grub not properly installing in GuixSD

grub not properly installing in GuixSD

[Joshua Branson]

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Hello,

I’m currently trying to dual boot Arch Linux and GuixSD on a desktop machine that I built.  GuixSD seems to be installing well, but grub in not properly installing.  I’m trying to boot using grub-efi.


After I run guix system init /mnt/etc/bare-bones.scm  /mnt


I get this error:


grub-install: error: /gnu/store/ipwgwqaarp304r82…….-grub-efi-2.02/lib/grub/i386-pc/modinfo.sh doesn’t exist.  Please specify —target or —directory.

guix system: error: failed to install GRUB on device /dev/sda1


I believe that for some reason guixSD is install guix in a BIOS way.  At least that’s what this ask ubuntu forum says:   https://askubuntu.com/questions/763472/what-can-i-do-to-fix-this-error-on-grub-efi/763746   Apparently grub should be trying to install via X86_64….

Now here’s detail about my set up.


parted p
/dev/sda1     500MB or so     vfat partition.
/dev/sda2     20 GB  Arch root
/dev/sda3    1GB swap
/dev/sda4    /home    for both Arch and GuixSD
/dev/sda5   /   for GuixSD.

The partition table is using GPT.


Arch linux is already installed.  It boots using UEFI, but Arch mounts /dev/sda1  to /boot.

I booted guixSD via a usb-stick.  I believe that I booted in BIOS mode.  I was unable to get the usbstick to boot via UEFI.

mount /dev/sda5 /mnt

mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi

mkdir /mnt/home

mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/home

swapon /dev/sda3


Then I ran guix system init.

I don’t want to completely copy out my config file  (that would take a while), but here’s the gist of it.  At least the parts that deal with UEFI boot:

(use-modules (gnu) (gnu system nss))
...
(use-package-modules bootloaders  admin certs gnome)
…
(boot loader (grub-configuration
                        (grub grub-efi)
                        (device “/dev/sda1”)
                        ….
(file-systems (cons*  (file-system
                                     (device “my-root”)   ;; //this is /dev/sda5
                                     (title ‘label)
                                     (mount-point “/“)
                                      (type “ext4”))
                                   (file-system
                                      (mount-point “/home”
                                      (device “/dev/sda4”)
                                      (type “ext4”))
                                    (file-system
                                       (device “/dev/sda1”)
                                       (mount-point “/boot/efi”)
                                       (type “vfat”))
                                   %base-file-systems))



I’m using a AMD CPU.  1TB hard drive.  And I don’t think there is much more that I can say at this point.   Is there a specific guix command to try to install grub?  What command would I run to install grub on /dev/sda1 so that it boots GuixSD?

Thanks,

Joshua


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Re: grub not properly installing in GuixSD

[Joshua Branson]

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I do actually have swap devices in the config file.  I just didn’t want to re-write the entire config file.  :)

That is true.  I do have /dev/sda1 tagged as bootable and as esp.

parted p shows

/dev/sda1  flags:  boot, esp   file system  fat32,   Size 537MB


And you are seeing that missing parenthesis because my config has a menu-entries to specify that I dual boot.


(bootloader  …
      ….
   (menu-entries
       (list
           (menu-entry
                   (label “Parabola”)
                       ….
……. )   ;; closing parenthesis for the (bootloader


If I was missing parenthesis, guix would have given me an error when I tried to init the system.  So I believe that my parenthesis are in order.  :)

Thanks for the speedy response.  I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually.


I suppose that part of the problem could be that /dev/sda1   already has grub installed on it.  When I installed Arch linux, it used /dev/sda1 as the partition to install guix.   /dev/sda1 is the partition that is flagged as bootable, and right now it’s configured to load grub then boot Arch linux.     If I install grub again on /dev/sda1, will grub be smart enough to load guixSD?    It might be wiser to delete- and re-create /dev/sda1.  That way guixSD will install  on blank slate.  The only problem is, that might break my boot process.  If I can get to a boot command line, I know how to boot Parabola.  But issues bro.  issues.

P.S.  If you are interested in learning more about MBR, EFI partition, UEFI, and GPT, then you should take a look at this wiki:    https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB#UEFI_systems       It gives you a good overview.




