[SOLVED] BIOS doesn't detect GRUB

[Torpus]

romariogland,

Of course I do, I've been using this computer for years and ran different OS's on it without ever changing the disk or anything.

edit: THERE'S NO GIVING UP. IT IS A SOLVABLE PROBLEM.

But I just can't get it: if it's about partitioning then the data on the disk have nothing to do with that. Or maybe there's something else that does this thing? I'm speechless.

[romariogland]

Now it is clear
Then it's not a bios
I would try to install ubuntu on nvme, if it will start then look at the partition structure and grub settings
I think it is easier to look where it works

[Torpus]

romariogland,

I think you're right.

I tried adding GRUB to BIOS manually, navigated to the /boot partition where I'm asked to "Select a file to boot" but there's nothing in all the directories inside grub/

That means I'm missing an executable file inside /boot/grub. I don't think at all it's some .efi one. (It's Legacy BIOS with GPT, again)

This is what I have in /boot:

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System.map-6.5.2-gentoo      grub
System.map-6.5.2-gentoo.old  initramfs-6.5.2-gentoo.img
config-6.5.2-gentoo          vmlinuz-6.5.2-gentoo
config-6.5.2-gentoo.old      vmlinuz-6.5.2-gentoo.old

And this in /boot/grub

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bg.png  fonts  grub.cfg  grubenv  i386-pc  locale  themes

What am I missing?

[pietinger]

THERE'S NO GIVING UP. IT IS A SOLVABLE PROBLEM.

YES ! That is a good attitude !


Torpus,

a new day ... please take your time now ... please dont hurry ... (as I did also)

1. A backup should be possible, and is ALWAYS a good idea - even if you dont need it later.

2. I dont know Linux Mint - but this /dev/sdb has ALSO an ESP (efi system partition) ?!?! This could make problems if you try to install grub later ! Please dont use it. Take our GentooMinimalInstCD for booting !!

3. You can configure grub like you want ... AFTER all works. Dont do it before

4. Is there a chance I can motivate you to install a normal UEFI boot ? ... It is also future proof ... If yes, I could give you step-by-step instructions -> Deleting your existant installation on NVME01N1P4 is NOT necessary ! We do only reinstall grub and do some settings. Maybe you will laugh after it, because you will see how easy an UEFI boot is (IMHO it is easier than a MBR boot; today called CSM boot).

(you have already: 1. GPT 2. FAT formmatted 3. CSM mode disabled in your BIOS)


If you want try it, give me please the complete output of "parted -l" (there must be a /dev/sda ?!!) after you have booted with GentooMinimalInstCD (dont chroot into your old system; just boot). Also give me the output of
- "ls /sys/firmware". This tells me your BIOS setting (because our GentooInstCD can boot in both modi, depending on your BIOS setting). Also the output of
- "lsblk" and
- "blkid".

[Torpus]

pietinger,

1. I backed up make.conf and .config already as these couple files were the hardest to configure

2. Well, I just remembered that I ACTUALLY used to have an /efi folder when I installed Gentoo before. Therefore there MUST be EFI. But WHY does grub-install complain:

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EFI variables are not supported on this system.
grub-install: error: efibootmgr failed to register the boot entry: No such file or directory.

...and WHY is the /sys directory COMPLETELY EMPTY where it shouldn't be, even though I did

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mount --rbind sys/ sys
mount --make-rslave sys

before chroot? (and other commands of course)

3. Heh, I'll just keep the configuration file as it is since it's not really the problem.

4. Well, I thought it's bloat but I myself did that many times before. But we know that without EFI I'll face many annoying errors just like when I tried installing Gentoo musl

Thanks for the tips! I still have to disable CSM mode after enabling it just a bit earlier. I'll stick with the Mint LiveUSB since it's hard to use Firefox from a GentooMinimalInstCD where I'm posting this RN (after all, it's all the same. They're all GNU/Linux anyways) and used it to ACTUALLY install GRUB before reinstalling Gentoo entirely (remember when we were messing around with Wi-Fi configuration? )

Here are the outputs outside of chroot (from the LiveUSB):

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root@mint:~# parted -l
Model: Kingston DataTraveler SE9 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 4010MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name       Flags
 1      32.8kB  2953MB  2953MB               ISO9660    hidden, msftdata
 2      2953MB  2957MB  4350kB               Appended2  boot, esp
 3      2959MB  4010MB  1051MB  ext4


