gentobobbyuk,

/dev/sda is a whole block device, not a partition. Getting that wrong can destroy your install.

With UFI, you must have a vfat partition. The UFI will read it to find EFI compliant programs to load and execute.
Grub is one such program.

Once grub is loaded you can pretty much do as you please, so the files needed by grub (kernel and initrd) may be on another partition with a different filesystem.
All these partitions are added complexity.
That handbook suggests that the EFI vfat partition contains everything required to boot.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[pietinger]

Gentobobbyuk,

you must know, the gentoo handbook has grown historical. First we had only booting a boot-manager (lilo, grub, etc.) resisting in a MBR (first part of grub; the main part needed a little place (2 MB) -> the grub-partition).

UEFI came later. And they added it also to the handbook. Yes, it is a little bit more complicated than before 10 years. Especially if you want to explain both ways in one document. With UEFI you dont need the extra place for grub, because the "whole" grub (in one part) is installed in the efi-partition (as grubx64.efi). In the handbook only one partition layout is described to not confuse people. Yes, with UEFI the little grub-partition is useless - but who cares for 2 MB.

[NeddySeagoon]

pietinger,

The history is as https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/User:NeddySeagoon/The_Olde_Way
Its still a work in progress.
The long term aim is to simplify the handbook to UEFI and Parted only and refer to an annex (that document) for Legacy BIOS.
The use of Parted will be removed from that link and it will only describe the use of fdisk.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[pietinger]

Neddy,

thanks a lot for this link:

[Gentobobbyuk]

Well i have just done another fresh install and now the system wont boot

no file system applied to dev/sda1
vfat -f32 /dev/sda2


and doesnt boot

also tried just vfat doesnt boot .

Yet if i do what i mentioned above it works


Your mistake was: You did sda1 as efi partition and sda2 as addititional boot partition. It is easier if you use only ONE partition (boot) and format it with fat32, like the handbook says.

Ive done that and now it does not work this is my point ive just done it fresh./

[pietinger]

[Gentobobbyuk]

maybe my motherboard works in a wierd way be nice to figure out hwy its doing this.

Im happy either way it boots but id like it to be setup[ correctly as the guy said mine is wrong

[pietinger]

[Gentobobbyuk]

NO brorther im not saying its wrong maybe i should not have worded it that way .

What im saying its very very confusing.

I just want to help others the way everyone is helping me .

Ive figured it out what and where i have been going wrong and why.

Im going to just re test and then il explain
what i was doing and why i think i was wrong and why it should maybe be explained better.

I also thank everyone for trying to help.
and im sorry.

i was being told so many diffrent things.
partly my fault

It really is the /boot /boot/efi
mkfs.vfat
mkfs.fat -F32
not applying filesystems to /dev/sda1
so on that was confusing me.

IM thankful you watched my video and explained where i had gone wrong.
I have also fixed it now .

Just re testing .

The very small partition which is set bios_grub on is actually showing up in my bios as a small drive now.
Very interesting

Im only trying to help my self as i see so many people struggling.

so hard when your being told multiple different things it gets very very confusing.
and then things get messed up

Anyways il repost my results shortly .

I think ive finally cracked it and hopefully i can help others understand.

Im just going to run my script again
which i have spelled checked lol

Il post my result but thanks ive got it now working

no partition on /devsda1
/dev/sda2 is boot
/dev/sda3 is swap
/dev/sda4 root

all working loverly jubbly.

Thank u

[NeddySeagoon]

Gentobobbyuk,

[Gentobobbyuk]

Neddy ive got it working
with the messed up way i was doing it.

And various sugegstions mentioned above.

The reason i fresh install is to make sure thats the correct problem .


Im just doing it now and going to post my output.
Its only a 45 min install its no issues and its a script so works on its own.


Ive got grub booting on using both ways my wrong way and with the way u and others have mentioned above.
But i have finally got the process.

Let me just get this done and i will explain where i was going wrong
what i found confusing.

I will admit everything that u guys have said is correct the way its been said has not always been so clear knows ones fault but my own. #
I have been told some wrong information buy some users though.
Again there only trying to help.

Il post my results shortly i just want to make sure i have it clear myself .

Its rebuilding now

[pietinger]

[Gentobobbyuk]

Sabertooth z77

Please listen ive got it working

GPT LABEL UEFI works my way and the proper suggested way that we have been having problems with.

MBR LABEL works fine the official way as well .