On Jul 17, 2017, at 3:28 PM, Joshua Branson <bransoj@hotmail.com<mailto:bransoj@hotmail.com>> wrote:

Hello,

I’m currently trying to dual boot Arch Linux and GuixSD on a desktop machine that I built.  GuixSD seems to be installing well, but grub in not properly installing.  I’m trying to boot using grub-efi.


After I run guix system init /mnt/etc/bare-bones.scm  /mnt


I get this error:


grub-install: error: /gnu/store/ipwgwqaarp304r82…….-grub-efi-2.02/lib/grub/i386-pc/modinfo.sh doesn’t exist.  Please specify —target or —directory.

guix system: error: failed to install GRUB on device /dev/sda1


I believe that for some reason guixSD is install guix in a BIOS way.  At least that’s what this ask ubuntu forum says:   https://askubuntu.com/questions/763472/what-can-i-do-to-fix-this-error-on-grub-efi/763746   Apparently grub should be trying to install via X86_64….

Now here’s detail about my set up.


parted p
/dev/sda1     500MB or so     vfat partition.
/dev/sda2     20 GB  Arch root
/dev/sda3    1GB swap
/dev/sda4    /home    for both Arch and GuixSD
/dev/sda5   /   for GuixSD.

The partition table is using GPT.


Arch linux is already installed.  It boots using UEFI, but Arch mounts /dev/sda1  to /boot.

I booted guixSD via a usb-stick.  I believe that I booted in BIOS mode.  I was unable to get the usbstick to boot via UEFI.

mount /dev/sda5 /mnt

mkdir -p /mnt/boot/efi

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi

mkdir /mnt/home

mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/home

swapon /dev/sda3


Then I ran guix system init.

I don’t want to completely copy out my config file  (that would take a while), but here’s the gist of it.  At least the parts that deal with UEFI boot:

(use-modules (gnu) (gnu system nss))
...
(use-package-modules bootloaders  admin certs gnome)
…
(boot loader (grub-configuration
                        (grub grub-efi)
                        (device “/dev/sda1”)
                        ….
(file-systems (cons*  (file-system
                                     (device “my-root”)   ;; //this is /dev/sda5
                                     (title ‘label)
                                     (mount-point “/“)
                                      (type “ext4”))
                                   (file-system
                                      (mount-point “/home”
                                      (device “/dev/sda4”)
                                      (type “ext4”))
                                    (file-system
                                       (device “/dev/sda1”)
                                       (mount-point “/boot/efi”)
                                       (type “vfat”))
                                   %base-file-systems))



I’m using a AMD CPU.  1TB hard drive.  And I don’t think there is much more that I can say at this point.   Is there a specific guix command to try to install grub?  What command would I run to install grub on /dev/sda1 so that it boots GuixSD?

Thanks,

Joshua



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Re: grub not properly installing in GuixSD

[Marius Bakke]

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Joshua Branson <bransoj@hotmail.com> writes:

> Hello,
>
> I’m currently trying to dual boot Arch Linux and GuixSD on a desktop machine that I built.  GuixSD seems to be installing well, but grub in not properly installing.  I’m trying to boot using grub-efi.
>
>
> After I run guix system init /mnt/etc/bare-bones.scm  /mnt
>
>
> I get this error:
>
>
> grub-install: error: /gnu/store/ipwgwqaarp304r82…….-grub-efi-2.02/lib/grub/i386-pc/modinfo.sh doesn’t exist.  Please specify —target or —directory.
>
> guix system: error: failed to install GRUB on device /dev/sda1
>
>
> I believe that for some reason guixSD is install guix in a BIOS way.  At least that’s what this ask ubuntu forum says:   https://askubuntu.com/questions/763472/what-can-i-do-to-fix-this-error-on-grub-efi/763746   Apparently grub should be trying to install via X86_64….

Indeed. The error above indicates GRUB could not detect a UEFI system
and falls back to BIOS (i386-pc), but can't find the required files.

> Now here’s detail about my set up.
>
>
> parted p
> /dev/sda1     500MB or so     vfat partition.
> /dev/sda2     20 GB  Arch root
> /dev/sda3    1GB swap
> /dev/sda4    /home    for both Arch and GuixSD
> /dev/sda5   /   for GuixSD.
>
> The partition table is using GPT.

Looks good.

> Arch linux is already installed.  It boots using UEFI, but Arch mounts /dev/sda1  to /boot.
>
> I booted guixSD via a usb-stick.  I believe that I booted in BIOS mode.  I was unable to get the usbstick to boot via UEFI.

