Re: EFI boot: 'could not prepare Boot variable: Invalid argument'

[post@thomasdanckaert.be]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1334 bytes --]

On 2022-11-06 23:21, Felix Lechner wrote:
> My diagnosis was wrong. Your EFI variables are accessible. How about
> the output of 'efibootmgr'?

The hardware is a 2009 macbook, I believe can only boot through EFI (no 
BIOS compatibility mode or anything, AFAIU).  efibootmgr reports 
(ominously)

BootCurrent: 0000
No BootOrder is set; firmware will attempt recovery
BootFFFF*

I've attached the grub.cfg of the first failing generation (that is: I 
managed to boot into this generation, but now 'guix system reconfigure' 
runs into the EFI issue).

Somewhat embarrassingly, the last fully working generation is also the 
last generation with the linux-libre kernel. I don't know if you'd still 
like to help me try to restore a working system with linux-libre, or if 
that also conflicts with this list's policy on discussion of nonfree 
software.  If not, that is of course understandable, and I'll try to 
figure it out another way (or, more likely given my limited experience 
in this area, attempt a complete fresh install ;-) ).

Thomas

> Can you post the Grub configuration of the failing setup? It should
> show the past (good) configurations?
> 
>> I've also read about rEFInd
> 
> I have used that program to boot into a Linux kernel via its EFI stub,
> but it is my least favorite option.
> 
> Kind regards
> Felix Lechner

[-- Attachment #2: efi-problem-grub.cfg --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 3087 bytes --]

# This file was generated from your Guix configuration.  Any changes
# will be lost upon reconfiguration.
insmod luks
insmod luks2
cryptomount -u b121e6df828d4a93a560f560a1e4ae5b
cryptomount -u 3fa6a093ac1f4f0bb1bff46454633a58

# Set 'root' to the partition that contains /gnu/store.
search --file --set /gnu/store/ri8xhzj54jvw514hh4afqv3v2dhv39mz-grub-image.png


if loadfont unicode; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  insmod all_video
  insmod gfxterm
fi

terminal_output gfxterm

insmod png
if background_image /gnu/store/ri8xhzj54jvw514hh4afqv3v2dhv39mz-grub-image.png; then
  set color_normal=light-gray/black
  set color_highlight=yellow/black
else
  set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
  set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
fi
# Localization configuration.
# search --file --set /gnu/store/72li8q26xj9x2lb98zxddqmrysy7i2jh-grub-locales/en@quot.mo
set locale_dir=/gnu/store/72li8q26xj9x2lb98zxddqmrysy7i2jh-grub-locales
set lang=en_US
insmod keylayouts
keymap /gnu/store/xqr48xacc7018g9p1g206silm3y1wpac-grub-keymap.us

set default=0
set timeout=5
menuentry "GNU with Linux 6.0.7" {
  search --file --set /gnu/store/qhcwic52bmvxdi3g68fyd46h7k1s6cx3-linux-6.0.7/bzImage
  linux /gnu/store/qhcwic52bmvxdi3g68fyd46h7k1s6cx3-linux-6.0.7/bzImage root=/dev/mapper/cryptroot gnu.system=/gnu/store/7wqrbs7sgh87pnczysxpq1fg6cp8pi3j-system gnu.load=/gnu/store/7wqrbs7sgh87pnczysxpq1fg6cp8pi3j-system/boot modprobe.blacklist=usbmouse,usbkbd quiet
  initrd /gnu/store/31jfbn7zfrd8qysrh3981lfpii6b324h-combined-initrd/initrd.img
}

submenu "GNU system, old configurations..." {
menuentry "GNU with Linux-Libre 5.19.17 (#3, 2022-11-05 15:40)" {
  search --file --set /gnu/store/z2fcr22r752g2smwhy677bqfqmr8vjk0-linux-libre-5.19.17/bzImage
  linux /gnu/store/z2fcr22r752g2smwhy677bqfqmr8vjk0-linux-libre-5.19.17/bzImage root=/dev/mapper/cryptroot gnu.system=/var/guix/profiles/system-3-link gnu.load=/var/guix/profiles/system-3-link/boot modprobe.blacklist=usbmouse,usbkbd quiet
  initrd /gnu/store/a2q0vi35ms1jjxq2gmdnycbl3avngkx9-raw-initrd/initrd.cpio.gz
}
menuentry "GNU with Linux-Libre 5.11.15 (#2, 2022-11-05 13:56)" {
  search --file --set /gnu/store/5axms2d6yqx1zqbcjn3cl015cbcaf7i1-linux-libre-5.11.15/bzImage
  linux /gnu/store/5axms2d6yqx1zqbcjn3cl015cbcaf7i1-linux-libre-5.11.15/bzImage --root=/dev/mapper/cryptroot --system=/var/guix/profiles/system-2-link --load=/var/guix/profiles/system-2-link/boot modprobe.blacklist=usbmouse,usbkbd quiet
  initrd /gnu/store/4a547gvb5i53474878rc8axg30yvrm51-raw-initrd/initrd.cpio.gz
}
menuentry "GNU with Linux-Libre 5.11.15 (#1, 2022-11-05 13:14)" {
  search --file --set /gnu/store/5axms2d6yqx1zqbcjn3cl015cbcaf7i1-linux-libre-5.11.15/bzImage
  linux /gnu/store/5axms2d6yqx1zqbcjn3cl015cbcaf7i1-linux-libre-5.11.15/bzImage --root=/dev/mapper/cryptroot --system=/var/guix/profiles/system-1-link --load=/var/guix/profiles/system-1-link/boot modprobe.blacklist=usbmouse,usbkbd quiet
  initrd /gnu/store/4a547gvb5i53474878rc8axg30yvrm51-raw-initrd/initrd.cpio.gz
}
}

if [ "${grub_platform}" == efi ]; then
  menuentry "Firmware setup" {
    fwsetup
  }
fi