Switching my system to UEFI this weekend.

keefaz · 10-19-2014, 05:05 PM

/boot/efi/EFI/Slackware/elilo.conf content looks ok ?

edit, sorry didn't read the previous post with your elilo.conf

I notice there is no default value (don't know if it is required with only one kernel entry)

Maybe you could add this line:

Code:

default=vmlinuz

just after the "timeout=1" line

brobr · 10-19-2014, 05:27 PM

Hi Keefaz,

Thanks for the suggestion; I just tried that but to no avail; the system returned back to the SETUP screen again

keefaz · 10-19-2014, 05:33 PM

At this point, it is not clear if elilo loads or not...

Could you change elilo.conf like:

Code:

chooser=simple
delay=150
timeout=150
default=vmlinuz
prompt
#
  image=vmlinuz
  label=vmlinuz
  initrd=initrd.gz
  read-only
  append="root=/dev/sdb1 vga=normal ro"

This way, if elilo loads you should see elilo prompt at boot

dad_ · 10-20-2014, 04:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobr

In uefi-mode, without the boot-USB, the system hangs, that is: does not start at all and reverts after a couple of seconds to the SETUP screen.

So you are not able to see any error message and don't have any failure trace?

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobr

When I boot with the uefi USB-stick and then by pressing 'tab' can input my path to / and the kernel (/dev/sdb1 vmlinuz), it reverts to the boot screen of the USB-disk.

Again no any error message is shown? What if try lilo(or grub? - what is installed on a USB stick) command line? Do I correctly understand that you're not able to boot your system installed on GPT drive in EFI mode, but still able to boot it in MBR mode(so lilo is still installed in MBR)? Only the distribution installed on a stick boots from EFI?

What about UEFI shell - have you tried it? (UEFI shell is a special application for EFI - it lets you run some commands before starting any OS or bootloader. For example you could manually start a .EFI executable, such as elilo.efi or bootmfgw.efi, from it).

brobr · 10-20-2014, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dad_

So you are not able to see any error message and don't have any failure trace?

That is correct no error message nor trace.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dad_

Do I correctly understand that you're not able to boot your system installed on GPT drive in EFI mode, but still able to boot it in MBR mode (so lilo is still installed in MBR)? Only the distribution installed on a stick boots from EFI?

Yes. That's correct. When I try to uefi-boot from the internal GPT drive nothing happens, just that I get back to the SETUP menu. But for lilo to boot I first have - in SETUP - to change 'OS' from 'Windows 8' to 'Others' and then - automatically - 'Eufi' is set to 'disabled'. This would explain why lilo boots after that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dad_

What about UEFI shell - have you tried it?

In SETUP there is such an option but It did not work. I can access the boot menu with efibootmgr after booting from the USB-key (after modbrobe efivars; see previous posts), when I am in slackware; or is that not the shell you mean?

rob

dad_ · 10-20-2014, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobr

In SETUP there is such an option but It did not work. I can access the boot menu with efibootmgr after booting from the USB-key (after modbrobe efivars; see previous posts), when I am in slackware; or is that not the shell you mean?

rob

No, UEFI shell is not a unix shell. It is a separate .EFI executable which could be downloaded & started from USB stick for example, or from your EFI fat32 partition. See here:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...ace#UEFI_Shell

Embedded UEFI shell is also sometimes available - in your case it seems it doesn't work, but you could try some external UEFI shell application (try to download one of the mentioned in the above article - some may work, some not).

keefaz · 10-20-2014, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobr

When I try to uefi-boot from the internal GPT drive nothing happens, just that I get back to the SETUP menu.

Did you try the elilo.conf changes I suggested? (adding delays + prompt command)

brobr · 10-20-2014, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dad_

It is a separate .EFI executable which could be downloaded & started from USB stick for example, or from your EFI fat32 partition. See here:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...ace#UEFI_Shell

Embedded UEFI shell is also sometimes available - in your case it seems it doesn't work, but you could try some external UEFI shell application (try to download one of the mentioned in the above article - some may work, some not).

Thanks for the advice. It could take me some time to get this going. I just saw in SETUP the option "Launch EFI Shell from filesystem device". Would I need to copy a binary to a particular folder in the EFI folder on the ESP? And how would I then proceed?? This is new for me.

Cheers,

Rob

brobr · 10-20-2014, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keefaz

Did you try the elilo.conf changes I suggested? (adding delays + prompt command)

Hi Keefaz, thanks. I just tested your suggestions but after two seconds of blackness the SETUP menu reappeared as before.

metaschima · 10-20-2014, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobr

Thanks for the advice. It could take me some time to get this going. I just saw in SETUP the option "Launch EFI Shell from filesystem device". Would I need to copy a binary to a particular folder in the EFI folder on the ESP? And how would I then proceed?? This is new for me.

Cheers,

Rob

Copy the shell to '/boot/efi/shellx64.efi'. See:
http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:sla...void_surprises

brobr · 10-20-2014, 04:05 PM

Thanks keefaz, dad_ and metachima for all the pointers. I think I found the solution, albeit fairly indirect. My EPS partition was wrongly fat32 formatted!

Quote:

Originally Posted by metaschima

See:
http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:sla...void_surprises.

An informative link metaschima. The reference in there was even more helpful! Especially the section about ESP on GPT-formatted discs, with:

Quote:

Note: If you get the message WARNING: Not enough clusters for a 32 bit FAT!, reduce cluster size with mkfs.fat -s2 -F32 ... or -s1, otherwise the partition may be unreadable by UEFI.