How old is your system, and in particular the mainboard? Do you know the
brand/model? I wonder if this is one of those famous systems with 32-bit
firmware and 64-bit CPU.

Is the GuixSD install image detected if you disable legacy BIOS support
altogether in your firmware? If not, can you test if the i686
installation image works?

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Re: grub not properly installing in GuixSD

[Joshua Branson]

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I believe the board and APU came out around 2014.  The cpu is an AMD AM1.

The mother board is the gigabyte AM1M-S2H.

The specification for that board is here:  https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-AM1M-S2H-rev-10#sp

On the BIOS column it says:  1 x 32 Mbit flash.  Does that mean that the firmware is 32-bit?  I’m not sure…

Just to clarify, my desktop machine did detect that the usb could be booted via UEFI or via legacy boot.  I could either choose to boot guixSD via UEFI or via legacy.  I could only get it to boot properly the legacy way.  When I chose the UEFI option, it hanged.


BUT to be sure, I entered my bios and now my computer will only boot in UEFI mode.  When I tell my computer to boot via the usb (using UEFI and booting GuixSD), it fails to boot at some point.  Here’s some of the last entries:

snd_hda_codec_realtex hdaudioC1D0:
….
[drm] radeon kernel modesetting enabled
….
AMD IOMMUv2 driver by Joerg Roedel
…
CU CPU: cores=4 id_base=0
…
found cache entry in CRAT table with processor_id=1
...
Creating topology SYSFS entries
Finished initializing topology ret=0
kfd kfd: Initialized module
fb: switching to radeondrmfb from EFI VGA

Then it hangs and does nothing more.   I’m assuming that it is has something to do with the APU, but I don’t know.  Actually, it could be that Arch Linux uses a vanilla kernel.  Perhaps the linux-libre kernel doesn’t ship with some certain needed proprietary firmware…actually I’m reading online on several places (online) that this is a problem with mode setting the radeon driver.  If I change the grub command line to disable modesetting, then I may be able to boot properly.   The problem is that I don’t see grub anywhere in my boot process.

After I turn on the machine, I see a splash image of Gigabyte logo, then I immediately see my boot options.  Arch Linux, or reboot into firmware.  I can’t seem to figure out how to get to the grub command prompt to tell it that I want to boot the usb via UEFI, and disable mode setting…..I think the reason why I do not see grub loading, is because I am using systemd-boot and not grub. hahah.  No wonder I can’t read the grub command prompt.   So now I need to uninstall systemd-boot, boot via grub, then I’ll be able to get to the grub command prompt.

Ok, I booted Arch Linux.  uninstalled systemd-boot.  Installed grub.  Now I am trying to boot the usb stick via UEFI.  systemd-boot was smart enough to realize that I had a usb stick that wanted to boot.  Default grub doesn’t seem to be…That’s ok.  I can do this manually.  I go to a grub command prompt, and am I trying to get the usb to boot.  Chainloading it didn’t work.

aka:  set root=(hd0,gpt5)
chainloader +1
boot


So now I am trying to get grub to boot the usb stick to boot via UEFI.  Since I’ve disabled booting in legacy mode in my bios, it should boot via UEFI.

set root=(hd1,gpt5)
linux (hd1,gpt1)/vmlinuz-linux rw root=/dev/sda5 nomodeset
initrd (hd1,gtp1)/initramfs-linux.img
boot

gpt5 on the usb stick is the root.  Label “my-root.”   and gpt1 is a fat filesystem.  So  I guess I’m choosing the right partitions.  though is /dev/sda right???

When I try booting this: /dev/sda5 is mounted cleanly (is that the same thing as hd1,gpt5 ?)  but I get an error message:  /sbin/init does not exist.   Bailing out, you are on your own.  Good luck.

And now I’m in a rootfs prompt.

I’ll keep trying to figure out how to book the usb stick via grub….


On Jul 17, 2017, at 5:47 PM, Marius Bakke <mbakke@fastmail.com<mailto:mbakke@fastmail.com>> wrote:

Joshua Branson <bransoj@hotmail.com<mailto:bransoj@hotmail.com>> writes:

Hello,

I’m currently trying to dual boot Arch Linux and GuixSD on a desktop machine that I built.  GuixSD seems to be installing well, but grub in not properly installing.  I’m trying to boot using grub-efi.


