Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[peter]

Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote :

> On Fri, 8 Apr 2016 13:26:31 -0400, Poison BL. wrote:
> 
> > --> /boot/efi/boot/bootx64.efi  
> > This one is what your UEFI's loading at boot. The lack of any other
> > files in /boot/efi/boot/ makes me suspect Grub's not actually
> > installed in quite the right spot for the UEFI layer to load it. If
> > you pointed grub2-install at the right place (the second command line
> > at [1]), I believe you should have grubx64.efi there as well.
> 
> Did you build GRUB with GRUB_PLATFORMS="efi-64"?

Yes, as instructed in the wiki.

> As you're using EFI, you may find life easier if you dispense with GRUB
> and use Gummiboot. I find it (or the systemd version) far more friendly.

Maybe I should give it a go - thanks for the idea. I did consider it but then I was deterred by its description as "minimalistic".

Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Neil Bothwick]

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On 9 April 2016 06:43:50 BST, peter@prh.myzen.co.uk wrote:
> Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote :
> 
> > On Fri, 8 Apr 2016 13:26:31 -0400, Poison BL. wrote:
> > 
> > > --> /boot/efi/boot/bootx64.efi  
> > > This one is what your UEFI's loading at boot. The lack of any
> other
> > > files in /boot/efi/boot/ makes me suspect Grub's not actually
> > > installed in quite the right spot for the UEFI layer to load it.
> If
> > > you pointed grub2-install at the right place (the second command
> line
> > > at [1]), I believe you should have grubx64.efi there as well.
> > 
> > Did you build GRUB with GRUB_PLATFORMS="efi-64"?
> 
> Yes, as instructed in the wiki.
> 
> > As you're using EFI, you may find life easier if you dispense with
> GRUB
> > and use Gummiboot. I find it (or the systemd version) far more
> friendly.
> 
> Maybe I should give it a go - thanks for the idea. I did consider it
> but then I was deterred by its description as "minimalistic".

The usual complaint about GRUB2 is that it is too complex, so minimal is good here. I  only have it installed to be able to boot my System Rescue ISO in an emergency, I've not found a way to go that without GRUB. 
-- 
Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

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Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Mick]

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On Saturday 09 Apr 2016 08:22:16 Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On 9 April 2016 06:43:50 BST, peter@prh.myzen.co.uk wrote:
> > Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote :
> > > On Fri, 8 Apr 2016 13:26:31 -0400, Poison BL. wrote:
> > > > --> /boot/efi/boot/bootx64.efi
> > > > This one is what your UEFI's loading at boot. The lack of any
> > 
> > other
> > 
> > > > files in /boot/efi/boot/ makes me suspect Grub's not actually
> > > > installed in quite the right spot for the UEFI layer to load it.

As long as the correct kernel was saved as /boot/efi/boot/bootx64.efi, or the 
MoBo set up to boot from /boot/efi/boot/my_NVMe_kernel_x64.efi, you shouldn't 
have a problem booting up using the EFI boot stub.

https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/efi-stub.txt


> > If
> > 
> > > > you pointed grub2-install at the right place (the second command
> > 
> > line
> > 
> > > > at [1]), I believe you should have grubx64.efi there as well.
> > > 
> > > Did you build GRUB with GRUB_PLATFORMS="efi-64"?
> > 
> > Yes, as instructed in the wiki.
> > 
> > > As you're using EFI, you may find life easier if you dispense with
> > 
> > GRUB
> > 
> > > and use Gummiboot. I find it (or the systemd version) far more
> > 
> > friendly.
> > 
> > Maybe I should give it a go - thanks for the idea. I did consider it
> > but then I was deterred by its description as "minimalistic".
> 
> The usual complaint about GRUB2 is that it is too complex, so minimal is
> good here. I  only have it installed to be able to boot my System Rescue
> ISO in an emergency, I've not found a way to go that without GRUB.

I have used GRUB2 to boot ISO images from USB drives and internal drives 
without problem, but Gummiboot is less fiddly to set up.  With GRUB2 you need 
to pay attention in setting the path to the ISO correctly, or GRUB2 will error 
out of course.

Unfortunately, you can't boot an ISO in true minimalist fashion just by 
pointing to it with the EFI boot stub (the ISO needs to be mounted via a 
loopback function).

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Sat, 09 Apr 2016 08:40:46 +0100, Mick wrote:

> > The usual complaint about GRUB2 is that it is too complex, so minimal
> > is good here. I  only have it installed to be able to boot my System
> > Rescue ISO in an emergency, I've not found a way to go that without
> > GRUB.  
> 
> I have used GRUB2 to boot ISO images from USB drives and internal
> drives without problem,

Yes, I do that allthe time. I also use it to boot ISO images from DVDs :)

> but Gummiboot is less fiddly to set up. 

