efi

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I updated opensuse 13.1 and this made my boot loader unusable. There were more then 60 packages and the boot folder was for sure updated. I am using GPT and disk is divided into 1 GB sda1 vfat /boot/efi
1 GB sda2 ext4 /boot
and the rest is LVM

I first boot system using resqueGRUB2 disk and reinstall grub2 into /boot using Yast and was able to start system only with when the start order in BIOS was changed from UEFI to Disk directly (Legacy?). I reinstall GRUB2-efi using Yast but still I get message “no boot devices” when start order is switched to UEFI. The file in /boot/efi/EFI/opensuse seems to be corrected (although is is only 130 kB in size) and can be run when I start system using res-CD (which is recognized by UEFI). Somehow the efi partition on HD is no longer recognized by BIOS as efi. Using Yast the disk partition table shows 3 devices as above. Changing sda1 GPT partition type from vfat (0x0c) to efi (0x00) did not make any change. Well I have not yet tried to:
umount sda1
format sda1 with vfat
and reinstall GRUB2-efi

I am just afraid that using terminal I might mess with GPT.
Can anyone give me suggestions, please.
JP

#2

GPT does not have partition types, it has GUIDs. And even for MBR 0x00 is wrong partition type for ESP. It is unclear what you did. Please show output of “gdisk -l /dev/sda” in code tags. You may need to install gptfdisk (I do not remember if it was default in 13.1).

#3

I used Yast because fdisk gave strange messages did not use gdisk since it gave an error.
"GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.7

Problem opening -l for reading! Error is 2.
The specific file does not exist"

Any suggestion?
jp

#4

With gdisk you must specify the device. See man gdisk for details

fdisk does not really support GPT partitions and add LVM on top and it does gets a little lost.

You need to show us the outputs though we can not see over your shoulder

#5

When I reboot using UEFI and efi.img of res-CD into grubx64.efi and use “gdisk -l” then it works and I get message:

"Usage: gpart [option] device
Options …

gpart v0.1h (c) …
Guess PC-type hard disk partitions."

and “gpart sda” gave:
*** Fata error: ioctl(HDIO_GETGEO) failed …"

JP

#6

Sorry, May be I used small letter instead capital:
After: gpart -L sda
"
Module Weight
bsddl (1.0)
lswap (1.0)
qnx4 (1.0)
rfs (1.0)
ntfs (1.0)
hpsf (1.0)
minix (1.0)
beos (1.0)
ext2 (1.0)
fat (1.0)
s86dl (1.0)
hmlvm (1.0)
xts (1.0)
"
adding sda or other device does not make any change.
I am looking at http://www.brzitwa.de/mb/gpart/index.html for manual
I previously used fdisk

JP

#7

On 2015-09-17 14:16, jpachucki wrote:
>
> When I reboot using UEFI and efi.img of res-CD into grubx64.efi and use
> “gdisk -l” then it works and I get message:
>
> “Usage: gpart [option] device
> Options …
>
> gpart v0.1h (c) …
> Guess PC-type hard disk partitions.”
>
> and “gpart sda” gave:
> *** Fata error: ioctl(HDIO_GETGEO) failed …"

Please play attention to details. It is not “gdisk -l” nor “gpart sda”.

It is “gdisk -l /dev/sda”.

And then paste the result INSIDE a code tags block. You get them by clicking on the button labelled with ‘#’ in the forum editor.
This detail is crucial.

Example:


minas-tirith:~ # gdisk -l /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.7

Partition table scan:
MBR: MBR only
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: not present


***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory.
***************************************************************

Disk /dev/sda: 976773168 sectors, 465.8 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 68F6F551-29C5-468A-9529-88E6FE38F272
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 976773134
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 22481 sectors (11.0 MiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
1            2048          409599   199.0 MiB   0700  Microsoft basic data
2          409600       333279231   158.7 GiB   0700  Microsoft basic data
3       950562816       976771071   12.5 GiB    0700  Microsoft basic data
5       333284553       345863384   6.0 GiB     8200  Linux swap
6       345863448       346265009   196.1 MiB   8300  Linux filesystem
7       346265073       409175549   30.0 GiB    8300  Linux filesystem
8       409175613       935850509   251.1 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem
9       935850573       950549984   7.0 GiB     8300  Linux filesystem
minas-tirith:~ #

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

#8

Just to add the naming device /dev/sda /dev/sda1/dev/hd0 does not make any difference in output.