After I run guix system init /mnt/etc/bare-bones.scm  /mnt


I get this error:


grub-install: error: /gnu/store/ipwgwqaarp304r82…….-grub-efi-2.02/lib/grub/i386-pc/modinfo.sh doesn’t exist.  Please specify —target or —directory.

guix system: error: failed to install GRUB on device /dev/sda1


I believe that for some reason guixSD is install guix in a BIOS way.  At least that’s what this ask ubuntu forum says:   https://askubuntu.com/questions/763472/what-can-i-do-to-fix-this-error-on-grub-efi/763746   Apparently grub should be trying to install via X86_64….

Indeed. The error above indicates GRUB could not detect a UEFI system
and falls back to BIOS (i386-pc), but can't find the required files.

Now here’s detail about my set up.


parted p
/dev/sda1     500MB or so     vfat partition.
/dev/sda2     20 GB  Arch root
/dev/sda3    1GB swap
/dev/sda4    /home    for both Arch and GuixSD
/dev/sda5   /   for GuixSD.

The partition table is using GPT.

Looks good.

Arch linux is already installed.  It boots using UEFI, but Arch mounts /dev/sda1  to /boot.

I booted guixSD via a usb-stick.  I believe that I booted in BIOS mode.  I was unable to get the usbstick to boot via UEFI.

How old is your system, and in particular the mainboard? Do you know the
brand/model? I wonder if this is one of those famous systems with 32-bit
firmware and 64-bit CPU.

Is the GuixSD install image detected if you disable legacy BIOS support
altogether in your firmware? If not, can you test if the i686
installation image works?


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Re: grub not properly installing in GuixSD

[Marius Bakke]

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Joshua Branson <bransoj@hotmail.com> writes:

> BUT to be sure, I entered my bios and now my computer will only boot in UEFI mode.  When I tell my computer to boot via the usb (using UEFI and booting GuixSD), it fails to boot at some point.  Here’s some of the last entries:
>
> snd_hda_codec_realtex hdaudioC1D0:
> ….
> [drm] radeon kernel modesetting enabled
> ….
> AMD IOMMUv2 driver by Joerg Roedel
> …
> CU CPU: cores=4 id_base=0
> …
> found cache entry in CRAT table with processor_id=1
> ...
> Creating topology SYSFS entries
> Finished initializing topology ret=0
> kfd kfd: Initialized module
> fb: switching to radeondrmfb from EFI VGA
>
> Then it hangs and does nothing more.   I’m assuming that it is has something to do with the APU, but I don’t know.  Actually, it could be that Arch Linux uses a vanilla kernel.  Perhaps the linux-libre kernel doesn’t ship with some certain needed proprietary firmware…actually I’m reading online on several places (online) that this is a problem with mode setting the radeon driver.  If I change the grub command line to disable modesetting, then I may be able to boot properly.   The problem is that I don’t see grub anywhere in my boot process.

There is a brief (5s?) window just after booting the USB where the GRUB
menu is shown with a GuixSD background, before Linux-Libre boots. You
can press 'e' there to add command-line arguments for the kernel.

If adding 'nomodeset' works, maybe we should do that by default. Kernel
mode-setting is arguably not that important for the install media.

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Re: grub not properly installing in GuixSD

[Joshua Branson]

     So some new updates:


I can properly boot guixSD in UEFI from the grub command prompt! Aka I 
chainload the operating system.  Unfortunately I do not know how to 
chainload the OS and pass a kernel argument.  I need to pass nomodeset.

So I booted GuixSD in UEFI mode via (I'm writing from memory.  I think 
this is the command I used):


set root=(hd0,msdos1)    (I think this is the vfat system)

chainloader (${root})/efi/boot/name-of-efi-file.efi

boot


Now the guixSD image boots just fine, BUT it fails when it tries to load 
in raedon driver.  Is there a way to specify linux kernel boot 
parameters?  Apparently you can when you load the kernel. aka linux 
(hd0,1)/path-to-linux nomodeset


BUT I don't know where the linux kernel is on the usbstick.