Which is why I prefer it. But it is fine to have both installed and
available from the UEFI boot menu. I do this on my laptop to make sure I
can always boot a rescue ISO if I need to. For my other systems, there's
usually a suitable USB stick nearby.

> Unfortunately, you can't boot an ISO in true minimalist fashion just by 
> pointing to it with the EFI boot stub (the ISO needs to be mounted via
> a loopback function).

I know all that. What would be nice would be an EFI boot stub that took
care of that. It occurs to me that the System Rescue Cd kernels may be
UEFI compatible, so it may be a matter of unpacking the ISO into /boot to
be able to access it from gummiboot/bootctl.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

"It compiled? The first screen came up? Ship it!" -- Bill Gates

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Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[R0b0t1]

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It is a matter of unpacking the ISO. I got most of the way through doing
this before giving up as the ISO has a lot of assumptions built into it.

I ended up just using GRUB.

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Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Sat, 9 Apr 2016 06:14:16 -0500, R0b0t1 wrote:

> It is a matter of unpacking the ISO. I got most of the way through doing
> this before giving up as the ISO has a lot of assumptions built into it.

Reading your posts is like walking into a room partway through a
conversation. Can you please quote what and whom you are replying to to
give some context. I assume, but cannot be certain, that this was a
reply to my post. So unpacking the ISO sort of worked? It does have a
UEFI enabled kernel?
 
> I ended up just using GRUB.

That's what I'm doing now. I use bootctl by default but GRUB is installed
and available from the EFI menu if I need to boot from the ISO.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Welcome to the world of Windows 95. Stay a while -- stay foooreveeer.

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Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Sat, 9 Apr 2016 06:14:16 -0500, R0b0t1 wrote:

> It is a matter of unpacking the ISO. I got most of the way through doing
> this before giving up as the ISO has a lot of assumptions built into it.

It turns out to be a trivial task:

Loop mount the ISO
Copy the kernel, initramfs and filesystem files to /boot/sysrcd
Add this to /boot/loaders/entries

title	System Rescue Cd
version	4.7.2
linux	/sysrcd/rescue64
options	subdir=sysrcd setkmap=uk rootpass=wasspord
initrd	/sysrcd/initram.igz

Reboot!

More details at http://www.system-rescue-cd.org/Sysresccd-manual-en_Easy_install_SystemRescueCd_on_harddisk


-- 
Neil Bothwick

God: What one human uses to persecute another.

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Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[peter]

Peter@prh.myzen.co.uk wrote :

> Neil Bothwick neil@digimed.co.uk>
> wrote :
> 
> > On Fri, 8 Apr 2016 13:26:31 -0400, Poison BL. wrote:
> > 
> > > --> /boot/efi/boot/bootx64.efi  
> > > This one is what your UEFI's loading at boot. The lack of any other
> > > files in /boot/efi/boot/ makes me suspect Grub's not actually
> > > installed in quite the right spot for the UEFI layer to load it. If
> > > you pointed grub2-install at the right place (the second command line
> > > at [1]), I believe you should have grubx64.efi there as well.
> > 
> > Did you build GRUB with GRUB_PLATFORMS="efi-64"?
> 
> Yes, as instructed in the wiki.
> 
> > As you're using EFI, you may find life easier if you dispense with GRUB
> > and use Gummiboot. I find it (or the systemd version) far more friendly.
> 
> Maybe I should give it a go - thanks for the idea. I did consider it but then I
> was deterred by its description as "minimalistic".

I did try it, and it worked like a charm! After five days of fruitless attempts to get grub to work, five minutes with gummiboot was all I needed.

Thank you Neil.

I'll write a Solved reply when I have my system built and can access the whole thread.

Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[peter]

Poison BL. <poisonbl@gmail.com> wrote :

> On Fri, Apr 8, 2016 at 8:21 AM, Peter Humphrey peter@prh.myzen.co.uk>
> wrote:
> > On Thursday 07 April 2016 17:56:55 Jeremi Piotrowski wrote:
> >>   What is in your grub.conf? Have you thought about adding an
> >> initramfs and letting it drop you to its rescue shell so that you can
> >> investigate?
> >
> > Grub.cfg looks all right to me: at least, it does include a sensible root=
> > value.
> >
> > I never see a grub screen - it just starts the current kernel. I did
> wonder
> > about an initramfs and I'm trying it now. I've also followed Remy's advice
> > and used gentoo-sources-4.4.6.
> >
> > So far I've spent about 30 hours scratching my head, clutching at straws
> and
> > going round in circles. I'm getting dizzy.  :-)
> >
> > --
> > Rgds
> > Peter
> 
> So, you have Grub setup to give a menu, pause, or at least do
> something visible, and it's skipping right past that? That makes me
> suspect that Grub's not running at all, and that the kernel's being
> loaded by UEFI directly.