Model: WDC PC SN520 SDAPNUW-512G-1202 (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 512GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name    Flags
 1      1049kB  3146kB  2097kB                  grub    bios_grub
 2      3146kB  137MB   134MB   fat32           boot
 3      137MB   8858MB  8721MB  linux-swap(v1)  swap
 4      8858MB  512GB   503GB   xfs             rootfs


root@mint:~# ls /sys/firmware
acpi  dmi  efi  memmap
root@mint:~# lsblk
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
loop0         7:0    0   2.6G  1 loop /rofs
sdb           8:16   1   3.7G  0 disk 
├─sdb1        8:17   1   2.8G  0 part /cdrom
├─sdb2        8:18   1   4.1M  0 part 
└─sdb3        8:19   1  1002M  0 part /var/log
nvme0n1     259:0    0 476.9G  0 disk 
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1    0     2M  0 part 
├─nvme0n1p2 259:2    0   128M  0 part /mnt/gentoo/boot
├─nvme0n1p3 259:3    0   8.1G  0 part [SWAP]
└─nvme0n1p4 259:4    0 468.7G  0 part /mnt/gentoo/sys
                                      /mnt/gentoo
root@mint:~# blkid
/dev/nvme0n1p2: UUID="A068-C03E" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="boot" PARTUUID="0a2f2c45-cb75-47f9-a353-d8a2f522c98e"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: UUID="ab6721d3-16db-430f-ad21-72e502cc28ad" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="xfs" PARTLABEL="rootfs" PARTUUID="569ace70-ebdc-4929-8ef0-15a88970a300"
/dev/sdb1: BLOCK_SIZE="2048" UUID="2023-07-11-20-05-28-00" LABEL="Linux Mint 21.2 Xfce 64-bit" TYPE="iso9660" PARTLABEL="ISO9660" PARTUUID="40d74c7e-1ecf-4c27-a1c3-5a6f5147acfb"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: UUID="3e320b24-66b6-4704-8602-50fa545d5a0a" TYPE="swap" PARTLABEL="swap" PARTUUID="f2d2c5e0-ba91-40a8-9c3b-65b6857ba614"
/dev/nvme0n1p1: PARTLABEL="grub" PARTUUID="5776be66-5b51-49e2-9708-285fda8b7b68"
/dev/sdb2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL_FATBOOT="ESP" LABEL="ESP" UUID="8D6C-A9F8" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="Appended2" PARTUUID="40d74c7e-1ecf-4c27-a1c0-5a6f5147acfb"
/dev/sdb3: LABEL="writable" UUID="fd09496f-24a5-4e13-a473-194716eeb6f8" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="015a6cd9-efca-6a45-ac1f-3cae891c9c2f"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"

[De-Javu]

2. Well, I just remembered that I ACTUALLY used to have an /efi folder when I installed Gentoo before. Therefore there MUST be EFI. But WHY does grub-install complain:

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EFI variables are not supported on this system.
grub-install: error: efibootmgr failed to register the boot entry: No such file or directory.

What is the result of:

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# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/

if the directory does not exist or is empty, your system is installed in Legacy mode, without UEFI compatibility.

Personally, I would reinstall after confirming you've booted the install media in UEFI mode with the above command. I never tried to add UEFI to a Legacy mode install, so I don't know what the process looks like.

[Torpus]

De-Javu,

This is the output from the LiveUSB system, but for Gentoo after chrooting the whole /sys directory is empty:

