[SOLVED] setup eliloconfig fails because of missing /sys/firmware/efi

average_user · 07-12-2015, 06:39 PM

I try to install Slackware 14.1 x64 on Asus Z97-A motherboard with UEFI. I disabled Secure Boot in motherboard UEFI settings. I extracted Slackware ISO image to an USB drive and successfully booted it. I created a 100MB partition for EFI as it says in README_UEFI.TXT. Setup can find this partition and format it as shown in the attached picture.

Everything goes well until a step when ELILO should be installed according to README_UEFI.txt. I skip installing LILO but prompt to install ELILO is never displayed. This is because eliloconfig script fails here:

Code:

# If the system is not running under EFI, skip running this script:
if [ ! -d /sys/firmware/efi ]; then
  if [ "$T_PX" = "/" ]; then
    echo "ERROR:  System is not running under UEFI."
  fi
  exit
fi

There is no /sys/firmware/efi directory on my system. Here http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:sla...uefi_and_elilo they mention loading efivarfs module. I found it and loaded it by hand but /sys/firmware/efi was not created. They also say that:

Quote:

You should DISABLE the old efivars sysfs interface found at:

Firmware Drivers
EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) Support
EFI Variable Support via sysfs (CONFIG_EFI_VARS [=n])

as it is deprecated in favor of CONFIG_EFIVAR_FS, because it has a 1024-byte variable size limit, and because it can cause data inconsistency issues. However, if you do disable this, you will need a fork of the efibootmgr program that supports the new EFI Variable filesystem.

but above that they say that this option is already set in stock Slackaware kernel. What can be the problem here?

Didier Spaier · 07-13-2015, 12:26 AM

The problem is either that your firmware is not set to UEFI but to Legacy mode (aka BIOS) or is really buggy.

If efibootmgr (called by eliloconfig) can't find /sys/frmware/efi it s unlikely that it can work, i.e. create an entry in the firmware's boot menu for Slackware as it has no way to communicate with the firmware (no interface).

The reason you still see the message about EFI system partition is that at that earlier step just the presence of that partition is checked, not yet that of /efi/sys/firmware.

ReaperX7 · 07-13-2015, 01:04 AM

Better yet, what motherboard brand, model, and version do you have?

drgibbon · 07-13-2015, 01:11 AM

If your BIOS is already running in UEFI mode (not legacy) but Slackware is not able to make a boot entry, perhaps you could boot with this method (copying bootx64.efi, elilo.conf and vmlinuz to /EFI/boot/ on your EFI system partition). I did this after my UEFI settings got nuked for some reason, and it worked for me.

average_user · 07-13-2015, 04:40 AM

My motherboard is Asus Z97-A: https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z97A/specifications/ as I said in the first post. I got it this month. I don't know what's the version of UEFI, I am at work now, I will check it later. It may be needed to upgrade it, but I really don't think it's that buggy. And I need to check whether Legacy BIOS or something similar is enabled.

What's strange is that Asus refers to the firmware as "UEFI AMI BIOS" as if it was a BIOS-UEFI hybrid. Honestly I doubt that they sell a new motherboard without UEFI these days. It's a pretty new motherboard: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/Z97-A/.

Didier Spaier · 07-13-2015, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by average_user

My motherboard is Asus Z97-A: https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z97A/specifications/ as I said in the first post. I got it this month. I don't know what's the version of UEFI, I am at work now, I will check it later. It may be needed to upgrade it, but I really don't think it's that buggy

Here buggy wouldn't mean "doesn't work" but just "not fully compliant to UEFI specification version v"

Anyway getting the latest upgrade never hurts.

Quote:

And I need to check whether Legacy BIOS or something similar is enabled.

That's certainly the first thing to do.

Quote:

What's strange is that Asus refers to the firmware as "UEFI AMI BIOS" as if it was a BIOS-UEFI hybrid.

That doesn't mean much, just a commercial naming. Many manufacturers are not picky about the vocabulary, e.g. call BIOS what in reality is an UEFI or hybrid firmware.

Quote:

Honestly I doubt that they sell a new motherboard without UEFI these days.

Yes, but the UEFI specification explicitly allows hybrid firmware (UEFI + Legacy), and most recent firmware are indeed hybrid.