Ah! Now why didn't I think of that?

> What files are in /boot/ on your efi partition (preferably identified
> with the file command)?

# file /boot/*
 /boot/config-4.4.6-gentoo:                     Linux make config build file, ASCII text
/boot/efi:                                     directory
/boot/grub:                                    directory
/boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86_64-4.4.6-gentoo: XZ compressed data
/boot/System.map-4.4.6-gentoo:                 ASCII text
/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.6-gentoo:                    Linux kernel x86 boot executable bzImage, version 4.4.6-gentoo (root@sysresccd) #7 SMP Fri Apr 8 15:51:24 BST 201, RO-rootFS, swap_dev 0x5, Normal VGA

# file /boot/efi/boot/*
/boot/efi/boot/bootx64.efi: Linux kernel x86 boot executable bzImage, version 4.4.6-gentoo (root@sysresccd) #7 SMP Fri Apr 8 15:51:24 BST 201, RO-rootFS, swap_dev 0x5, Normal VGA

> If you have a kernel in there named bootx64.efi, that's likely the culprit.

That's what it's supposed to look like, isn't it?

(I'm using web-mail after booting sysresccd.)

Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Poison BL.]

On Fri, Apr 8, 2016 at 11:32 AM,  <peter@prh.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> Poison BL. <poisonbl@gmail.com> wrote :
>
>> On Fri, Apr 8, 2016 at 8:21 AM, Peter Humphrey peter@prh.myzen.co.uk>
>> wrote:
>> > On Thursday 07 April 2016 17:56:55 Jeremi Piotrowski wrote:
>> >>   What is in your grub.conf? Have you thought about adding an
>> >> initramfs and letting it drop you to its rescue shell so that you can
>> >> investigate?
>> >
>> > Grub.cfg looks all right to me: at least, it does include a sensible root=
>> > value.
>> >
>> > I never see a grub screen - it just starts the current kernel. I did
>> wonder
>> > about an initramfs and I'm trying it now. I've also followed Remy's advice
>> > and used gentoo-sources-4.4.6.
>> >
>> > So far I've spent about 30 hours scratching my head, clutching at straws
>> and
>> > going round in circles. I'm getting dizzy.  :-)
>> >
>> > --
>> > Rgds
>> > Peter
>>
>> So, you have Grub setup to give a menu, pause, or at least do
>> something visible, and it's skipping right past that? That makes me
>> suspect that Grub's not running at all, and that the kernel's being
>> loaded by UEFI directly.
>
> Ah! Now why didn't I think of that?
>
>> What files are in /boot/ on your efi partition (preferably identified
>> with the file command)?
>
> # file /boot/*
>  /boot/config-4.4.6-gentoo:                     Linux make config build file, ASCII text
> /boot/efi:                                     directory
> /boot/grub:                                    directory
> /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86_64-4.4.6-gentoo: XZ compressed data
> /boot/System.map-4.4.6-gentoo:                 ASCII text
> /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.6-gentoo:                    Linux kernel x86 boot executable bzImage, version 4.4.6-gentoo (root@sysresccd) #7 SMP Fri Apr 8 15:51:24 BST 201, RO-rootFS, swap_dev 0x5, Normal VGA
>
> # file /boot/efi/boot/*
> /boot/efi/boot/bootx64.efi: Linux kernel x86 boot executable bzImage, version 4.4.6-gentoo (root@sysresccd) #7 SMP Fri Apr 8 15:51:24 BST 201, RO-rootFS, swap_dev 0x5, Normal VGA
>
>> If you have a kernel in there named bootx64.efi, that's likely the culprit.
>
> That's what it's supposed to look like, isn't it?
>
> (I'm using web-mail after booting sysresccd.)

--> /boot/efi/boot/bootx64.efi <--

This one is what your UEFI's loading at boot. The lack of any other
files in /boot/efi/boot/ makes me suspect Grub's not actually
installed in quite the right spot for the UEFI layer to load it. If
you pointed grub2-install at the right place (the second command line
at [1]), I believe you should have grubx64.efi there as well. If you
want to play with getting it working with the uefi stub in the kernel
(the way it's booting now), you will need to add in the kernel command
line options you need to boot into the kernel itself, which you can do
when you configure it. That's how I have the couple uefi systems I've
built running, but it comes with the downside that you can't have two
available, in parallel, at boot to test the new one without locking
yourself out if it's broken (requiring the same external media boot
you're already doing to fix it this time around).