Im just rebuilding a fresh system so i can make sure i have fully understood what i was doing wrong dont worry the post is solved i need to edit the title

[pietinger]

[Gentobobbyuk]

Thank you everyone using this method it works
I hope i have finally done it correctly

Gentoo Linux Install On A Asus Sabertooth Z77 Motherboard]

Using amd64 Gentoo Minimal Installation Media

A 4 Partition Scheme layout
A GPT Label on the disc
UEFI



PART 1

##Installing Gentoo

#Choose How you are going to install Gentoo


#As a first time user id highly recommended trying to install Gentoo thru a virtual machine.
#Documentation for installing Gentoo inside virtual box or vmware can be found here.
We then need to deiced and check which architecture you need to use.

# For this manual its amd64.

#Its also a good idea to check your computers bios.
#Its quite possible your going to be using a UEFI motherboard.
#If you don't have a UEFI motherboard we need to create a slightly different layout when we partition,
#This can be extremely confusing.
#We are using an UEFI based bios and this guide is going to focus on setting up the file system and grub this way
#For instance we are using an Asus Sabertooth Z77 UEFI Motherboard it uses a amd64 architecture

#Using my Bootable Gentoo USB stick I First I setup my network using net-setup
#It automatically picks up my Ethernet adapter and Wireless USB Device.
#Im using a TP-LINK WirlessUSB card

After checking my network is up and running.

Using ifconfig

I then use parted and I create the following partition layout
Lets look careful at what the handbook is telling us before we do this.
I have been struggling to make sense of this.


"Gentoo Manual Quotes"

Now create a 2 MB partition that will be used by the GRUB2 boot loader later.
Use the mkpart command for this, and inform parted to start from 1 MB and end at 3 MB (creating a partition of 2 MB in size).
"Gentoo Manual Quotes End"


ADDED - NOTE THIS PARTITION DOES NOT NEED A FILE SYSTEM ITS A GOOD IDEA TO CREATE THIS PARTITION EVEN IF ITS NOT NEEDED.

When using the UEFI interface to boot the system (instead of BIOS), mark the boot partition as the EFI System Partition.
Parted does this automatically when the boot option is set on the partition:
Were going to need this for our system to boot so we need to make sure we dont forget to add it.

"Gentoo Manual Quotes ENDS"

<COMMADNS>

parted -a optimal /dev/sda
mklabel gpt
unit mib
mkpart primary 1 3
name 1 grub
set 1 bios_grub on
print
mkpart primary 3 131
name 2 boot
mkpart primary 131 16515
name 3 swap
mkpart primary 16515 -1
name 4 rootfs
set 2 boot on

Using the print command you display the layout you just created

<COMAND END/>

print
q

<COMAND END/>


We have just created 4 partitions there all different sizes.

grub A tiny partition used for some motherboards
boot Our boot partition this is where most of our boot information is sorted.
swap Used as Virtual Ram great for older systems needing a bit more Memory
rootfs The root of our Gentoo File System.


After creating the partitions we are now going to apply the file systems I have choose.
This just makes the guide easier for first time Installs.

REMEMBER
The grub partition does not need any filesystem applied to it and should be left UN formatted.
I was struggling to get my hand round this.


We also need to make sure that our boot partition /dev/sda2 is formatted with the vfat filesystem.
Remember this is and UEFI motherboard.

This is important when we go to install grub2 we need to direct it to where efi information is located on /dev/sda2

Lets Apply or file systems.

<COMMANDS>

mkfs.vfat /dev/sda2 (important because we are using efi based system)
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda4 (can be changed to other file systems but for this manual were keeping it simple)
mkswap -L swap /dev/sda3 (Creates our Virtual Ram)
swapon /dev/sda (Turns our swap space on)


<COMMAND END/>

Now we have created our partitions and applied the file systems lets move on.
Next mount the root parition in our case (/dev/sda4) to (/mnt/gentoo)
Then create a boot directory using (mkdir) and mount (/dev/sda2) to it.
Then change directory to (/mnt/gentoo) and download the stage 3 tarball.
We need to make sure we download the correct architecture.
In our case amd64

NOTE
I copied and pasted the link location of the amd64 stage 3 from gentoo.org and then used wget to download the tarball.
I then used the tar command to extract the base of our Gentoo system.
Note the link used during wget maybe out of date if using this manual please go to gentoo website and copy the current link.


