[Solved] MSI Z490I not recognising linux UEFI boot entries

[CYPH4R]

Original title: MSI Z490I MoBo not recognising ANY linux UEFI boot entries

Today I got a new motherboard to try out thunderbolt 3 on gentoo as a faster alternative to 10GbE close to a NAS. Now I had a working Gentoo installation on a ssd and I connected it to the new motherboard and as expected, it didn't have the boot entry for Gentoo which I put in on the other motherboard with efibootmgr. No problem, I'll just use a live USB and hop in, add the boot entry, and boom im done.

But no, I wasn't.

First I thought I messed up the efibootmgr command and so I tried it again, nothing. GRUB2? Nothing.

Maybe ist bc of Gentoo?? So I tried manjaro. Same story, no boot entry.

So I start googling for answers and stumble upon one [ur=https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... 18-print/l]post[/url] which really upset me.

There are motherboard UEFI implementations that will only boot with a M$oft/windows named loader.

Is this true or does anyone have a MSI Z490I Unify and can tell me how to get Linux booted on it.

[pietinger]

Is this true or does anyone have a MSI Z490I Unify and can tell me how to get Linux booted on it.

I dont have a MSI Z490 but you could try something ...

IF your grubx64.efi is actually in \EFI\gentoo
THEN install it into \EFI\boot
with

Code: Select all

# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --removable

(Of course you must have mounted your ESP to /boot and booted with an UEFI-capable medium)

To be sure check with "efibootmgr -v" if you have a correct UEFI-entry (best before and afterwards). If this doesnt work, then you can try to rename grub to

bootx64.efi (in \EFI\boot\) This is a standard name which must be accepted by every UEFI-BIOS (but check if there exists already one and make a backup; sometimes some mainboard havae a "rescue system" with this name)



P.S.: I assumed you have CSM mode disabled in your BIOS (and SecureBoot also). If not you must disable it (some mobos call it "legacy mode"; then disable this).

[NeddySeagoon]

CYPH4R,

There are two things to try.

What does

Code: Select all

efibootmgr -v

tell
Maybe eftvarfs is not mounted?
The efibootmgr page may help.

EFI has a default path name in will use too.
In your efi system partition the path ./EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi will be booted on amd64

The file bootx64.efi must be an efi program. It can be a stub kernel, grubs efi file ...whatever.
Only the name and content matter.

[Anon-E-moose]

What version is your bios?

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MEG-Z490I-UNIFY/support

Go through the bios sections, especially boot/uefi/etc and make sure to turn off secure booting (don't know what name msi uses) that will only allow signed blobs, if I remember right.

[CYPH4R]

If this doesnt work, then you can try to rename grub to

bootx64.efi (in \EFI\boot\) This is a standard name which must be accepted by every UEFI-BIOS (but check if there exists already one and make a backup; sometimes some mainboard havae a "rescue system" with this name)

OMG that did it!! Thank you for that info.

I followed the EFI stub article on the Wiki and that worked without a problem on the last motherboard. There I had the efi called bzImage-5.15.26.efi.

Is it written down somewhere that bootx64.efi is a standard name for the UEFI-BIOS to accept? Because it is named like that in the AMD64 Handbook, but in the third paragraph of the efibootmgr method it clearly states to read up on the EFI stub article which doesn't use the bootx64.efi naming. It does however state the fallback directory /boot/efi/boot/ so... yeah some inconsistencies which kind of messed me up as a noob.

Nonetheless, it was a great learning exercise and also showed me how great the Gentoo community is

Thanks everyone for coming in so quickly!

[pietinger]

Is it written down somewhere that bootx64.efi is a standard name for the UEFI-BIOS to accept?

Yes, in the official UEFI specification. (You need this name also when you want to boot from an USB-stick; BIOS is searching always this name, so it can find it on an USB-stick even WITHOUT an explicit boot-entry definied).

[CYPH4R]

Ooh okay thats how its done, TIL!

[NeddySeagoon]

CYPH4R,

For completness, the default EFI file name varies by arch. Its bootx64.efi on amd64.

If you are trying in on a different arch ever, the x64 part will change.