On 07/17/2017 05:47 PM, Marius Bakke wrote:
> Joshua Branson <bransoj@hotmail.com> writes:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I’m currently trying to dual boot Arch Linux and GuixSD on a desktop machine that I built.  GuixSD seems to be installing well, but grub in not properly installing.  I’m trying to boot using grub-efi.
>>
>>
>> After I run guix system init /mnt/etc/bare-bones.scm  /mnt
>>
>>
>> I get this error:
>>
>>
>> grub-install: error: /gnu/store/ipwgwqaarp304r82…….-grub-efi-2.02/lib/grub/i386-pc/modinfo.sh doesn’t exist.  Please specify —target or —directory.
>>
>> guix system: error: failed to install GRUB on device /dev/sda1
>>
>>
>> I believe that for some reason guixSD is install guix in a BIOS way.  At least that’s what this ask ubuntu forum says:   https://askubuntu.com/questions/763472/what-can-i-do-to-fix-this-error-on-grub-efi/763746   Apparently grub should be trying to install via X86_64….
> Indeed. The error above indicates GRUB could not detect a UEFI system
> and falls back to BIOS (i386-pc), but can't find the required files.
>
>> Now here’s detail about my set up.
>>
>>
>> parted p
>> /dev/sda1     500MB or so     vfat partition.
>> /dev/sda2     20 GB  Arch root
>> /dev/sda3    1GB swap
>> /dev/sda4    /home    for both Arch and GuixSD
>> /dev/sda5   /   for GuixSD.
>>
>> The partition table is using GPT.
> Looks good.
>
>> Arch linux is already installed.  It boots using UEFI, but Arch mounts /dev/sda1  to /boot.
>>
>> I booted guixSD via a usb-stick.  I believe that I booted in BIOS mode.  I was unable to get the usbstick to boot via UEFI.
> How old is your system, and in particular the mainboard? Do you know the
> brand/model? I wonder if this is one of those famous systems with 32-bit
> firmware and 64-bit CPU.
>
> Is the GuixSD install image detected if you disable legacy BIOS support
> altogether in your firmware? If not, can you test if the i686
> installation image works?

Re: grub not properly installing in GuixSD

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Joshua Branson <bransoj@hotmail.com> writes:

> I can properly boot guixSD in UEFI from the grub command prompt! Aka I
> chainload the operating system.  Unfortunately I do not know how to
> chainload the OS and pass a kernel argument.  I need to pass nomodeset.

The kernel arguments should go into the operating system configuration
file.  There’s a field “kernel-arguments”, which is just a list of
strings.

Here’s an example:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(operating-system
  …
  (kernel-arguments
   '("iomem=relaxed"     ; Needed for using flashrom
     "zswap.enabled=1"   ; compressed RAM cache for swap devices
     "vm.swappiness=100" ; NOTE: only use this with zswap!
     ))
…)
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

> BUT I don't know where the linux kernel is on the usbstick.

Oh, this is still about booting the USB image?  The comment above is
about how to add extra arguments once you’ve already installed GuixSD.

--
Ricardo

GPG: BCA6 89B6 3655 3801 C3C6  2150 197A 5888 235F ACAC
https://elephly.net

Re: grub not properly installing in GuixSD

[Joshua Branson]

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Yup.  That's correct.  I am asking about how to modify


set root=(hd0,msdos1)    (I think this is the vfat system)

chainloader (${root})/efi/boot/name-of-efi-file.efi

boot


to something like


set root=(hd0,msdos1)    (I think this is the vfat system)

chainloader (${root})/efi/boot/name-of-efi-file.efi

linux (hd0,msdos1)/path/to/vm-linuz-libre    ?

boot


But thanks for reminding me about disabling modesetting.  If I can't boot the usbstick via modesetting, then I probably need to change my config to disable it as well.  Otherwise I'll successfully install guixSD and grub, but the boot process will fail when it tries to load the raedon driver.


Don't worry too much about trying to find a solution for me.  Worst case scenerio, I think that I can unstill grub.  Install systemd-boot again, modify the boot parameters via systemd-boot boot menu, boot guixSD from the usb stick.  Uninstall systemd-boot, install grub, and reboot and we should be golden....But If I can figure out how to just use grub properly, that'd be nicer. haha.  I think grub comes with a search command, but I haven't really figured out how to use it, and that search command may just be for finding the root filesystem.


On 07/23/2017 08:39 AM, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:


Joshua Branson <bransoj@hotmail.com><mailto:bransoj@hotmail.com> writes:



I can properly boot guixSD in UEFI from the grub command prompt! Aka I
chainload the operating system.  Unfortunately I do not know how to
chainload the OS and pass a kernel argument.  I need to pass nomodeset.