<COMMANDS>

mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/gentoo
mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/gentoo/boot
cd /mnt/gentoo
wget https://bouncer.gentoo.org/fetch/root/all/releases/amd64/autobuilds/20200618T170443Z/stage3-amd64-20200618T170443Z.tar.xz
tar xpvf stage3-*.tar.xz --xattrs-include='*.*' --numeric-owner

<COMAND END/>

Lets echo some information into our (/mnt/gentoo/etc/portage/make.conf)

<COMMANDS>

echo 'GRUB_PLATFORMS="efi-64"' >> /mnt/gentoo/etc/portage/make.conf (Used later in the install to inform Grub when emerging)
echo 'ACCEPT_LICENSE="*"' >> /mnt/gentoo/etc/portage/make.conf (I needed to use this for the Linux-Firmware Package)
echo 'MAKEOPTS="-j9"' >> /mnt/gentoo/etc/portage/make.conf (Used for my Core info)

<COMMAND END/>


NOTE We are currently on the live media.

We have also not chrooted into the new environment that we have created, because of this were still inside (/mnt/gentoo)
Once we chroot we wont need to use the (/mnt/gentoo) anymore for example (/mnt/gentoo/ect/portage/make.conf) will be (/etc/portage/make.conf)
So when echoing i need to make sure im sending the text to the correct location
This can also be a little confusing at first.


Next we need to use the following commands
This will copy our network information and our repos.conf
We are also going to mount some directory's before we chroot.
These have to be mounted before we can continue,
After this we will be chrooted into the new environment.

<COMMANDS>

mkdir --parents /mnt/gentoo/etc/portage/repos.conf
cp /mnt/gentoo/usr/share/portage/config/repos.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/portage/repos.conf/gentoo.conf
cp --dereference /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/


mount --types proc /proc /mnt/gentoo/proc
mount --rbind /sys /mnt/gentoo/sys
mount --make-rslave /mnt/gentoo/sys
mount --rbind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
mount --make-rslave /mnt/gentoo/dev


chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
source /etc/profile
export PS1="(chroot) ${PS1}"

<COMMAND END/>

After chrooting lets make sure our (/boot) partition is still mounted its a good idea to check.
Even though grub is not installed yet when we go to install it sometimes it reports no errors


<COMMANDS>
mount /dev/sda2 /boot
(If its not mounted and reports /boot is not a directory you may need to make the directory (/boot) and mount (/dev/sda2) to it.
(We have done this above but sometimes ive had issues of it not being mounted after chroot.
mkdir /boot
mount /dev/sda2 /boot

<COMMAND END/>

Lets sync portage and update our world file)

<COMMANDS>

emerge --sync
emerge --ask --verbose --update --deep --newuse @world
env-update && source /etc/profile && export PS1="(chroot) ${PS1}"

<COMAND END/>


emerge gentoo-sources and create symlink to the usr/src/linux directory also emerge pciutils
use make menuconfig to enter the section where we edit the kernel.

<COMAND>

emerge --ask sys-kernel/gentoo-sources
ls -l /usr/src/linux
emerge --ask sys-apps/pciutils
cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig

<COMMAND END/>

We are going to apply the following things inside the kernel take your time.
Things can look complicated

I followed the Gentoo handbook and added a few extras for myself.
Most of the required things were already applied I only had to select a few things.

My kernel Layout.

Device Drivers --->
Generic Driver Options --->
[*] Maintain a devtmpfs filesystem to mount at /dev
[*] Automount devtmpfs at /dev, after the kernel mounted the rootfs


Device Drivers --->
SCSI device support --->
<*> SCSI disk support

File systems --->
<*> Second extended fs support
<*> The Extended 3 (ext3) filesystem
<*> The Extended 4 (ext4) filesystem
<*> Reiserfs support
<*> JFS filesystem support
<*> XFS filesystem support
<*> Btrfs filesystem support
DOS/FAT/NT Filesystems --->
<*> MSDOS fs support
<*> VFAT (Windows-95) fs support

Pseudo Filesystems --->
[*] /proc file system support
[*] Tmpfs virtual memory file system support (former shm fs)

Device Drivers --->
Network device support --->
<*> PPP (point-to-point protocol) support
<*> PPP support for async serial ports
<*> PPP support for sync tty ports