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root@mint:~# ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/
AMITCGPPIVAR-a8a2093b-fefa-43c1-8e62-ce526847265e            MFG0-91b89306-5bac-4ae0-aab3-207ec12e989b
AsusCountryCodeIntel-607005d5-3f75-4b2e-98f0-85ba66797a3e    MaximumTableSize-4b3082a3-80c6-4d7e-9cd0-583917265df1
AsusEDID-607005d5-3f75-4b2e-98f0-85ba66797a3e                MemoryOverwriteRequestControl-e20939be-32d4-41be-a150-897f85d49829
AsusGpnvVersion-607005d5-3f75-4b2e-98f0-85ba66797a3e         MemoryOverwriteRequestControlLock-bb983ccf-151d-40e1-a07b-4a17be168292
AsusManufactureVersion-607005d5-3f75-4b2e-98f0-85ba66797a3e  MokListRT-605dab50-e046-4300-abb6-3dd810dd8b23
AsusShippingMode-607005d5-3f75-4b2e-98f0-85ba66797a3e        MokListXRT-605dab50-e046-4300-abb6-3dd810dd8b23
Boot0004-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c                MonotonicCounter-01368881-c4ad-4b1d-b631-d57a8ec8db6b
Boot0005-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c                OA30-91b89306-5bac-4ae0-aab3-207ec12e989b
Boot0006-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c                OfflineUniqueIDEKPub-eaec226f-c9a3-477a-a826-ddc716cdc0e3
BootCurrent-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c             OfflineUniqueIDEKPubCRC-eaec226f-c9a3-477a-a826-ddc716cdc0e3
BootOptionSupport-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c       OsIndications-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
BootOrder-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c               OsIndicationsSupported-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
BugCheckCode-ba57e015-65b3-4c3c-b274-659192f699e3            PK-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
BugCheckParameter1-ba57e015-65b3-4c3c-b274-659192f699e3      PKDefault-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
BugCheckProgress-ba57e015-65b3-4c3c-b274-659192f699e3        PlatformLang-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
CNFG-91b89306-5bac-4ae0-aab3-207ec12e989b                    PlatformLangCodes-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
ConIn-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c                   PreviousBoot-36d08fa7-cf0b-42f5-8f14-68df73ed3740
ConInDev-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c                SbatLevelRT-605dab50-e046-4300-abb6-3dd810dd8b23
ConOut-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c                  SecureBoot-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
ConOutDev-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c               SetUpdateCountVar-81c76078-bfde-4368-9790-570914c01a65
CurrentPolicy-77fa9abd-0359-4d32-bd60-28f4e78f784b           SetupMode-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
DefaultBootOrder-45cf35f6-0d6e-4d04-856a-0370a5b16f53        SignatureSupport-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
DefaultLegacyDevOrder-3c4ead08-45ae-4315-8d15-a60eaa8caf69   SmbiosEntryPointTable-4b3082a3-80c6-4d7e-9cd0-583917265df1
DeploymentModeNv-97e8965f-c761-4f48-b6e4-9ffa9cb2a2d6        SmbiosEntryPointTableF000-4b3082a3-80c6-4d7e-9cd0-583917265df1
EDD30-964e5b21-6459-11d2-8e39-00a0c969723b                   SmbiosScratchBuffer-4b3082a3-80c6-4d7e-9cd0-583917265df1
ErrOut-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c                  SmbiosV3EntryPointTable-4b3082a3-80c6-4d7e-9cd0-583917265df1
ErrOutDev-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c               TPMPERBIOSFLAGS-7d3dceee-cbce-4ea7-8709-6e552f1edbde
FPDT_Volatile-01368881-c4ad-4b1d-b631-d57a8ec8db6b           Timeout-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
FastBootOption-b540a530-6978-4da7-91cb-7207d764d262          TpmServFlags-7d3dceee-cbce-4ea7-8709-6e552f1edbde
HiiDB-1b838190-4625-4ead-abc9-cd5e6af18fe0                   UnlockIDCopy-eaec226f-c9a3-477a-a826-ddc716cdc0e3
KEK-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c                     VendorKeys-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
KEKDefault-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c              WriteOnceStatus-4b3082a3-80c6-4d7e-9cd0-583917265df1
Kernel_ATPSiStatus-77fa9abd-0359-4d32-bd60-28f4e78f784b      db-d719b2cb-3d3a-4596-a3bc-dad00e67656f
Kernel_DriverSiStatus-77fa9abd-0359-4d32-bd60-28f4e78f784b   dbDefault-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
Kernel_RvkSiStatus-77fa9abd-0359-4d32-bd60-28f4e78f784b      dbt-d719b2cb-3d3a-4596-a3bc-dad00e67656f
Kernel_SiStatus-77fa9abd-0359-4d32-bd60-28f4e78f784b         dbtDefault-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
Kernel_SkuSiStatus-77fa9abd-0359-4d32-bd60-28f4e78f784b      dbx-d719b2cb-3d3a-4596-a3bc-dad00e67656f
Kernel_WinSiStatus-77fa9abd-0359-4d32-bd60-28f4e78f784b      dbxDefault-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c

Can anyone please tell me WHY the /sys directory is empty inside the Gentoo system??