PS "UEFI AMI BIOS" probably means that the firmware is provided by American Megatrends. It has to comply to part of the UEFI specification anyway (including Secure Boot, that user should able to disable) else Windows 8.1 wouldn't be installable.

average_user · 07-13-2015, 03:18 PM

SUCCESS! In UEFI BIOS Utility I changed Boot Device Control to "UEFI only" what disabled "Legacy OPROM", as Asus probably calls legacy BIOS mode. After changing this mode Slackware installed started differently - instead of going straight to the console a GRUB window was shown.

It's good to see that even though technology changes Slackware stays around. Let it live forever.

strahilski · 04-01-2019, 10:52 AM

If you cannot tweak your BIOS to "UEFI Only" here is a solution which "forces" the Slackware installer to start in UEFI mode and offer the ELILO option. It works only if you install Slackware from a USB stick and is based around the idea of slightly modifying the usb stick "creation" process. You create 2 partitions on the stick -- one small EFI partition for a UEFI boot loader and one big Linux partition for the Slackware ISO. Step by step instructions for Slackware 14.2 64-bit follow. They are based on this article. The approach offered here is less general but uses binaries from the official ISO only. It should work for other ISOs too.

You need admin privileges with sudo or su.

Check your usb stick target device with fdisk -l and create the UEFI GPT partition:

Code:

gdisk /dev/sdx

Code:

n for new
1 partinion 1
enter on default start sector
+100M for partition length
ef00 as a partition code

Now we will create the Linux installation partition:

Code:

n for new
2 (second partition)
enter on default starting sector
enter on ending starting sector, that means we will use all the remaining space of the HDD
8300 as a partition code (Linux)

Code:

w (write changes)
enter to write changes.

At this point we have a GPT partition scheme with:

sdx1 (UEFI partition)
sdx2 (Linux partition for installation files)

and it's time to format:

Code:

mkfs.vfat /dev/sdx1 (this will format in FAT32 the UEFI partition)
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdx2 (this will format in EXT4 the Linux partition)

Now that we have the 'containers', we have to mount the UEFI partition on a local folder:

Code:

mkdir UEFI && mount /dev/sdx1 UEFI
mkdir -p UEFI/EFI/BOOT

Now we copy the usb stick boot loader from the ISO. First we mount the iso:

Code:

mkdir sl-14.2
mount -o loop isos/slackware64-14.2-iso/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso sl-14.2

Then we copy the boot loader:

Code:

cp sl-14.2/EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi UEFI/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI

Note that we copied it under a different name (all upper caps.)

Next we copy the whole iso with the 'dd' command

Code:

dd if=isos/slackware64-14.2-iso/slackware64-14.2-install-dvd.iso of=/dev/sdx2

And we are ready with the installation stick. When we boot from it, the EFI boot loader in /dev/sdx1 will automatically detect the slackware installer in /dev/sdx2 and will offer a GRUB menu with three entries. Select the first one and the slackware installer will be started in "UEFI-aware" mode.

KGHN · 06-07-2022, 09:22 PM

Setting up a new machine with 4TB HD, 500GB SSD, and Slackware 15.0!
Set the ASUS BIOS, which DOES NOT offer Legacy Mode, to boot from optical.
Set up partitions for Linux (sda2=swap, sda3=/, sda4=/usr, sda5=/home on SSD; sdb1=/home/primaryuser on 4TB HD), including EFI partition as sda1 with flags boot, esp. (I used Gparted on system rescue CD.)

Booting machine - launches Slackware installation DVD.
setup
Slackware can skip lilo installation, but does not offer elilo. Machine reboots to stupid cursor.
Going to shell after installation attempt, can
chroot /mnt
eliloconfig
gives ERROR: System is not running under UEFI.

Many searches, including
slackware 15 install elilo
eliloconfig error: system is not running under UEFI.
Rechecked BIOS for any mention of UEFI. Added administrative password in BIOS, which added some BIOS setup options, but nothing that seemed relevant.

SOLVED:
F8 during machine boot gives boot device menu.
*2* entries seen for the optical drive, *one specifies UEFI*.
setup
note Slackware setup program is now displayed in a slightly different typeface, and now offers elilo.
IT WORKED; IT BOOTS.
Thank you, Patrick.