#9

I apologize for not being prescise but I am using separate PC for writing and rewrite what I see on a screen.

I thought that I am doing something wrong so I tried different naming but nothing change

gpart -l /dev/sda output is just the same:

“Usage:gpart [options] device
…”

fdisk gave a list but strenge

JP

#10

On 2015-09-17 14:36, jpachucki wrote:
>
> Sorry, May be I used small letter instead capital:
> After: gpart -L sda

Again: NO.

“gdisk -l /dev/sda”

Lower case “l”, and not “sda”, but “/dev/sda”. Please pay attention.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

#11

I switched to broken PC to be more precise.
gdisk -l /dev/sda
does not show anything
fdisk -l /dev/sda shows
"WARNING: fdisk GPT support is currently new, and therefore in an experimental phase. Use at your own discretion.

Disk /dev/sda: 3000.6 GB, 3000592982016 bytes, 5860533168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk label type: gpt

Start End Size Type Name

1 2048 2105343 1G EFI System primary
2 2105344 4208639 1G EFI System primary
3 4208640 5860532223 2.7T Linux LVM primary
"
Thanks JP

#12

OK, much better when I can copy text.
"
linux-7ddk:/home/janusz # gdisk -l /dev/sda
\GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.7

Partition table scan:
MBR: hybrid
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: present

Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sda: 5860533168 sectors, 2.7 TiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): B4493345-0A6A-458B-B931-BBB19B890F11
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 5860533134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2925 sectors (1.4 MiB)

Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 2048 2105343 1.0 GiB EF00 primary
2 2105344 4208639 1.0 GiB EF00 primary
3 4208640 5860532223 2.7 TiB 8E00 primary

"

#13

On 2015-09-17 14:56, jpachucki wrote:
>
> I apologize for not being prescise but I am using separate PC for
> writing and rewrite what I see on a screen.
>
> I thought that I am doing something wrong so I tried different naming
> but nothing change
>
> gpart -l /dev/sda output is just the same:
>
> “Usage:gpart [options] device
> …”

Well, it is not gpart but gdisk…

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

#14

My apologies but searching for answer so long make me making mistakes.
Anyway I appreciate your messages.
JP

#15

I’m requoting that in a code block for better readability.

That shows two EFI partitions. However, the installer is known to mess that up, and to sometimes mark “/boot” as if it were an EFI partition.

Can you give us the output from:

# parted -l
#16

Could you please give more details what does it mean? How do you know BIOS does not recognize it? Your output shows hybrid MBR and two partitions with ESP GUID. Both are known to work at least on some systems. But as the first thing I’d change partition type of second partition (the one mounted as /boot) to something different. “Linux filesystem” if your gdisk supports it, otherwise “Microsoft basic data”.

#17

Hmm Was this an EFI install you seem to be missing a small FAT for the efi boot partition. Hybrid GPT can be a tricky thing because most Software expects it to be EFI boot not hybrid.

#18

To get more information could you please paste output of

gdisk -i 1 -i 2 /dev/sda
efibootmgr -v
#19

Thank you ALL for replay
I was surprised as well to see two efi part when running gdisk. When boot problem after updating and after spending hours googling around I did one thing in Yast2 I changed the code for first partition /dev/dva1 mapped as /boot/efi from win95 to efi (well I am unable to reverse this change now because the efi come back after restarting from somewhere I am not sure where). I remember when I first install opensuse I made 1GB vfat partition for efi mapped as /boot/efi and another ext4 partition for /boot where grub2 is stored. I have not used gdisk before because my usual device is laptop with small ssd drive and I usually run fdisk. When I first run fdisk I got strange reading. I was not aware hat fdisk might not give the correct reading with large disk parted with GPT. Well I consider it an interesting lesson. Now I am left with gdisk reading with are different from Yast2 reading (very strange) and still BIOS can not recognized EFI partition. My BIOS list the CD efi partition when rescue CD is inserted so I believe there is nothing wrong in BIOS part.
I will try all your suggestion ASAP which mean close to 9 AM Warsaw time since the computer is located in my office. It serves as a server for statistics. I can run the services with standard BIOS but it seems to be slower then with UEFI.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
JP

#20

1 gig is over kill for a efi boot partition.

You should boot the installer to EFI mode and let it make the default settings it does that write. Is the LVM encrypted? If not what is the reason to have one?