The kernel arguments should go into the operating system configuration
file.  There’s a field “kernel-arguments”, which is just a list of
strings.

Here’s an example:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(operating-system
  …
  (kernel-arguments
   '("iomem=relaxed"     ; Needed for using flashrom
     "zswap.enabled=1"   ; compressed RAM cache for swap devices
     "vm.swappiness=100" ; NOTE: only use this with zswap!
     ))
…)
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---



BUT I don't know where the linux kernel is on the usbstick.



Oh, this is still about booting the USB image?  The comment above is
about how to add extra arguments once you’ve already installed GuixSD.

--
Ricardo

GPG: BCA6 89B6 3655 3801 C3C6  2150 197A 5888 235F ACAC
https://elephly.net




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Re: grub not properly installing in GuixSD

[Marius Bakke]

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Joshua Branson <bransoj@hotmail.com> writes:

> Yup.  That's correct.  I am asking about how to modify
>
>
> set root=(hd0,msdos1)    (I think this is the vfat system)
>
> chainloader (${root})/efi/boot/name-of-efi-file.efi
>
> boot
>
>
> to something like
>
>
> set root=(hd0,msdos1)    (I think this is the vfat system)
>
> chainloader (${root})/efi/boot/name-of-efi-file.efi
>
> linux (hd0,msdos1)/path/to/vm-linuz-libre    ?
>
> boot
>
>
> But thanks for reminding me about disabling modesetting.  If I can't boot the usbstick via modesetting, then I probably need to change my config to disable it as well.  Otherwise I'll successfully install guixSD and grub, but the boot process will fail when it tries to load the raedon driver.

I wonder why you don't see the GRUB menu when booting the USB
normally. Do you get a five second blank screen before the kernel
loads?

Worst case scenario, you can install Guix (not necessarily GuixSD) on
some other system and generate a new USB image that adds 'nomodeset':

$ wget https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/plain/gnu/system/install.scm
...make some changes...
$ guix system disk-image install.scm

...then dd the resulting store item onto a USB drive as usual.

Hope this helps!

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Re: grub not properly installing in GuixSD

[Joshua Branson]

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I’ve successfully installed guixSD!  Awesome!

Yeah, when I booted the usb stick, I DID see the guixSD grub menu.  I had been blindly pushing “c” for going to the command prompt, instead of pushing “e” to edit the boot command.  I pressed “e”  added “nomodeset” and boom.  I’m now properly booting guixSD and Arch Linux!

Thanks for all the help!

P.S.

I did add “nomodeset” to the linux kernel arguments in my config file.  I’ll try booting GuixSD w/o the “nomodeset” argument, and see if I can boot.   Because I’m not using mode setting right now, and my OS looks like something out of the 90s.  Something about the graphics just looks looks old.  It’s like the graphics is not clearly defined or something.  There may not be a free and good graphics driver for my radeon APU.  I’ll explore that in a few days.


On Jul 25, 2017, at 3:26 PM, Marius Bakke <mbakke@fastmail.com<mailto:mbakke@fastmail.com>> wrote:

Joshua Branson <bransoj@hotmail.com<mailto:bransoj@hotmail.com>> writes:

Yup.  That's correct.  I am asking about how to modify


set root=(hd0,msdos1)    (I think this is the vfat system)

chainloader (${root})/efi/boot/name-of-efi-file.efi

boot


to something like


set root=(hd0,msdos1)    (I think this is the vfat system)

chainloader (${root})/efi/boot/name-of-efi-file.efi

linux (hd0,msdos1)/path/to/vm-linuz-libre    ?

boot


But thanks for reminding me about disabling modesetting.  If I can't boot the usbstick via modesetting, then I probably need to change my config to disable it as well.  Otherwise I'll successfully install guixSD and grub, but the boot process will fail when it tries to load the raedon driver.

I wonder why you don't see the GRUB menu when booting the USB
normally. Do you get a five second blank screen before the kernel
loads?

Worst case scenario, you can install Guix (not necessarily GuixSD) on
some other system and generate a new USB image that adds 'nomodeset':

$ wget https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/plain/gnu/system/install.scm
...make some changes...
$ guix system disk-image install.scm

...then dd the resulting store item onto a USB drive as usual.

Hope this helps!


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