[1]: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Bootloader#Configuring_GRUB2

-- 
Poison [BLX]
Joshua M. Murphy

Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Fri, 8 Apr 2016 13:26:31 -0400, Poison BL. wrote:

> --> /boot/efi/boot/bootx64.efi <--  
> 
> This one is what your UEFI's loading at boot. The lack of any other
> files in /boot/efi/boot/ makes me suspect Grub's not actually
> installed in quite the right spot for the UEFI layer to load it. If
> you pointed grub2-install at the right place (the second command line
> at [1]), I believe you should have grubx64.efi there as well.

Did you build GRUB with GRUB_PLATFORMS="efi-64"?

As you're using EFI, you may find life easier if you dispense with GRUB
and use Gummiboot. I find it (or the systemd version) far more friendly.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Home is where you hang your @.

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[gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[peter]

Hello list,

I have a new box with an NVMe SSD drive attached to the PCI bus via an M.2 interface. The drive shows up as /dev/nvme0n1, with partitions /dev/nvme0n1p1, /dev/nvme0n1p2, ... 

After following the instructions in the handbook for a UEFI system, I get as far as a kernel panic. Grub finds the kernel and starts it, but it seems to be passing a null root device name.

Can anyone offer some advice to help me get past this?

A few pints of Wainwright go to the winner. Conditions apply  :-)

Rgds
Peter

Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Jeremi Piotrowski]

On Thu, Apr 7, 2016 at 5:24 PM,  <peter@prh.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> Hello list,
>
> I have a new box with an NVMe SSD drive attached to the PCI bus via an M.2 interface. The drive shows up as /dev/nvme0n1, with partitions /dev/nvme0n1p1, /dev/nvme0n1p2, ...
>
> After following the instructions in the handbook for a UEFI system, I get as far as a kernel panic. Grub finds the kernel and starts it, but it seems to be passing a null root device name.
>

  What is in your grub.conf? Have you thought about adding an
initramfs and letting it drop you
  to its rescue shell so that you can investigate?

Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Peter Humphrey]

On Thursday 07 April 2016 17:56:55 Jeremi Piotrowski wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 7, 2016 at 5:24 PM,  <peter@prh.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> > Hello list,
> > 
> > I have a new box with an NVMe SSD drive attached to the PCI bus via an
> > M.2 interface. The drive shows up as /dev/nvme0n1, with partitions
> > /dev/nvme0n1p1, /dev/nvme0n1p2, ...
> > 
> > After following the instructions in the handbook for a UEFI system, I
> > get as far as a kernel panic. Grub finds the kernel and starts it, but
> > it seems to be passing a null root device name.
>   What is in your grub.conf? Have you thought about adding an
> initramfs and letting it drop you to its rescue shell so that you can
> investigate?

Grub.cfg looks all right to me: at least, it does include a sensible root= 
value.

I never see a grub screen - it just starts the current kernel. I did wonder 
about an initramfs and I'm trying it now. I've also followed Remy's advice 
and used gentoo-sources-4.4.6.

So far I've spent about 30 hours scratching my head, clutching at straws and 
going round in circles. I'm getting dizzy.  :-)

-- 
Rgds
Peter

linux counter 5290, 1994/04/23

Re: [gentoo-user] NVMe drive and grub

[Poison BL.]

On Fri, Apr 8, 2016 at 8:21 AM, Peter Humphrey <peter@prh.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> On Thursday 07 April 2016 17:56:55 Jeremi Piotrowski wrote:
>>   What is in your grub.conf? Have you thought about adding an
>> initramfs and letting it drop you to its rescue shell so that you can
>> investigate?
>
> Grub.cfg looks all right to me: at least, it does include a sensible root=
> value.
>
> I never see a grub screen - it just starts the current kernel. I did wonder
> about an initramfs and I'm trying it now. I've also followed Remy's advice
> and used gentoo-sources-4.4.6.
>
> So far I've spent about 30 hours scratching my head, clutching at straws and
> going round in circles. I'm getting dizzy.  :-)
>
> --
> Rgds
> Peter

So, you have Grub setup to give a menu, pause, or at least do
something visible, and it's skipping right past that? That makes me
suspect that Grub's not running at all, and that the kernel's being
loaded by UEFI directly.

What files are in /boot/ on your efi partition (preferably identified
with the file command)?

If you have a kernel in there named bootx64.efi, that's likely the culprit.

-- 
Poison [BLX]
Joshua M. Murphy