.

I had seen (but initially ignored) this error (my ESP is on /dev/sdb2):

Code:

bash-4.3# umount /boot/efi
bash-4.3# fsck /dev/sdb2
fsck from util-linux 2.21.2
fsck.fat 3.0.22 (2013-07-19)
Warning: Filesystem is FAT32 according to fat_length and fat32_length fields,
  but has only 51096 clusters, less than the required minimum of 65525.
  This may lead to problems on some systems.
/dev/sdb2: 14 files, 4257/51096 clusters

This error could be corrected according to the arch-page with

Code:

bash-4.3# mkfs.fat -s2 -F32 /dev/sdb2

as confirmed by a repeat of fsck (and the partition type was still EF00 according to gdisk). This wiped my original EFI/Slackware folders I reinstated with mkdir.

I then booted again into uefi-mode with my USB-key, mounted my / and /boot/efi partitions under /mnt and /mnt/boot/efi; did 'modprobe efivars' (both in the tty1 shell I was in as well as after 'chroot /mnt' in another terminal, tty2) and then could repeat 'eliloconfig' (in tty1). (Without the 'chroot /mnt' step 'eliloconfig' or 'efibootmgr' would be 'not found' because the USB-key did not have any slackware packages)

After that I booted straight into Slackware 3.14.18 without needing to change anything in the elilo.conf. I did not even get the chance to test the uefi Shell I had copied earlier according to your (metaschima and dad_) instructions; no need ;-).

This post is from an uefi-booted slackware-current installation:

Code:

bash-4.3# modprobe efivars
bash-4.3# efibootmgr   
BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0001,0000
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager
Boot0001* Slackware

and after some clean-up:

Code:

bash-4.3# efibootmgr -b 0000 -B
bash-4.3# efibootmgr -v        
BootCurrent: 0001
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0001
Boot0001* Slackware	HD(2,7736800,64000,86ce4157-bde7-4e5f-890d-c0e406ad8bc0)File(\EFI\Slackware\elilo.efi)
bash-4.3#

Cheers,

rob

dad_ · 10-21-2014, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobr

Thanks keefaz, dad_ and metachima for all the pointers. I think I found the solution, albeit fairly indirect. My EPS partition was wrongly fat32 formatted!

I was not aware of such EFI peculiarities because my EFI partition was created by windows 7 installer

(I went EFI only to be able to dual-boot win7/linux off my GPT disk and for win7 EFI required in this case).

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobr

This post is from an uefi-booted slackware-current installation:

Congrats!

BTW: I have EFI related question to all - in case of elilo package is upgraded(and this has happened already in Slackware64 current at least once) - we have to manually overwrite elilo files in /boot/efi? There's no special script like eliloconfig? Or we could safely use it in case of upgrade also?

Didier Spaier · 10-21-2014, 05:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dad_

BTW: I have EFI related question to all - in case of elilo package is upgraded(and this has happened already in Slackware64 current at least once) - we have to manually overwrite elilo files in /boot/efi? There's no special script like eliloconfig? Or we could safely use it in case of upgrade also?

There's no reason to change anything in /boot/efi after an update of the elilo package. Similarly you wouldn't need to change anything in /boot after an update of the lilo package.

brobr · 10-21-2014, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dad_

Congrats!

Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dad_

BTW: I have EFI related question to all - in case of elilo package is upgraded(and this has happened already in Slackware64 current at least once) - we have to manually overwrite elilo files in /boot/efi? There's no special script like eliloconfig? Or we could safely use it in case of upgrade also?

As far as I understood what is happening is that eliloconfig 0. controls whether you're on an uefi-system (GPT discs, ESP present etc), then 1. copies the required files to the EPS, and 2. makes a boot entry (See the script by, as root, 'less /usr/sbin/eliloconfig' or F3 in mc).

For 1. the required files are in the /boot folder: vmlinuz is the kernel installed and renamed to vmlinuz; with or without initrd.gz and the elilo.efi file is the one that fits your architecture (in my case elilo-x86_64.efi). (You can see this eg by comparing the contents of /boot and /boot/efi/EFI/Slackware alongside in mc)

Quote:

Originally posted by Didier Spaier
There's no reason to change anything in /boot/efi after an update of the elilo pacakage.

Yes, but all happens in /boot/efi/EFI/Slackware. Thus:

I wonder whether, after an upgrade (via upgradepkg or installpkg) of a kernel or elilo the required files get automatically copied to the EPS or whether you have to rerun eliloconfig. But it seems that eliloconfig might replace your current setup which is maybe not what you want, say when adding another kernel for testing.

And here a related question comes in: could you do this manually then, by copying the new kernel (and initrd.gz) and editing elilo.conf; (in this respect it looks quite similar to lilo.conf). But would one still need to add the new kernel to the boot menu with 'efibootmgr' or would 'elilo.efi' produce a menu one can choose from (after increasing time-out etc)? OR do you have to make a new folder (say Slackware-new) with the same contents as before but with vmlinuz (and initrd.gz) replaced by the new ones and add it to the boot menu with efibootmgr which then needs to be assessed during the booting phase with F7 (on my system)?

Rob

keefaz · 10-21-2014, 06:53 AM

elilo.efi is the boot entry in efibootmgr, so no need to update it after elilo.conf edits

If you have more than one entry in elilo.conf, just add "prompt" line, then at boot you can see elilo prompt and press enter to boot default or press tab to see other options (labels)