Processor type and features --->
[*] Symmetric multi-processing support

Device Drivers --->
HID support --->
-*- HID bus support
<*> Generic HID driver
[*] Battery level reporting for HID devices
USB HID support --->
<*> USB HID transport layer
[*] USB support --->
<*> xHCI HCD (USB 3.0) support
<*> EHCI HCD (USB 2.0) support
<*> OHCI HCD (USB 1.1) support

rocessor type and features --->
[ ] Machine Check / overheating reporting
[ ] Intel MCE Features
[ ] AMD MCE Features
Processor family (AMD-Opteron/Athlon64) --->
( ) Opteron/Athlon64/Hammer/K8
( ) Intel P4 / older Netburst based Xeon
( ) Core 2/newer Xeon
( ) Intel Atom
( ) Generic-x86-64
Executable file formats / Emulations --->
[*] IA32 Emulation

-*- Enable the block layer --->
Partition Types --->
[*] Advanced partition selection
[*] EFI GUID Partition support


Processor type and features --->
[*] EFI runtime service support
[*] EFI stub supportnan
[*] EFI mixed-mode support

Firmware Drivers --->
EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) Support --->
<*> EFI Variable Support via sysfs

[*] Networking support --->
<M> Wireless --->
--- Wireless
<M> cfg80211 - wireless configuration API
[ ] nl80211 testmode command
[ ] enable developer warnings
[*] enable powersave by default
[ ] cfg80211 DebugFS entries
[*] cfg80211 wireless extensions compatibility
[ ] lib80211 debugging messages
< > Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack (mac80211)

Device Drivers --->

[*] Network device support --->
[*] Wireless LAN --->
[ ] Realtek devices

[*] Staging drivers --->
--- Staging drivers
<M> Realtek RTL8188EU Wireless LAN NIC driver
[*] Realtek RTL8188EU AP mode (NEW)


#Exit the kernel using escape make sure you save.
#Use the commands below to compile it this may take some time.
#This systems seems to compile quite quick older systems can take days.

<COMMANDS>

make && make modules_install
make install
emerge --ask sys-kernel/linux-firmware

<COMMANDS END/>

Next lets open up our (/etc/fstab)


<COMMADNS>
nano -w /etc/fstab

/dev/sda2 /boot ext2 defaults 0 2
/dev/sda3 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/sda4 / ext4 noatime 0 1


<COMMADNS END>

nano -w /etc/conf.d/hostname


nano -w /etc/conf.d/net
emerge --ask --noreplace net-misc/netifrc

<COMMADNS>

Change directory and now link our network devices to the the loop back
Then use rc-update to add them to the default run level.



cd /etc/init.d
ifconfig
ln -s net.lo net.eno1
rc-update add net.eno1 default
ln -s net.lo net.wlp0s29u1u5
rc-update add net.wlp0s29u1u5

<COMMANDS END>

Set the root password for the system
Probally a good time to add a user as well.

<COMMANDS>
passwd

<COMMANDS /END>

#Edit the following files below and set them to your location settings
#For example im in England im using UK key-maps and GMT
#We can now emerge all the packages we need.
#I Am not actually using some of the filesystems that we have compiled into the kernel but I have just choosen to emerge them for future preference.
#We have also compiled them into the kernel.

<COMMANDS>


nano -w /etc/conf.d/keymaps
nano -w /etc/conf.d/hwclock
emerge app-admin/sysklogd sys-process/cronie sys-fs/e2fsprogs sys-fs/xfsprogs sys-fs/reiserfsprogs sys-fs/jfsutils
emerge sys-fs/dosfstools sys-fs/btrfs-progs gentoolkit usbutils net-misc/dhcpcd net-wireless/iw net-wireless/wpa_supplicant

<COMMANDS /END>

#Add some of the emerged packages to the default run level.
#When the system boots it tells the system to turn theese services on.


rc-update add sshd default
rc-update add sysklogd default
rc-update add cronie default
rc-update dhcpcd fefault

#Emerge grub and install it,
#Everything is now working.
#Reboot and Enjoy

emerge --ask --update --newuse --verbose sys-boot/grub:2
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Thats Gentoo Installed .

Massive thank you the Gentoo Community

[Gentobobbyuk]

So where i was going wrong

i was told that /dev/sda1 had to have a partition and then it didnt diffrent users
/dev/sda2 needed to be ext2 or ext4
i have to to have /boot/efi

anyways i appricate all the help and its made me learn and understand.


now i understand its so easy

create the 1 3 partition just incase u need it
set the grub_bios grub thing
then create partition 2 boot
set boot 2 on

this sets efi label not to sure what the first partition does but been told it skips if not needed.

i made sda2 vfat
no file system to /dev/sda1

installed grub and it works smooth as a charm .
I one issues i may have been having was recreating the file systems testing and not copying the kernel over to


thank u everyone

[pietinger]