[De-Javu]

Can anyone please tell me WHY the /sys directory is empty inside the Gentoo system??

Hi Torpus,

Nice to see the LiveUSB shows good EFI variables.

Now, in the LiveUSB system after you checked the efivars directory, did you mount your / partition to /mnt/gentoo, then run arch-chroot /mnt/gentoo ?

If you did, and /sys still empty, please provide the output of df -h while in the LiveUSB.

[pietinger]

Torpus,

it is very strange that you have a /dev/sdb without having a /dev/sda ...

I suspect you have done wrong mountings when you tried to chroot into your system: I can see it here:

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└─nvme0n1p4 259:4    0 468.7G  0 part /mnt/gentoo/sys
                                      /mnt/gentoo

Correct is:

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# mount /dev/sdXY /mnt/gentoo
# cd /mnt/gentoo
# mount -t proc /proc /mnt/gentoo/proc
# mount --rbind /sys /mnt/gentoo/sys
# mount --rbind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
# mount --bind /run /mnt/gentoo/run
# chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
# . /etc/profile
# mount /dev/sdXZ /boot

(of course you can use also "arch-chroot /mnt/gentoo" IF you boot with our GentooCD)

Please note: There is also a GentooLIVE-CD (huge) where you have everything you wish / need ...

Now I can tell you:

1. You DO an UEFI boot when you use your Linux MINT ....

2. This error comes from a missing efivarfs - as a Follow-up error from your wrong mounting:

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EFI variables are not supported on this system.
grub-install: error: efibootmgr failed to register the boot entry: No such file or directory.

Do you need instructions ... or do you want to try again yourself ?

[Torpus]

De-Javu,

I did mount the root partition, but I can't arch-chroot /mnt/gentoo since it says this:

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root@mint:/mnt/gentoo# arch-chroot /mnt/gentoo
mount: /mnt/gentoo/dev: udev already mounted on /dev.
==> ERROR: failed to setup chroot /mnt/gentoo

So I chrooted to the Gentoo system with

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chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash

and ls /sys prints nothing

After exiting to the LiveUSB system this is the output of df -h:

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root@mint:/mnt/gentoo# df -h
Filesystem                   Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                        739M  9.6M  729M   2% /run
/dev/sdb1                    2.8G  2.8G     0 100% /cdrom
/cow                         3.7G  305M  3.4G   9% /
/dev/disk/by-label/writable  968M   18M  885M   2% /var/log
tmpfs                        3.7G     0  3.7G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                        5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs                        3.7G  608K  3.7G   1% /tmp
tmpfs                        739M  1.7M  737M   1% /run/user/999
/dev/nvme0n1p4               469G   32G  437G   7% /mnt/gentoo
/dev/nvme0n1p2               127M   44M   83M  35% /mnt/gentoo/boot

[pietinger]

Please read my post ...

[Torpus]

pietinger,

it is very strange that you have a /dev/sdb without having a /dev/sda ...

Yes, the only USB slot that's plugged is the LiveUSB one, and yet it's called sdb.

OMG THERE'S SOMETHING IN /sys NOW!!!

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/ # ls /sys
block  bus  class  dev  devices  firmware  fs  hypervisor  kernel  module  power

..after following your instructions on mounting the rootfs disk (the official way) and I used to mount dev and sys with --make-rslave flag which I think it's only for systemd users+totally neglected the /run mounting (this was part from what I remembered of "YouTube guides" that turned out to be a toxic poison, sorry for that )

Now I think the problem is almost solved!

edit:This is really satisfying

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mint / # grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.
mint / # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found background: /boot/grub/bg.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.5.2-gentoo
Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-6.5.2-gentoo.img
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.5.2-gentoo.old
Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-6.5.2-gentoo.img
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done

No more No such device...

I had to disable CSM from BIOS again.. and then check if it works

edit: Here we go, GRUB's working now
Thanks pietinger

[pietinger]

..after following your instructions on mounting the rootfs disk (the official way) and I used to mount dev and sys with --make-rslave flag which I think it's only for systemd users+totally neglected the /run mounting (this was part from what I remembered of "YouTube guides" that turned out to be a toxic poison, sorry for that )

You will find the same list here:
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:A ... ilesystems

Yes, you are right, the other (--make-rslave) is only necessary if you have systemd (therefore I skipped it).

I have a good feeling your system will boot into grub ...